Church takes service group to Bethlehem
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POLSON — “Hope” is a word seldom heard in reports coming out of Israel and Palestine these days. And yet, 25 local people who served and traveled in the Holy Land June 17-July 3 found hope in the Palestinian Christians of a little town called Bethlehem.
Led by Paul Rowold, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Polson, the group served alongside its sister congregation, the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, and toured holy sites throughout Israel and the West Bank.
Meeting with their congregation recently, several described how the trip has affected their lives. They spoke of surprises and similarities, of great hospitality shown to them, and growth in faith.
“I realized how much I don’t know,” Taylor Rost said.
The abrupt changes in landscape, from desert to fertile farmland, were unexpected, as was the reception the Americans received in Bethlehem.
“The people surprised me with their hospitality and generosity,” Rost said.
While in Bethlehem, the group cleaned newly constructed classrooms at the Dar al-Kalima College, scraping grout and paint off the floors, washing windows, sweeping and mopping. Dar al-Kalima, Arabic for “House of the Word,” is supported by Bright Stars of Bethlehem, a network of American Christians working with the people of Bethlehem to provide hope in conditions of poverty and in spite of military occupation.
“Any action we take, and every service we provide, is intended to promote peace and harmony in this holy land,” the Bright Stars brochure states.
In their free time, the travelers explored the town. The Rowolds’ daughter Katie, who lives and works in that area, and her fiancé, Elias, served as guides.
For Tyler Sassaman, this made his second trip to the Holy Land better than the first.
“We got to interact with the local people more,” he said. “We also got to visit non-tourist sites, like the home for people with special needs and the (Augusta Victoria) hospital in Jerusalem.”
Ben River said he was surprised they could stroll around the West Bank town of Bethlehem in the evenings. He said he expected to be “locked in at night, with robbers creeping around.” Instead, they visited local shops, where they were greeted with juice, soda and date nuts, and mingled with the crowd at a huge outdoor music festival.
While working in Bethlehem, the group stayed in a hotel across from a Palestinian refugee camp, where Israeli authorities had shut off the water supply. Anna Young said that situation, along with the questionable safety of drinking water in some parts of the region, and the shrinking Jordan River, changed her perspective.
“They have a lot of water issues there,” Young said. “I’ve learned to not take things for granted. Now I don’t just drink half a glass of water, decide I don’t want the rest and dump it down the drain.”
River recalled a memorable conversation with a hotel employee about conflict in the region.
“He started telling me about his life ... that it was difficult, but he doesn’t want to live anywhere else,” River said. “And, he told me, ‘Resentment and hate are not the way to push forward.’ ”
They also spent time with local kids.
“Behind our hotel there was a dirt field, and we’d go out to play soccer, and kids would come and play with us,” Jake Finkbeiner said. “It was fun to see what we have in common and what’s different.”
On Sundays, they attended services at the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. After the Bethlehem service, several travelers spent a few hours visiting with members of the congregation in their homes.
“I had a bunch of fun, new experiences, but my favorite was visiting local families,” Alex Mausshardt said.
The houses were very small and close together, but furnished with familiar items such as televisions.
“Everything became more real,” Tegan Bauer said. “My faith became more real, the people in the news became more real.”
The group explored holy and historical places. The most memorable site for several travelers was the dungeon Jesus was placed in the night he was brought to the high priest for trial.
“The dungeon had no doors in or out, so they would have just lowered him down,” Julie Bauer said. “There would have been no hope for escape.”
Seeing the dungeon was “terrifying and awe inspiring at the same time,” Katie Rehberg added.
Most of the holy sites are surrounded by structures, or buried under newer layers of civilization, so while visitors can see the places of Jesus birth, ministry, death and resurrection, there aren’t many they can touch. The Garden of Gethsemane is one place “authorities are pretty sure Jesus walked those very stone steps,” Julie Bauer said. “That was most meaningful to me.”
Lori Russell said the experience will forever change the way she hears scripture.
“It’s been removed from those children’s Bible images we grew up with,” she said. “It’s become living scripture.”
