Letter from the Holy Land

In the first of a quarterly series of updates from Israel/ Palestine, the Rev Dr Stewart Gillan reports on the ordination of the first female Palestinian pastor in the Holy Land.

ON Sunday January 22 2023, I had the joy and privilege of representing the Church of Scotland at the ordination of the Rev Sally Azar, the first female Palestinian pastor ordained in the Holy Land.

The site was the Church of the Redeemer, the cathedral church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, located in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Presenting Sally for ordination, her Church stated: ‘Her leadership and courage to follow her calling and serve as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land marks a momentous event in the life of the ELCJHL, and in the entire Christian community in Palestine. Sally’s ministry sends a powerful message of acceptance and progress in the church’s journey toward gender justice.’

Or, to put it in her own words: ‘My Church needs me.’

Many hundreds gathered for what proved to be a thrilling service of worship in witness to the call of God to women and men to minister in Jesus’ name in the power of the Holy Spirit. Sally was ordained by Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar, her father, together with bishops, clergy and lay leaders of her Church and partner Churches in Jerusalem. And that was just those gathered in the chancel. The congregation filled all available spaces. People were happy and excited, filled with the Spirit.

Those of us from the global Church, numbering over 100, had been told to arrive at 1.30pm for the 3pm service. We wore white albs and red stoles and were told not to be late. We were paired up, and played in by a youth band from one of the Lutheran Churches in Bethlehem, replete with drums, brass and bagpipes.

I was seated with several women bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Waiting for the service to begin, we began to tell each other our own ordination stories. Bishop Annie Edison-Albright of Wisconsin spoke of what it has been like to be a bishop in the Covid era – she was made bishop in 2020 – and of the resistance she has met as a woman bishop, echoed by others who had been installed in the same year. The only thing for it was to get out and meet people, they agreed, and not allow themselves to be detained at the centre.

Immediately following her ordination Sally spoke – in Arabic, German, and English – thanking everyone who had contributed to her formation as a person and disciple of Church throughout her life: in her home Church in Jerusalem, at the Near East School of Theology, at Gottingen University where she obtained her Masters in Theology, and in the Church of Anhalt where she did her probation with the Bishop of Anhalt. Her concluding words in English were: ‘Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!’ Spoken through tears.

Greetings were brought by Church leaders from around the world. Upon her acclamation as Pastor, the congregation broke into thunderous applause and singing in Arabic, led by women members of the congregation.

Sally then celebrated the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper with her father at the Lord’s Table, for the first time as the Reverend Azar. Let us answer Sally’s call for prayer – for herself, her Church and the peoples of Israel and Palestine – that the compassion, justice and healing of God be theirs. May the God of all life bless her, Jesus befriend her, and the Holy Spirit be her comfort and guide. ¤

The Rev Dr Stewart Gillan is the Church of Scotland’s Mission Partner in Jerusalem.