Ethan Spence (who teaches in our Sunday School) went on a pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine with about 20 Anglican young people from across the country led by the national Primate Archbishop Linda Nicholls (for the first half of the trip), Canon Dr. Richard LeSueur, (from BC who amongst many other roles, was the interim Dean at the Cathedral in Vancouver in 2019 and who has taught at St George’s College in Jerusalem) and other leaders. They stayed in Anglican church guest and pilgrim houses.
Check out the group's itinerary by clicking this -> A Program of Pilgrimage and Discovery Israel - Palestine Itinerary.
Tell me about your group and your first impressions of Israel.
It was a really lovely group of people, and I enjoyed being with them. That was one of the best parts of the trip – being in a community and getting to know people from across Canada. On our first day, we went up Mount Carmel overlooking the Jezreel Valley in the north and saw how flat the land is with few mountains. This view of the whole land stretching below us was amazing. Our guide explained how Israel is easy to invade from all sides as there are no barriers and as it’s a crossroads between different regions and empires, wars have been fought here for thousands of years. Israel is really small so you can see a lot of the country in a short time.
What do you say when people ask you about your trip?
It’s really hard to answer that question. We saw so much and there was so much information given to us every day about the history of each building, the culture and all the Biblical places – it was hard to remember everything and take it all in. It was overwhelming in such a short time span. I think I’m still processing what I saw and learned. It’s hard to single out any single experience or place that was more meaningful than another or to describe the trip so that people will understand.
What surprised you the most about Israel?
You read so much about all the conflict there that I was expecting a bigger armed presence everywhere. That it would feel tense. But on the night, we arrived, we went for a walk down the street in Nazareth and there were three young soldiers sitting in a café being very casual with their weapons at their side. There were lots of soldiers at religious places like the Wailing Wall and the Harem El Sharif Mosque in Jerusalem, but I thought there would be soldiers on every corner stopping to search people. But away from the big religious sites, there was very little military presence. I never felt unsafe there. It just felt normal.
What are some experiences that you will remember?
Many of the meaningful experiences were small moments like when I went to the balcony of a little chapel at the church guest house in Nazareth where we were staying, and I started to sing one of my songs. The acoustics in the chapel were amazing and I loved singing there. Another time, a Bedouin man came up to me while we were each sitting on our own in the desert. It was a place like where Jesus would have gone during his 40 days in the wilderness. The Bedouin man didn’t speak English and wanted to sell me something. He mimed with his hands asking whether he could have the big wooden spoon I was carrying around with me. I said no, and he laughed and gestured that he was just kidding. We looked in each other’s eyes and I felt a moment of connection with him that felt real.
Did you go to Palestine or meet any Palestinians?
Yes, we went to Palestine with our guide whose father is Israeli Palestinian. We visited the Yasser Arafat Museum and Mausoleum where he is buried in Ramallah. The Museum tells the history of all the war and conflict with lots of pictures from the Palestinian side. I left thinking that no one wins in a war. Just one side maybe loses less.
On the itinerary, it says that a pilgrimage is different than being a tourist. What did you experience?
I definitely felt like this was a pilgrimage because of my intention before I left. I didn’t think of this as a vacation where I went just to enjoy myself. I went to learn something. It felt at times like work because there was so much information, and we were always doing something. I was trying to keep an open mind about everything so I could frame it against my experience at home. Archbishop Linda Nichols said to us at the beginning of the trip, not to necessarily expect to have a religious or spiritual experience when we were there because everything is so different and new to us that we would likely feel like tourists just trying to take it all in. I didn’t have any big spiritual Ah Ha moment as there was just so much to process. What I most took away was that God made everything everywhere and everyone is equally special whether they live in Israel or here. There is so much conflict and war there and people struggle just to live but we’re all the same. We don’t have the war and conflict like they have but we’re the same in needing to eat, stay alive, be happy. We’re all the same.
Submitted by Ethan Spence