Boerenroem blog

// February 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // Agapè, israel, travel

Well, there is one prayer answered today! It is raining from early morning to late at night. We set off for Lake Galilee, where we want to spend some time today. Getting out of the city is quite a challenge, but after a while we find the right road: first down to Jericho and then north along the Jordan river to Tiberias. We notice how quick the scenery changes: just outside of Jerusalem the desert starts – a funny scene when it rains! The road winds down, we see poor nomadic people living in the hills, under one shabby roof with their cattle. Signs indicate the sea level: 0 meters, minus 150, and minus 300. To the right the Dead Sea appears: it is raining there as well. On the horizon we see the mountains of Jordan, to the right we see Jericho in the last sunshine of the day… We take the turn left towards Jericho. A couple of kilometers onwards, another classic picture: an accident between a car, a tractor and a donkey-and-cart; one of the wheels of the tractor is completely demolished, boys pull the cart away.

We are stopped at a checkpoint at the northside of the Westbank. The car is completely stripped down and four of us get a body check. My Dutch passport shows its value: I get it back without any question. And honestly, the way in which the checks are done are good: serious but friendly.

// February 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Agapè, israel, travel

We return to the hotel to have dinner close by, in an Arab place recommended by our friends. It is a good place, and we all enjoy the humus and eggplant salads. We have made a list of topics to discuss: personal life, future of the ministry, movement building, and Agapè Europe. When we start talking it turns out that they are not so easy to separate. Tonight we end up talking about what we are actually trying to achieve as a movement. The international pay-off is ‘Movements everywhere’, which indicates that we want to see things getting stirred up, on the move, progressing. All that sounds good, but why would we want this? What things need to be moving? And where should they move to? Compare it to the civil rights movement: it is not about the movement as such, but about the goals of justice and human rights. Their slogan is not ‘civil rights movements everywhere’ but more something like ‘Justice for all’ or ‘Stop the traffic’. So, what is our movement about?

Most of us agreed that, although it surely has a good meaning, ‘movements everywhere’ is actually not a goal in itself, but rather a means, a strategy. Agapè UK talks about building people who want to ‘changing the status quo’, which comes closer to the goal, but still leaves the question open as to what the change is about. Although we don’t answer all these questions rightaway, it is very good to discuss, think and pray together about the focus.

// February 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Agapè, israel, travel

While on the walls, we saw a Bar Mitswa taking off. It is Thursday, traditionally one of the days that Bar Mitswa’s are celebrated at the Western Wall. So we set off to see what’s going on there. It turns out to be one big photo opportunity – the sunshine, the many colourful people, the traditions… it is almost too much to take J. We spend much time at the Wall, watching the celebrations. Things we know from books are reality here: men dancing together, kissing the Torah, fully into tradition, while modern-dressed and stylish women stand behind the fence cheering and taking pictures. Inside the closed part of the Wall to the left, we enter into yet another world: there are men everywhere reading and citing Torah, some sitting down, others standing in reverence. We walk out again, and notice an increasing crowd on the square. Many children (boys!) are around, entire school classes are together. As we don’t know what is happening, we walk out towards the City of David. When we asks someone what is happening, it turns out that there is indeed an event happening: school classes are gathering to pray for rain – which is much needed. We can hear the citing and singing all around the place.

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// February 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Agapè, israel, travel

Thursday: our first full day in Jerusalem. In the morning we join Bart Repko with his walk on the Jerusalem Wall. Bart and his wife Joke are Dutchmen who through their ministry ‘Never Be Silent’ go on the walls every day to proclaim, prophesy and pray for Jerusalem and the people of Israel. I was quite curious to see how this would go. Sure enough, when we get to the meeting point there are some acquaintances from our former church in Amsterdam!

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// February 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Agapè, israel, travel

Today is the day: I’ll be flying to Israel for a 6-day trip together with 5 colleagues from different countries. I have an early flight, and even before take-off Jerusalem is calling again. This time it is my Arab friend, with whom we will have dinner tonight. We set the details and I am off for Vienna. There I meet Greg, who is National Director for Italy. There are some good things happening there, so while flying to Tel Aviv we have enough to talk about.

In Tel Aviv we hear about a severe incident in Amsterdam this morning. It turns out that shortly after I left Schiphol, a Turkish Airlines plane has crashed close to the landing strip. An extra reason to be thankful for a safe arrival. When the others arrive, we get the rental car and go to Jerusalem. We are staying at the Christ Church Guesthouse in the Old City. A beautiful compound at the border of the Christian and Armenian Quarter. After a short tour in the Christian Quarter we meet up with our Arab friends for dinner. We talk about their life and work in Gaza, Nazareth and Jerusalem, where they try to share the love of Christ with the Palestinian and Arab people. There are only a couple of thousand followers of Jesus among the 3 million. They often face threats and difficulties, with people on the frontline even being in outright danger. Compared to the real danger of death and persecution, the logistical problems due to the war in Gaza seem only minor. This is the reality that our friends face, and it is very encouraging to see the commitment and faithfulness of our friends.

We also talk about the relationship with Jewish believers. A topic even more sensitive and complicated than I had thought, but it was good to get some understanding of it. To put it simply: the ideals of reconciliation are not understood by many, and pushing this too much would be counterproductive. Apart from that, there are also huge cultural differences that require different approaches. Sad as it may be, this means that there is not much cooperation. On the bright side: our friends have some wonderful stories of what God is doing in different places. And it is my privilege to pray God’s blessing over them in closing our meeting.

(Click here for the pictures!)