Thank you all for following the blog and praying for our pilgrims safe return.
Thank you to Jan Fitts for doing most of the writing, and to Chuck Davidson and the CE Committee for the idea!
Let me (Kate, just the tech person) know if you have any other ideas for SBPC on the Internet.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Saturday, Feb. 19
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Since today was the Sabbath, there was no hot food at the breakfast
buffet. We had to be ready for the bus at 8:30 to start our day. The
weather was another beautiful, sunny day with a high of about 66
expected.
We started our day at the top of the Mount of Olives looking over a
valley at the old city of Jerusalem. We went into the gardens and
churchof the Pater Nostre Church. This church is there to mark the
place where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer. We read
Matt. 6:5-13 and Luke 11: 1-4. At this church the Lord's Prayer is
displayed on the walls (both inside and outside) in 100 languages. It
is on glazed tiles in about a 3'x4' "frame". There is an underground
grotto where Jesus stayed and taught his disciples.
This is in the area of Bethany, where Jesus stayed at the home of
Lazareth and his daughters Mary and Martha. From this area, we started
walking down the hill toward Jerusalem following the road Jesus took
when he rode the donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
At an overlook, we could see the entire city of Jerusalem. We could
see the gates Jesus entered on Palm Sunday. It is the Golden Gate and
was a gate with double arches. The arches were closed in by Sullyman
the Magnificent (Ottoman Turk) because he did not like the Christians
using it as a place of remembrance of Jesus. After viewing the various
landmarks of the old city, we had a group photo taken (there was a
photographer by the side of the road). We read Matt. 21: 1-11 before
we descended.
We walked down further past Jewish cemeteries. This hill was full of
olive trees and the cemetery (1,000 yrs. old when Jesus was alive). It
is now mostly cemetery. We could see the grave of Absalom (David's
son). It looks like an upside down ice cream cone.
At the Franciscan church, Dominus Flavist (means "the Lord weeps"). We
read Luke 19: 41-44 where Jesus laments the destruction of Jerusalem.
The roof is dome shaped and decorated like a tear. This church was
built in 1955 on the ruins of a Byzantine church (mosaics were
visible). The window of the church looks across the valley at the gold
dome of the Dome of the Rock mosque).
We continued down the hill past the Russian Orthodox church (with gold
onion domes) marking the birthplace of Mary Magdalene.
Our next place to visit was the Franciscan (c. 1920's) Church of the
Agony in the location of the Garden of Gethsemane (which means olive
press). You enter the gated Church yard and garden and see a large
garden with olive trees planted in rows about 10-15' apart. There are
three olive trees that are over 2,000 years old in this garden, so
these trees could have witnessed Jesus bringing James, John and Peter
with him to this area to pray. While Jesus prayed, the others sat
under the trees in the shade and fell asleep. We read Matt. 26:34-35
and then went into the church. One painting in the interior shows
Judas kissing Jesus when he betrays him in the garden. One tree in the
garden had a plaque saying that Pope John planted it in 1964.
We got back on our bus to go to the bottom of the hill and to enter
the old city through St. Stephen's Gate (also called the Lion's Gate).
This is the gate where Stephen was stoned. We walked down an ancient
narrow road (in the Christian Quarter) to a church that marks the
place where Anne, mother of Mary was born (St. Ann's, which was built
in the times of the crusaders). Before entering the church, we went
right next to it to the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed a
paralyzed man on the Sabbath. We read that story (John 5:1-18) and
then entered the church of St. Mary. We began to sing some songs and
were joined by a group from London who sang few songs with us. The
voices echoed in the small stone chapel. We sang Amazing Grace, Kum Ba
Yah, and two other songs. The St. Anne's church is one of the older
churches that was not destroyed by the Moslems because it was used by
them for a boy's school.
We continued down the street. We stopped at one cross street for Jacob
to point out an arch with a tiny door. This is the "eye of the needle"
referred to by Jesus. Passageways used to have a large opening for
camels to pass through, and a small door to be used by people. When
only people were supposed to pass through, the large opening was
closed and the smaller door used.
We then came to the beginning of the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrow).
This traces Jesus' steps as he goes from being condemned to die to
being buried. There are fourteen stations along the way that are
places where Jesus walked and were listed in the Bible (except one was
not in the Bible). Most of the stations have a church or chapel to
mark them.
The first station is at the place where the large Antonia fort stood
(it is no longer there and there a Moslem school there now). This is
where Pontus Pilot condemned Jesus to death before a huge crowd.
The second station is where Jesus was taken and beaten, mocked and
made to wear the crown of thorns. This is marked with two chapels –
one of the Condemnation and one of the Flagellation. In one of them
on the floor you can see etched in the floor stones games that the
Roman soldiers played while on duty there. One had a beautiful gold
mosaic domed ceiling.
