ST. GEORGE'S COLLEGE, JERUSALEM

We frequently highlight a person or event at St Gregory's that is making a difference. This week, as we welcome the Very Rev. Richard Sewell, Dean of St. George's College, Jerusalem, to St. Gregory's, I want to celebrate the impact of St. George's on my spiritual life and on other members of St. Gregory's, who have taken pilgrimages through the college, and countless people throughout the Anglican Communion. 

St. George's College serves as a pilgrimage and study center near the Old City of Jerusalem. From St. George's you can walk to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which marks the traditional location of Jesus' death and resurrection. St. George's offers short-term pilgrimage experiences that invite people to follow the footsteps of Jesus in ways that combine study, prayer, and worship. In my thirty years as a priest, my pilgrimages in the land of the Holy One have made the deepest impact on my relationship with God in Jesus Christ. This has been a gift of amazing grace!

Living, learning, and worshipping in Jerusalem has also introduced me to the vibrant Palestinian Christian community in the Diocese of Jerusalem, who are the living stones of our Anglican Christian witness in Palestine and Israel. I value the precious friendships formed over the many years from my previous visits, including Bishop Hosam, who lovingly shepherds the diocese. St George's College and the cathedral campus--"close" is the old proper Anglican word--is truly my home in Jerusalem. 

It is an immense joy that with Dean Sewell's visit, St George's College and Jerusalem come to us. May God bless the work and witness of the college that is truly making a difference!

In Christ,

Andrew+