Maria Update

For those of you who have been faithful followers of the blog you’ll recall our first encounter with Maria (see “A Problem Like Maria”). Maria is doing well. Mandy and I went back to visit her again with two of my tenth grade girls. She’s still in the hospital in Jerusalem. For Maria though, still being in the hospital is a good thing. Being paralyzed from the neck down, this is the only place where Maria can receive the kind of care she needs.
We brought her some fun little things to put in her hair and the girls painted her nails, did her hair and put some of the clips in. We laughed and smiled. It’s hard for Mandy and I because we don’t speak much Arabic so we tend to just sit there and smile and wonder if we look like idiots. But as we got up to leave Maria’s father came with us. He told us about how much it means that we came back again and that it really makes Maria happy when people come to visit. You have to figure different faces must really break up the monotony of living in a hospital all the time. So he asked us to come back again if we could and thanked us.
It turns out that the father is trying to petition the Israeli government for permission to live near the hospital, in which case I felt like telling him not to mention that I had been there but if he had to not to say anything about any 2000 year old tree stumps. (I’m pretty sure I’m on a list somewhere now.) He said they’ve agreed to some things but not to others. I don’t know what he’s asking for but I’m pretty sure whoever he’s asking has never spent anytime at the hospital listening to Maria practice her Hebrew (which has improved dramatically even since we were there last.) If they did their heart would melt and they would see how innocent and sweet this girl is and how lovingly her father waits on her hand and foot and cares for her in every way he possibly can. I’m sure if they saw that they would realize that there is no valid reason for saying no to these people.
We went; we smiled; we loved; we did our best to be Jesus to these people. This land could use more Christians. They’re such a minority. Today we went to the First Communion of a boy in Mandy’s class. It was a really cool experience. It was all in Arabic and I have no idea what they said but I’ve been to enough catholic services to know what was going on. I sat there thinking about how the little gray haired lady a few rows in front of us looked like an Arabic version of my Nana Mella. And I thought about how really after something like this we ought to be heading over to Aunty Betty’s house for gnocchis. We have had some discouraging conversations lately with people both Arabic and American who look down their noses at the Catholic and the Orthodox people around here as if they’re not really believers. This just bugs the heck out of me. Of course I realize there are nominal Catholics and nominal Orthodox Christians just like there are nominal Protestant Christians. What does it help to go around pointing fingers saying this way or that way is the perfect way to follow Jesus and all others are wrong? There are just too few of us here to be that petty. Can we please work together so that we can have a more effective witness? I seem to remember Jesus pleading for this somewhere around John 17. As this little boy stood up there today and took his first communion I rejoiced. I think God can meet him in that and is not hindered by the denominations and divisions we create. Praise God, one more little Arabic kid is being welcomed into Christian community in the Land where Jesus was born.