A Rainy Day in Jerusalem

The weather suddenly became very cold today. Strong winds are driving a light but chilly rain down onto Yerushalayeem shel Zahav (Golden Jerusalem), so that the holy city isn’t quite living up to its name. When it rains here, the pavement stones get very slippery. Many of the walkways on the Mt. Scopus campus are paved with Jerusalem stone, which is a marine limestone that loses all its traction when wet. It’s a beautiful white pavement, but very treacherous in wet weather.

I began volunteering this week at Musalaha, an organization that works toward reconciliation between Arab and Messianic Jewish believers. When I first came to Israel, I had hoped to volunteer at an organization that focuses on blessing Israel, as many Christian Evangelical organizations here do. I visited and applied to work at one such group, which has many ongoing projects to help and encourage Israelis in need. After my visit to the organization and reading some of its literature, however, I realized that I strongly disagreed with some of the group’s beliefs. The head of the organization, for example, had once suggested that God punished the United States through Hurricane Katrina for its support of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. I was clearly not so well-tuned into understanding God’s purposes as was this brother, and I was quickly called to help somewhere else.

Musalaha publishes books, organizes retreats of reconciliation for Arab and Jewish believers, and holds conferences on issues of doctrines, politics, and their relation to faith. The political and theological divide between believers can be very deep here, but Musalaha works to bring all together under the banner of Christ. The organization is all about repentance, forgiveness, and fellowship in the Messiah. I will probably be doing simple jobs around the office, but I hope to help out in any way I can. I believe that God’s heart is broken by the many divisions in His church today. Disunity in the Body of Christ is especially apparent here in Jerusalem, where churches are split by doctrine, history, and nationality. I hope to play a small role at Musalaha in helping to bridge some of these gaps, so that, as believers, we can all come closer to having “one body and one Spirit -— just as you were called to one hope when you were called -— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4:4-6)