Disciple: The Things That Make for Peace

A journey to the Holy Land

By the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple

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Recently I drove by Durham School of the Arts, and as I approached the school I saw something odd. “That’s weird,” I thought. “Why is there such a long line of students and adults standing outside on such a cold spring day?”

As I continued to drive alongside the school I realized the entire campus appeared ringed by hundreds of students and adults in the respectful choreography of a silent vigil. The grace-filled solemnity broke into my conscience as my throat tightened and tears welled. It was March 14, the one-month anniversary of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“How long, O Lord, how long?” I prayed.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus says in the Beatitudes. (Matthew 5:9) But what, I wonder, are the things that make for peace? What can bring peace to our schools, our streets, our homes? What can bring peace to those people and places near and far where neighbor turns to violence and turns against neighbor?

I have signed countless petitions to reduce gun violence. I continue to participate in marches aimed at reducing the availability of assault rifles. I’ve joined efforts to de-escalate violence between communities of color and law enforcement. I have been part of any number of demonstrations and campaigns for peace among “those who are far off and those who are near.” (Ephesian 2:17) I pray the daily office, which I believe aligns my heart and mind with the will of God to overcome hate with love and overcome despair with hope.

Making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is also a way to seek “the things that make for peace” as Jesus desires of God’s faithful. (Luke 19:41) Going into a part of the world too often reduced by the nightly news to a cacophony of confusion and violence and discovering instead a legacy of peacemaking and beloved community is food for the soul for followers of Jesus. Today’s pilgrims are like those Greeks of Jesus’ day who came to Jerusalem and said to the disciple Philip, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” Pilgrims going to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee will come to know Jesus, read the Bible and see our Palestinian and Israeli neighbors in whole new ways.

THE JOURNEY

This April I am making my third pilgrimage to Palestine/Israel, and this time I am joined by 38 pilgrims from the Diocese of North Carolina. I asked the Rev. David Umphlett and the Rev. Sally French to help me lead this journey so that others may taste and see and hear how faithful Christians, Jews and Muslims have built their lives upon the hard stones of the past along with a fragile but enduring hope for a more peaceful future.

We invite you to follow along on this journey. We want to share with others the experience of getting down to the literal and spiritual bedrock of our faith. The holy sites of the Churches of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem show us how different branches of the Jesus Movement have learned to negotiate a shared stewardship.We want North Carolina disciples to be able to read Holy Scripture having waded in the Jordan River, or walked in the Judean wilderness and surveyed the striking geography of the Kidron Valley from the beautiful Mount of Olives. We want to break bread together beside the Sea of Galilee where the Risen Lord may have prepared breakfast for Peter and other fisher folk about to become apostles.

We want to watch as pilgrims find themselves able to navigate the winding streets of the Old City and move with increasing confidence from the Jewish Quarter to the Armenian Quarter to the Muslim Quarter. We want to be there as fears melt away at the Shepherds’ Fields of Bethlehem and tears well up as we walk the Via Dolorosa (the Way of the Cross).

Amid the things that make for peace are the people. Against the backdrops of the western wall of the Temple Mount and the security wall that separates Palestine and Israel, we will walk with those living the contemporary struggles and listen to Christian, Jewish and Muslim voices.
We will be guided and inspired by the Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Rev. Suheil Dawani. With him we will see the work of our Church in this part of the world through Episcopal institutions of learning and healing: St. George’s Cathedral and College in Jerusalem, St. Luke’s Hospital in Nablus, and St. Vincent’s Maternal and Child Health Center in Bethlehem, a Roman Catholic institution.

THE LIGHT HAS COME

In our Book of Common Prayer, Canticle 11 for Morning Prayer is composed of verses from the 60th chapter of the Book of Isaiah where the author describes a vision of Jerusalem that has become a place of light and peace and welcome for all nations (p. 87):

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you…
Nations will stream to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawning.
Your gates will always be open….
Violence will no more be heard in your land,
ruin or destruction within your borders.
You will call your walls, Salvation,
and all your portals, Praise.
The sun will no more be your light by day,
by night you will not need the brightness of the moon.
The Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.

Pilgrims will notice the light in the Holy Land. There is something strikingly luminous about the sunlight as it strikes the stones of the cities, the fields of grain and olive trees, and the hills of sand in the wilderness. Perhaps a great darkness tried to cover the land, but faith in the God of Abraham shines brighter. My greatest hope for our band of pilgrims is that whatever the experience “over there,” it will enlighten our minds with a deeper knowledge of God and kindle a desire to pass the peace of God with all our neighbors near and far. Yes, it can seem that a great darkness covers our land, but “our hope is in the Name of the Lord; the maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8 )

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY

Follow the pilgrims’ journey as they travel through the Holy Land April 9-20.

• Visit the page dedicated to the Holy Land pilgrimage. There you’ll find insights shared by the travelers and links to photos and videos.
• Like the Diocese on Facebook and enjoy videos and photos from the pilgrims as they’re happening.
• Join the trip’s Facebook Group (Episcopal Diocese of NC Holy Land Pilgrimage) to enjoy even more as you interact with the pilgrims as they travel.
• Follow the trip on Twitter and Instagram using #EDNCHolyLand
• Follow Bishop Anne on social media:
  • Facebook – Anne Hodges-Copple
  • Twitter - @bishopannehc
  • Instagram - @ahodgescopple
    
    

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The Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple is the VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina.