Sabbath in Jerusalem

Alas the jet lag meant I was awake at silly o’clock, but I’m not complaining as all this travel is such a privilege. More of the course participants had been arriving and a few gathered for breakfast and took time to chat and begin to get to know each other.

There seem to be 20 of us, plus leaders. The course is Women of the Bible, so perhaps not surprisingly, but slightly sadly, 18/20 participants are women. Most are Anglican, many are ordained, but not all… and so far I’ve met people from Canada, US, Australia, UK, and Ireland. 

Being Sunday and being based at St George’s College, we joined the local congregation at St George’s Cathedral for Holy Communion. As I type, I thought back to last Sunday and oh my goodness, a lot changes in a week! Last Sunday I was in Australia… Em and I went to the markets, I watched her play football, and we had dinner with her in-laws. One week later and I’m worshipping in St George’s cathedral in Jerusalem…!

The congregation is a mix of local Palestinian people, and ex-pats living here, and therefore the service is partly in English and partly in Arabic. It was wonderful to sing hymns together, with both languages melding together beautifully. Following the English sermon for Trinity Sunday, there was an Arabic sermon, and whilst listening to the lovely sound of the language in the background, gave peace and space for prayer.

There was coffee after the service, but not quite like at home ~ strong Arabic coffee served in the stunning courtyard garden of the Cathedral guest house. It was great to mingle and chat and amazingly, as Elaine and I chatted to a local Palestinian lady, Elaine realised that she knows this woman’s daughter, who is living and working in Ireland!!!

A little later, having free time until the early evening, Elaine, Leah and I headed out and had a lovely lunch at a local restaurant, and then returned to the souks of the Old City to do some meandering and shopping for essentials. 

Following a rest, the course began officially at 6pm as we gathered in the cathedral for a Eucharist to open our time of pilgrimage. The guest lecturer for the course is Paula Gooder, who some of you will know of, and she led a thought-provoking opening sermon. Without lots of details from the Bible passages, the themes were firstly, from the call of Abraham, about ‘going’ ~ being called by God to leave things behind and go; secondly personalising Jesus’ question to the disciples, ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ ~ asking ourselves this question; and thirdly, from Jesus’ response to the disciples, ‘come and see’ ~ come and see what Jesus will show, teach, reveal over the days ahead. Just snippets; a great start!

We enjoyed dinner together and an introductory meeting before finishing for the evening. Tomorrow we begin in earnest ~ no more leisurely breakfasts me thinks!

Not many photos today…