Even in war zones, some things continue as usual, when they can, as they should

From Don Binder on Facebook – The Revd Donald Binder is Chaplain to the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and Canon Pastor of the English-Speaking Congregation of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha (Bethesda) which has five porticoes. In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The ill man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
— (Gospel of John 5:2-9)

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EAPPI Handover Ceremony at St. Anne’s, The Pool of Bethesda

This morning it was my pleasure to attend a handover ceremony for Team 100 of EAPPI at St. Anne’s Church, located next to the historic Pool of Bethesda in the Old City (John 5:2ff, where Jesus healed a lame man).

Founded in 2002 by the World Council of Churches in response to a request by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel—EAPPI for short—welcomes volunteers from around the world to journey here to the Holy Land on a mission of promoting justice and peace.

These volunteers go on to form teams who accompany vulnerable persons around the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In the process, they also document human rights violations that they witness. Sadly, each year they report hundreds of such incidents—no more so than over the past two years.

Volunteer groups stay for a three-month period, after which they “handover” their mission to the incoming team.

Except in this case: Because of the eruption of the Iran War last June, Team 99 never arrived. And so the EAPPI Staff are pictured below here conveying to Team 100 the lit candles of Team 98—the last one to actually serve.

Afterwards, we were pleased to host the newly arrived group of EA’s at St. George’s [Anglican college and cathedral] for lunch.

Please hold Team 100 and those whom they serve in your prayers, so that someday the justice and peace that they seek to encourage will indeed reign in the Land of the Holy One, their mission finally accomplished.

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