The Last Post - for now
Thursday evening, our pilgrimage (which consists of 27 people, including the Bishop) was invited to meet with The Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem. Due to an emergency in Ramallah, we met at 9:30 at night (no rest for a Bishop!). Bishop Dawani was very gracious as he told us about his Diocese, which covers 5 (yes, 5!) countries. At this point only about 1% of those living in the Holy Land are Christian. They need our prayers and support. Bishop Dawani mentioned that he is the 4th indigenous bishop, and his people trace their Christian roots back to Pentecost. These people are the first Christians and we need to keep Christianity in the Holy Land. They refer to their ministry in the Diocese as "The Living Stones," and from what. we have experienced here, they certainly are.
One Friday we began our final sessions together with a reenactment of the Palm Sunday walk. We started in Beth-fa-ge (the correct pronunciation of Bethpage). We couldn't go to Bethany - where the scriptures tell us that Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived, because the "separation barrier" cuts off access to it. A trip that used to take 10 to 15 minutes now takes over an hour because you have have to go through a check point far out of the way.
So we remembered the resuscitation of Lazarus at a church in Beth-fa-ge, which overlooks the barrier. It is this event in the Gospels that the Eastern churches celebrate on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. It is a wonderful way to start the events of Holy Week with the contrast of that event to what happens to Jesus in the Resurrection.
From there we went to the Mt. of Olives to continue our prayer walk remembering the Palm Sunday walk from Bethany to Jerusalem. (Due to Ramadan and the expected crowds of 300,000, we couldn't walk the entire route). We learned that (and this will be a big surprise) palms WERE NOT USED on Palm Sunday - olive branches were. There were no palm trees in Jerusalem during Jesus' time. That was a tradition started much later.
We walked down the very steep hill on the Mt. of Olives, across from the Haran, where the Dome of the Rock is and all the Muslims coming to pray there at noon for Ramadan. We stopped at Dominus Flevit (God/Jesus Wept), a church in the shape of a tear drop, where we remembered that Jesus wept for Lazarus. We continued our walk to the Church of all Nations, which is where the church remembers the Garden of Gethsemane, although the exact stop is unknown. The Garden is the Mt. of Olives, and it is a large area. There is an olive tree grove at the church. The trees themselves are only 1800-1900 years old, but we were informed that the ROOTS are at least another 1000 old. The trees were graphed onto those roots (which were there at the time of Jesus!). John Peterson asked us what does it mean to be graphed into the body of Chris? What are we called to give up or cut off in order to allow Jesus' foundation to nourish us, to take us over?
We had the good fortune to witness a Eucharist in the church being offered by a Filipino church (we believe, as it wasn't in English). The church is beautiful, decorated all in purple.
We did not visit Caiaphas' Palace, where the church remembers Peter's denial, because of the influx of people.
We had a very quick lunch at the Notre Dame Center, a beautiful facility on the outskirts of the Old City. We got back to the hotel and had a free afternoon. We did venture out to a Christian shop outside of St. George's Cathedral - by that time, the Muslims were beginning to pour out of the old city. There were cars and buses parked EVERYWHERE. It was organized chaos.
Our guide, Iyad, and his wife, Simone, and their two college-aged sons, Sami and Rami, invited us to their home in Jericho for dinner. It was wonderful and incredibly hospitable. But, again, the reality was we had to go through a checkpoint in order to get to and from their home. And getting back INTO the city was crazy It took us twice as long to get back to the hotel (1 1/2 hours). But even at that - it was NOT scary. Yes, there were mobs of people, but it was not riotous. I never felt scared or threatened. We didn't get back to the hotel until after 11:30 PM, however, and we were up and at Herod's Gate by 5:50 AM this morning (Saturday).
We started our last day in Jerusalem by walking the Way of the Cross, going to the 14 Stations located in Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The liturgy we used was created by a colleague of John Peterson during his time at St. George's College. (I cannot remember his name at the moment.) It was intense - physically, spiritually and emotionally. I had the honor of reading the prayers at the forth station, where Mary mets Jesus, and carrying the cross into the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher before the tenth station.
After breakfast, we made our way to one possible location of Emmaus (there are 4!), where we celebrated Eucharist and John Peterson challenged us to a know Christ while our "hearts are burning within us" when we return home from this incredible pilgrimage.
