Lent in the Holy Land

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Day 10 photos

Another amazing day-- from a 6am visit to the Holy Sepulchre and an early morning walk of the Via Delorosa to an all-afternoon visit to Nablus and the church at the spot where Jesus encountered the woman at the well. Once more it's late and I can't wait to get to bed. Another early morning trip to Holy Sepulcher is planned for tomorrow. Today's photos focus a lot on local people and scenery (I've tried to be intentional about using my camera as a form of meditation throughout the pilgrimage). I may not have a chance to post photos from tomorrow until after I get home, so check back in a day or two for some more and additional reflections.
Cynthia

A 6 a.m. visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Lucy Ann at Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Via Dolorosa

Tom on the Via Dolorosa

Via Dolorosa

On the Via Dolorosa

Via Dolorosa

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

In the Old City

Samarian countryside

Encounter at the well

Near Nablus

Mt Gerazim

Palestinian police tower near a checkpoint

Butcher near Nablus

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Inclusion and exclusion

Today we started by traveling to the Dome of the Rock, which sits on the Temple Mount. Then, after lunch, we went to the Mount of Olives, began the Palm Sunday Walk, going to the Pater Noster Church, and ended in the Garden of Gethsemane and celebrated the Euchrist.

For me this day, more than anyhing else, was a study of inclusion and exclusion.

On the Temple Mount is the Dome of the Rock, one of the three holiest places to Muslims. Since 2000, it has been closed to everyone except Muslims. Yet this is the place on which sat the Holiest of Holies, and the Ancient Temple. It is the place Mary and Joseph presented Jesus after his birth, and the place he probably visited numerous times in his life. Many of us felt excluded because we could not go inside.

We then went to the West Side of the Temple Mount, known as the Wailing Wall. The men and women in our group needed to separate, because the women and men could not pray at the wall together. More exclusion.

Women were crowded five deep at the wall, since they had so little space in front of the wall in comparison to the men. Yet I felt surrounded by the prayer of these mostly Orthodox Jewish women. Many sat in plastic chairs for long periods of time and never moved the whole time we were there. I was able to wind my way to the wall slowly. When a space opened up, I saw a woman who I assumed to be Orthodox standing next to me, and I signaled her to go to the open space at the wall. After standing in that one spot for what seemed like a long time, I began to think I would never leave my space that was so close to, but not at the wall. Then I saw a hand signaling me. It was the same woman, dressed in a white blouse and black skirt, who smile and pointed me to the space at the wall that she just left. Feeling welcomed washed over and through me. Inclusion had come at last.

Later that day, as we walked the Palm Sunday Walk, we arrived at a church that I hadn't known existed, the Pater Noster Church. It sits on one of the three sites of churches that date from Byzantine times: the others are the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (the site of the Crucifixion). On this site, in the church and on all the walls surrounding it are large placards of The Lord's Prayer in over 100 languages, including languages I had never heard of, like Doric. Everywhere we looked, in every direction, was language after language, alphabet after alphabet. This church felt like a center of inclusion, welcoming all,

As the day ended, I thought of my experience this far. Messages of inclusion and exclusion swirled around me day after day. Churches open to all, others walled with locked metal gates. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, at which Orthodox and Roman Catholics fight each other over space. The wall between Jerusalem and the West Bank, keeping out Palestinians. I remembered the history of my father's side of the family, the Jewish history of pogroms and being walled out of Christian cities. I also remember the history of Christianity in Israel, who when in power excluded Jews.

And then I remembered the stories of inclusion, which mostly occur one on one, in the signaling of a hand, or by the graciousness of a host at lunch. I know that this is what God calls us to do: to welcome each other and to love one another as God has loved us. I only hope that this city, the City of Peace, can find a way to peacefully welcome and include everyone, Christian, Jew and Muslim.

Rose

Day 9 Photos

A whirlwind day in the city.... the Dome of the Rock, followed by the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, the Shrine of the Book, Mount of Olives and Gethsemane.

Sounds easy!

Colleen and I prepared a small piece of paper with the names of all of the members of Redeemer, Morristown, to place in the Western Wall...

.... they got folded up into a tiny bundle.

Men's section of the Western (Wailing) Wall

At the Dome of the Rock, a women's study

Group photo

Were they tourists or a Muslim women's photography class?

At the Dome of the Rock

Sandye at the Dome of the Rock

Going into the Muslim quarter of the Old City

Eventually our prayers for our Redeemer family made it into the wall

Western Wall

Adele reading the story of Simeon and Anna at the Temple

Temple Mount

Greg at the Temple Mount

Yassir, our driver

Mark at Pater Noster Church

Gethsemane

From Gethsemane

Day 8 photos

From the Dead Sea to Jerusalem was dramatic, just as was the transition from the Galilee to the Dead Sea. It was hard to see the separation wall for the first time, so a lot of my photos focus on this today.