For the skinny on Saint George, here’s the Wikipedia version of his martyrdom:

It is likely that Saint George was born to a Christian noble family in Lod, Syria Palaestina during the late third century between about 275 AD and 285 AD, and he died in Nicomedia.[1][2] His father, Gerontius, was a Roman army official from Cappadocia and his mother, Polychronia, was from Palestine. They were both Christians and from noble families of Anici, so by this the child was raised with Christian beliefs. They decided to call him Georgius (Latin) or Geōrgios (Greek), meaning “worker of the land”. At the age of 14, George lost his father; a few years later, George’s mother, Polychronia, died.[11][12][13][14] Eastern accounts give the names of his parents as Anastasius and Theobaste.[citation needed]
Saint George’s tomb in Lod, Israel

Then George decided to go to Nicomedia, the imperial city of that time, and present himself to Emperor Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with open arms, as he had known his father, Gerontius — one of his finest soldiers. By his late 20s, George was promoted to the rank of Tribunus and stationed as an imperial guard of the Emperor at Nicomedia.[15]

In the year AD 302, Diocletian (influenced by Galerius) issued an edict that every Christian soldier in the army should be arrested and every other soldier should offer a sacrifice to the Roman gods of the time. However George objected and with the courage of his faith approached the Emperor and ruler. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best tribune and the son of his best official, Gerontius. George loudly renounced the Emperor’s edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and Tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian and declared his worship of Jesus Christ. Diocletian attempted to convert George, even offering gifts of land, money and slaves if he made a sacrifice to the Roman gods. The Emperor made many offers, but George never accepted.[16]

Recognizing the futility of his efforts, Diocletian was left with no choice but to have him executed for his refusal. Before the execution George gave his wealth to the poor and prepared himself. After various torture sessions, including laceration on a wheel of swords in which he was resuscitated three times, George was executed by decapitation before Nicomedia’s city wall, on April 23, 303. A witness of his suffering convinced Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest, to become Christians as well, and so they joined George in martyrdom. His body was returned to Lydda in Palestine for burial, where Christians soon came to honour him as a martyr.[17][18]:166

That’s Saint George painted on the front of the altar in this photo:

Victory for Palestinian-Israeli Solidarity: more than 3,000 participated in the March of Independence

A Palestinian East Jerusalemite’s view of the joint march

4,500 march in Jerusalem for Palestinian state

Israelis, Palestinians in ‘joint Jerusalem rally’

3000 March Through Jerusalem for Palestine

Palestinians and Israelis march together

From the second verse of our third hymn:

Jesus is ours! We fear no powers,
Not of earth or sin or death.
He sees and blesses in worst distresses;
He can change them with a breath.
Wherefore the story tell of his glory
With heart and voices; all heav’n rejoices
In him forever, Alleluia!
We shout for gladness. Triumph o’er sadness,
Love him and praise him and still shall raise him
Glad hymns forever, Alleluia!

Click here for the full gallery of sunrise service photos.

One of the most unique and compelling events of my Holy Week experience was the Holy Fire celebration in Jerusalem on Holy Saturday—the day before Easter. For an explanation of the event, here’s a snippet from Wikipedia:

On the appointed day at noon, the Greek Orthodox patriarch, followed by the Armenian archbishop, march in grand and solemn procession with their own clergies, while singing hymns. They march three times round the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Once the procession has ended, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem or another Orthodox Archbishop recites a specific prayer, removes his robes and enters alone into the sepulchre. Before entering the Tomb of Christ, the patriarch is examined by Jewish Israeli authorities to prove that he does not carry technical means to light the fire. … The congregation subsequently chants Kyrie eleison (“Lord, have mercy” in Greek) until the Holy Fire spontaneously descends on 33 white candles tied together by the Patriarch while he is alone inside the tomb chamber of Jesus. The patriarch then reveals himself from the tomb chamber and recites some prayers, before he lights either 33 or 12 candles and distributes them to the congregation. The fire is considered by believers to be the flame of the Resurrection power, as well as the fire of the Burning Bush of Mount Sinai.

But as fascinating as this annual ritual may be in its own right, the far more personally compelling aspect of this experience was to be surrounded by thousands of Palestinian Christians, first anticipating the fire, and then celebrating its appearance. This was no simple feat. As I’ve mentioned in recent posts, access to Jerusalem has become increasingly difficult for Palestinians, and though some permits are issued to Palestinian Christians on holidays like Easter and Christmas, actually gaining access is never guaranteed.

For example, the father of a friend who lives in the West Bank near Bethlehem is an ordained pastor—who received his theological training at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. He has a renewable 6-month permit to enter Jerusalem—a privilege most Palestinians do not have. However, because this year the Jewish Passover completely overlaps Holy Week, the entire West Bank is under “closure”—meaning no entry into Jerusalem. This is often the case with various Jewish holidays—access to Jerusalem is closed to West Bank residents even if they may have a rare and precious permit.

