Sunday June 22 arrived too early. They had scheduled the Church service to be at the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral in Jerusalem for many of the conference people who had arrived. It’s the oldest Protestant church in Jerusalem going back to the 1830’s. It was a really good service (but the preacher was too long) …..Dana would not have lasted!

I wore the collar Sunday mostly to be identified and to find people from the conference but the black shirt didn’t really agree with the heat or then with me… but it helped to find others there for the same reason as me. Later it also helped in the Old city of Jerusalem… with lesson number one of the Middle East…being assertive!

I hooked up with Marty a priest from Perth, and Jerry a priest from Washington State. To my surprise I also ran into Paul Oritt the priest from Okotoks AB (Paul is now in Washington state). After the service we boarded the buses to go back to the Main hotel where the Conference would be held to register. Name tags are made with a photo I.D. and they have security personnel checking the tags at the doors to the conference. There are some Anglican leaders who because of their ministries and activity in some countries need protection while in Israel and as well given the significance of this conference, protection from disruption.

I hired a taxi after registration being eager to get to the Old city to truly experience Jerusalem. He dropped me off at the Jaffa gate and that’s where the most important taste of this city begins. There are people everywhere and gazillions of little shops where Arab and Palestinian shopkeepers aggressively try to sell you their goods. Then of course there are Orthodox Jews everywhere as well. They are walking, they are praying, they are on cell phones. A few feet away from an Orthodox Jew you might have a Palestinian shopkeeper whose radio is belting out Islamic music and then the reminder to pray. This city grabs you with one very powerful message. Religion matters. Everything everywhere revolves around the central truth here for nearly everyone and certainly for those who live here…life is about religion. Most visitors like myself are here for the very same reason. It was not odd for me to be wandering around in the collar with my video camera because hundreds of other clergy (Anglicans, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics) were also around and taking in the city or going about their religious business. The Palestinian shop-keepers very respectfully call for your attention “Father, Father…hello Father”, quickly followed by “please come into my shop!” Many there are selling religious items and icons and everything else a religious person might want and the collar identifies you as an ideal customer.

I was heading for the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) which is the street Jesus walked on while carrying the cross to the place of the crucifixion. A young Palestinian teenager showed me the beginning point or station number one where Jesus was condemned and sentenced (of course that cost me 10 shekels!) On many of the stations there is a church or chapel that commemorates the various times along the way of the cross where Jesus did something. Some of these are Roman others are Russian or Greek Catholic churches and open and usually in use for mass or simply to walk in to and take pictures.

It is clearly then when it usually hit’s a person that religion matters. After hundreds of times in a sermon or Bible study over the years of my ministry I have talked about this or that aspect of the gospel where Jesus did this or that…but now I was standing where he stood! I sat and took pictures in the chapel where he stood to be condemned. I walked along the Via Dolorosa where he walked his last…. It is somewhat surreal and it does grab your attention.

I discovered the way to fight off the shopkeepers that line both sides of the narrow Via Dolorosa and every other street of the Old City. Here`s where the collar helps. At one shop the young guy wanted me to buy one of his icons or a cross or a religious vestment. I told him "stop talking…it is a holy day for me; it’s Sunday and I am praying!" He then explained his family is Christian (as are many Palestinians) and that he only gets authentic wool weaved by Palestinian women. I told him, "shhh you`re talking!!!!" That was hard for him. It didn`t offend him however because the other surprising thing for a Canadian who visits Jerusalem is that people here always argue! In a busy, cramped, hot, ancient and holy city like this disputes are many. But with Middle eastern people there is no passivity about those disputes. They are out loud, in front of everybody, and with arms in the air. It does not matter how many hundreds of people are walking around and present, an argument is an argument and it is important. Right and wrong just like religion are important here! You just need to thicken the skin, get over it, get involved and take it all in.

Last stop on the Via Dolorosa is the church of the Holy Sepulchre which is on or very near the site where Jesus was crucified and the tomb he was laid to rest in. It is a dramatic place to visit. Lots of people and lots of services happening. It is one of the frustrating parts of this. The Orthodox priests and monks, or else the Franciscans are quite territorial about when processions needs to happen and where the incense needs to be burned and it seems to be a repetition over and over. The problem is that then they always are shooing people this way or that way and out of the way. The doors of the tomb will close behind them and tourists are rushed along. Sometimes you want to just stop them and argue about it and say, “this city belongs to everybody not just you!” But you have to take it in stride and remember that here religion matters and when the doors open again, push your way in. Of course, being pushy is so un-Canadian. We sometimes accuse our American neighbors of being pushy. Watching them here however, you can see them making the adjustment too from being too nice and passive in comparison to this place! I told an American friend that he’s far too nice and needs to get a little pushy. Go figure, a Canadian telling THAT to an American! That’s the way one takes in a place like this where things matter and where religion matters.