After some thirty hours blurred with a mix of buses and airplanes we have returned home. Sunday, March 4, was our final day in Jerusalem. We spent the morning at what remains of King David’s Jerusalem, now a small gathering of archaeological remains, and also walked through Hezekiah’s tunnel which was built during Hezekiah’s expansion of the city in order to bring Jerusalem’s water supply within the city walls. We then visited an archaeological park at the southern end of the Temple Mount and saw the southern steps and entrance complex to the temple which existed in Jesus’ lifetime. We spent a few minutes at the Western/Wailing Wall and then had lunch. After lunch we had some free time for packing and shopping, which I spent bumming about the Old City. In the evening we toured the Israeli excavations along the Western Wall and then went to bed for our last time in Jerusalem.
We spend Monday travelling along the Jordan Valley, and visited Qumran, home of the Essenes, an ancient sect of Judaism and the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We also visted an Israeli state park at Ein Gedi, which is the wadi where David his from Saul and also spared his life. This narrow, but very deep gorge is riddle with caves and gives an excellent idea of how the events between these two may have played out. We ended the day at a resort on the shore of the Dead Sea and enjoyed some much needed relaxation and flotation in the excessively dense waters.
Tuesday was our last day in Israel. We were given some extra time in the morning to sleep and pack for the long journey ahead. I spent the time floating in the Dead Sea again. We then travelled North a short distance to the mountain-top fortress of Masada which Herod the Great fortified as a place of refuge and a luxury palace. Later, the last holdouts of the 1st century Jewish revolt against Rome took their lives in the fortress following a three-year siege by the Roman legions. Our final stop of the trip was a baptism site along the Jordan River which is in the same vicinity as Jesus was baptized and where John the Baptist conducted his ministry. The site lies within touching distance of the nation of Jordan, and we were lucky that it was open. From this river on the edge of Israel, we drove across the country to the port-city of Joppa, where we ate dinner before heading to the airport for an overnight flight home.
The Dead Sea was one of the highlights of my trip. Our days in Jerusalem were difficult. The nature of the city requires much walking and we had a number of people in our group who had mobility challenges and needed a great deal of help. This struggle was compounded by the unusually cold and wet weather, and a very full touring schedule. While I enjoyed Jerusalem, I was ready for the warmth and sun of the desert, and the Dead Sea did not disappoint. Floating in the mineral dense waters was exactly what I needed, and my body felt renewed and reinvigorated by the experience. So much so that I set aside my packing an journaling time the next morning to do it again! The blessed relaxation in the Dead Sea was still very much in my mind when we arrived at the baptismal site along the Jordan River. This close to the Dead Sea, the Jordan is a calm and serene body as it meanders through its final few miles. It also serves as the, currently peaceful, border between nations who have fought multiple wars with one another. John’s baptismal site is a small cluster of churches, monasteries, and the ruins of both sandwiched between minefields, trenches, and watchtowers overseen by men with guns. Within this area of death, where nothing exists but the desolate memories of long-ended wars exists an area of peace, tranquility, and rest. While we looked at the Jordan, two teenaged soldiers lounged in the shade, joking with each other and with us. This is the work that the Holy Spirit did in my life during the last few days of this trip, and I believe it is the work He is doing in the world, the church, and individuals everywhere. After days of exhausting travel in horrible weather conditions, helping others on the same journey, and dealing with all of the dynamics one finds in a group of individuals, the Spirit brought me to a place of rest and rejuvenation. In this world of chaos, war, and hatred, the Spirit is working to carve out a place of peace and rest where we can find Him and re-engage life with new energy.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
3/3 - Some More of Jerusalem
3/3
This was another blustery and cold day, but no snow. We drove across the Kidron Valley to the Mt. of Olives. A tear-soaked King David climbed this mountain as he fled Jerusalem and his son Absalom’s coup. At the top of the mountain, David would have had a wonderful view of his capitol city in one direction, and the Judean wilderness in the other. David had spent a great deal of time fleeing from Saul in the wilderness, and now he was returning there again. Jesus also took in this view on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday, but he was not fleeing the city for the wilderness, quite the opposite. He was entering the city for his final week of life. The clouds didn’t do much for the view from the Mt. of Olives, but we occasionally got enough of a reprieve for some photos. Then, those of us who were brave enough to dare the steep and wet hills, began the same walk down into the Valley that Jesus would have taken on Palm Sunday. Our route took us into the Garden of Gethsemane where we walked among 2,000 year old olive trees and spent a few minutes at the Church of All Nations, which claims to house the very rock on which Jesus prayed.
