The Gift of Going: How a trip to the Holy Land changed me

By Rev. Dr. Robin Blair | Email

Editor's Note: The Gary Bergh Scholarship (Task Force on Peace with Justice in Palestine and Israel) is an Upper New York Conference Advance Special. 

The moon on the Sea of Galilee. (Photo courtesy: Rev. Dr. Robin Blair)

The Gary Bergh Scholarship allowed me to visit the Holy Land in May 2025. After 20 years of living within a pastor’s compensation package, a trip to the Middle East was simply not something I could easily afford. The scholarship changed that.

Through the connections of the Upper New York Task Force on Peace with Justice in Palestine and Israel, I traveled with a group led by the Rev. Dr. Michael Spath, Executive Director of the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace. Rev. Dr. Spath has lived in Jordan and Palestine and led dozens of trips there. Walking through Bethlehem with him felt less like touring and more like being welcomed into someone’s home. The Rev. Dr. Garry Doupe from the Upper New York Annual Conference was also part of our group.

The Gift of Presence

One afternoon, in 105-degree heat, we visited a Bedouin community whose traditional way of life had been significantly disrupted by ongoing conflict and displacement. Families told us about losing access to grazing land, schools and medical care, and about the destruction of solar panels that had provided their energy.

Yet before they told us any of this, they served us coffee. Hospitality was important and it came first. Dark, strong coffee arrived in small paper cups while grandchildren wandered in and out of the room and a fan tried to move the hot air. Their story came second. I will never forget that.

We also visited Tent of Nations, a Palestinian Christian family farm atop a mountain that has been in the same family for over 100 years. That part mattered because of the constant legal battles they faced with settlers encroaching on the farm's edges every year. The family showed us how they collect rainwater after settlers damaged their well by pouring concrete into it. They also told us about solar panels, olive trees, and an apricot grove that had been destroyed, including the grove being cut down at harvest time. Yet they remain on their land.  Their message was remarkably simple: presence matters.

They refuse to answer hatred with hatred. They welcome visitors because international visitors remind them that they have not been forgotten. They fed us, sang with us, prayed with us. It. Was. Humbling.

Then there was Bethlehem.

Listening and Bearing Witness

On our first day in Palestine, I heard an explosion. I looked around, startled. People nearby looked up and calmly said it sounded like a bomb. Then life continued. Vendors still sold their fruits and vegetables. People kept walking as if this was normal. Church was to begin in about thirty minutes.

Rev. Dr. Robin Blair with Pastor Ashraf Tanous (photo courtesy: Rev. Dr. Robin Blair)

We worshiped at Christmas Lutheran Church, experiencing the service in Arabic. It was beautiful. Later we spoke with Pastor Ashraf Tanous and I recorded it for Common Table Podcast UMC. You can listen to the podcast here.

Pastor Ashraf's words have stayed with me. He spoke about Palestinian Christians living in the city where Jesus was born and asked why so many Christians around the world seemed to have forgotten them.

“Please go home,” he told us, “and tell everyone what you see here.” And so I did.

Changed by Experience

The Western Wall (Photo courtesy: Rev. Dr. Robin Blair)

I came home changed.  I recorded the stories of the people we met and shared them through Common Table Podcast UMC because I wanted others to hear their voices—not simply statistics or headlines, but people: pastors, grandparents, farmers, children, Christians, Muslims, and families trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances.

We also visited some of the most sacred places I have ever seen: Jerusalem, Hebron, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The ancient art and iconography were breathtaking. I stood in places Christians have prayed for centuries.

But when I think about the Holy Land now, I think mostly about the people.

I think about coffee served in paper cups.

I think about a Christian family refusing to leave its farm.

I think about worship in Arabic in Bethlehem.

And I think about Pastor Ashraf asking us not to forget. The best falafels I ever tasted on the

Team standing underneath the statue of Nelson Mandela in Ramallah. (Photo courtesy: Rev. Dr. Robin Blair)

street in the place where Jesus might have walked, made by people who probably looked like him and were so nice to me.

The Gary Bergh Scholarship gave me much more than a trip. It gave me the opportunity to listen, to witness, and then to come home and tell the stories entrusted to me from the Holy Land where unholy things are happening and yet love still stands waiting in courageous witness. 

I hope others in Upper New York will support this scholarship—and perhaps one day use it themselves. Go. Listen. Meet the people who live there. Let them know that they are not forgotten.

And please join me and the Peace with Justice for Palestine and Israel team in praying for an end to violence, for healing for all who are suffering, and for a peace rooted in the love, mercy, and grace of Christ.

Plea for Financial Support

A fruit vendor in Bethlehem. (Photo courtesy: Rev. Dr. Robin Blair)

"Many people would like to walk where Jesus walked, to see a land Jews and Christians have lived for many years. The UNY Task Force on Peace With Justice in Palestine/Israel and many other supporters have been making this possible for many years," said Task Force member, the Rev. Merle Showers. 

"We need your help to make it possible for you or others to go to the Middle East and learn for yourself what is happening in God's world," explained Rev Showers.  

Donations can be made to the Gary Bergh Scholarship and other Upper New York Conference Advance Specials by clicking here.