The New Print Room is Blessed—and a Blessing
April 10, 2008. At 11 AM, we all met up at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (LCR) for the dedication of the newly refurbished print room—the primary reason we came over here in the first place. Before we left for this trip, we had no idea how long it would take to complete the renovation, nor did we know for certain that we would be able to get everything working. So the happy news is, everything did get accomplished, and everything works. The only piece of equipment that didn't arrive yet is the collator—but we're assured that will be here soon.
Pastor Mark Holman led us in a liturgical dedication of the new print room. That's one of the things I love about being Lutheran. Lutherans have a formal liturgy for pretty much any situation. Whether it's the sacrament of infant baptism or the proper way to conduct a prayer service at the end of the day (i.e., Compline), the Lutheran Book of Order has got a way to do it up right. This may seem overly stilted or dry to some, but to me it provides a means by which we can honor the sacredness in all of life's special moments.
The print room in LCR can hold about five or six people on a good day. It's tiny. But miracle of miracles, we must have squeezed 25 to 30 people in the room for the dedication. What a joyous event. Antoinette Karam (the sole operator of the print room for the past 14 years) was beaming. Representatives from LCR's German and Arabic-speaking congregations were in attendance as well. Even Bishop Younan was there.
Antoinette had apparently queried in advance as to whether or not it would be appropriate among us pious folk to bring a bottle of champagne to the celebration. As we are all good Lutherans, the answer was an unequivocal “yes.” So she brought TWO bottles. I think Antoinette must have learned to open champagne by watching a World Series' locker room victory party. She shook and shook and shook the bottle, then for good measure she shook it some more. Then she aimed the bottle out the door and let the cork fly. There was a Vesuvius-like eruption of golden froth—then she reached for the second bottle and did the same. So our 25-30 celebrants were each treated to a communion-sized serving of the bubbly stuff.
Antoinette later demonstrated how the new Perfect Binder works. It takes only about five seconds to bind a single book and secure a cover to the spine. She explained how it used to take her an entire day to bind 60 books by hand. The first day she had the new machine, she was able to bind 300 books in one afternoon—a task that would have taken a whole week previously! Now she says she believes she could bind 500 to 1,000 books in a single day.
She also showed us the new saddle-stitch stapler. She pointed to the manual stapler that the new machine was replacing and remarked that when she used the old stapler for a large run, her hand would go numb for two to three days afterward.
“Not only will this new equipment save me time, and produce better quality, but it will save also my health.”
So we from Minnesota are blessed to have contributed to the work of this hugely important ministry being conducted from the modest little room in the basement of the church in the Old City.
A Celebration of Resurrection and Life
On Thursday evening at 5 PM, our group met up in The Garden Tomb, the site that Protestants have traditionally marked as the site of Jesus' resurrection. I found it a lot more serene than the bustling, ornate art-encrusted Church of the Holy Sepulchre, so maybe when it's all said and done, I really am wired just like a Protestant.
Our group found a quiet, deserted little enclave within the garden where we had our own special worship service, Pastors Nelson and Warpmaeker officiating. Jim Thomson and I each were given scripture passages to read. We sang. We prayed. And Gordy Olson offered an incredibly moving homily about how he and his wife Betty launched Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry after their son, Tim—who was on a church-planting mission in Africa—was murdered by bandits. They took a horrible situation and—in the forgiving, servant-hearted spirit of the Gospel—turned it into a life-giving mission to many all over the world (including Africa, India, Argentina, and now Israel/Palestine).
I read from John's Gospel, the 20th chapter, verses 19-23. It's the passage where the Resurrection has already occurred, but the disciples are meeting clandestinely in a locked upper room, afraid that their affiliation with the crucified trouble-maker called Jesus could get them killed as well. Suddenly Jesus appears to them. Now, having abandoned their rabbi at His moment of trial and having run like scared rabbits to save their own skin, they could very well expect Jesus to slam them with an angry rebuke. But the first thing Jesus says to them is, “Peace be with you.” In that moment, He demonstrates no anger, no ill-will, no grudge. He even repeats His greeting, “Peace be with you”--possibly because he reasons that the disciples might hardly have believed their ears the first time He said it.
And then He admonishes them, in verse 23, to forgive—as He clearly had done.
Gordy told us that this was his son Tim's favorite scriptural passage. Alas, Gordy and Betty Olson have declared to the violent, selfish, hate-filled world that murdered their son, “Peace be with you.”
I told Gordy later that there, in that beautiful garden where Jesus is said to have arisen from the dead, I experienced a genuine “resurrection moment” through his story. A father whose son was killed senselessly by a world who knew him not forgave that world and, through the gloom of death, brought forth new life.
After Gordy spoke, Pastor Beth consecrated the bread and the wine and we shared the most moving holy meal I've ever experienced in my life. I get tears in my eyes now remembering how it felt to be joined with these dear brothers and sisters in sacred table fellowship in this beautiful, tranquil setting. Whether or not biblical archaeologists will ever be able to pinpoint the actual site of Jesus' tomb, as far as I'm concerned, I was there in the place where God raised life from death.
And so here our journey ends. But that said, I intend to keep this blog going for a while, because our “Conspiracy for Peace” is just getting started...
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