Stations of the Resurrection Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

April 24-May 8, 2007

This is the text to accompany the PowerPoint presentation given June 8, 2007, at the 20^th Annual Assembly of the New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, by Pastor Timothy Keyl, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Nashua, N.H.

[Title Slide] From April 24 to May 4, just about one month ago, 24 pilgrims made the journey together to the Holy Land [Map], which is what St. Jerome called “The Fifth Gospel,” and which God in Deuteronomy, describing the Fertile Crescent, sounds irresistible [Jericho]: a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of hills and valleys [Jezreel Valley], watered by rain from the sky, ¹²a land that the LORD your God looks after (Deuteronomy 11:10-11).

[Bus shot] Our pilgrims looked like many of you and were from Maine [Pastor Elaine and Mike Hewes, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bangor, Maine], Vermont, New Hampshire [threesome at a table]; Massachusetts [Paul Sinnott and Bill Voss walking] and Connecticut [group shot behind altar]. One of them even resembled our itinerant bishop [photo of Bishop Margaret Payne in hood at Hebron mosque] [photo Bishop Payne eating knaffe].

[Photo of lemon water at Latrun] We enjoyed splendid Middle Eastern hospitality, with welcome drinks awaiting us upon arrival at every guest house and satisfying meals [makloubeh/chicken] [Pastor Pat Harris with Moroccan dinner] [Tabgha refectory]. We were blessed with a knowledgeable and reliable guide, Naim [Naim gesturing with hands], a capable bus driver Magit [Magit in bus], and esteemed leaders Pastor Susan and Michael Thomas [photo of Pastor Susan and Michael Thomas].

[Photo of Rafaela with zatar] Though everyone will tell you how we learned that the herb mixture called zatar is known as Palestinian brain food and that it is often served with olive oil and pita, we will also tell you how good it can be with fresh Jerusalem bread [photo Na’hala with bread];

[Photo of Pastor Tim Keyl and Pastor Pat Harris with ice pops] Though everyone can tell you how to say “thank you” in Arabic, shukran, and you’re “welcome,” afwan;

Though everyone will tell you how when you dip into the Dead Sea you bob like a cork because of its high salt content [photo of floating pilgrims], and how magnificent the city of Jerusalem looks at night [night photo];

What we really want to tell you about is the LIVING STONES of that great land, [Azar family at table] our sisters and brothers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), who are keeping the faith, and, as our synod mission statement reads, INSIST ON JUSTICE while working for peace.

While in Jerusalem, pilgrims heard from passionate Bishop Munib Younan [photo of Bishop Younan], who once wrote The Palestinian Church is …called to be an axis of hope and to be prophetic. It is called to condemn injustice but at the same time to bring hope, work for justice and prepare a generation of hope and peace. It is the call of the Church to condemn oppression, occupation and violence in our country, but at the same time to call for just peace for both Israel and Palestine according to international legitimacy. (from Water from the Rock: Lutheran Voices from Palestine, contributing editor Ann Haffen, Augsburg Fortress © 2003, p 22).

And we heard from equally passionate pastors and leaders.

[Photo of Nouha Khoury] We heard from Dr. Nouha Khoury and [photo Pastor Mitri Raheb] Pastor Mitri Raheb of the Christmas Lutheran Church and International Center in Bethlehem with its beautiful guest house, yummy café, [“Destruction shall be” photo] [broken pieces put together photo] [Dar Al Kalima School photo] and [school children photo] cultural craft center, and schools that take their cue from Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John that we may have life, and have it abundantly.

[Abraham Herberge photo] We heard from Pastor Jadallah Shihadeh of the Lutheran Church in Beit Jala with its Abraham Herberge, welcoming the stranger in its guest house [guest room photo], orphanage for boys, new songbook, and meaningful forum for dialog [Pastor Shihadeh with Ruth Mayer] [church photo].

The plight of the Palestinians is tragic, as we saw with our own eyes home demolitions [home demolition shot], illegal settlements and the 465-mile concrete barrier [wall shots – three photos] that doesn’t so much separate Palestinians from Israelis but instead separates Palestinians from Palestinians, and prevents access to work and health care, even health care from Lutheran World Federation’s Augusta Victoria Hospital. [home demolitions wall] [AVH].

We met Christian Peacemakers in the little village of At Tuwani [village shot] who described violent settlers who have wreaked havoc on villagers by poisoning their fields [photo of fields] and threatening school children [photo of children], so that the army, the Israeli Defense Force, has to protect children walking to school four hours on a snake-like route in order to fend off those who have taken land away. [Two women]

We met Israelis [photo of Dalia Landau and Pastor Susan Thomas] who have opened their doors to Arab and Jewish families and helped us to welcome the Sabbath [Western Wall with Dome of the Rock in background], who share stories of the bereavement of children as a way to protest unnecessary violence, and who marvel at the reconciling power of art [James Snyder and Tina Davis photo with Pastor Michael Thomas in center].

