Sunday, April 16, 2017
Today I finally went to the Episcopal Church. There was a concert in the church in the old city last week. We met the priest and asked about where the other church is. They have services in the old city church (near my house) only on the first Sunday of the month. All other services are in Rafidya - a section of Nablus that I can easily walk to. So, this morning we walked there. I had originally thought it would be just Elizabeth and me, but people kept asking to join us. So, we ended up being six. It was a very nice service and there were lots of people. They actually started on time!!! (the only thing I have ever seen start on time in Palestine.) It was really all in Arabic. I could follow very little, but the service was the same at home and most of the hymns were, too.
I was concerned at first that there seemed to be very few people there and hardly any children, but I guess lots of people came in after the service started and I had stopped looking around. (So Episcopalian!). When we lined up for communion, I realized there were many people there and lots of kids. I had wondered whether they would have wine, since it is illegal in Nablus. I'm still not sure whether it was actual wine, but the priest had pieces of consecrated bread that he dipped in the chalice and gave to us on our tongues at communion.
When the service was over, we asked someone to take our group photo. I asked a little girl -who had been wandering around the church during the service and no one minded :) - to be in the photo with us.
After the service, there was coffee hour. They had little cups of Arabic coffee, of course, but also baklava, colored Easter eggs and chocolate eggs.
The priest came over to us during coffee hour to say that the four Christian churches get together on Christmas and Easter and that this year it would be at the Episcopal church and that the governor was coming. It would all happen at noon. It was 11:20 at this point and we wanted to all go out for breakfast together, so we decided not to wait. When we got outside, we found that Seema had been waiting outside the entire time. I think she had driven Josefine to the church. Seema said she felt that she shouldn't come in. Ja'far and Saad had also said they didn't want to come because they said that everyone in Nablus knows each other and the Christians would know that they are muslim. We tried to explain to them that Christians are happy to have muslims attend their service, but they didn't feel comfortable. Anyway, we all piled into Seema's car and went to the Nosha cafe. I joked with Seema that Easter brunch should have champagne. Elizabeth said, "And bacon. Which one do you thing we have a better chance of getting?" Seema said the champagne, but really neither is available in Nablus. Maria and Seema had hookah instead!
Elizabeth and I decided to share the Nosha breakfast. It was definitely enough for two. I'm also starting to enjoy ordering the delicious non-alcoholic drinks they serve here. I especially like lemon with mint.
Later, when Seema tried to drive us home, our street was blocked off, so we got out of the car and walked. It turned out that there was all kinds of Palestinian Authority security. The vice president was coming to visit the old church for Easter. (There was no service there, so I don't know why that's where he went.) There was even a sniper on the roof.
Another great day in Nablus!
Today I finally went to the Episcopal Church. There was a concert in the church in the old city last week. We met the priest and asked about where the other church is. They have services in the old city church (near my house) only on the first Sunday of the month. All other services are in Rafidya - a section of Nablus that I can easily walk to. So, this morning we walked there. I had originally thought it would be just Elizabeth and me, but people kept asking to join us. So, we ended up being six. It was a very nice service and there were lots of people. They actually started on time!!! (the only thing I have ever seen start on time in Palestine.) It was really all in Arabic. I could follow very little, but the service was the same at home and most of the hymns were, too.
I was concerned at first that there seemed to be very few people there and hardly any children, but I guess lots of people came in after the service started and I had stopped looking around. (So Episcopalian!). When we lined up for communion, I realized there were many people there and lots of kids. I had wondered whether they would have wine, since it is illegal in Nablus. I'm still not sure whether it was actual wine, but the priest had pieces of consecrated bread that he dipped in the chalice and gave to us on our tongues at communion.
When the service was over, we asked someone to take our group photo. I asked a little girl -who had been wandering around the church during the service and no one minded :) - to be in the photo with us.
After the service, there was coffee hour. They had little cups of Arabic coffee, of course, but also baklava, colored Easter eggs and chocolate eggs.
The priest came over to us during coffee hour to say that the four Christian churches get together on Christmas and Easter and that this year it would be at the Episcopal church and that the governor was coming. It would all happen at noon. It was 11:20 at this point and we wanted to all go out for breakfast together, so we decided not to wait. When we got outside, we found that Seema had been waiting outside the entire time. I think she had driven Josefine to the church. Seema said she felt that she shouldn't come in. Ja'far and Saad had also said they didn't want to come because they said that everyone in Nablus knows each other and the Christians would know that they are muslim. We tried to explain to them that Christians are happy to have muslims attend their service, but they didn't feel comfortable. Anyway, we all piled into Seema's car and went to the Nosha cafe. I joked with Seema that Easter brunch should have champagne. Elizabeth said, "And bacon. Which one do you thing we have a better chance of getting?" Seema said the champagne, but really neither is available in Nablus. Maria and Seema had hookah instead!
Elizabeth and I decided to share the Nosha breakfast. It was definitely enough for two. I'm also starting to enjoy ordering the delicious non-alcoholic drinks they serve here. I especially like lemon with mint.
Later, when Seema tried to drive us home, our street was blocked off, so we got out of the car and walked. It turned out that there was all kinds of Palestinian Authority security. The vice president was coming to visit the old church for Easter. (There was no service there, so I don't know why that's where he went.) There was even a sniper on the roof.
Another great day in Nablus!
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