A retreat in Taybeh, a Beerfest and a walk in the dark
It's Saturday 16th September, around five in the afternoon. I am on my way, along with one of my Bethlehem team mates, to Taybeh - a village close to Ramallah - for a retreat and a visit to the famous Taybeh beer festival. As we leave the Arab Educational Institute (AEI) compound in three service taxis and head for Beit Sahour, our minds are full of the events of the past week - the martyrdom of a young 14 year old in Manger Square and the reaction to the Papal address in Germany and its implications for Christian/Muslim relations. We are also conscious of the general feeling of despondency pervasive among young people in Bethlehem, not to mention a discussion we had had the day before on forgiveness with the University group we work with. It had been an eventful week and we were aware of so much. We are all in need of debriefing, especially the young people who we are accompanying from AEI. There are twenty of us, including the AEI Director, Fuad, the Assistant Director Anton and my
colleague, Berit.
The journey to Taybeh itself adds to the weight of our feelings. We travel to Beit Sahour and then onto the 'container' checkpoint in Abu Dis and Wadi Naar beyond that - the 'hell road' as its referred to, which is an apt description with its hairpin bends, its plunging declines and impossible inclines.
It is dusk when we reach Taybeh. We are to sleep at a home for the elderly which is jointly run by the Latin, Melkite and Lutheran communities in the village. We have supper and then begin the 'retreat'. The address deals with two key Islamic fundamentals, Tawhid and shirk. Tawhid expresses the oneness of God and by extension the unity of the real and its counterpart shirk, which expresses fragmentation - the opposite of
what God is and what reality and people end up becoming. The global village, with its effective means of communicating itself and its message leaves us all feeling fragmented and confused as our identities are now complex and layered. Who we are is no longer easily expressed as we juggle all these layers. This adds to our woes as we negotiate the path of our lives.
The retreat is an opportunity to gather all of these strands into one coherent whole - all the aspects of our lives so that we too may be integrated- just as God is one integrated whole. This involves writing down everything and everyone who has influenced us in our lives on a piece
of paper. These thoughts are then given to God in consecration. As we do this we may begin the lifelong process of integration and the quest for
wholeness. The pieces of paper are placed on the altar and the authors prayed for and blessed.
We then walk into the village, in a procession, singing all the way into the centre and back to our home for the night. We laugh and sing all the
way there and back. Then we gather on the lovely veranda outside the house, with its view of the Jordanian sky-line in the distance, to play games and sing traditional songs until midnight - beautiful songs about freedom and the dream of Jerusalem.
At around midnight, we retire ahead of an eight am start for breakfast. Then we depart for the Latin Church in Taybeh. We are to be included in
the service by the parish priest who graciously invites us to participate with other visiting clergy who are there for the Taybeh Beer Festival. I am asked to take the Eucharist and to pray a peace prayer for a young person with the International Peace Day in mind. The prayer for peace is read by Dima - a young Christian girl from Bethlehem - and I pray a prayer of blessing for Palestinians, Israelis, the Wall, the children and the gunners and their guns. It is truly a blessed and great ecumenical moment. In the midst of this, news reaches us that the church in Tulkarem - the only one in the northern West Bank city - has been razed to the ground. We are all concerned that the great strides that have been made in interfaith relations might, at the very least, be compromised in that place.
We Ecumenical Accompaniers have to leave the group at this point. As they head towards the location of the festival, we sadly bid them farewell. It has been a good time, during which we all got to relax in and enjoy each other's company. A wonderful experience during which time, by the grace of God, we have begun the process of becoming whole as God is whole so that we may be the bearers of hope. Thank you AEI, Abu Teddy and Anton for yourselves and your dreams and visions which bless us all!