[Altar shot] Our pilgrimage was called Stations of the Resurrection: Signs of Hope in the Holy Land. To everyone we met, after each story was told, we asked “What is it that gives you hope?” Though answers were as varied as the people we met, for many, the response was “that’s all we have is hope.”

While many times we were filled with righteous anger, we have many stories to tell about hope. [Augusta Victoria Hospital photo] We can tell you about the ministry in the name of Lutherans that Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) does in its cancer treatment [mammography photo] [radiation photo], kidney dialysis [photo], and village clinics. Though the financing stream has been stifled with the refusal of the United States to fund the Palestinian government, though the AVH staff has had to create a mobile medical van to get to the villages since the wall and checkpoints has made it nearly impossible for the ill to get to the hospital, still plans are in motion to build affordable housing on the Mount of Olives in AVH’s backyard to keep Palestinians in Jerusalem [housing site photo] [photo with group].

[Photo of Church of the Holy Sepulchre] [photo of stations of the cross] And we discovered, in our 14 days of getting “facts on the ground,” that we who pray unceasingly and insist on justice are ourselves bearers of hope. By our own accompaniment with our brothers and sisters [shot of vEnessa Acham with Rafiq Nasser], our own paying attention to stories of Christian witness and advocacy, by advocating for changes in public policy, our own financial support, giving extravagantly for the Mount of Olives’ Housing Project [pilgrim photo] and other programs of the ELCJHL, and our own ongoing pilgrimages, we will be catalysts for change and promoters of peace with justice. [Photo of Bishop Margaret Payne blessing pilgrims in the Jordan River].

Mitri Raheb says,

Some visitors have…wanted to see us as mere victims, hopeless and helpless. But that attitude victimizes us, the victims. Although we are victims, we are not only victims. We have fears and tears, but we have hopes and dreams, too. We aren’t just helpless people, nor are we a hopeless case…. It’s important for us to hear our visitors tell us that what they’ve seen here has given them hope, strength and commitment to go back and make a change. (Quoted in Christians in a Land Called Holy by Charles P. Lutz and Robert O. Smith, Fortess Press Minneapolis © 2006, p 118.)

[Photo of the Sea of Galilee] Won’t you consider joining the 2008 pilgrimage, so that you, too, can learn hope even from those living in situations that seem hopeless? [Pastor Tim Keyl in the Jordan River]

Timothy J. Keyl

Pastor

Christ the King Lutheran Church

Nashua, New Hampshire

(603) 882-6142

tkeyl@ctknashua.org

Note: Contact Pastor Keyl for information about the 2008 pilgrimage.

Note: Read daily reflections posted by Pr. Tim Keyl at http://www.ctknashua.org/2007_Pilgrimage/2007_Pilgrimage_menu.htm

Note: The 24 pilgrims were:

• Bishop Margaret G. Payne, New England Synod;
• Prs. Michael and Susan Thomas, Our Savior Lutheran Church and Student Center, Hanover, N.H.;
• vEnessa Acham, Our Savior Lutheran Church, Hanover, N.H.;
• Ruth Mayer, Our Savior Lutheran Church, Hanover, NH
• Phil Arula, University Lutheran Church, Cambridge, Mass.;
• Evelyn Bonander, University Lutheran Church, Cambridge, Mass.;
• Ronna vonAu, University Lutheran Church, Cambridge, Mass.;
• Lois Cecsarini of Arlington, Va., a former member of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem;
• Alison Garnjost, Janet Garnjost and John Garnjost, St. John's Lutheran Church, Stamford, Conn.;
• Nancy Hallberg-Emerson, AIM, St. Peter Lutheran Church, Harwich, Mass.;
• Pr. Patricia Harris, Community Lutheran Church, Enfield, N.H.;
• Pr. Elaine and Michael Hewes, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bangor, Maine;
• William Voss, Redeemer, Bangor, Maine;
• Pr. Timothy Keyl, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Nashua, N.H.;
• Carolyn Lange, St. Louis, Mo.;
• Pr. Rafaela Morales-Rosa, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, Conn.;
• Gregg Sharp and Nina Sharp of Burlington, Vt.;
• Pr. Paul Sinnott, ministry specialist for ministries of peace and justice, New England Synod;
• Pr. Nancy Wright, Ascension Lutheran Church, South Burlington, Vt.