World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People - Israel - Day 6Saturday – September 13, 2008
Today is Shabbat. We had a restful morning.
The highlight of the day was 40 of us climbing in a bus and heading
for a town near the Lebanese border to join in a march with Arab Christians. Ray Minniecon, one of the
vision keepers of the WCGIP and a descendant of the Kabi Kabi people of South-East Queensland,
arranged the trip. We wanted to let them know that the World Christian Gathering of Indigenous people
wanted to be in solidarity with all Christians in Israel. When we arrived I had no idea where we
were or what the procession was about. It became clear quite quickly that this was a special night for
the residents of the town. The whole village (3,000-5,000) gathered together along the streets.
Everyone was fascinated by the regalia and the “strange” visitors. People were crowding
around wanting to touch and to take pictures. It
was a well organized march with four separate stages. The first stage was a group of mostly young people
dressed in red t-shirts and blue caps. The t-shirts had a drawing of Jesus carrying the cross.
They lined up in three columns with the youngest at the front. Most had a drum or a horn.
They asked us to line up in a similar fashion, three columns, about 50 feet behind them. A third
group of people then lined up behind us. They were dressed in brown uniforms with caps. They
looked almost like boy scouts and girl scouts. The fourth stage was a group of men who carried a large
wooden cross above their heads followed by priests dressed in black robes. It took about half an hour for
us to all get in formation. The leader then came and spoke to our group and gave us permission to “cut
loose”. When this was announced our whole group started to whoop and scream much like you hear in
Hollywood “Cowboy and Indian” movies. Then the procession began. It was so much fun. All of the drums, theirs and ours, were
beating in unison. Our young dancers in full regalia, (Native American, Metis, Inuit, Aboriginee, Maori,
Hawaian, Sami) took turns leading our group and dancing down the streets. Everyone was smiling, clapping,
taking pictures and trying to say hello. This wasn’t working very well because everyone started to
crowd in on us and follow us so those behind us were being squeezed out. After a few minutes they paused
the parade asked us to stand to the side and let the second group move ahead of us. We then fell into line
again behind them. The streets were lined and everyone was crowding trying to catch a glimpse or a touch. At that time I had the good fortune of striking up a conversation with a young couple from
the town who were following us down the street. He just happened to be an English teacher, the only one
in town, so I had lots of questions for him. The name of the village is Miilya, built over the ruins of the 12th Century Crusader fortress. I found out later it was named after a famous
crusader family the De Millys. They are Melkites, or Greek
Catholics. During the 17th Century they migrated from Lebanon to the village, and its former Muslim
residents moved out and their mosque was leveled.
In 1845 they built the Church on top of
the hill in the ruins of the Crusader fortress.
The church is open to the public.
The Greek Catholic Church has preserved
the liturgical, theological and devotional traditions of the Orthodox church but they recognize that their faith is not at
variance with that of the Catholic Church, including the Latin or Western Church, all of which are considered of equal dignity. He
proudly announced that they were the only entirely Christian village in all of Israel. Then the parade and the welcome we received began to make sense.
Here they stood, a small Christian village on top of a mountain, completely surrounded by a much larger Arab Muslim
city in a Jewish state that has a history of persecuting Arab Christians. We were an international voice
of support. The indigenous make up of the group allowed us to join them in a completely non-threatening
way. They immediately trusted us. God truly has place the indigenous people of the world
in a strategic position. He told me that the name of the procession in
Arabic was ‘Salida’ (excuse my pronunciation if you happen to speak Arabic) meaning ‘the Cross’.
This was the fifth annual march. We stopped periodically as we travelled down the windy hills of
the old village built on ancient ruins and prayed. At the end of the march we gathered together with the
whole community for a time of worship. We of course could not understand the liturgy. It was wonderful to experience the worship and community of a small group of
Christian people who have managed to keep their faith and traditions alive even though surrounded by more often then not hostile
forces for centuries. The entire community seemed to genuinely appreciate our support and participation.
