Easter in Jerusalem

It's great to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, where it all began! I sampled several styles of worship, and will share some photos with you in chronological order, starting with the vigils on Saturday night.

St. Savior's Church

At St. Savior's Church, where the service was sung in Arabic, they turned out all the lights and brought in a big candle from the back to share light with a small candle for each of the hundreds of worshipers. At the end, bells rang and the altar candles were finally lit.

Interior of St.Savior's

Gethsemane Church

Interior of Gethsemane Church

At Gethsemane Church, the service was in Spanish and I sat next to a Chilean. They also had  a large candle bringing light, but said the church would not allow individual worshipers to have candles. There was lively guitar music. We renewed our baptismal vows and were sprinkled with holy water.


On the way to the next church, passing through the Old City, I came upon a group of Palestinian Christians with a loud drum, chanting for freedom for Palestine. The restaurant they passed gave them free water to show support.

Palestinian demonstration in the Old City

Notre Dame

Apostolic Nucnio at Notre Dame

At Notre Dame, where my wife and I stayed on our first visit to Jerusalem, the vigil  began with a bonfire in front, used to light one candle that in turn lit ours as we entered the building. The officiant was the apostolic Nuncio (the Vatican ambassador), and the service was conducted in several languages. One of the sung responses that resonated with me was "Lord, send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth."  Here too, we renewed our baptismal vows.

Bonfire at Notre Dame

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

At midnight, I headed to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for a Latin service with more candles and processions. It was a  subdued, quieter service, attended by just a couple of hundred people.

Midnight procession at Holy Sepulchre Church

Ecce Homo Convent

I attended the sunrise service at Ecce Homo Convent (where I went to one of the Good Friday services.) The rooftop location afforded a lovely view of the sun rising to bless Jerusalem. The service was in French and English, with many African priests co-officiating. In the homily we were asked to "accept the victory of love over death and make it our own." There was a lively band and choir, and the service was followed  by breakfast on the terrace.

Sunrise service on Ecce Homo roof

Patriarch Fouad Twal

I then returned to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the main event: a two-and-a-half hour Easter Mass where there were at least a thousand worshipers from many lands. (I had a seat for a while, and sat between a woman from Congo and a woman from Poland.) The service was in Latin, and many in the congregation had a book translating it into several languages. The organ music was majestic, and there was a beautiful, well-amplified choir. The officiant was the Latin Patriarch (Archbishop) of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal. In his homily (read in Arabic with printed translations provided in English, Italian, and other languages), the Patriarch said, "I invite the international community, beyond speeches and visits, to take concrete and effective decisions to find a balanced and just solution for the Palestinian cause, which lies at the heart of all the Middle East's Troubles."  He expressed confidence that Pope Francis will continue "with strength and extermination"  the work of Pope Benedict for peace in the Holy Land.

Easter procession in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

In the intercessory prayers, we prayed that all citizens of Jerusalem may enjoy "prosperity and harmony." The Mass ended with three candle-lit processions around the sepulchre, with pauses to read from the Gospel. After the service I entered the sepulchre, but the guides pushed us in five at a time and gave us only five seconds. Not much time for meditation. But overall, the service was marvelous and unforgettable.

Gospel reading

Entrance to the inner sepulchre

Remembering Land Day

Planting a tree for Land Day

Every year on March 30 Palestinians observe Land Day, to recall that on that date in 1976 Israel expropriated a large amount of land for "security and settlement purposes." This triggered a general strike and confrontations in which six Palestinians were killed and about 100 wounded. Some years the anniversary has been marked with violently repressed demonstrations, and extra police were on call in Jerusalem against any eventuality. Fortunately, we did not see any clashes here.

Children admire their work

We watched a small group of Palestinians and Israeli peace activists commemorate Land Day by planting olive trees in Sheikh Jarrah,
in front of the home of Nabeel Al-Kurd, which is partially occupied by Israeli settlers (see blog of March 28). Sarah, an Israeli activist who has long helped people in Sheikh Jarrah fight eviction for settlement expansion, said last year they planted six trees but only one survived. She guesses that the others were destroyed by settlers. Children took part in the planting. Who knows what the future holds for them. Will they see peace and an end to land expropriation?

