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Good Friday brings many blessings for Presiding Bishop's Holy Land pilgrimage
Bishop Epting preaches at evening liturgy
[Episcopal News Service, Jerusalem] Good Friday in Jerusalem was a day filled with many blessings and a solemn reminder of Jesus' painful journey to his crucifixion as Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and an Episcopal Church delegation joined pilgrims and Christians in the Holy Land to share in Christ's Passion.Shortly after sunrise, a crowd representing Anglican, Lutheran and Presbyterian Churches gathered at St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem before embarking on Jesus' passage along the Via Dolorosa -- a Good Friday devotion known as the Stations of the Cross.
The Presiding Bishop and Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interfaith officer, offered readings and prayers at some of the 14 stations that represent chief scenes of Christ's suffering and death.
"Our morning journey through the Old City was interrupted by shopkeepers opening their shuttered shops, small tractors chugging through the narrow lanes, and other pilgrim groups taking their equivalent journeys, singing and praying in a variety of languages," said Jefferts Schori.
In addition to readings and prayers alternating in English, Arabic and German, the crowd sang familiar hymns telling of Jesus' final hours and crucifixion.
The journey culminated at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, where representatives of the Churches, including Holy Land Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, led the final prayers.
"I was struck at the way we carried on through the normal activities of the city, crossing busy streets, walking past garbage waiting for pick up, past people who alternately stared at us, greeted us warmly, or ignored us," said Jefferts Schori. "How similar must have been Jesus' journeys the last week of his life."
Younan hosted the Presiding Bishop's delegation and the family of Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem Suheil Dawani for an authentic Palestinian breakfast of hummus and baba ghanoush. Younan acknowledged that March 21 is Mothers' Day in Palestine and gave thanks for the Presiding Bishop's pastoral visit and her ministry. The Lutheran World Federation, he noted, has been ordaining women as pastors since 1958.
Epting preached at the evening's Good Friday liturgy, and the Rev. Canon Hosam Naoum, acting dean of St. George's Cathedral, offered a summary of the sermon in Arabic.
"We can be confident in our Christian faith even when we find ourselves a tiny minority, because the one who has promised is faithful," said Epting, citing the verse from Hebrews 10:23 that includes a call to Christians to "hold fast to the confession of our faith without wavering."
Epting said that the passage means that "no matter how bad things may look…God will one day establish a kingdom of peace and of justice -- because the one who has promised is faithful."
Reflecting on Epting's sermon, Jefferts Schori said: "Jesus died that we might no longer live in discord with God and neighbor; humanity still lives in ways that belie that. Yet as Bishop Epting repeatedly reminded us in his homily, we continue to live in hope because God is faithful, always faithful."
Following the service, Jefferts Schori was greeted by the Rev. Gideon Uzomechina, an Anglican priest from the Diocese of Niger in the Church of Nigeria, who is visiting the Holy Land with more than 200 pilgrims from the Christian Association of Nigeria.
He said it was a blessing to meet the primate of the Episcopal Church.
Following the Maundy Thursday service on March 20, the Presiding Bishop and Epting joined a procession to Gethsemane. "Our evening vigil in the Garden of Gethsemane was hauntingly beautiful under the nearly full moon and brilliant stars, with the city of Jerusalem lit up in the distance," said Jefferts Schori.
"The juxtaposition of holy days was a reminder of how central religion is to this city -- yesterday was Mohammad’s birthday and the beginning of Purim as well as Maundy Thursday," she added. "Fasting also has a different place in this land, and we were invited to share both a simple breakfast offered by the Lutherans following the morning pilgrimage, and an evening meal following the cathedral liturgy, each with traditional meatless foods."
The Presiding Bishop's March 16-24 visit to the Holy Land comes at Dawani's invitation. In addition to Epting, Jefferts Schori is joined by her husband, Dick Schori, and Maureen Shea, director of government relations.
"The reality of this land has shaped our faith in ways most of us cannot begin to comprehend -- that Jesus was born and lived in an occupied land, that he focused so much on feeding people and healing them, that his most vigorous critique was of empty religiosity -- and all of it resounds loudly with the ways in which people live here today."
On Holy Saturday, the Presiding Bishop's delegation will travel throughout Galilee, walking in Jesus' footsteps and recalling his prophetic and healing ministry throughout Palestine. The day will end with the Easter Vigil and lighting of the new fire, as Christians worldwide look toward Jesus' joyful resurrection on Easter Sunday.