The Arch Bishop of the church came to our bus as we were leaving. We exchanged gifts and he thanked
us for coming and expressed his hope that we would come again next year.
World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People - Israel - Day 5Friday September 12thThis morning for breakfast
I tried several of the fish dishes. They were sort of like pickled herring. I went back
to my favorite standby, diced tomatoes and greens in an oil and vinegar dressing, with two fried eggs.  After breakfast we hopped on the bus and head for the Golan Heights. This is the area on the east side
of the Sea of Galilee that was originally part of Syria and taken by Israel in the 1967 six day war. (It
was interesting to hear the guide, a tank commander in the Israeli army, give his take on the situation.)  The Golan Heights is an elevated plateau which looks down over the Sea of Galilee. The bunkers,
burned out tanks and destroyed bridges are still visible as you drive through. We continued our drive around
the lake and came to where the Jordan River leaves the lake to the north. At this point the land west of
the river is Jordan and the land to the east is Israel. Israel controls how much water flows out of the
lake towards Jordan. We stopped along the river for a baptismal service. It is quite
a commercialized area where you can pay to be baptized and have your picture taken. The baptismal ceremony
we held was far different. One professional photographer at the spot who has taken hundreds of thousands
of photos of baptisms exclaimed she had never seen anything like this. Over 50 of the group were baptized
right on the shore of the river itself bypassing the commercialized baptismal pools. There was singing
and chanting and worshipping in many languages from the people standing on the banks watching. 
We made several more stops before returning to the hotel to prepare for Shabbat (Sabbath).
The Sabbath, for the Jewish people begins and ends at sunset. When three stars are visible in the
evening sky on Friday Shabbat begins. When three stars are visible in the evening sky on Saturday Shabbat
ends. At
7:00 we headed out to a terrace where tables were set up. A group of Jewish men were singing and praying
in their traditional service. We were invited to observe. After the service we were
served a banquet. The Jewish group ate their own food.
WCGIP - Israel - Day 4Thursday September 11th, 2008It felt wonderful to sleep
on a bed for the first time in 3 nights. This morning we had fried eggs and French toast to go along with
all of the traditional fish, fruit and vegetables. Little did I know of the wonders we were about to see. After breakfast half of us
headed down to the beach of the lake and climbed onto three large wooden boats. Victoria and delegates
from Hawaii and the South Seas climbed into the canoe and headed off. As we were travelling we were informed
that the town we left from was actually the town of Magadel (Mary Magdalene’s home town). The town
that we were heading to was Capernaum (Where most of Jesus ministry and teaching occurred). Jesus must
have made this trip himself many times.
 This was a trip that one could never forget. The three ships rafted together. The two
outside ships were the seats and the middle ship was the stage. We drummed, sang and danced the whole way
across. One particularly memorable stretch involved numerous drums of various tribal areas all beating
together as one in a circle. Then delegates from each of the nations spontaneously took turns dancing and
singing in the middle of the circle. On several occasions we all broke out into song together.
When we reached the gates of old Capernaum, now owned
and fenced by the Franciscans, we paid a fee and walked through the old village and saw the ruins of the synagogue Jesus spoke
in and the house which is claimed to be St. Peter’s. We then headed towards the beach to welcome
ashore the canoe. We all moved once again into the synagogue where we sang and prayed in many languages.
I couldn’t help but wonder what many of the European and American visitors/tourists thought when they saw tribal
people in all of their regalia singing and chanting in the synagogue in the “city of Jesus”.
WCGIP - Israel - Day 3Wednesday September 10, 2008The phrase blood, sweat, and tears is no longer and empty cliché to me.
