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[Back to index of May articles] VIEWPOINT: By Maureen Shea I had the joy of being in Jerusalem this year on Palm Sunday. The reduction of violence in the Holy Land-hideously shattered a week later by a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv-had resulted in an upsurge in Holy Week pilgrims for the second successive year. Press reports indicated that there were over 20,000 pilgrims in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Traveling with a delegation sponsored by Churches for Middle East Peace, I was delighted to be one of them. My day began at the 8 a.m. Eucharist in the Chapel of St. Michael and All Angels at St. George's Cathedral. The small chapel was filled with pilgrims from Wales. The American priest, the Rev. Paul Lillie, reminded us gently that the readings for the day included all of the Holy Week story, lest people skip from the joy of Palm Sunday to that of Easter Sunday, forsaking the betrayal and the crucifixion. I lingered in the lovely gardens of St. George's and, unlike my first visit two years ago, saw numerous adults on their way to the excellent continuing education courses offered at the college (Online at www.stgeorgescollegejerusalem.org). As I returned to our hotel, I saw middle-aged pilgrims scooping up the last of a stack of Jerusalem 2006 Palm Sunday T-shirts being sold by an entrepreneur. I realized that the Palm Sunday procession might not be exactly what I had envisioned and was anxious to see just what it would be. Some say that this pilgrimage began in the 4th Century. The procession starts in Bethany, up through the village of A-Tur, down past the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane and up again through St. Stephen's Gate to the monastery of St. Anne, a few steps inside the gate. Despite the hot sun overhead, young uniformed scouts from various churches marched proudly from beginning to end. Christian leaders, including George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem, Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal, walked and greeted pilgrims along the way. In the St. Anne's gardens, next to an archeological dig, children danced while a group of priests entered strumming guitars. For those of us of a "certain age," it seemed more than anything like a "happening." The most joyful group by far was young people from the northern West Bank town of Jenin. Palestinians who are not residents of East Jerusalem must have permission to enter the city, and many Christians wanting to come to Palm Sunday either did not receive permission or did not even try. The young people from Jenin, however, had their permits and had traveled six hours by bus over a route that could have been traversed in less than two hours, were it not for security check points. Much to the delight of those around them, they played drums and sang frequent hallelujah choruses throughout the long procession. For me, they, more than any others, embodied Jesus' triumphal return to Jerusalem. Along the way, there were stark reminders of the present circumstances of the Holy Land. Next year, what the Israeli government calls the security barrier and the Palestinians "the wall," will divide Bethany so that pilgrims will not be able to begin the procession there. The wall is about 12 feet high in most places and made of solid concrete. Walking up the road to A-Tur, one could see the completed barrier/wall wending its way through the valley, separating Arab villages from Jerusalem. As I followed the cobblestones of the Via Dolorosa and looked upon the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, I was glad for this day and all those who had been a part of it. But I was also amused and saddened by the sight of a small ladder on a balcony outside of one of the windows of the church. While there are many stories as to the ladder's origins, there does seem to be agreement that a ladder has been there since the 18th Century and that it results from a controversy between the Armenians and the Greek Orthodox. Perhaps this is no surprise when you consider that the keys to the basilica are kept by two Muslim families because of ongoing disputes among the Armenians, Greeks, Copts, Syrians, Ethiopians and Latins. Contemplating the day, the disputes within our own Anglican family as well as those within the Christians churches of the Holy Land, I recited these words from a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem: "Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move in every human heart, that the barriers that divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease, and that, with divisions healed, your people might live in justice and peace; We pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." Amen indeed. Maureen Shea is director of government relations for the Episcopal Church. [Back to index of May articles]
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