Final Glimpses

Dear Friends:

Life continues to amaze and confound here. Yesterday I had an extended conversation with the former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) - Fahed Abu-Akel - who happened to come to a lecture Suzanne was giving. He was in attendance along with folks from the U.N., World Council of Churches, an Armenian priest, a Paulist priest, several Biblical scholars, a Jewish scholar, and various other entities from around Jerusalem. You know, your basic Greensboro audience.

As we are leaving for London tomorrow, let me offer just a few last glimpses of our experiences here. Last night some lingering stomach problems caused me to walk down to the pharmacy in Bethlehem next to the grocery store I've been using. Mr Awad, the grocery store proprietor, greeted me on the porch and I asked about the adjoining pharmacy, which appeared closed. He said, "Yes, it's closed. But if you are sick, I have a key." So inside he goes to get the key and within minutes we walk into the next door pharmacy which suddenly has extended hours and a very loose prescription policy. As we search around for some immodium, I can find only the "needs chilling?" liquid variety.

Mr. Awad says, "You want tablets?""

I'm just concerned about the "needs chilling part," I said, as it was about 90 degrees in the pharmacy at that point

"Tell me exactly what's wrong with you," says my grocer.

I offer the gory details and immediately he whips out his cell phone and begins a rapid-fire conversation in Arabic. Upon hanging up, he says, "He's coming. You sit here five minutes." So there I sat in the pharmacy, waiting for who knows what. About five minutes later, into the parking lot screeches a car and out pops the pharmacist. He inquires about my illness, suggests a few options, goes over the ingredients of each medication, explains it all in extreme detail, suggests various options for a wellness plan, and sells me what I need for five dollars.

I thank him profusely, compliment him on his English, and he says, "I'm not so good in English. Arabic, yes. Italian, yes. French, yes. But English, not so good."

It turns out that he was born in Bethlehem, educated in Italy, attended pharmacy school in France, and is now the proprietor of this formerly thriving store whose business is being destroyed by the wall. And still he's a man kind enough to leave his family at 8:00 p.m. in order to help some stranger who can offer nothing back but a five dollar sale.

Today brought more experiences of hospitality, though as you probably expect by now, it was accompanied by some surprises. Samer, the taxi driver who takes our children to camp each day, invited us over to his home for dinner, an amazingly gracious gesture especially considering that their third child was born just last week. All five Hendersons ambled down past the checkpoint where Samer picked us up. As we drove to his house, he said something very out of character for his cheery disposition, "It's a bad day in Bethlehem. Many arrests. Soldiers come in and take many people."

We rounded the curve to see that the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) had closed the street and surrounded the adjacent housing complex (probably 50 homes) with soldiers at their posts and weapons drawn. Looking for a way around, we stopped briefly, only to be greeted by an extremely loud explosion from this housing complex less. When we could breathe again, Samer said, "Don't worry. That's not shooting. No worries. Just bombs."

What great comfort!

It turns out that these explosions (several more ensued) were from explosive devices designed for crowd control; they make such loud noise that people seek shelter and are thus more easily contained, monitored and searched. Samer was obviously used to it.

We found our way to Samer's house where his wife, Tagrid, had prepared a gourmet meal with the help of Samer's parents who contributed freshly baked bread, a spiced salad, and homemade yogurt to complement the large chicken, rice, potato and breaded vegetable platter before us. We feasted, laughed, and shared stories of our children. We were even able to wade into issues of the wall, Arafat, Bush, and Sharon. It was refreshing to be able to be able to discuss our differences with respect and a commitment to understanding.

The whole evening turned into a time we'll never forget. In fact, it was nearly sacramental: gathering at the table of this Muslim family from Bethlehem, talking about their situation, witnessing their deep love for their children, and listening to them speak about long lasting good relationships with their Christian neighbors. As we prepared to leave, one of the cousins who had joined us said, "We are all children of God and need to understand each other. For many years we have had good relations with our Christian neighbors. We live next to each other and work with each other every day. We are all children of God."

That's kind of a typical day for us here in Israel/Palestine: whether it is talking to the moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), the Middle East representative for the World Council of Churches (also at the lecture), an Italian educated and French trained pharmacist, our faithful grocer, or eating dinner with our Muslim taxi driver and his family, we never have any idea what will happen next, just that it will help us live with eyes wide open.

For those of you who have read these entries and commented on them, we thank you. It's been our privilege to share our thoughts and experiences. We know members of the larger Greensboro community have occasionally dropped in on this site, and we invite you to come to Westminster any time you would like. I promise you'll be warmly welcomed. I'll be sharing more of my thoughts in worship on the weekend of August 14.

We leave early tomorrow (4:00 a.m.) for a few weeks of vacation before our return to Westminster. The Lilly Endowment (who funded this endeavor) requires several weeks of reflection and rest to conclude the sabbatical, and we will gladly oblige. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel.

God's peace to you all.

Bob, Suzanne, Abbie, Will and Hannah