I leaked all of the above today in profuse quantities. After 3 hours sleep and a wonderful breakfast
of which I am at a loss to describe (lots of finely chopped vegetables, tomatoes, breads …) my nose started to bleed
just I headed for the bus. It wouldn’t stop until lunch time. I filled my pockets
with Kleenex and dealt with it the best I could. I was a bit worried after the first cup or so but eventually
it slowed to a trickle and then stopped altogether. That is when the sweat began. All
of this was a side issue to the fascinating events which were being played out in front of us on the shores of the Mediterranean
Sea. Sitting on the beach
in 90+o F temperature with humidity near 100% we watched as the Ehattesaht canoe pulled into the ancient harbor
of Jaffa. Gavriel, the Jewish Israeli host of the gathering began the conference with these words (my paraphrase)
“We have
heard that the people who brought you the message of Jesus told you that your songs and dances were evil. We have heard
that they took your songs away from you and replaced them with their own. We want to welcome you to the land that Jesus
came from and to hear you worship the Creator using the languages, songs and dances that He gave you.” With those words he welcomed
the tribal people of the world to the land of Yeshua (Jesus) He went on to explain to the gathering the
significance of the city of Joffa. Yoffa as it is called today was the main port or gateway city to the
Holy Land from the rest of the world. Jaffa was also the city in which Peter received the vision from God
declaring that to HIM the nations of the world were no longer unclean. The canoe stopped just of the shore. Ivan
sang a song and Victoria gave a humble petition asking for permission to come ashore. She spoke of the
great honor it was for her and for her people to be able to visit the land of Jesus. Two Israeli Jewish
Christian Rabbis, one from Tel Aviv and one from Joffa welcomed them and all tribal people to the shores of Israel. That is
when the music began being poured out as songs and chants from around the world spontaneously erupted echoing across the bay. We then climbed up to the
top of a hill in Joffa and were introduced to the keepers of the vision of this world gathering. It
consisted of the organizers of each of the six last gatherings. (Maori-New Zealand, Lakota Sioux-south
Dakota, Islanders-Hawaii, Aborigines-Australia, Sami-Sweden, Philippines) and then to other delegates from
around the world. (Rwandan, Malukans, Papua New Guinea, Navajo, Cree, Hopi, Ehattesaht, Tsimshian, Tongan, Hawaiian, Maori,
Laplanders, Japanese. After a pleasant box lunch and 20+ cups of sweat we climbed back into the bus and headed for the Sea
of Galilee. We stopped just out of the city of Tiberius and stood on a high cliff overlooking the lake. (The
sea of Galilee is actually a fresh water lake on the Jordan River) That evening, after steak and fish and vegetable dishes
galore, is when the tears began to flow. By that time it had cooled off and we gathered in a terraced area
on the shores of the lake. One by one the delegates from each of the tribes presented their songs and dances
of worship to God. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. I caught of glimpse of
the beauty and diversity of God’s most beloved creation, mankind.
WCGIP - Israel - Day 3Wednesday September 10, 2008The phrase blood, sweat, and tears is no longer and empty cliché to me.