But for those whose types of permits are still honored despite the Passover closure—or for those Palestinians already living in Jerusalem—entrance to the holy sites is further restricted. I entered the Old City with my Jerusalemite colleague, having to pass through some four or five separate checkpoints at various points. The first photo shows the checkpoint where police refused to allow anyone—Palestinian or foreigner—to pass. We only got through when the crowd surged forward and those of us at the front were quite simply forced past the arms of Israeli police attempting to hold everyone back. I snapped the photo over my shoulder as we scrambled away—only to have to talk our way past several additional checkpoints where the police were less strict—perhaps because we were fewer in number. According to my colleague, before such restrictions were put in place by Israel, access was easy and the crowds were relatively calm and peaceful. It’s not as if the current crackdown was necessitated by riots or terrorist attacks.

Because access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the Holy Fire ceremony takes place (and the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection) requires tickets, our final destination was a nearby rooftop. There we were surrounded by pilgrims both foreign and local that had endured similar ordeals. At one point, because Israeli police had further blocked other access points, the faithful were helped through an adjoining bathroom window. As a local man told me, no matter how the Israelis try to restrict their movements, “They can’t keep us out!” Such is the resourcefulness and persistence of those living under the restrictions of military occupation. I was reminded of the friends who dug a hole through the roof to lower their paralytic friend to Jesus.

As we waited, the youth on the rooftop sang, danced, drummed, and led various chants celebrating their Christian and Palestinian identity. When the Holy Fire finally arrived—passed from candle to candle from the church through the streets—the crowds exploded in even greater enthusiasm, surging back into the narrow streets of the Old City. At this point, only a few police were visible watching from the margins. Apparently at this point, “security” was no longer an issue…

As for me, I just continued to go with the flow and let the crowd carry me along on its currents of faithful fervor.

Good Friday morning this meant getting up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the Old City in time to walk the Way of the Cross with Jerusalem’s Lutheran, Presbyterian, Reformed, and Anglican congregations. It was a beautiful and touching experience with prayers, scriptures, and hymns from these congregations’ Arabic, German, and English-speaking clergy and members.

I spent much of the rest of the day wandering the streets of the Old City—first lingering in the outer courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Israeli police restrained crowds of pilgrims hoping to enter. Later I mostly drifted around the Via Dolorosa as various processions passed—Ethiopian, Polish, south Asian, Russian. A few thunder storms momentarily showered the throngs, but did little to dampen the intensity of those gathered.

As these various pilgrims jostled among the narrow streets—still inhabited by Jerusalem’s local Christians, Muslims, and Jews, with everyone’s movements restricted more severely than usual by a legion of heavily armed Israeli police—I tried to hold the significance of Jesus’ life and death in mind in spite of the mayhem surrounding me.

The “Prayers of the Faithful” invoked at the end of the morning’s liturgy helped me hold the beauty of the assembled pilgrim masses in tension with the heightened ugliness of the occupation. I’ve excerpted these prayers below among an assortment of photos from the rest of the day, were especially meaningful in setting the tone for my Good Friday experience in Jerusalem:

Let us pray for the Church of God throughout the world, that God will confirm her in faith, increase her in love, and preserve her in peace.

Almighty and eternal God, you have shown your glory to all the nations in Jesus Christ. Guide the work of your Church; help her to persevere in faith, proclaim your name and bring salvation to all peoples. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty and eternal God, enable those who do not acknowledge Christ to receive the truth of the Gospel. Help us, your pilgrim people, to grow in love for one another, to grasp more fully the mystery of your Godhead, and to become more perfect witnesses of your love in the sight of all people. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray for the peoples of this land and for the nations of the world, and for their leaders, that by God’s help all people may live justly, in peace and in freedom.

Almighty and everlasting God, in whose will is our peace; turn our hearts and the hearts of all people to yourself, that by the power of your Spirit the peace which is founded on justice may be established throughout the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray for all who suffer, that God in his mercy might sustain them with the knowledge of his love.

Almighty and everlasting God, the comfort of the sad, the strength of those who suffer, hear the prayers of your children who cry out of any trouble; and to every distressed soul grant mercy, relief, and refreshment, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom in the words our Savior taught us, each in their own language:

Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts
as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power
and the glory forever.
Amen.

Click here to see more photos from Good Friday.

This time, I had the privilege to meet Taha Baker, of the Gaza Surf Club (affiliated with Surfing 4 Peace, Gaza Surf Relief, and Explore Corps). I remembered reading about this somewhere before, and was—ahem—stoked to see Taha in action. Jon spotted Taha from our hotel window, and after I grabbed a few shots from above, I made my way down to the beach and out onto the spit of rubble that serves as a jetty to get a closer look. Here are my favorite shots from that afternoon.

Turns out there’s a recently released documentary film featuring Taha and this project called God Went Surfing with the Devil. I haven’t seen it yet, but here’s the trailer:

On our way to the Sabeel conference titled “Challenging Empire: God, Faithfulness, and Resistance,” this little scene appeared at the main Bethlehem checkpoint. In case anyone wasn’t aware, Palestinian Christians experience the oppression of the Israeli occupation just as much as their Muslim neighbors.

