Day 4 (July 5) - First full day of the conference

First full day of conference = long blog post. Prepare yourself accordingly. Go get some snacks or something.

We started the day with a tour of Jerusalem’s Old City. As I mentioned, Janelle and I had done a bit of looking around the previous day, but now we had someone telling us what we were looking at! We started in the Christian Quarter of the Old City and learned a bit about Orthodox traditions. We also visited the Armenian Quarter.

Western Wall

 The Jewish Quarter was next – home to the Western Wall. We had the chance to go right up to it. Many people were there praying, and writing their prayers on paper to put into the wall’s nooks and crannies. Men and women are split, while visiting the Western Wall, by a divider that is perpendicular to the wall. The day we were there (and I suspect many other days as well), we could see women standing on chairs so that they could see over the divider to observe bar mitzvahs taking place. 

Women at the Western Wall

Watching a bar mitzvah

We then visited Al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock – perhaps one of Jerusalem’s most recognizable landmarks.  A beautiful golden dome surrounded by intricate coloured tiles. Gorgeous. We were not able to go inside, but the view outside was spectacular enough to satisfy me! We exited the grounds of the mosque and had the chance to see the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

Dome of the Rock

Janelle and me at the Dome of the Rock

It was then back to the Christian Quarter for the Via Dolorosa, or stations of the cross. This was fairly new for me, as it is not a big thing in Presbyterian churches. We walked through the Christian Quarter, following in the symbolic steps of Jesus as he journeyed toward the cross.  So, just for a few examples, there were stations for where Jesus was condemned, where he fell, where he met his mother and other women, and where he was crucified and buried. The Old City in Jerusalem is a bustling place these days – given that, and the fact that the city has been destroyed a few times since Jesus walked its streets, it was sometimes difficult to picture the events as having taken place there. Still, however, it was kind of a neat reflection as we walked.

Near the station where Simon helped Jesus carry the cross. It is said that Jesus put his hand here when he fell. Photo: Sabeel

The end of the Via Dolorosa, and of our tour of the Old City, was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – the supposed site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. Again, when my mind’s eye has an isolated hill-top as being the setting for these events, it was hard to get my head around this very large, slightly overwhelming church. Lots of stuff to see.

Near the Garden Tomb

We had falafel sandwiches for lunch (yummers) and then had some free time. We took the time to rest a bit, get Janelle some cold medication and visit the Garden Tomb – another potential site of Jesus’ burial and today a beautiful garden maintained by a British NGO. It was a lovely spot, and much more in line with what we think of when we picture the empty tomb.

After our morning tour, we were able to spot some significant things around the Old City during the afternoon that we hadn’t necessarily noticed before – security cameras, the presence of soldiers (okay, we noticed that from the very beginning...) and the presence – and significance – of Israeli flags. The Old City is part of East Jerusalem, which is claimed as part of its capital city by Israel and as occupied territory by the Palestinian National Authority. (Wikipedia has a summary of various positions on Jerusalem, including Canada’s.) Cameras, soldiers and flags usually appeared together near where Jewish settlers live in the Old City.

Photo: N. Whyte

We walked to the Garden of Gethsemane late in the afternoon for the conference’s opening worship service. Some of the trees in the garden are over 2000 years old… so there were there when Jesus prayed, and when he was betrayed and arrested. We all participated in worship, with prayers about coming to Jerusalem from all corners of the Earth, readings (1 Peter 4:12-19, Mark 14:26-50), songs, and a sermon from Salwa Duaibis, a woman who is on Sabeel's Board. Salwa told us, like Jesus told the disciples, to keep awake - to observe what is going on around us in the Holy Land.

Garden of Gethsemane

Worship in the Garden of Gethsemane (Photo: Sabeel)

On the way back to our hotel for dinner, we put “creative discipleship” into action and helped someone who was moving. Glad that the 25 of us were able to save him and his few friends some trips between his pile of stuff and his new apartment.

All in all, a great day - the opportunity to be a bit of a tourist, but also to reflect on life today in communities where Jesus walked, to be still where Jesus was still. The benediction we used in worship that day was:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live from deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
- Franciscan Benediction