From Gethsemane we travelled to the Israeli Museum, which houses the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. While not necessarily spiritually edifying, the Scrolls are worth seeing. We also visited the Tower of David Museum housed inside Herod the Great’s former palace. This museum covers Israeli history from the time of the Canaanite’s to the founding of modern Israel. The museum closed early, so we had the rest of the day to relax at the hotel, or explore the Old City. After weaving our way through a maze of ancient streets, my father led me to the shop of the world renowned Khader Baidun, dealer in antiquities. If Indiana Jones were looking to purchase an artifact, he would call Baidun. We sat in his cramped workshop sipping tea, talking about family, looking at his picture in National Geographic, listening to him brag about the great men who had visited him, and negotiating the price of owning pieces of history. Baidun is nothing if not generous, and for the price of $160 allowed me to purchase some modest artifacts and sign my name in the famous guestbook along with the likes of Chuck Swindoll and Joe Kennedy.
One of the things amazing things about this country is how peaceful it is considering the diversity it contains. Jerusalem truly is an international city. One is just as likely to run into an American, or German, or Nigerian, as an Israeli. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Mosque of Omar stand next door to one another. As I was waiting to get into the church for another visit this afternoon I heard a chanting sound that I couldn’t initially place. Then I realized that it was coming from a doorway just outside of the church and it was a group of Muslims praying. This wasn’t an unusual event, in fact it probably happens multiple times a day. For all we Americans hear about tensions in the Middle East, and there are very real tensions here, Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and all of us tourists get along quite peacefully despite living on top of each other every day. If there is any evidence for the activity of the Holy Spirit is inspiring peace, unity and understanding while restraining anger and violence, it is the Old City of Jerusalem. Yes, violence has happened here, and probably will again, but understanding the proximity of this diversity in such a small area, and admitting that the violence is only a parenthesis to daily life, makes one appreciate the work of the Spirit in the world.
This was another blustery and cold day, but no snow. We drove across the Kidron Valley to the Mt. of Olives. A tear-soaked King David climbed this mountain as he fled Jerusalem and his son Absalom’s coup. At the top of the mountain, David would have had a wonderful view of his capitol city in one direction, and the Judean wilderness in the other. David had spent a great deal of time fleeing from Saul in the wilderness, and now he was returning there again. Jesus also took in this view on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday, but he was not fleeing the city for the wilderness, quite the opposite. He was entering the city for his final week of life. The clouds didn’t do much for the view from the Mt. of Olives, but we occasionally got enough of a reprieve for some photos. Then, those of us who were brave enough to dare the steep and wet hills, began the same walk down into the Valley that Jesus would have taken on Palm Sunday. Our route took us into the Garden of Gethsemane where we walked among 2,000 year old olive trees and spent a few minutes at the Church of All Nations, which claims to house the very rock on which Jesus prayed.
From Gethsemane we travelled to the Israeli Museum, which houses the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. While not necessarily spiritually edifying, the Scrolls are worth seeing. We also visited the Tower of David Museum housed inside Herod the Great’s former palace. This museum covers Israeli history from the time of the Canaanite’s to the founding of modern Israel. The museum closed early, so we had the rest of the day to relax at the hotel, or explore the Old City. After weaving our way through a maze of ancient streets, my father led me to the shop of the world renowned Khader Baidun, dealer in antiquities. If Indiana Jones were looking to purchase an artifact, he would call Baidun. We sat in his cramped workshop sipping tea, talking about family, looking at his picture in National Geographic, listening to him brag about the great men who had visited him, and negotiating the price of owning pieces of history. Baidun is nothing if not generous, and for the price of $160 allowed me to purchase some modest artifacts and sign my name in the famous guestbook along with the likes of Chuck Swindoll and Joe Kennedy.
