by Paula Primm

We hear the story of Bir’am, Abuna’s home village, destroyed in 1953

Our third full day in the Holy Land was a day of contrasts. Our morning was spent in Bir’am, the childhood village of Father Chacour. The village, now in ruins and overgrown with weeds, was a town of over 1,000 Palestinian Christians, with a Maronite Church, a health clinic, three schools, and many traditional stone houses. We all knew the story from reading Father Chacour’s memoir Blood Brothers. The villagers were forced to leave their homes by the Israeli army in 1948, and they and their descendants have been fighting within the courts of Israel to regain their land ever since. Despite a successful court ruling in 1952 authorizing the return of the people to their lands, the army blocked the return authorized by the court, ultimately bombing the village in 1953.

The ruins of the village are entirely located inside a national park, ironically dedicated to the adjacent ruins of an ancient building that was probably first a Roman temple, then a synagogue. Our guide, from a Bir’am family, says it was a Christian Church after that. The descriptive materials make no mention of the final use of the building, but instead describe the village as “a prosperous and a big Village during the first to the seventh centuries CE.” No mention is made at all of the Palestinian Christians who lived there until 1948 and what happened to them. We were stunned by this omission.

On the signage in the park, there is no mention of the Christian village occupied until 1948 and destroyed in 1953.

The light in this darkness is found in the Maronite Church that was once the heart of the village. The people of the area were given permission to rebuild the church, and we were privileged to share a moment of worship there with our guide, Riyadh Gantous, and the parish priest. The priest, accompanied by his little son and nephew, both about Father Chacour’s age when his family left the village, unlocked the door for us, and we all filed in. The priest explained that in the Maronite tradition, services and prayers are in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. He asked the boys to recite the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic and Aramaic. Their sweet, little-boy voices filled the little church and our hearts with hope. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. The heart of this church is still beating, giving hope to the people.

Our lovely picnic lunch under the trees gave us a chance to regroup, and we headed down to some of the holy sites on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Walking on the shore of the Sea of Galilee by the Church of the Primacy of Peter where we know Jesus and the disciples walked and talked was a truly profound moment for all of us. We ended our touring day with a refreshing boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. The water birds were coming to shore to roost in the late afternoon, and the air was cool and fresh and clean. We needed the reminder of the beauty of God’s world!

by Kathy Kurap

The steps of the Church of the Beatitudes, Ibillin

We feel welcomed, comfortable and grateful in this place of hope.

Ibillin, a village much larger than many of us imagined, is our home for the first four nights and three days of our Israel/Palestine Study Tour. The Mar Elias Guest House, located on the sixth and highest level of the Mariam Bawardi Elementary School, offers us a place of warm hospitality, clean, comfortable accommodations, panoramic views of the village of 14,000 and a rooftop from which to see Mt. Carmel in the distance, sunrises in the east, sunsets over the Mediterranean and the vast night sky above us.  Morning brings the Muslim call to prayer in the distance, roosters welcoming the daylight and playful sounds of children coming to school. Samar, our hostess, has a strong faith and an inspirational spirit. We are blessed to be here.

It’s an honor to see what others helped to accomplish.

The school has a special meaning for a number of our trip participants. Two mothers from Michigan have grown children who participated in youth mission trips to Ibillin close to 20 years ago to help in the building of Mar Elias.   The students we met today were genuinely pleased and impressed to hear that, always responding with a grateful, “Thank you!” Another participant, Heidi Borter, had come with two of her aunts to personally deliver a memorial gift and letter to Abuna Chacour because her father, the late Rev. John Borter had led youth mission trips here years ago. The experience of working here had made a significant impression on him for the rest of his life. All three women felt the ties to their family here in this place of hope.

While cultures may be different, the hearts and energy of young people are quite similar.

Saturday is a school day at MEEI, and we were able to interact with a number of teachers and students. Our group visited a 9th grade English class of students studying reading comprehension lessons.  They laughed, spoke seriously and asked good questions when we spoke with them. A subsequent 5th grade English class had a dynamic teacher, Toujan teaching sentence structure. Both classes, although crowded with close to 40 students each, reminded us of being back in the classrooms as teachers. We were impressed with both teachers we met.

Students at Mar Elias School fill us with hope

I will gain weight on this trip, despite stairs, hills, rocky paths and quick treks through busy streets and narrow souks to get from one place to another. Our meals have been exceptional, carefully prepared by Baadia, our cook.

Today’s lunch and dinner was prepared by the parents of 14 students who have been chosen to make a trip to the U.S. in July to visit Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. What a feast! And what delicious desserts! Roll me home.

Mar Elias High School students fill us with hope.

Our extended visit with these 14 students was the highlight of our day. They were bright, excited, engaged and engaging in conversations with us. If you are in one of the congregations that will be meeting these Christian and Muslim Palestinians, you are in for a real treat.   If you have them as a guest in your home in Grosse Pointe, it will be hard to send them on to Wisconsin!

Mar Elias High School students who will visit the US this summer.

We continually give thanks to God for this amazing journey…

… and it is only our second day! Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Interior of the Church of the Beatitudes, Ibillin

by Heidi Borter

Heidi Borter and Abuna

My blog for today actually started last night when I had the great blessing to meet Archbishop Abuna Elias Chacour.  Meeting Abuna and presenting him with a personal letter which coincided with a memorial gift honoring my parents, Rev. John and Carol Borter, to the Pilgrims of Ibillin was the primary purpose of my journey to Galilee.  Dad visited Ibillin in 1995 and 1998 and was profoundly moved by his stay and now I have the opportunity to see and experience everything first-hand.  I wear one of Dad’s crosses each day so we can make this trip together.

Our morning started at the high school and before we even got inside the building we were greeted by students yelling out the windows “Welcome!!  Welcome!!”  We indeed felt welcome by both the students and the teachers even though we did take over their staff lounge.  Our group was broken out and some visited English classes and, in my case, a 9th grade math class.  We stood in front of the room and introduced ourselves and told where we were from and then the students could ask questions.  They all spoke surprisingly good English and were very inquisitive. I think they genuinely enjoyed our  company.   Or perhaps they just liked getting out of their scheduled math class but, in either case, spending time with them warmed my heart.

6th Grade English Class

Our next stop was the elementary school.  I sat in on a 6th grade English class.  Students in the back of the room gave us their seats and books so we could follow along.  Today’s lesson was on Gulliverer’s Travels by Jonathon Swift .  The students were very vocal and enthusiastic but the teacher had great control and patience.  They discussed the story, reviewed word definitions, and answered questions relating to the story.  Meanwhile, during all of the pauses I conversations, all of the girls near us turned around to ask questions and then would giggle at our responses.  Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, and Demi Lovato where hot topics.  Before we left they all wanted autographs and one boy gave me a red/blue elastic bracelet.  He will definitely grow up to be a huge charmer.

Two students who will be visiting the US this summer.

Lunch was an Arabian-style potluck lunch provided by the mothers of students who will be visiting the U.S. later this year.  Wow!!  What a feast.  Lunch also gave us an opportunity to meet the students and get to know them better.  Enclosed is a picture of two amazing 11th graders who will be visiting Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Door of the Church of the Beatitudes, Ibillin

Next, we visited the Ibillin Church of the Beatitudes which was built in 2002.  It was incredibly beautiful and full of iconography and meaning.  So much so that my words simply can’t do it justice.  Before we left, Joan taught us a song called “Pray for Peace for Jerusalem”.  I’ll never forget that sound or those words.

Church of the Sermon on the Mount (The Beatitudes), Ibillin