Bishop lighting candles

I prayed for peace at Holy Saturday services at the Greek Catholic Church and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Greek church had a blessing of the holy fire and the liturgy of St. Basil. The bishop lit a candle for each person in the congregation and we processed around the church.

Procession at Greek Church

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there were three solemn processions, first the Copts, then the Syrians, then a much larger group of Roman Catholics, led by the Franciscans.

Coptic priests leaving sepulchre

Priest behind sepulchre

Preparing for procession

Procession

Freedom of worship restricted

Special checkpoints (blue tents) at Damascus Gate

Freedom of worship is a basic human right that Israeli security forces are restricting in Jerusalem. For the third Friday in a row, they denied access to the Old City for Muslim men under the age of 50. That means they could not worship at midday prayers in Al-Aqsa mosque, which is like denying a Catholic the right to attend high mass at a cathedral.  I saw hundreds of police and soldiers, perhaps over a thousand, at the city gates and all along the main streets in the Old City. I saw one young man who was denied access praying on the sidewalk outside a gate.

Police horses ready to disperse crowd

Questioning a young man

Later, other Ecumenical Accompaniers saw clashes between security forces and Palestinians. (Photos courtesy of Olli-Matti Nykanen.)

Harassing two young men

Blocking mosque access and arresting young men

I asked a soldier at one gate why young Muslims were barred from entry on Friday mornings. He replied, "The Palestinians might cause a problem."

Gilad with Hebrew sign: Stop the Occupation

This restriction on worship would end if Israel were no longer an occupying power. At the weekly
demonstration by Women in Black I met a young Israeli peace activist named Gilad, who said he thinks that international pressure is the only way to end the occupation.

Unlike the young Muslim men, I had no restrictions on attending Good Friday services in Jerusalem.

Worship at the Garden Tomb

At the Garden Tomb, surrounded by flowers, and with sweetly singing birds, we prayed for peace in Jerusalem and prayed that authorities would work together for the benefit of the people who live in Israel and Palestine.

Cross for veneration in Ecce Homo

Later, at the Ecce Homo Convent of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion, I worshiped in the "lithostratos," the pavement where Pilate met Jesus and said, "Behold the man." We reflected on Christ's passion, and had a chance to venerate a wooden cross with a touch or a kiss and celebrate communion. As the Scripture from John was read, I could not help but note the part played by the occupying Roman army in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. It was the soldiers who put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head, mocked him, struck him in the face, and crucified him. Talk about human rights violations!

After those two services in English, I attended a mystical Byzantine office of the burial of Christ at the Greek Catholic Church, conducted entirely in Arabic (mostly sung.) We remembered Christ's descent to Hades "to save the souls of the just and open for them the gates of paradise." The church sees Christ's time in the tomb as repose from his suffering, and a prelude to resurrection. There were many processions around the church, and one in the street in front, carrying a flower-covered box that represented Christ's body.

Incense-filled altar

We were sprinkled with rose water to remind us of the sweet-smelling myrrh of the ointment- bearing women, and we were given a red flower to take home. Although the sermon was loud and strong, I learned from a fellow worshiper that it was nonpolitical.

Procession outside the Greek Catholic Church

A house divided

Nabeel Al-Kurd

Nabeel Al-Kurd has unwelcome neighbors living in the front half of his house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. Here is his story. His family was one of 28 refugee families that received homes from Jordan and a UN agency in 1956. They were promised titles to the land in three years, but never got them. Then Israel occupied Jerusalem in 1967. They built an addition in front in 2000 (without a permit, because they couldn't get one) to add a living room, kitchen, and bathrooms. Nabeel says, "Before I could even sleep in it, a Judge came to the house--for the first time in Israel--to take the key."

