Epiphany

Is it too absurd to say that three wise men have come from the west in search of Jesus? I listened to a lot of A.A. Bondy on the flight over here, a guy Graham introduced me to and we saw in both Bonnaroo and Boston. There is a line in one of his songs that says, "I don't want to talk about Jesus, I just wanna see his face." Me too.

I was here before--almost twenty-six years ago, on spring break from St. Andrews with my friend Rich Truta. We were on our own, really and did see the place but it feels different this time. On the flight over Chris asked me what I remembered. M-16s, I said. A stark reminder to see soldiers on a bus and in the street of where we are. They are still here.

I also told him I remembered that I felt Christianity is much bigger than my daily experience of it. Ecumenical in Holden means Catholics, Protestants, and Episcopalians who sometimes count themselves in one or the other side of that equation and sometimes as holding down the middle. I remembered discovering the many faces of Orthodoxy here and Palestinian Christians too. In fact that has already been reinforced: the cathedral which is on the grounds of the college (or I guess it's more accurate to say the college is on the cathedral grounds!) has both an English speaking and an Arab speaking congregation. In the "boy the Episcopal Church really is a small world" category--the canon to the English-speakers came here from Edgartown, Mass and was the rector of parishioners of mine who now live in Holden, Tom and Dianne Wilson. We had a lovely visit last night over some wine from Bethlehem.

What I had forgotten, strangely, is how Jewish Israel is. That sounds dumb, I know. But it's not the cultural parts but the practice of religion that is striking and that I remembered on the plane. As we flew over Spain and Morocco and the sun came up, people began saying their prayers. They dressed first--and I realize how little I know about what all of that means. And they read their prayers. Like half the plane did. It was fascinating on so many levels but above all to be reminded that this "holy land" is holy not just because of people like me who "wanna see Jesus' face."

Today: I'm up way early because my body is not sure where it is yet. Chris was up earlier even. I will probably crash and burn later today but couldn't keep lying in bed. So it's 3:48 local time as I write; no doubt it will be a long day. We begin with Eucharist at the Cathedral at 7 a.m. Actually we are "free" at 11 a.m. today to also attend a second Eucharist: it's the fourth anniversary of the bishop's consecration so I think I'll plan to go back and worship with the Palestinian congregation for that. The rest of the morning is mostly orientation but the afternoon is exploring Jerusalem.

The staff seem terrific but one thing we didn't have before we arrived was a detailed itinerary. I now have a clearer sense of what this two weeks will look like. They are big on pilgrimage rather than being tourists--which I am on board with. We begin and end in Jerusalem, first with history of the city and at the end with a literal "stations of the cross" service that then leads to Emmaus. In between we will have two days and nights up in Nazareth, which I'm glad about as I'd thought we just had day trips there.

Final thoughts: it is really difficult to find words to describe what it is like to be here again after twenty-six years but I am in touch with that "feeling" again that I also failed to mention to Chris. Week after week I preach from texts that reflect events that happened here. It's so easy for the Bible to feel "once upon a time." The dean here shared last night that Bultmann never visited the holy land. That name means nothing perhaps to many of you following this blog but he was a "giant" in the field of New Testament. But he didn't seem interested in place, in context. I think that is a huge mistake and being here, even just so far for hours, makes it clearer why that is the case. The land, the language, the customs, the religion, the food, the wine--these are what make up any context for ministry--from Holden to Jerusalem. They give us identity. To have the opportunity to be here is to enflesh the words in some real way. Epiphany therefore seems like exactly the right time to begin, because I don't wanna just talk about Jesus, I want to see his face!