We continued down the road to the third station – where Jesus fell
under the weight of the cross the first time. This is marked by a
plaque on the wall an a Polish chapel.
Next is where Jesus's mother, Mary met him as he walked with the cross
(Armenian chapel).
The fifth station is where Simon of Cyrene was forced to help him
carry the cross (Franciscan marker). The road begins to ascend
downward at this point toward Golgotha (the Skull).
The sixth station is where Veronica wiped the sweat from his face and
is at the site of her house. This is the one not mentioned in the Bible.
The seventh station is where Jesus falls for the second time. We then
have to detour from the actual path because the streets are not the
same as in the past here (a building is in the way). The 8th station
is where he told a weeping woman not to weep for him and he predicted
the destruction of Jerusalem again (Luke 23). Station nine is where
he fell for the third time (marked by a Coptic church).
We then enter a crowded courtyard (after we pass through 2 chapels) to
the area outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (built by Helena in
the 4th C AD). Inside this church are the last five stations.
We entered the church, which was dark and crowded. It reminded me of
the former church in Istanbul (which was made into a mosque and now is
a museum) in decoration, architectural style and amount of light. We
made our way (with a struggle because of the crowds) upstairs to three
places. Where his clothes were taken off of him (paintings show these
things); he was nailed to the cross; he was put on the cross and dies;
he was taken off the cross and placed on the Stone of Anointment
(which was downstairs). Upstairs in a cave-like area was the tomb.
There was such a long line to go into the tomb, we elected not to wait
to go in there. We went downstairs and saw the stone of anointment and
then outside.
Jacob led us past many shops (reminded me of Istanbul Grand Bazaar) to
an open courtyard to a place for lunch. We were seated and had a
choice of falafel or chicken giro type sandwich. Some of us would have
liked a few minutes to shop in some of the shops in that area, but we
walked back to the bus (Jacob pointed the Cardo Maximus [main street
connecting the Damascus Gate and the Zion Gate] on a North/South axis)
and were driven around the town of Jerusalem and shown some of the
state buildings, etc. (We had extra time since we did not visit the
tomb).
At about 2:45 we went to the other supposed site of the crucifixion or
Golgotha (meaning skull). This one was discovered in the 1800's and is
more accepted by the Protestant churches. There is a Lutheran church
on this site. We were welcomed by a retired Baptist Minister, who
volunteers here for 3 months twice a year. We were led through
beautiful gardens to a place to sit and observe a rock wall with a
formation that looked like a skull. The reasons this is thought to be
more accurate as the actual site of the crucifixion and burial are: 1.
This was a place outside of the Damascus Gate and it is known that
Romans did crucify people in this area 2. This was the site of an old
quarry used to get stone to build Jerusalem and the Jews used a pit
like this to stone people 3. There was a garden here (garden tomb)
evidenced by the large cistern found along with the largest wine press
in Israel. This area is on top of Mt. Mariah.
Other facts we know: The tomb was that of a wealthy man (Joseph of
Arimathea); it was a new tomb (never used before) because it was not
completely finished. The tomb was a two-room chamber, one outer room
and the inner one where the body would have been laid for one year
before the bones would have been taken out and buried some other place.
We entered the tomb, which was two very small rooms cut from the side
of the mountain/quarry. The outer room or weeping room was separated
from the inner room by two half walls with a doorway in the middle. On
each end of the tomb room were spaces for bodies, one was finished and
one was not. In the center wall there was a small ledge.
After entering the tomb one or two at a time, we walked back through
the gardens to an area called "the ledge" where there were chairs and
a table ready four our communion service. A lone pilgrim from Thailand
joined us. Laurey and Bob led the communion service (they passed our
an order of worship for the service) and we read the words together
and sang together afterwards. After sharing the bread and the wine, we
walked back to the bus stop to our bus.
We went back to the hotel to do final packing, shower and then dinner
at the hotel before the bus took us to the airport to catch our plane.
We all waved goodbye to Charlie Craig who was staying on for a private
tour to Jordan. Charlie has two more days in Jerusalem (he plans to
visit some museums, etc. and then will have two days in Jordan. The
security was again tight getting our luggage x-rayed and answering
questions. We again could not take any liquids (such as water we
purchased at the airport) on the airplane. The Israeli law that
passengers may not leave their seats 30 minutes after take – off (or
30 minutes before landing) was again in force.
We had a bumpy flight part of the time and a long flight – 13 ½ hours.
We arrived at Atlanta on time and went through customs, then proceeded
to gates for the second flight. Some of the group were on different
flights, but most of the group were continuing on to Houston. Arrived
in Houston on time and mainly just tired! But we all agree it was a
wonderful experience and pilgrimage.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Walking down from the Mount of Olives
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