Nabeel offered to destroy the illegal addition, but authorities would not let him. They wanted it for Israeli settlers. After he finished paying a fine of more than $20,000, they let a Rabbi from Brooklyn, NY move in the front of his home at the end of 2009. Nabeel says the court recognized errors in the case but refused to correct them. Now the settlers are trying to make him pay rent for the three rooms in which the 12 members of his family live, but that case is stalled in court.

Front addition of house occupied by Israeli settlers

Tent erected in protest beside the addition

Nabeel says the Rabbi shares his part of the house with five or six young people, who are not good neighbors. He said sometimes they throw water, trash, or urine toward his part of the house, so they have had to put up blankets for protection.

Blankets put up for protection from the settlers

Palestine map obliterated by settler grafitti

According to Nabeel, 13 families have been evicted from Sheikh Jarrah, and nine others, including his own, have eviction orders pending. He says, "They may have the power to evict me, but the court has accepted our map of the property so maybe we will be able to stay." The family's story, from the perspective of his teenage son Mohamed, is told in a film called "In My Neighborhood," produced by Just Vision.

Rev. Naim Ateek

The visit to Nabeel's house confirmed what we heard earlier today: "We live in a broken and unjust world," said Anglican priest Naim Ateek at the Maundy Thursday service at the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center.  In the service we prayed for an easing of movement restrictions on Palestinians, and freedom for hunger-striking Palestinian political prisoners. In his homily, Rev. Ateek said "The community of faith must continue to subvert the hierarchical structure and live in the horizontal structure modeled by Jesus when he washed the disciples' feet."

Foot washing at St.George's

I had a foot washed this evening by the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, in St. George's Church. After the service, we had a half-hour procession to the Garden of Gethsemane, where we meditated, reflected, and sang "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord," with a full moon over the olive trees, much like Jesus mght have seen. I prayed for Nabeel's family.

Procession forming in front of church

Full moon over Gethsemane

A nasty walk to school

Culvert to start the commute to school

Boy in culvert

Although authorities blocked this road six years ago, the sign above still says
"Welcome to Jaba." Students have to climb rocks and squeeze through a tunnel.

Imagine if you had to get to school by crawling through a culvert under a busy highway, then climb over
a rock pile and squeeze through a narrow tunnel that might have snakes or a dead sheep. In rainy weather, you will get muddy and the teacher will send you home. That's the daily trip of 30 children in the Kaabneh Bedouin community of Jaba, northeast of Jerusalem, which is hemmed in by Israeli settlements and highways. The Palestinian Authority says it has no money to get them a bus, but my EA partner Olli from Finland is going to see if his government can help.

Mohamed Kaabneh

We learned from Mohamed Kaabneh that their community, which now has about 250 persons, has been here for 43 years and has title to the land (unlike the Bedouins threatened with forced relocation from Khan al-Ahmar, reported in earlier blogs).

He says two of the houses were built with permits, but the other houses and tents do not have them and it is practically impossible to get them from Israeli authorities. He showed us two houses that authorities have demolished.

Destroyed home

Mahmoud says soldiers have destroyed the community's tents four times in the past two years, and on March 19 they gave him a verbal order to take the current tents down or they would be destroyed in one week. The week has passed...maybe they will get a reprieve.

Some of the tents threatened with destruction

Israeli settlement of Adam

The Kaabneh live very near the Israeli settlement of Adam, started in 1986, but Mohamed says there have been virtually no difficulties with those settlers. They have had problems with more militant settlers from near Ramallah, who have broken windows in his house and stolen sheep.

A dozen years ago settlers approached the Kaabneh and offered them a blank check to purchase their property. They could have named any price. But Mohamed says they refused to sell. "I was born here; I want to die here," he says.

A determined boy

Community's goats stop highway traffic

We are used to seeing roads for Israelis only, but on the way back to Jerusalem today we found a novel traffic pattern. The road was designated for Palestinians only, and police made Israelis detour to avoid creating traffic jams around the old city for Passover.