Jerusalem: Getsameni, Sabeel, and Via Delarosa

We drove from Bethlehem to Jerusalem and made our first stop at the Garden of Getsemani and the Church of Nations.

This stone is said to be where Jesus prayed (John 17).

Our guide Naieem in front of the olive tree planted
in 1964 by Pope Paul VI 

Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center

We listened to a founding member of Sabeel share her life experiences, perspective on the Occupation and her hopes for interfaith dialog and just peace.  She echoed what we heard repeatedly in Bethlehem, the next two years are critical, significant progress must come soon.  I recorded her talk and this turned out to be an amazing answer to prayer.   The staff planned to record her but their equipment failed.  After her talk we shared in worship and Holy Communion, followed by lunch. 

Sabeel is organizing a Global Young Adult Festival "Moving Mountains, Reshaping the World: Aiming for Miracles Through Creative Activism"  July1-6, 2013 Bethlehem.  They are also organizing a conference "The Bible and the Palestinian-Israel Conflict" November 19-25, 2013 in Jerusalem in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Palestinian Liberation Theology.

We walked the Via Delarosa.  At the first station, St Anne at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5), we sang the Doxology to experience the awesome acoustics.

We met this amazing Priest who 
served for 45 years in Tanzania.