Friday: local Christian tension, international Anglican sensitivities and Shabbat

Friday morning: Because we arrived in Jerusalem early there was no sound system (including a key board) for our consultation prior to the start of the rest of the conference. It quickly became clear that if we were going to have a keyboard, it was going to be by responsibility to get it. An american seminarian, named Ben, who was spending the summer in Jerusalem abd working with us contacted a local rental agency who had the necessary equipment and off we went.

I, Ben and a local clergyman named David Pelagi took off in a taxi and drove into a modern section of the city to find this rental agency. The rental agency turned out to be an international, interdenominational church that rented music and sound equipment as a money making venture. They meet weekly in a rented auditorium found in a very run down shopping mall. The shopping mall was small, dirty and contained tiny and locally owned storefronts. There were no signs advertising this church anywhere. We had to call the pastor (a very kind Canadian) on his cell phone just to find the place.

We met and he led us to what was obviously a former storefront (complete with credit card signs on the glass door) but all of the glass was painted over in a drab gray.The church's storefront was located just to the left of a porno shop decked out, by obvious contrast, in bright red. The pastor cautiously unlocked the large lock on the door, obviously concerned about security. They fear harrassment and vandalism, he indicated, so they keep as low a profile as possible.

we got the necessary equipment, but I also gained a deeper appreciation for what some local Christians endure in a state that considers Jewish conversion to Christianty as anathema.

Most of the meetings in which I was involved that day were in planning the worship services for the conference. The overriding concern was to have people upfront that visually represented the delegations from 37 countries that would be attending- not just Americans and their African partners. There is a pattern of misinformation about GAFCON that all of this is being driven by right wing American money. Nothing could be further from the truth and we wanted the worship to reflect the global collegial partnership that we enjoy together.

By 4:00 pm on Friday almost all of the shops, public buildings, shops and transportation had stopped. Even the restaurants in the hotel were closed (we ate dinner in a private dining room on the second floor. It was the evening of Shabbat. There were almost no cars on the roads. Even in our meetings at the hotel we were forbidden to use any amplification or do any work on the internet. Except for synagogue services, all was to be quiet until sundown on Saturday. So, we, too, took our rest.