Day Five - Tuesday Feb 3, 2009 Monica's Birthday

Pilgrimage Day Five

Arriving, Mary and Martha, Padre Nuestro, Crying, Giving it up, Magnificat

Getting Started
This morning we left Bethlehem, sadly, and we drove to Jerusalem. On the way we saw the evidence of the Israeli Government’s attempt to create an apartide in Israel. The Palestinian sections were very poor because there is high unemployment. In addition, the Israeli Government has set up a wall of separation between the Palestinian cities like Bethlehem, Bethany and Bethpage. This wall makes it very hard for people who live on the other side to get to Jerusalem for work. In many cases it has literally split families in two. Where it may have used to take five minutes to walk to a relative’s house, it now takes 30 minutes to drive and then there are checkpoints. Bethany and Bethpage are right next to each other, but because of the wall, it takes 30 minutes to drive from one to another.

Israel says that it is doing all of this in defense. Some of that may be true. However, it appears that the plan that places settlements in the places where they are and the continual expansion of those settlements is a well thought out plan to split the country into three parts and make it impossible for the Palestinians to live prosperously and create a viable two state solution.










Bethpage
Bethpage is the place where the Bible tells us that Jesus asked his disciples to find him a colt to ride into Jerusalem on. (Mark 11:1-10). We spent some time in the church in Bethpage praying and singing.



The Mount of Olives








We then drove through a couple of check points to the Mount of Olives were stopped at the Church that commemorates the Our Father – The Pater Noster Church. There are two places that claim this honor. One is the Sermon on the Mount in Galilee and the other here on the Mount of Olives as told in Luke 11:1-4. When we prayed and sang in this church I said the Padre Nuestro in honor of my Spanish-speaking congregation. On the walls of the church and on the garden walls one will find the Our Father written in most every conceivable language including Cherokee and Nahuatl.

There are a lot of people hawking trinkets on the road to the bottom of the mount on the way to Gethsemane so we had to be careful not to accept anything from a vendor because it you did it was yours. The only thing left to negotiate was the price. I gave them a stern no thank you and kept my hands in my pockets. Most of the stuff here is of poorer quality than you can find elsewhere – except maybe the postcards.

On the way down the mountain we stopped at the Church of Dominus Flavit where it is said that Jesus wept for Jerusalem in Luke 18:41-44. A famous Italian architect has redesigned the church that is there. The striking part is that the altar faces west toward Jerusalem. The friars that have custody of the church did not want this to be so until the architect pointed out that the window behind the altar would face on Jerusalem looking both at the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. He said that is not east but it is Easter! The friars consented. The cross behind the altar splits the distance between the two landmarks.

The view from Dominus Flavit is spectacular. One can si the city there are a lot of graves on this side of the wall. The only gate of the city that is locked is the Heaven Gate or Jesus Gate because it is where the three religions of the book agree that the Messiah is going to come back and break the gate open and restore Jerusalem. The dead people want to be there when it happens. There is also a view of the golden top of a Russian Orthodox Church, The Church of Mary Magdalene.



At the bottom of the hill is the Church of All Nations; which is next to the Garden of Gethsemane. We were given 15 minutes to meditate in the garden before going in to pray around the rock where it is believed Jesus prayed the night before he died. Some of the trees in the garden have been verified to be over 2000 years old. Things are getting serious here.



Gethsemane is a special place for me, at least the virtual Gethsemane is. It is where I completely give myself to God following the example of Jesus when he said, “Not my will but yours be done.”

The domes of the church are dedicated to the nations that contributed to the construction of the church. The US dome is on the right as one enters the church. In the church there was a priest saying a mass in Spanish. This was powerful for me as this is what I do every week and it was very meaningful for me to join in the service.

When the mass was finally over ( the priest got started a half-hour late and his sermon was long winded) we gathered around the altar which is built over the rock and we read the scripture (Mark 14:32-42), prayed and sang. Afterwards we had the opportunity to touch the rock and pray beside it. Then it was off to lunch.

Lunch today was different, mostly because we ate in a real Muslim restaurant. Not one where tourist eat, but one where the locals eat. The food was the best yet. We dined on the usual salads, but they tasted better and there was a greater verity. The main course was a superbly barbecued chicken. Yum! Yum!

Bethany
In Luke 10:38-42, we read that Jesus visited the house of Martha and her sister Mary and their brother Lazareth, whom he raised from the dead. In Bethany they have some evidence that the place on where the church now stands is where Martha and Mary lived. There is also a tomb/cave nearby that is supposedly where Lazareth is buried. However there is not evidence that that is the place and it probably isn’t. We did our usual, pray– sing–pray routine. It is amazing to hear the group sing in four part harmony in all. One woman walking by asked if we were a choir. I told a member of the group that no one ever accused me of being in a choir before.



Ein Karem
From Bethany we went to Ein Karem where it is thought that Elizabeth and Zachariah lives when Mary came to visit them after she found out she was pregnant with Jesus. This would also be the birthplace of John the Baptist. There ware two churches. The one at the bottom of the hill is dedicated to John the Baptist and the one at the top of the hill to The Visitation. It was a ling steep walk up the hill to the Church of the Visitation, but it was worth it. The path overlooks a beautiful valley of almond trees and other vegetation. The almond trees were in bloom.
We said evening prayer, which the Magnifcat is a part of. The service was very moving. When Kelli Grace read Luke’s account of the visitation she almost cried. It was quite a special place.

Now we are in the Knight’s Palace hotel in the Old City. Having had a great dinner we are preparing to rise early in the morning to begin another day of adventure.