One of the things amazing things about this country is how peaceful it is considering the diversity it contains. Jerusalem truly is an international city. One is just as likely to run into an American, or German, or Nigerian, as an Israeli. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Mosque of Omar stand next door to one another. As I was waiting to get into the church for another visit this afternoon I heard a chanting sound that I couldn’t initially place. Then I realized that it was coming from a doorway just outside of the church and it was a group of Muslims praying. This wasn’t an unusual event, in fact it probably happens multiple times a day. For all we Americans hear about tensions in the Middle East, and there are very real tensions here, Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and all of us tourists get along quite peacefully despite living on top of each other every day. If there is any evidence for the activity of the Holy Spirit is inspiring peace, unity and understanding while restraining anger and violence, it is the Old City of Jerusalem. Yes, violence has happened here, and probably will again, but understanding the proximity of this diversity in such a small area, and admitting that the violence is only a parenthesis to daily life, makes one appreciate the work of the Spirit in the world.
3/1 and 3/2 - Jerusalem and Bethlehem
Yesterday morning we awoke to a cold and rainy Jerusalem. Our guide told us that they haven’t had this type of cold and rain in four or five years. In the morning we had communion at Gordon’s Tomb, which claims to be the authentic location of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Unfortunately, support for this location only goes back to the 1800s, the tomb in the garden is significantly older than the time of Jesus, and the skull shaped pattern on a rocky cliff overlooking the site was created by a quarry which probably didn’t exist during Jesus’ lifetime. All that said, this is the best place to go if you want to get a feel for what the garden tomb actually looked like, because it is still in a garden. The authentic site, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is quite different.
From Gordon’s tomb, on a hill outside of Jerusalem’s Old City, we travelled to Bethlehem to visit the Shepherd’s Field and the Church of the Nativity. Shepherd’s Field is a nice location which was probably used by shepherds during Jesus’ lifetime. Today it is a park with a small church and a chapel constructed in a hillside cave. The Church of the Nativity marks the spot of Jesus birth and is about as authentic as you can get with these locations. The church itself is very unique. There was a place of worship at this location since the 1st century AD, but the location was destroyed by the Romans, who constructed a temple to Dionysius on the location. Constantine’s mother, Helen, destroyed that altar and built a church on the location again around 325. The mosaic floors and, maybe, original columns are still part of the church structure today.
After visiting these locations, and some shopping, we travelled back to Jerusalem. It was still very cold and stormy, but a few of us took a walk through the old city. We eventually found ourselves at the Western Wall, or “Wailing Wall,” the only portion of the ancient temple mount to which Jews have access. The bottom seven courses of the giant stones which make up the mount are Herodian, meaning Jesus would have seen and touched them in his lifetime.
Today, we woke up to a snow covered Jerusalem, which is a apparently a once-in-a-decade event. After some shenanigans with sliding buses, we left our driver in an icy parking lot and spent the day on foot. Our first stop was the House of Caiaphas. The house, now a church, overlooks the Kidron Valley. Archaeologists have uncovered 1st century steps coming from the Kidron Valley, near the Garden of Gethsemene, to the courtyard of this house. Near the house there is a prison, and below that a dungeon. After his arrest, Jesus was brought up the steps, and questioned and held in the prison/dungeon until he was taken to Pilate the next morning. This would have been where Peter famously denied knowing Jesus three times and also where Peter and John were later held after healing the lame man in Jerusalem.
Later in the morning the snow had let up and we continued walking to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Shared by at least three different Christian groups, who don’t always get along as well as we might like, the church is the authentic spot of Jesus death, burial and resurrection. It has been a holy place since the first century, and several attempts to destroy it have occurred over the years. Notably, the Romans under Hadrian obliterated the original tomb with hammers and chisels. Today the ancient church is decorated in all the glamour of the eastern tradition, but is free and open to anyone who is willing to wait in line. You can, as I did, touch the rocks of Golgotha and pray at the site of the garden tomb. We left the church walked the Via Dolorosa, albeit backwards, which is the path that Jesus carried his cross from the Roman Antonia Fortress to Golgotha. To be fair, we don’t know that this is the exact path, but it starts and ends in the correct places, and follows the best route considering the configuration of today’s streets.
In the evening, a number of us heading into the Old City hoping to catch the weekly celebration welcoming in the Sabbath at the Western Wall. Unfortunately, the cold and rain had forced the festivities into a series of underground tunnels. Just when we were about to leave, a group of about 50 Israeli soldiers came down to the wall, huddled together to say a prayer, and then, with arms linked, formed a large circle and began singing and dancing. Coming from a society where we don’t sing and dance publicly, it was nice to see this kind of celebration.
