On Sunday, since school is out until February 1, everyone on the team was able to get to church--something I really needed a lot.  As usual, there's something spiritually powerful about worshipping and sharing communion with people from all over the world, and getting connected as well with the small, stalwart core congregation--mostly composed of relief and development workers.  The church offers the wine in two ways, via a common cup and via little cups like the ones we used at the College First Church of God in Findlay when I was growing up.  It's interesting that the disinfecting has almost become a part of the ritual.  Those distributing the bread and wine, wash their hands in a special bowl and a large bottle of the local equivalent to Purell is placed strategically so that worshippers can disinfect before they receive the elements (neither of which we actually use our hands for.)  There was a large contingent of the Wartburg Seminary Lutheran students here for a study-abroad semester.  Another group of Wartburg students went to Haiti for the semester, and one of them Bob Larson, died in the earthquake this week, so afterwards, many of the attendees were providing ministry to Larson's friends.

We also held in prayer several members of the congregation to whom Israel has denied entry in the last couple weeks.  One was the girlfriend of Maán journalist Jared Malsin (http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253864); one was with Lutheran World Service, and two were from Worldvision.  Both of the latter two organizations have worked in the region for decades, so their denial of entry has really serious implications for the work.  I attended a meeting of non-governmental organizations a couple weeks ago, who were discussing these issues.  An Israeli lawyer addressed the group, saying that the very worst person to be in charge of the Ministry of the Interior is, actually in charge of the Ministry of the Interior.  He encouraged NGOs to be in contact with their governments, because most of them are in part funded by their governments.  I remember in 2002, when I was denied entry, I told the Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in DC that it would make me sad if Israel prevented me from visiting my Israeli friends, but I would be willing to stay in Palestine if that were the case.  The problem is, that Israel has complete control over Palestine's borders.

On a lighter note, one of the Wartburg students had done her Clinical Pastoral Care work at Blanchard Valley in Findlay, and her husband was originally from Tiffin, OH (as is my teammate, Paulette Schroeder).  For those of you not aware of that part of my life, I grew up in Findlay, a town of about 38, 000, and the population of nearby Tiffin is about 18,000.  I find that many Sundays here, when I've been able to get to church, I've had a lot small-world moments.

Yesterday, the shopkeepers in our neighborhood were telling us that apocalyptic amounts of rain were supposed to fall.  Yes, we went out to visit friends in the Beqaá Valley, anyway, and when we got back, we found ourselves wading through very cold water about a foot deep in the Old City.  Fathiyeh, my teammate, was helping me through, because my glasses were too wet to see through, but then she fell into a hole full of sewage, so I had to help her out.  We had invited the women of the Ecumenical Acompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI--they call themselves "Yappies") for dinner. They were really determined to come, in spite of our warnings about the flooding, and we ended up having to totally reclothe the Swiss volunteer.

But the flooding has good implications for the summer.  People with cisterns will be able to sustain a little more of their agriculture (and on the ever-present bummer note, a few months ago, the Israeli military demolished some of these cisterns in the Beqaá Valley, which seems egregiously mean). 

Some prayer requests:  that the heart of the Israeli Minister of the Interior,  Meir Sheetrit, will be opened, for my colleague Laura, who has been testifying this week about a settler attack on women in Tuwani gathering herbs a year and a half ago (the settler lawyers have been pulling some pretty dirty tricks the last couple days, including removing someone who was translating for her and calling the Tuwani team, pretending to be someone else, to find out her travel plans.  We hope that an Israeli lawyer friend will be able to file misconduct charges),  for the family of a shepherd in At-Tuwani who was beaten for five hours, for the safe arrival of new CPTers. . .

Actually maybe just praying for an end to the occupation will accomplish all that.