Art and Suzanne's News Our Month in Jerusalem

Art Outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

We would never have expected a private briefing with a Deputy Spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Allan Ross, Director of the Jewish federation of the Quad Cities  arranged it. So, this morning we met for over an hour with a forthright young  man at the Ministry, who was not just a propagandist and seemed genuinely interested in our experiences in Israel, in the West Bank, and in the Quad Cities.

We had a frank and friendly exchange of views and learned some things we didn’t expect. The meeting was very useful to us in our efforts to fit the pieces together, and I’m sure Art will be including some of the items we discussed in his upcoming presentations at home. He’s doing a four-part series on the Arab-Israeli Conflict in August.

Art with Hasan and family at their home in Qalandiya Refugee Camp

We certainly didn’t expect to go to a Palestinian refugee camp, but our two visits to the Qalandiya camp have been an extremely good experience. Art has taught for years on the issue of Palestinian refugees without ever knowing one of these refugees personally. We already had a lot of information, but filtering our knowledge through the lens of Hasan’s experiences has deepened our understanding. And since Hasan invited us into his home as friends, we have enjoyed the pleasure of Arab hospitality, which is both generous and gracious. What a delicious meal–even makloubeh!

One of our privileges was to pray for Hasan’s eighteen-year-old daughter, who was born prematurely and has never been able to walk. Her dream is to be an English teacher. We found that this Muslim family received our Christian prayers very openly, and we are continuing to pray for Isra along with our church at home and our friends in Sierra Leone.

Israeli settlement in the distance as seen from Hasan's rooftop

Hasan drives his taxi thirteen hours per day and usually six days per week in order to take care of his family. They have built a very nice home which they were happy to show to us. From the rooftop, where they raise rabbits and do laundry, you can see the nearest Israeli settlement on a nearby hilltop. This is a constant reminder of their grievance over lost property and lost freedom. More practically, it is a reminder of one of the most critical unresolved issues–water. Right now Israel controls the water that flows to Palestinian homes and is sometimes shut off.

Our time with this family was so pleasant because their family relationships are so loving. Even though Hasan and Sousan (same name as mine, but in Arabic) first met on their wedding day, it is obvious that they have a strong marriage and that they treasure each other and their children.

I don’t know when the day will come that they will be able to travel to Jerusalem again, but until then, we will continue going through the Qalandiya checkpoint to visit them. I hope they will always welcome us as warmly as they did this week.

Haifa Beach

Although we have concentrated on Jerusalem during our stay here, we took a day trip to one of our favorite cities, Haifa. Not only is Haifa situated in a beautiful location on the blue Mediteranean seacoast, but part of the city sits on the Carmel Mountains, the place where Elijah won his dramatic contest with the prophets of Baal. And it is home to three generations of the family of our first and foremost Jewish friend, Ida Kramer, who is the current President of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities.

This was also our first trip on the expanded Israeli rail system, which we enjoyed greatly. Haim, Jeanette, and Leroz met us at the station, and we walked along the beach.

Then we had another special treat, a trip to Zikron Ya’acov, one of the original settlements of the first aliyah. We visited an extremely interesting museum, the Aronson home and museum. The Aronson family ran a spy ring called Nili, that helped the British defeat the Ottomans during WWI.

Art at the Aronson musem--photo of the Aronson family

I’m emphasizing “interesting” for the sake of our adult children, who still talk about the day in 1983 when their daddy took them to a record five museums in Haifa, when all they really wanted to do was go to the beach.

Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra Concert for Gilad Shalit

We knew that Ronit planned to take us to a concert of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Meta, but we didn’t realize how special an experience this would be. The concert, which was attended by 9,000 people, was an outdoor concert in support of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas four years ago.The purpose of the concert was to ask for international support to pressure Hamas to treat Gilad Shalit according to international standards.

The music was phenomenal. Gilad’s father spoke briefly. The logistics involved and the level of organization was amazing. The queue of 120 large buses was a sight to behold. 

Don't we look comfortable!

Gilad Shlit’s situation is a big controversy right now. Negotiations are underway for a prisoner exchange that could gain his release. But Hamas is demanding the release of 1000 prisoners, many of whom are known terrorists. The public sympathy for the Shalit family is enormous, but how many more soldiers will Hamas hold hostage if their demands are met?

Thanks, Ronit, for a beautiful day.

Greek Catholic Church

On Sunday we went with Rita and Natalie to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in the Old City. It’s just inside Jaffa Gate on Greek Catholic Patriarchate Street. Nothing could be more different from our church, Faith Walk World Outreach Center in Silvis, Illinois. The Greek Catholics use the Orthodox liturgy, but are part of the Roman Catholic Church. The walls and ceiling are covered with icons, and the priests carry out important parts of the service behind the iconostasis, but we in the congregation can peer in through the open door.

The priest who conducted the service is an Egyptian with a great sense of humor. We didn’t understand what he was saying, since the service was conducted in Arabic, but Art figured that he was joking about the beam of sunlight that shone brightly through a window in the domed ceiling directly on him. The people were warm, and little children played during the mass. Unlike the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, Protestants are welcome to receive the eucharist, which we appreciated.

