Greetings from Star Street in the Christian neighborhood of Ephrath Bethlehem.  Inger, my host, came to my flat at 9 am after I got some much needed sleep. (The trip was fine, and surprisingly, the entry people at Customs did not ask me one single question. They just took my passport and stamped it! And all my supplies are here.) We walked over to Dar Annadwa and we looked at the show that is coming down today. Such artists!  I want to buy pieces!!! Oh, my. How to teach such gifted people? I have no hope, except that watercolor is not so common here so I will hang onto that! We filled palettes with paint and had some long conversations.  I believe I may have 19 students now.  Some supplies will have to come from the center as I am only prepared for 15.

The people themselves are extremely generous and helpful. My aircard has not been working, and my hosts said they would bring me a cable. As there is a connection in the wall, I thought this is what they meant.  This evening they brought the cable.  An elderly man with little English came in to “perform” the cable.  His son was in the alley below. Together they opened my living room window and strung the cable through the alley and into the window.  He apologized that due to the length of cable I would have to work at the kitchen table!  My hosts at Dar Annadwa will not let me buy anything such as bread, yogurt, etc., they are taking care of the cost of the flat also.  I am getting used to living with the perennial water shortage and its many effects, such as not flushing toilet paper.

It has been a good day, an adventure. I am beginning to understand how the separation policy affects people very personally. For instance, it is hard to convene the local choir, which I attended at Bethlehem University tonight, as some are unable to come regularly – they cannot obtain the permit to come to Bethlehem regularly.  They talked about the necessity of preparing early for the period when general permits are given around Christmas so they can have a concert. One woman is not permitted to come here for lack of a permit because of the policies, but she sneaks in to sing with the group.  A person can be put into prison indefinitely for such a thing.  She is going to pray with me in Gethsemane next week.  Another woman has thought about emigrating but has found that many countries will not accept Palestinians because they think they are all terrorists.  It is a sin to damage the reputation of an entire group of people by journalism and I see the effects of this sin here.

My hosts will not let me pay for anything such as yogurt, juice, etc. Most of the shop keepers speak a little English.  Thank you is shukrun.  The reply is afwan – your welcome.  I feel it is quite safe to walk alone in Bethlehem. People greet me and children mimic picture-taking in hopes I will take their pictures. It is wise, of course, to ask the parents first.  My publicity has made my name known so I hope I do not disappoint these good people.  But I think they are so happy to have someone here who listens to them even though she is an American who speaks only 5 words of Arabic.

Tomorrow is the exhibit opening. We could not bring frames and the ones they have here do not fit.  So we have jury-rigged some fishing line and tape to hang them. The largest will just sit on an easel. I must think about pricing and I am quite confused about it of course.  And this evening I must begin preparing for my class on Saturday.  Next post I will try to add a picture.

Love to all.  Asalaam aleichem!

Chris

Well. Finally, after a year and a half of planning, praying, and preparing, it’s time to go to Bethlehem to teach painting.  Up till today, it’s been something I was going to do “soon”: after the other things, all the other things, so many other things. But the other things have happened, been accomplished, gone by. And in the past couple days I’ve been getting moments of startling clarity when I realize that in 48 hours it will be time to go “Now.”

Am I ready? No. I will never be ready.  There will always be another class to take, another skill set to learn, a few more paintings to paint.  There is no “ready”.  This idea is bigger than I am. The need is greater than I can meet. The job is bigger and the situation more challenging than I am up to.  Like all painters I know, whether they are world-renowned or just hobby artists, I am not as good a painter as I want to be. I don’t have all the answers. This could be seen as a problem.

Instead, I choose to see it as an opportunity. It is an opportunity for me to recognize that by myself I would not have brought myself to this point.  That I am now poised to make this trip is testament to the fact that Someone Greater than me is working things out. As Stephen Quiller is fond of saying, and I am quoting him out of context here, we are just participating in something greater than ourselves. It is good to remember that I am not in control and that my lack of perfection is not the issue. In fact, we are all beginners in the face of the beauty of the world, the beauty of our existence, the beauty of our ability to relate to each other and the pathos of those moments when we face our imperfections and inabilities head-on.  We will be beginners together in a new little bit of dialogue and encounter.

There is an amazing ministry going on in Bethlehem, a ministry that seeks to offer conversation, presence, opportunity and hope to people, and I have been invited to share with these people some moments of mutual learning.  God is good to me and I am deeply humbled to join the people of Bethlehem in this journey.  I’ll try to post some reflections here in the course of the visit.

God bless all. Salaamat.

Chris

birches by the sea rustle in the salt breeze …. we have this always in the heart, no matter where we hang our hat.

We are all in transit, waiting in the station for our own comings and goings or those of others. Time slows as we watch the departure board, listen for the arrival announcement, grow patient with the inevitable delay. My life is a handful of darts and a map of the world. Meanwhile, birds feed on seed, grass grows, lilies open and close in the pond, a hawk hovers, a cat naps on a pile of folded towels in a basket, a dog sighs.