wfn.org | `Holy twitch' takes bishop from Wyo

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

April 18, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org
97-1747
`Holy twitch' takes bishop from Wyoming to Jerusalem

by James Solheim
       (ENS) It is a long way from the wide open spaces of Alaska and
Wyoming to the crowded streets of Jerusalem, a historic cultural
crossroads of both the modern and the ancient world. And yet it is all
part of a single spiritual journey for Bishop Bob Jones.
       "Somehow I knew that something was coming down the road, a
feeling, a holy twitch," he said during an interview at St. George's
College in East Jerusalem where he has been dean since last fall. "It was
the same feeling I had back in Anchorage before I was elected bishop of
Wyoming."
       So when Bishop Samir Kafity called and asked if he was
interested, Jones and his wife, Mary Page, "were convinced that this is
what God wanted for us," he said. "We knew that we had to trust in the
guidance of the Holy Spirit--even if it meant giving up our love of wide
open spaces."
       Jones first explored St. George's in 1976 when he took a six-week
course at the college, known throughout the Anglican Communion for its
continuing education curriculum, drawing students from 92 countries and
96 different faith traditions over the years. He has spent time at the
college every year for the last 10 years and served on the North
American committee that supports the school.
       Yet it is an adjustment, going from a diocese of 95,000 square
miles to a city that bristles with tension and sporadic violence. That has
affected the college which is not operating at its full capacity during this
time of uncertainty.

Dwindling Christian community
       Jones shares with others a deep concern for the future presence of
Christians in the region. "The Christian community is dwindling, in
Jerusalem and the whole area," he said. "We are only about 1.2 percent
of the population now," adding that even Bethlehem, which used to be
half Christian, is losing people.
       Jones deplores the ignorance in many Western countries that fails
to realize that "the indigenous church in this land is Palestinian--and
when they suffer the whole church suffers," he said. And yet in this
cauldron of political tension and uncertainty relations among the
Christian groups have been improving. "The Week of Christian Unity in
this part of the world is wonderful," he added. "There is probably no
greater variety of Christians anywhere else in the world."
       As he walks the streets in the old part of the city, it feels more
like a village where everyone knows each other. "They recognize us on
the streets, they know who we are. Apparent strangers sometimes greet
you by name. Suddenly we realized that this is now our hometown,"
Jones said.
       When asked about the increasing political confrontation as Israelis
and Palestinians continue their desperate search for a viable peace, Jones
said that he "tries to keep a balance." He pointed out that both Israelis
and Palestinians lecture at the college, for example. "That's our policy."
       "In this situation you have two choices--either you despair and try
to ignore what is happening around you or you join those who are
working for justice," he adds. "My real desire is that the United States
would adopt a more balanced policy in the Middle East, one that is based
on sounder principles than its totally naive support for the state of
Israel."
       He observed that visitors "assume that when they come to Israel
they are dealing with the biblical Israel. But they usually leave thinking
in a different way. And this college has been an important instrument in
that transformation, that revelation."

--James Solheim is the Episcopal Church's director of news and
information.