On May 20th, there was a Bible study facilitators’ meeting at St. Saviour Catholic Church in Old City of Jerusalem. Rev. Naim Ateek gave a model Bible study presentation and questions to encourage discussion and reflection, to help the facilitators think about how to look at the text and how to lead their own Bible study groups. The facilitators updated each other on their groups and and had lunch at a restaurant in the Old City. The group also visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The annual clergy and wives post-Easter retreat was on May 12th. It was held at St. Andrews Church of Scotland. Rev. Naim Ateek led the Bible study. The clergy members had time to exchange information about their churches and communities, and the retreat concluded with a meal and colored egg breaking.
The women’s monthly meeting on May 12th was close to the anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe) which is on May 15th. One of the women led a discussion on a displaced village, Lifta. One unique thing about Lifta is that it has been able to preserve its antiquities very well.
In conjunction with the prisoners’ hunger strike, we held a special ecumenical prayer service in Nazareth on May 4th. The 35 attendees participated in readings and requested songs to stand in solidarity with the prisoners.
There was an ecumenical prayer service on April 29th for the political prisoners who are on hunger strike. Bishop Atallah Hanna preached, and representatives from different churches were present – a total of 110 people. The service took place at the Dominican Church.
On April 27th, we partnered with Bilda (the Swedish Christian study center) and the Evangelical Church of Christ to host a community program. The event was a concert with a group of over 40 singers and 5 musicians.
Sabeel’s annual Contemporary Way of the Cross was on April 3rd. Forty people from different churches joined us for this path, led by Rev. Naim Ateek and Syrian Orthodox Priest Benjamin Shemoun. We went through Via Dolorosa from station one through fourteen and ended at the Church of the Resurrection.
For the women’s monthly meeting on March 31st, we started discussing the book The Arab Christians. Each meeting, one of the women summarizes one chapter of the book and leads a group discussion about the chapter and related topics.
On March 31st, Sabeel held its annual egg hunt for children from orphanages in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It took place at Mary Doty Garden in Bethlehem, and 110 kids from different charitable organizations were able to participate. There were performers, balloons, face paint, gifts, and chocolate for the kids to enjoy. The event ended with a pizza dinner.
The youth Bible study on March 29th focused on the Gospel of Matthew 6:1-8 and 6:16-18, parts of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus speaks about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. He teaches that these things should be done privately rather than in front of other people with the goal of impressing them. We also discussed what these passages are telling us for our own daily lives and how difficult it can sometimes be to apply them.