I leaked all of the above today in profuse quantities. After 3 hours sleep and a wonderful breakfast
of which I am at a loss to describe (lots of finely chopped vegetables, tomatoes, breads …) my nose started to bleed
just I headed for the bus. It wouldn’t stop until lunch time. I filled my pockets
with Kleenex and dealt with it the best I could. I was a bit worried after the first cup or so but eventually
it slowed to a trickle and then stopped altogether. That is when the sweat began. All
of this was a side issue to the fascinating events which were being played out in front of us on the shores of the Mediterranean
Sea. Sitting on the beach
in 90+o F temperature with humidity near 100% we watched as the Ehattesaht canoe pulled into the ancient harbor
of Jaffa. Gavriel, the Jewish Israeli host of the gathering began the conference with these words (my paraphrase)
“We have
heard that the people who brought you the message of Jesus told you that your songs and dances were evil. We have heard
that they took your songs away from you and replaced them with their own. We want to welcome you to the land that Jesus
came from and to hear you worship the Creator using the languages, songs and dances that He gave you.” With those words he welcomed
the tribal people of the world to the land of Yeshua (Jesus) He went on to explain to the gathering the
significance of the city of Joffa. Yoffa as it is called today was the main port or gateway city to the
Holy Land from the rest of the world. Jaffa was also the city in which Peter received the vision from God
declaring that to HIM the nations of the world were no longer unclean. The canoe stopped just of the shore. Ivan
sang a song and Victoria gave a humble petition asking for permission to come ashore. She spoke of the
great honor it was for her and for her people to be able to visit the land of Jesus. Two Israeli Jewish
Christian Rabbis, one from Tel Aviv and one from Joffa welcomed them and all tribal people to the shores of Israel. That is
when the music began being poured out as songs and chants from around the world spontaneously erupted echoing across the bay. We then climbed up to the
top of a hill in Joffa and were introduced to the keepers of the vision of this world gathering. It
consisted of the organizers of each of the six last gatherings. (Maori-New Zealand, Lakota Sioux-south
Dakota, Islanders-Hawaii, Aborigines-Australia, Sami-Sweden, Philippines) and then to other delegates from
around the world. (Rwandan, Malukans, Papua New Guinea, Navajo, Cree, Hopi, Ehattesaht, Tsimshian, Tongan, Hawaiian, Maori,
Laplanders, Japanese. After a pleasant box lunch and 20+ cups of sweat we climbed back into the bus and headed for the Sea
of Galilee. We stopped just out of the city of Tiberius and stood on a high cliff overlooking the lake. (The
sea of Galilee is actually a fresh water lake on the Jordan River) That evening, after steak and fish and vegetable dishes
galore, is when the tears began to flow. By that time it had cooled off and we gathered in a terraced area
on the shores of the lake. One by one the delegates from each of the tribes presented their songs and dances
of worship to God. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. I caught of glimpse of
the beauty and diversity of God’s most beloved creation, mankind.
World Christian Gathering of Indiginous People - Days 1 & 2Monday & Tuesday September 8th and 9thI remember this day starting.
It is where it ended that leaves me scratching my head. My alarm went off at 4:45 am PST.
I called woke up Ashish, my host, and we headed off for the Sea-Tac airport in Seattle for a 7:40 am flight to Newark.
I wasn’t looking forward to a seven hour layover at the New Jersey Airport so when I arrived I hopped on the
train and head for New York City. As I emerged from the subway I found myself at Madison Square gardens,
arguably the most famous sporting arena in the world. I had a hamburger at O’Reilly’s pub,
watched the US open on a small flickering TV and then walked a few blocks to Times Square. There I admired
the lights, stared at the crowds and reveled in the experience. The most striking thing I noticed was the
number of people, especially young women who were all dressed up, walking quickly somewhere and smoking cigarettes.
The whole street had the stuffy odor of fresh smoke and old butts. I hadn’t experience crowds
like that since Chennai. The atmosphere seemed cheerful and bustling. There was always
someone running, nine out of every ten vehicles was a yellow cab. Some people were hustling to make a buck
street vending; others were trying to lure passerbies into their stores or restaurants. Many were tourists
stopping to take advantage of the numerous photo opportunities. He At 9:00 pm EST I realized
my boarding time at the airport was in an hour. I joined the bustle as I ran back down 43rd
Avenue towards the trains station. At 10:40 pm we lifted off in our 737 and arrived in Tel Aviv 10 hours
later at 3:15 pm Israel time on the 9th of September. After a 5 hour wait at Ben Gurion airport
I was picked up by a tourist bus where we (Sammi’s from Sweden, Hawains, Tongans, Columbians, Canadian First Nations
and Native Americans) were driven to our hotel- Mercure – fed a delicious buffet meal and fell asleep in a tiny room
with one bed, a Jew from Wisconsin, a man from Tonga and myself.
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