The American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem

To the Hebrews
Jews and Christians share faith in Messiah even they understand Him differently. This fundamental unity is finely expressed in the first sentences of the Letter to the Hebrews showing the glory of the Messiah before the two faiths separated into different and often hostile religions.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Hebrews 1:1-5 KJ21

The mentioning of Jewish people often brings mind to human suffering and it is really an essential element of the experience of the People of God among the nations and with the God of Israel.

In Jerusalem there is an island of peace that reminds that also Christians suffer and that Messiah does not guarantee happy easy life without sickness, persecution, difficulties and even death. On the contrary, Christian believers have many stories that resemble those of Jewish believers.

One monument to the hidden blessing in suffering is the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, whose founders, Horatio and Anna Spafford, tragically lost four children to the ice cold waves of the North Atlantic in the wreck of the Ville Du Havre on 23 November 1873.


The American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem

A view from the American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem
Image wikimedia

The building was originally owned by Rabbah Daoud Amin Effendi al-Husseini, who lived there with his harem of four wives. Soon after his fourth marriage, al-Husseini died. In 1895, the building was sold to a group of messianic Christians who arrived in Jerusalem in 1881 and set up a commune. Their leader was Horatio Spafford, a lawyer from Chicago and his wife, Anna. In 1896, the Americans were joined by two groups of Swedish settlers. This Christian utopian society became known as the American Colony.

In 1902, a Jaffa hotelier named Ustinov (grandfather of the British actor Peter Ustinov) was looking for a place to put up guests visiting Jerusalem and asked the Spaffords to accommodate them. Soon after, the building was turned into a hotel.

Today the American Colony Hotel calls itself an oasis of neutrality in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is still owned by descendants of the Spaffords. A grandson, Horatio Vester, was the manager until he retired in 1980.  His wife, Valentine, lived in the hotel until her death in June 2008. Since 1980, the hotel has been run by a Swiss company. The effendi's original bedroom is called "Room One."
wikipedia 

The American Colony Hotel home page is here.


The tragedy

Horatio Spafford (1828-1888)
Image wikimedia

Two years later, in 1873, Spafford decided his family should take a holiday somewhere in Europe, and chose England knowing that his friend D. L. Moody would be preaching there in the fall. He was delayed because of business, so he sent his family ahead: his wife and their four children, daughters eleven year old Anna “Annie”, nine year old Margaret Lee, five year old Elizabeth “Bessie”, and two year old Tanetta.

On November 22, 1873, while crossing the Atlantic on the steamship Ville du Havre, their ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel and 226 people lost their lives, including all four of Spafford's daughters. Anna Spafford survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to Spafford beginning "Saved alone." Spafford then sailed to England, going over the location of his daughters' deaths. According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, Spafford wrote "It Is Well with My Soul" on this journey.
wikipedia


Faith in Messiah
We might think that by imposing much suffering to His people generates deep mistrust and hatred of God among the Chosen People still patiently waiting for the King to come. But the contrary seems to be true.

Similarly, Messiah allows suffering to His believers who confess that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, and this suffering strangely makes them to believe more and to love God more than before.

This is one of the mysteries of the shared Jewish and Christian experience with God.


The hymn written on board of the Ville du Havre is a living witness of the gentle touch of Messiah in the midst of the icy waves and tragic tribulations of life. Note that the fourth verse was added by his daughter who did not perish with her siblings.



All is well with my soul 
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

(Refrain:) It is well (it is well),
with my soul (with my soul),
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
(Refrain)

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
(Refrain)

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
(Refrain)

And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
(Refrain)
Horatio Spafford 1873