Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem

Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem

Sonntag, der neunte Oktober, und wir sind alle sehr früh aufgestanden, weil wir...Moment mal..Just a minute. We are going to the English service at nine o'clock and not the German one? That changes everything. Let's start this all again!

Die Erlöserkirche in Jerusalem must now be referred to as the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. Same church, different language. We are headed there for Sunday morning worship service before making our way up to Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. This should be a memorable occasion; going to church in this massive Lutheran Church in the middle of old Jerusalem. And it is just a stone's throw from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which many see as the holiest of Christian shrines.

The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem (Die Erlöserkirche).

Inside the beautiful side chapel of the Church of the Redeemer where English worship is held every Sunday at 9.00am.

This huge limestone church was built on land given by Sultan Abdulaziz of the Ottoman Empire (which at this time was in control of these areas) to the German Kaiser Wilhelm I. This seems to be another case of it's not what you know but whom you know. So the present church has German origins, hence being called die Erlöserkirche. The church was built over the site of the twelfth century Crusader Church of St Maria Latina. This isn't surprising for most buildings in the Holy Land are built on the site or over the remains of an earlier construction. It was dedicated on Reformation Day in 1898 and today is the home to a multi-lingual group of Christians. Services are conducted in  Arabic , Danish, English and German.

But enough history. We have come here to worship and not to be given a history lesson. Salah with his impeccable driving got us to the church on time and we filed in full of expectation. I was a little disappointed that our service was held in a smaller side chapel rather than the main church. No matter. It's the Word not the where, and the side chapel was lovely.

I had taken a seat in the second back row of pews for I wanted to get a few photographs. Then Wendy, who had taken the back pew, tapped me on the shoulder and asked, " Is this really a Lutheran church?"

"Yes," I assured her. "Why do you ask?"

" Well," she explained, "the front pews were filled first  and there is an ordained female Pastor, a woman Pastor."

"This is Jerusalem, Love, not Australia!"

Then the service progressed in a liturgical format with which we are quite familiar - except for the occasional "foreign" insertion such as " Yarabba ssalami amter alayna ssalam".  But wasn't it great to be worshipping with folk from around the world, communing with them,  united in a similar faith? And what made it all the more poignant was that we were gathered here in the land where Jesus also worshipped.

And had he been here with us in person I'm sure he would have given his nod of approval. Listening to Pastor Carrie's address I'm sure he would have been shaking his head in disbelief in what he was hearing from the pulpit. Not that he would disagree with anything she said but that she needed to repeat the same message which he was giving two thousand years ago.

"Oh you thick-headed people! Didn't you get the message I was trying to give you those many years ago? I came trying to break down barriers - well, social ones mainly- and here you are erecting high walls, walls to exclude and not to include. My message of love did not exclude people, but embraced them."

Pastor Carrie's address, if you remember, was based on the reading from 2 Tim. 2:8-15, and she emphasised especially that "God's word is not chained" (2 Tim. 2:9). It cannot be contained by walls of any kind. She has agreed that I could remind you of some of what she said in that address. Here is a short extract:

The Rev. Carrie Smith welcoming tour leader, Graeme, and his group from Australia.

The word of God is not chained! 

These seven words, written from a prison cell and sent to an unsure disciple, are a love letter to all who wonder if love really wins. 

These seven words come to us as a much-needed letter of encouragement this Sunday morning, because there are some weeks when the brokenness of the world can really bring a disciple down. 

Almost every day this week brought shocking news out of Syria…or out of the United States.

This week a long and hard-fought peace deal fell apart in Colombia…by the vote of the people…just days before their president won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to negotiate it.

This week, Israel once again announced the building of a new settlement, deep in the West Bank, in direct violation of previous agreements with the international community…and my country is still sending 38 billion dollars. 

All around us, it seems the Gospel principles of love, peace, justice, and dignity for all creation are being imprisoned by walls of fear. 

All around us, we see the preachers, advocates, and workers for this same Gospel being persecuted, reviled, and mocked…while the voices of division, racism, sexism, and even fascism seem tolerated and accepted. 

So who could blame us for feeling a bit like Timothy? 

Who could blame a disciple for feeling, at times, that maybe we just aren’t up to the task of preaching peace, of advocating for justice, of promoting human rights, or of speaking truth to power? 

Who could blame us for hesitating before following the Apostle Paul to prison—or following Jesus to the cross—for the sake of a Gospel the world seems determined to fight against? 

But hear again the words of Paul to our brother Timothy: 

The word of God is not chained! 

It’s true, the powers and principalities of the world may oppress and imprison the preachers of love and liberation…

The powers and principalities of the world may conspire to bind the Gospel of love, to keep it from being preached and lived… 

But such attempts will always fail, because the word of God is not chained! 

The word of God is not chained because Christ is both crucified and risen, liberated from the tomb!

The word of God is not chained because we have been given an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who teaches us and reminds us of all Jesus has said!

The word of God is not chained because it is alive within all who have been washed in the waters of baptism!"

(The rest of the sermon, and who knows, maybe some good knitting patterns, can be found on Carrie's blog: knitpurlpraypreach.blogspot.co.il )

We pray that Pastor Carrie's work there in the Holy Land will be abundantly blessed. I'm sure she was given the thumbs up by Jesus sitting in the pews on that Sunday . He may have been shaking his head but he had to be thinking, "I'm on your side, Carrie!"

The proud tower of the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. This late nineteenth church overlooks the centre of the Holy City.