Standing in the dungeon where Jesus was held was a very moving experience for me. Many of the locations here are either covered with centuries of buildings, or commercialized, but the steps leading from the Kidron Valley to this prison put a very real face on that night so many years ago. These locations are taking what had been a series of loosely connected Bible stories and formulating them into a whole that not only makes sense, but is very real and tangible. I suppose it is a work of the Spirit that these locations are still preserved and accessible despite all the years and a variety of political rulers who were inclined to do away with them. It seems that the Holy Spirit is at work in the world protecting the legacy of Jesus Christ.
From Gordon’s tomb, on a hill outside of Jerusalem’s Old City, we travelled to Bethlehem to visit the Shepherd’s Field and the Church of the Nativity. Shepherd’s Field is a nice location which was probably used by shepherds during Jesus’ lifetime. Today it is a park with a small church and a chapel constructed in a hillside cave. The Church of the Nativity marks the spot of Jesus birth and is about as authentic as you can get with these locations. The church itself is very unique. There was a place of worship at this location since the 1st century AD, but the location was destroyed by the Romans, who constructed a temple to Dionysius on the location. Constantine’s mother, Helen, destroyed that altar and built a church on the location again around 325. The mosaic floors and, maybe, original columns are still part of the church structure today.
After visiting these locations, and some shopping, we travelled back to Jerusalem. It was still very cold and stormy, but a few of us took a walk through the old city. We eventually found ourselves at the Western Wall, or “Wailing Wall,” the only portion of the ancient temple mount to which Jews have access. The bottom seven courses of the giant stones which make up the mount are Herodian, meaning Jesus would have seen and touched them in his lifetime.
Today, we woke up to a snow covered Jerusalem, which is a apparently a once-in-a-decade event. After some shenanigans with sliding buses, we left our driver in an icy parking lot and spent the day on foot. Our first stop was the House of Caiaphas. The house, now a church, overlooks the Kidron Valley. Archaeologists have uncovered 1st century steps coming from the Kidron Valley, near the Garden of Gethsemene, to the courtyard of this house. Near the house there is a prison, and below that a dungeon. After his arrest, Jesus was brought up the steps, and questioned and held in the prison/dungeon until he was taken to Pilate the next morning. This would have been where Peter famously denied knowing Jesus three times and also where Peter and John were later held after healing the lame man in Jerusalem.
Later in the morning the snow had let up and we continued walking to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Shared by at least three different Christian groups, who don’t always get along as well as we might like, the church is the authentic spot of Jesus death, burial and resurrection. It has been a holy place since the first century, and several attempts to destroy it have occurred over the years. Notably, the Romans under Hadrian obliterated the original tomb with hammers and chisels. Today the ancient church is decorated in all the glamour of the eastern tradition, but is free and open to anyone who is willing to wait in line. You can, as I did, touch the rocks of Golgotha and pray at the site of the garden tomb. We left the church walked the Via Dolorosa, albeit backwards, which is the path that Jesus carried his cross from the Roman Antonia Fortress to Golgotha. To be fair, we don’t know that this is the exact path, but it starts and ends in the correct places, and follows the best route considering the configuration of today’s streets.
In the evening, a number of us heading into the Old City hoping to catch the weekly celebration welcoming in the Sabbath at the Western Wall. Unfortunately, the cold and rain had forced the festivities into a series of underground tunnels. Just when we were about to leave, a group of about 50 Israeli soldiers came down to the wall, huddled together to say a prayer, and then, with arms linked, formed a large circle and began singing and dancing. Coming from a society where we don’t sing and dance publicly, it was nice to see this kind of celebration.
Standing in the dungeon where Jesus was held was a very moving experience for me. Many of the locations here are either covered with centuries of buildings, or commercialized, but the steps leading from the Kidron Valley to this prison put a very real face on that night so many years ago. These locations are taking what had been a series of loosely connected Bible stories and formulating them into a whole that not only makes sense, but is very real and tangible. I suppose it is a work of the Spirit that these locations are still preserved and accessible despite all the years and a variety of political rulers who were inclined to do away with them. It seems that the Holy Spirit is at work in the world protecting the legacy of Jesus Christ.
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