Also interestingly, as we left a lunch for Sabeel supporters on our way to the main conference site a short walk away, youths had gathered to vent their anger at occupation in the form of the separation wall. I was able to linger for a few moments to witness an exchange of stones thrown at the wall and tower with a few Israeli concussion grenades (loud noise with little effect) thrown in response.

The hotel was declared “absentee property” by Israel after it captured and annexed East Jerusalem. The title was transferred to an Israeli firm, which sold it in 1985 to Irving Moskowitz, a Florida bingo king and patron of Jewish settlers. (Haaretz)

The vast majority of land on which Jerusalem is built, including the settlements in the city’s occupied eastern sector, is state land, and the property built on it can be purchased by anyone who is an Israeli citizen, or who is Jewish. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, very few of whom have Israeli citizenship, must first obtain a special permit to purchase land or property there, with rights groups saying such permission is virtually unheard of. (Ma’an)

Nearly 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. (BBC)

This was the first building demolition that I was able to witness and photograph. Here are some key shots of the demolition and protests by Palestinians, Israelis, and international activists:

So, despite my attempts to prevent unauthorized use of my photos, a slightly doctored version of one of my immigration rally pix showed up on an immigration activists’ billboard in Arizona. Unfortunately, their immigrant rights message got a bit sidetracked in controversy over the use of the image and the quote that accompanied it.

KGUN9 Tuscon contacted me to inform me that my photo was being used in this way after they tracked down the microstock version of it on Shutterstock. Here’s part of their report:

The family appears on what has become a controversial, even inflammatory billboard standing in Oracle, on private property.   It depicts a wholesome-looking Hispanic family of four on one side, and on the other, a quote from Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, stating, “This is our most serious public safety issue and national security threat to America.”

The quote is seriously out of context.  But the billboard has accomplished what the owners wanted.  It has sparked national — and even some international — debate.  Despite accusations that its message is misleading, racist, and insulting, owners Frank Pierson and Mary Allen Kazda are standing their ground.

“This is message art and what we hoped was to get a message out,” said Pierson on Saturday.  “We didn’t expect this kind of responsiveness and find it actually quite encouraging.”

They say the sign is a statement against immigration policies in Arizona, and that it’s been up for four weeks.  In context, Babeu appears to be labeling the harmless looking family as a criminal or even terrorist threat.  But when Babeu uttered the words written on the sign several weeks ago, it was in the context of a general attack on a federal judge who’d issued a preliminary injunction blocking the most controversial aspects of SB 1070, Arizona’s tough crackdown on illegal immigration.

Apparently the billboard owners have since taken the sign down and replaced it with a new and clearer message (the Statue of Liberty and the slogan, “Nation of Immigrants”). But here’s my reply to KGUN’s email, for the record:

While I sympathize with the billboard owners’ desire to support immigrants’ rights—a cause I believe in strongly myself—this photograph is, in fact, my copyrighted intellectual property and is not part of the “public domain.” I’m willing to extend the benefit of the doubt that the billboard owners found the image on a site that for whatever reason did not adequately cite this fact, and respect their decision to remove the billboard and replace it with a clearer message in support of our immigrant neighbors.

To see more of my immigration related photos being used with permission, check out Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Plus, links to galleries on the archive…

The violence reached our neighborhood on the Mount of Olives at mid-day. The sounds of helicopters and sirens alerted us that something was wrong, and when I went to investigate found the scene below at the gate of the hospital campus where we live. Apparently, some Israelis driving through our neighborhood got caught in a traffic jam, and were then attacked by Palestinians in reprisals for this morning’s violence in Silwan. Their injuries were serious, but none seemed life-threatening.

I personally lament all violence, regardless of perpetrator or victim. However, it is important to state as clearly as possible the context of such images to avoid perpetuating the widely held perception that Israeli Jews are, to paraphrase American Jewish scholar Marc Ellis’ critique, “always innocent, always victims.” No one—no one—deserves violence, but these events occurred in the context of Palestinian land being seized by Israeli settlers. Of the Jewish families whose injuries I documented today, one of the women spoke with a Brooklyn accent, and one of their cars had an “I [heart] NY” bumper sticker–i.e. they are new in town. When that same Brooklyn-accented woman described their attackers as “animals,” it was difficult to restrain myself from questioning what exactly she was doing here in the first place, and whether the practice of stealing land from Palestinians and forcing them from their homes was “humane” by comparison. But I have a policy of not arguing with recent victims of violent crimes.

And while I refuse to blame victims of mob violence for their injuries, and believe that mob violence is criminal, I am also compelled to condemn the institutionalized criminal violence of confiscation and demolition of Palestinian homes that is connected to the shooting this morning–the context that is not pictured here. Reports by The Washington Post and Haaretz go into more detail about why that security guard was there to begin with, each quoting various Israeli critics of their presence:

Peace Now organization issued a statement in response to the incident calling to remove the security in East Jerusalem from private companies and place official security personnel in the area.

“Settlers erected, with state funding, a private and armed militia in Silwan which terrorizes and harms the fabric of life and the security in the are,” the statement said.

Hopefully I will be able to post more images of both Israelis and Palestinians responding to the violence of the occupation in more constructive and strategically effective ways in the coming months and years.