Friday, March 4, 2011

A Full Friday


Our day began with thoughts of our son Lucas, who is celebrating his 29th birthday today. It seemed fitting to send him an e-card with a verse from the Psalms in it, as we visited the tomb of King David this evening.
After mornings task, such as breakfast, blog writing and publishing, catching up with e-mail, etc., we headed to the bus station outside the Damascus Gate to find a #75 heading up the Mount of Olives. Out goal was not sight-seeing but a blood test I (Miriam) needed to check coumadin dosage. Anyone out there on coumadin will know what I mean. Augusta Victoria Hospital seemed a friendly place to do this, and it was.
Bells at the Church of the Ascension 

While we waited for the results of the test, Mark climbed the 220 steps up the bell tower of the Lutheran Church of the Ascension. He took some great pictures of the area around and some of the bells within the tower, which we heard ring and recorded at 12 noon. We’ve done several movies to get certain sounds of the trip, but have not tried to post those on the blog.
While Mark exercised, I sat in the sun – sipping cappuccino and eating a lovely German cake on the cafe deck just below the bell tower. Thus both Mark and I were getting our needs met at the same time. 

Mark forging ahead into the melee.
This peaceful moment offset the hubbub of the marketplace, where there were lots of Arab merchants and shoppers. Maneuvering these crowds going in and out of the Old City was an adventure each time.








After a pizza lunch eaten in the courtyard of our hotel, we headed back out, this time back to the Wailing Wall to put several prayer notes into crevices. We hope the Jews do not mind the prayers in Jesus’ name that we offered there. We knew we had to do this early, as the Shabat (Sabboth) was coming when the crowds would make this impossible. A picture coming later will show this amazing scene.
ELCA communion service at the Garden Tomb
From there we walked to the Damascus Gate once more to see the Garden’s Tomb (sometimes called Gordon’s Tomb). This is an alternate site for both the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and was proposed as such in 1883, so relatively recently. There is, of course, much speculation about this. It is a beautiful garden setting and much quieter and simpler than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As we finished walking through this area, we saw and heard a group beginning a communion service. We sat down to listen, because this was our Lutheran liturgy being used. The group was from Atlanta, Georgia, as I had learned earlier when we encountered them at the tomb itself. We are quite sure it was an ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) group, as their minister was a woman. It was sweet to hear the familiar words being spoken in that place. They had competition behind them from a group singing and shouting loudly, but on the other side was no competition, as it was a group using sign language. Lots of preaching was going on all around us.
Approaching the Church of the Dormition
After a brief respite in our room, we headed out for the late afternoon and evening, going first to Mt. Zion in the Jewish Quarter. Have I mentioned that the Old City of Jerusalem is divided into four quarters? They are the Aremenian (a country that no longer exists but boasts the first Christian emperor, before Constantine), Muslim, Jewish, and Christian. At Mt. Zion we saw the Church of the Dormition, the place where legend says Mary, mother of Jesus, died (went dormant, as the name implies). I like this picture of Mark approaching the church. We snuck in at the last minute, as the man at the door was just about to close up but let about six or seven of us in yet.

There is another site here labeled as King David’s tomb. And there was a place labeled the Upper Room, the name of the place where Jesus and the disciples had the Passover meal and Christ instituted the Lord’s supper. Since all of that is 20 to 30 feet below where we were standing, neither is likely, which is probably why there were no crowds at either place.

Wailing Wall at Sabboth
Our walk continued to the Wailing Wall just as Sabboth was starting. Here is a picture of what we saw. We saw several groups of about 15-20 standing in a circle with locked arms singing and dancing, lots of the black hats and side curls of the Hasidic Jews, much rocking as individuals prayed or read from the Torah. It was something to behold. As a Christian, it was a bit sad to me, so many people holding up so devoutly the tradition of their faith, but a faith that does not have the living Christ as its foundation.

To end the evening we were looking for an Armenian Christian restaurant, as both the Jewish and Muslim folks were in the midst of their holy day. A merchant accosted us on the street and asked us what we were looking for – shopping, perhaps? No, eating. His response was to lead us to the “best” restaurant around. In return, we were to come to his shop after we ate. It was indeed and Armenian Christian place and a fine meal, we both finally had lamb chops, but we were the only customers in the rather large place. Our friend was back even before we finished to lead us to his shop. We can see why he has to go out and get folks, because his shop is off the path. We did buy the last gift we were looking for from him. He tried for more, of course. At one point he said to Mark, “Your wife is nice but she’s not easy.” He closed his shop up as we left, but not before giving me a big hug. Interesting guy!

This picture speaks to the complexity in this historic city, as you can see the minaret and dome of the Muslim Dome of the Rock in the background of the Wailing Wall scene of last night. One last day in Jerusalem tomorrow!

3 comments:

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  2. On our first tour to the Holy Land, the Garden Tomb is where our group celebrated Holy Communion. It is a beautiful setting. We walked past the entrance each time we walked from our hotel to the Damascus Gate. We also saw the "Upper Room." We also visited the Church of the Dormition. I'm glad you have the opportunity for many more experiences in Jerusalem.

    Dick's appointment for his blood check for coumadin is one of the things we missed on Friday morning because of our delayed flight. He is now scheduled for Tuesday morning.

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  3. We have been able to see several things Mark did not see last time. I think after two tours and these extra days, he really feels he knows the area now. Thanks for the post.

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