Birthday Blessings

Sabeel Prayer Service at the Dominican church near the Old City

My birthday was last Wednesday; I had nothing special planned (besides, ahem, spending it in Jerusalem).  It was my first day volunteering at Sabeel.  That evening, Sabeel organized an ecumenical prayer service near the Old City and, after the service, I was stacking candles with another volunteer when Omar, the Sabeel young adult director, called out to me, “Yo, Staci!”  He point to a young Palestinian woman who was also helping, “You two study the same thing.”  With that, Omar walked off and the young woman and I looked at each other.  “I guess that means we’re supposed to talk,” I said and we laughed.  Her name is Claudin and she studies religion at Bethlehem University but lives in the Old City like me, which is unusual.  We ended up talking so long that we didn’t notice everyone else had left and the priest had to ask us to leave so he could lock up.  We walked back to the Old City together and, on the way, ran into another volunteer who invited us to a potluck on the Mount of Olives at the Lutheran World Federation.  I decided to go along, so I exchanged phone numbers with Claudin, caught a service (pronounced “serveese”, a 15 passenger van/unofficial taxi) and joined the group of international activists and clergy for dinner.  Afterward, one of the pastors dropped me off at Damascus Gate.  As I walked down the nearly deserted main street of the Muslim Quarter, I passed Rimon’s Cafe and, to my surprise, saw two CPTers from Hebron sitting there drinking glasses of wine.  They greeted me joyfully, explained that one of them was also celebrating a birthday, and invited me to join them.  Before long, the owner Rimon discovered the double birthday celebration and insisted on treating us to generous glasses of Palestinian brandy and chocolate.  Just then, two members from my CPT delegation who were still in Jerusalem happened to walk by and spotted us.  It was one of strange moments when nearly all of the people I know in Jerusalem happened to show up in the same place.  It was great…plus, they helped me drink my brandy, which pleased Rimon to no end!  I went to bed that evening grateful for another year, for the embrace of new friends close by, and for the love and prayers of old friends far away.