60 Minutes on "Christians of the Holy Land"

Last Sunday 60 Minutes broadcast a short piece on "Christians of the Holy Land," which reported on the dwindling number of native Christians in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank that may eventually leave historically important cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem without an indigenous Christian population. The short, 14 minute video is included below.

Jordanian Easter

Easter in Jordan and throughout the Middle East was celebrated yesterday. This is because the region generally follows the Eastern Orthodox calendar. In Jordan specifically, many years ago leaders from the various churches--Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches are all represented in the country's tiny three percent Christian population--met and decided to observe Easter according to the eastern, and not the western, calendar, serving to show a bit of unity amongst the different expressions of the faith here. The Christian holidays here are also celebrated like the main Islamic holidays, in that they are not just simple one day occasions, but festivals lasting several days, during which time people are supposed to visit as many of their extended family and close friends as they can. Our street has an unusually large number of Christians on it, and so yesterday--Easter Sunday, and the first day of visiting--there was a happy bustle of activity below us, with well dressed Christians laughing and chatting on the sidewalk and greeting each other in their homes.

The night before, at around 11:30, the dark silence was pierced by the loud clanging of bells from what I think was the nearby Greek Orthodox church, ushering in Easter Sunday. Below is a short video, which is nothing special to look at, but it's not a sound often associated with the Middle East.  !المسيح قام He is risen!