"It's an experience that, at least right now, I believe has affected me forever," says Faye Greer, minister of Yorkton's Westview United Church.
From September through December, the minister took part in a once-in-a-lifetime study opportunity at the Tantur Institute for Ecumenical Studies in Jerusalem.
The trip came about when Greer, who has been minister at Westview since 1999, was advised to take advantage of the United Church's sabbatical option for ministers who have spent more than five years in a community.
"When this was suggested to me, I wasn't really that interested because I didn't think there was anything I wanted to pursue," she says.
A flyer about Tantur Ecumenical Institute sent to her by a friend changed her mind.
"My heart just kind of stopped beating for a couple seconds and I just went, 'Oh. Now this sounds interesting.'"
Greer had been to Israel twice before on short trips, and found herself excited by the prospect of a longer stay in the country.
During her three months in Israel, Greer and 14 other program participants from around the world heard daily lectures on biblical topics, geography, Christian/Jewish/Islamic relations, and the history of the region. In between lectures, they toured Israel and Palestine, visiting both major historical sites and minor towns and villages.
The trip represented a new stage in the minister's religious education, but Greer found the most eye-opening part of the experience to be the new understanding she gained of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
"Tantur is situated about as far east in Jerusalem as you can get before having to go through the checkpoint into the Palestinian area, so it was very much a part of our experience," she says.
At a presentation about the trip to her congregation on March 27, Greer interspersed images of the natural and man-made beauty of the region with pictures of the suffering brought on by relentless Israeli expansion.
Those of us in the West, she said, are not getting the whole picture; we hear of Palestinian rocket attacks into Israel, but not of the far larger attacks from Israel against Palestine, or of the abuse of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers at security checkpoints, or of Israel's denial of the basic necessities of life to the Palestinians.
"Often I would hear people talking about it on the Israeli side, and I would start to think, 'Okay, yes, you have a point.' But then I think, 'But you don't have to shut off their water! You don't have to humiliate them at the checkpoints!'"
Her new appreciation goes beyond an increased sensitivity to the situation in the Middle East, says Greer.
"I think it's made me more aware of situations happening in other places or even at home in terms of issues of power and authority and living in poverty-those kinds of things, how people are affected by it."
The trip has challenged her to think about the role of her church in the modern world, she adds.
Three months of living and studying alongside the same 14 people has also built some lasting bonds, the minister says. With most of the group being Roman Catholic and male, Greer was the odd one out, but she got along well.
"There was a Presbyterian, and a couple of Mennonites, and good old me holding up the United Church front, and the feminist front, and the liberal front," she laughs.
Elements of the trip have already been incorporated into Greer's sermons, and she expects it to inform her view of the world for years to come.
"It was just a fantastic, phenomenal experience, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do it."
