A Unison Ahmeen

Today, Sunday, began with a number of us walking down the hill to the Church of the Nativity here in Bethlehem to observe the Greek Orthodox worship service and the Roman Catholic mass. They are held simultaneously in buildings immediately adjacent to each other.

We all attended the morning worship of The Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church (http://www.bethlehemchristmaslutheran.org/) at 10:30 a.m. Pastor Kris (from North Dakota) was invited to read a lesson and I was invited to pray a petition of the pastoral prayer with Pastor Mitri Raheb and a leader of the Lutheran Church in Austria. The Austrian bishop was also in attendance and gave the benediction. Pastor Raheb offered wonderful hospitality by including Kris and me, welcoming our group, printing some bulletins in English and even choosing hymns that we would be able to sing. How wonderful to hear "How Great Thou Art" sung in German, English and Arabic. We also prayed the Lord's Prayer in our own languages. Somehow we all ended with the "Amen" at the same time!

Following worship we joined the congregation and other visitors from Austria for coffee in the fellowship hall. The coffee was a spicy Turkish coffee, which was very strong and very good. We immediately returned to the dining room of the guest house where Dr. Raheb and his staff from the International Center of Bethlehem joined his American and Austrian guests for lunch. The conversation was deep and enlightening. Since we were bit pressed for time, Dr. Raheb will be joining us again for dinner this evening.

This afternoon we traveled into Jerusalem (no more than a 10 or 15 minute drive) to visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. It is a remarkable museum and memorial. I am glad that we were able to reschedule the visit since the museum was closed at the original time.

Our travelers are a bit weary this evening, but all are well. We have an early start tomorrow, so it may just be off to bed for most following dinner.

al Rabbu Ma'akum. (God be with you.) --JC