This is a poor summery of the last 48 hours, but I am working on 3 hours of sleep and anticipating a 12 hour flight home. I look forward to engaging with this information more with the all of you at home - almost as much as I look forward to being back in the USA. This has been a trip of a lifetime and I will treasure it always.
With final blessings from the land of Jesus' birth, death, Resurrection and Ascension, I bid you adieu.
One Friday we began our final sessions together with a reenactment of the Palm Sunday walk. We started in Beth-fa-ge (the correct pronunciation of Bethpage). We couldn't go to Bethany - where the scriptures tell us that Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived, because the "separation barrier" cuts off access to it. A trip that used to take 10 to 15 minutes now takes over an hour because you have have to go through a check point far out of the way.
So we remembered the resuscitation of Lazarus at a church in Beth-fa-ge, which overlooks the barrier. It is this event in the Gospels that the Eastern churches celebrate on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. It is a wonderful way to start the events of Holy Week with the contrast of that event to what happens to Jesus in the Resurrection.
From there we went to the Mt. of Olives to continue our prayer walk remembering the Palm Sunday walk from Bethany to Jerusalem. (Due to Ramadan and the expected crowds of 300,000, we couldn't walk the entire route). We learned that (and this will be a big surprise) palms WERE NOT USED on Palm Sunday - olive branches were. There were no palm trees in Jerusalem during Jesus' time. That was a tradition started much later.
We walked down the very steep hill on the Mt. of Olives, across from the Haran, where the Dome of the Rock is and all the Muslims coming to pray there at noon for Ramadan. We stopped at Dominus Flevit (God/Jesus Wept), a church in the shape of a tear drop, where we remembered that Jesus wept for Lazarus. We continued our walk to the Church of all Nations, which is where the church remembers the Garden of Gethsemane, although the exact stop is unknown. The Garden is the Mt. of Olives, and it is a large area. There is an olive tree grove at the church. The trees themselves are only 1800-1900 years old, but we were informed that the ROOTS are at least another 1000 old. The trees were graphed onto those roots (which were there at the time of Jesus!). John Peterson asked us what does it mean to be graphed into the body of Chris? What are we called to give up or cut off in order to allow Jesus' foundation to nourish us, to take us over?
We had the good fortune to witness a Eucharist in the church being offered by a Filipino church (we believe, as it wasn't in English). The church is beautiful, decorated all in purple.
We did not visit Caiaphas' Palace, where the church remembers Peter's denial, because of the influx of people.
We had a very quick lunch at the Notre Dame Center, a beautiful facility on the outskirts of the Old City. We got back to the hotel and had a free afternoon. We did venture out to a Christian shop outside of St. George's Cathedral - by that time, the Muslims were beginning to pour out of the old city. There were cars and buses parked EVERYWHERE. It was organized chaos.
Our guide, Iyad, and his wife, Simone, and their two college-aged sons, Sami and Rami, invited us to their home in Jericho for dinner. It was wonderful and incredibly hospitable. But, again, the reality was we had to go through a checkpoint in order to get to and from their home. And getting back INTO the city was crazy It took us twice as long to get back to the hotel (1 1/2 hours). But even at that - it was NOT scary. Yes, there were mobs of people, but it was not riotous. I never felt scared or threatened. We didn't get back to the hotel until after 11:30 PM, however, and we were up and at Herod's Gate by 5:50 AM this morning (Saturday).
We started our last day in Jerusalem by walking the Way of the Cross, going to the 14 Stations located in Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The liturgy we used was created by a colleague of John Peterson during his time at St. George's College. (I cannot remember his name at the moment.) It was intense - physically, spiritually and emotionally. I had the honor of reading the prayers at the forth station, where Mary mets Jesus, and carrying the cross into the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher before the tenth station.
After breakfast, we made our way to one possible location of Emmaus (there are 4!), where we celebrated Eucharist and John Peterson challenged us to a know Christ while our "hearts are burning within us" when we return home from this incredible pilgrimage.
This is a poor summery of the last 48 hours, but I am working on 3 hours of sleep and anticipating a 12 hour flight home. I look forward to engaging with this information more with the all of you at home - almost as much as I look forward to being back in the USA. This has been a trip of a lifetime and I will treasure it always.
With final blessings from the land of Jesus' birth, death, Resurrection and Ascension, I bid you adieu.
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