We visited a Reverend David Neuhaus, a Jesuit Priest who heads the St. James Vicariate in Jerusalem. It was interesting to hear his perspective on Christianity in Israel. There were not denominational devisions between the people. In their perspective, they are Christians. Not Catholics, not Orthodox, not Methodists, or Lutherans, but Christians. This was really cool from a unity standpoint. Even so, in Rev. Neuhaus's there was a divide between the Jewish Christians and Arab Christians. The people he worked with could not get over the ethnic divide that exists between the two groups. In his perspective there was also a huge barrier for Christians (mainly Catholics) because of the actions of the Crusaders during the Middle Ages. The slaughtering of Muslims, Jews, and Orthodox believers was a low point for the Christian church, and the twisting of faith in Christ to justify such acts was a travesty. The orthodox are divided from the Catholics because in addition to the murder of the Orthodox in the middle ages, when the Catholics returned, the people converted to Catholicism were Orthodox believers.
I asked Gil whether there were any significant protestant groups in Israel, and he said there weren't.
When I got back, I talked to Larry and Olga Riley about their experience with faithful believers in Israel. They spent years living in Israel. Their experience was that Jewish and Arab Christians worshiped together and saw each other as the body of Christ. This group of believers was not very large. I got the sense that this was a different group than the one described to me by Father Neuhaus. I was glad to hear that there was a group in Israel that professed faith in redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ, even though the group was small.
It seems to me that unity of Arab and Jewish Christians would be an awesome witness to the rest of Israel, and the world.
 |
| St. Peter's Church in Jaffa |
No comments:
Post a Comment