After that, Rita and Natalie took us on a walk through the Old City to what is arguably the most special church on earth, the Church of the Holy Sepluchre. This old crusader structure is the traditional site where Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. It’s cavernous with many corridors, stairs and altars, but without any large cathedral style room. According to tradition, Adam’s tomb is directly beneath Calvary, so Jesus’ blood trickled from the cross down to the place where Adam’s remains lay. Even when the church is crowded with tourists, it has a very special feel.

Then we had the great pleasure of a wonderful afternoon in the home of our new Palestinian Christian friends. Our meal included stuffed leg of lamb and other Arab specialties–so delicious. The hospitality was delightfully gracious, and the conversation was interesting. Praise the Lord for another wonderful day!

The security fence winds over the hill toward the Dead Sea.

Jerusalem has a unique architectural unity, much more so than other beautiful, ancient places that are now modern cities. There’s nothing monotonous about the building styles. The wonderful coherence comes from the golden, cream-colored Jerusalem stones that are the structure and facade of everything from the old city wall, built in the 1500′s by Sultan Sulieman the Magnificient, to the newest office building or hotel.

But the unity ends with the stones, and the divisions are everywhere. From our regular vantage point at Succat Hallel, the security fence, erected by Israel to stop the terrorist violence that occured during the Second Intifada, winds like a silver ribbon from Jerusalem over the hills in the direction of the Dead Sea. It has accomplished it’s objective. We, like the people who live here all the time, ride buses and eat in restaurants without constant anxiety about terrorists. This wasn’t the case the last time we stayed in Jerusalem or when we visited Gaza and could hear the rocket warnings.

The security fence looks different up close and from the Palestinian perspective. We saw the wall near the Qalandiya Checkpoint, where Hasan, our taxi driver friend, pointed out “the longest letter in the world.” It’s written in large letters on the wall. As you drive along, you get the gist of it without really being able to read it. The substance is that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is like the apartheid system that has finally fallen in South Africa. People from all over the world have come to paint pictures and write messages in support of the Palestinian cause and to plead for justice.

But the ongoing Israei-Palestinian conflict is just one of the divisions. The rift between secular and religious Israelis is deep. Many secular Israelis regard ultra-orthodox Jews, a rapidly growing sector that holds great political and receives massive subsidies while denying the legitimacy of the State of Israel, with as much contempt as they regard the Palestinian Arabs. We talked with a Palestinian man who said that he hates the Druze, an Arab subgroup that supports the Israeli government. The Bedouins, also Arabs, played an important role in the military victories that made the Jewish State possible, but they are discriminated against.

Palestinian Christians, an increasingly smaller group since there has been a huge outmigration of Christians, have a difficult time in the midst of a Muslim majority. And Messianic Jews, a group which is growing more rapidly than any time since the first century, are not considered to be Jews by religious Jews and are rejected and sometimes persecuted. No wonder this is such an interesting place!

It was a pleasant and eye-opening trip. We felt safe and were surprised at how prosperous and clean the city is. We even saw Yassir Arafat’s tomb. The trip confirmed our belief, which Art held from the many magazines and journals he reads, that the situation in the West Bank is improving. It is difficult for people who live there to admit this, but for the time being, it seems almost undeniable. This view was confirmed this week in an article by Thomas Friedman, a journalist we respect, in the International Herald Tribune. The problems are still enormous, but we praise God for any signs of progress.

When we went to Shymkent , Kazakhstan a few years ago, the Korean church was active in that Muslim nation. We took Lily (our exchange student daughter) and her sister Regina there, and we were impressed with the fervency of their prayers. In Poprad, Slovakia the ministry of Pastor Gabrielle Minarik was heavily supported by a Korean pastor working in the Czech Republic. (Pastor Minarik is the man who prayed for Art, and the knee injury that had caused pain for thirty years was instantly healed  watch). Seems like they’re everywhere. These people really take the Great Commission seriously.

They’re here in Jerusalem too. As we entered Succat Hallel one afternoon this week, we heard loud, intense praying that sounded quick with a quality of urgency. We had arrived at the end of the Korean watch. A group of Korean Christians has started a house of prayer on the north side of the old city, which means that there are now houses of prayer on all four sides, as was prophecied a few years ago. The Koreans man one of the watches at Succat Hallel.

We sat down to begin praying and noticed that there were about a dozen Koreans. A man, who seemed to be the pastor, was praying gently from the microphone. At intervals, they all said “amen.” Near the end of the watch, they gathered at the front to pray for a young man, his wife, and their child sleeping in a stroller. The pastor prayed for a fairly long time. Then, there must have been some kind of signal because they burst, all at once, into an explosion of prayer. The sound of their voices was bold and stacatto with a definite unified rising and falling rhythm. Then, without any noticeable signal, they all stopped—instantaneously, simultaneously—and the pastor continued on in his sweet voice. It was remarkable.

