The Journey Continues

Thursday marked the end of our EAPPI training and at 4pm we gathered in the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City of Jerusalem for our official handover ceremony.  Present were representatives from a number of  denominations of the World Council of Churches who are serving in Jerusalem, as well as EAPPI staff, the outgoing Team 40 and the incoming Team 41.   Scripture was read from Psalm 121, Matthew 5: 14-16 and 1 John 3:16-20; prayers were spoken, and music was both sung and played.  In a moving ceremony, each member of the outgoing Team 40 from each placement location lit a candle and passed on the light of the candle to an incoming Team 41 member, symbolically passing on the work of the outgoing team to the incoming team.  Dianne Baker, from the outgoing EAPPI South Hebron Hills Team 40, and myself from the incoming EAPPI South Hebron Hills Team 41, shared the rich blessing of passing off from one United Church of Canada member (and Manitoban) to another.

WE GO  Out into a Broken World Bearing Peace

O God of many names,

Lover of all nations, we pray for peace

In our hearts, in our homes

In our nations, in our world.

For the peace you will, we pray.

For everything there is a time;

A time for going out and a time for coming in.

For everything there is a season,

and a time for every matter under heaven.

 

And so, for each of us, the journey of peace continues.

Peace, Salaam, Shalom

Jan

United Church of Canada members Dianne Baker (L) and Jan McIntyre (R) in Jerusalem, as Dianne symbolically passes on her cell phone, a crucial tool of Ecumenical Accompaniers, to Jan