These people know how to “keep rank.” It was a blessing to be in the same room with them and to join in their prayer. This quality is part of the explanation of how South Korea has undergone so radical a transformation from a desolate, impoverished nation to a modern and prosperous nation–such a radical contrast to their northern neighbor. They remind me of the mighty men described in the Chronicles whose hearts have a special quality, which we would do well to develop:

All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. (1 Chronicles 12:38, King James Bible)

Of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, fifty thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of double heart. (1 Chronicles 12:33)

These mighty ones who could keep rank did so because of their hearts. Other translations describe their hearts in these ways:

• Undivided loyalty
• Singleness of purpose
• Undivided heart
• Unquestioned loyalty
• True-hearted

John Wesley’s notes say that they were able to set aside their own interests for the good of others. Lord, bless the Korean Christians and help us become more like them.

Zion from Succat Hallel Where the Light of the Menorrah Shines Continuously

For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. (I Peter 2:6, English Standard Version) Peter was referring back to Isaiah 28:16, which says in The New Living Translation:

Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.”

The altitude in Jerusalem is 3,500 feet, so we’re up fairly high. Zion looks more like a hill than a mountain, but it is, in fact, a very large piece of solid, unshakeable rock.

On the flight here, I read C. Peter Wagner’s book Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World, and Art is reading it now. Thebook is about how the gospel brings about social transformation, but author admits that one of the problems is that there are so few examples of social transformation to point to. But we saw a real “transformer” this week, though he wouldn’t call himself that.

On Tuesday we visited our friend Dr. Maria Khoury in Taybeh in the West Bank. We were there in 2005 and were eager to see how the situation there has changed. Art believed from his reading that the West Bank, unlike Gaza, has become more stable, more secure, and better-governed, and that life in the West Bank should be improving. We were disappointed when Hassan, the taxi driver who drove us from the Qalandiya checkpoint to Taybeh, told us that life is worse now because of the security fence.

Taybeh is a beautiful village in the Judean Hills not far from Ramallah. One of the highlights of our time there was a short visit (complete with spicy, sweet Arab coffee) with Fr. Raed, the priest of the Latin Church of Taybeh (Roman Catholic). Besides being friendly and incredibly energetic, he is a genius at making things happen. His many projects are ambitious and as well-implemented as they are visionary. His conversation is peppered with statistics of the economic impacts and costs of projects like Beit Afram, the lovely home for the elderly that we visited with Maria. He knows exactly how many people can be employed by the new guesthouse, which is a retreat center for pilgrims, and how many visitors it will require to keep up with payroll.

The school and the medical center serve a population that is nearly one-third Muslim, and since unemployment is a foundational social problem in the West Bank, employment statistics weight right alongside educational and health outcomes in his calculations. It was very interesting to see that in his thinking, goals are piggy-backed, and he knows how all the pieces fit together.

One of the most appealing of his projects is the Olive Branch Foundation. We toured the workshop on our last visit and brought one of the peace lamps with Taybeh olive oil home. Fr. Raed has international trading partners in Europe and the U.S.. For a parish priest in a village of 1,600 people, that’s a pretty amazing network.

The West Bank has a long way to go, but if there were more like Fr. Raed, the progress would be quicker and happier.

 It’s a blessing that our little studio apartment is in a great Jerusalem neighborhood. Our street, Emek Rephaim, means “valley of giants,” and it’s mentioned a couple of times in the Bible. The slideshow below is a tour of Emek Rephaim. We walk this way roundtrip once or twice a day, so we’re walking an hour or two each day. It’s great–almost like our days in Slovakia. Hope it makes up for missing our workouts at the Y. It’s refreshingly practical to walk for transportation, not just for exercise. Yes, I ate that whole salad–and the bagel and cappucino that went with it.

Mt Zion from Succat Hallal

Although we’ve visited many of the world’s beautiful cities, especially the European capitals, we always say that Jerusalem is our favorite city. It has an allure to us that no other city has (Moline, Illinois and Freetown, Sierra Leone are close), so we love to come here. Last time we visited Israel (we think it was 2005), we didn’t even come to Jerusalem, so we were excited when we were sitting in the Global Prayer Room at International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City in late February, and we realized, “We get to go to Jerusalem again.”

We’re blessed that we have contacts among Israelis, Palestinians, and Bedouins, and we were eager to see them again and to make new connections, but our main purpose in coming was to spend time at Succat Hallel. Succat Hallel (Hebrew for “tabernacle of praise”) is a 24/7 house of prayer. People have come together from many nations to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for God’s plan for Israel and the nations.

Our experiences so far have exceeded our expectations. Three hours at Succat Hallal goes quickly. The worship is wonderful, and we’ve already learned a lot from the prophetic insights and experiences of the people who lead the watches. As our time here goes on, we’ll share some of the pieces that we’re fitting together. Our overall impression of the people here is a deep passion for intimate fellowship with God and radical commitment to obey Him and participate in His plan. We’re so thankful to be here.

The main thrust right now is the Elav Conference in Tel Aviv from July 3 -5. Young people from all over the land will come together at Hangar 11, the largest rock concert venue in Tel Aviv. Messianic Jews and Arab Christians will praise God together and witness to unbelievers. There is tremendous expectation about the things God is going to do through Elav, and it’s an enormous faith venture.