Breakfast, Bethlehem, Shepherds, Trial, Denial, A Sacramental Room and Home

Holy Land Trip Day Four, January 24, 2011

Breakfast at the Olive Tree in Jerusalem was great.  Have loved the somewhat exotic and unfamiliar flavors at the meals, but French Toast was welcome this morning.
Our first stop today was at the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.  The Mount of Olives is one busy place.  Tucked in amongst all manner of businesses is this Chapel.  It's small, simple and a little bit quirky  No furniture at all, just a box on the ground with what appears to be a footprint in it.  You make the call.

Next stop, the Seven Arches Hotel with a fine view of the Old City, a bountiful supply of peddlers and the requisite camel rides.  Still, that view.  Jerusalem of Gold indeed.

On to the traditional Palm Sunday route, starting on the Mount of Olives and working into the Kidron Valley, alongside of the massive Jewish cemetery, some graves more than 2000 years old.  With the stones placed as remembrances on the graves, Jesus words on Palm Sunday to the Pharisees demanding his followers be quiet are ripe with meaning - "If they keep quiet, even the stones will cry out."  We stop at the Dominus Flevit Chapel which marks the spot where Jesus wept over Jerusalem   This is a lovely small chapel which manages to evoke a strong emotional reponaw when one steps inside and views the Temple Mount through it's window.  On down the hill more peddlers, L love it when these "holy" experiences are intruded upon by distractions andthings that challenge our focus.  Worship mirrors life at that point.  The Church of All Nations is located at the site of the Garden of Gethsemane.  A delight to hear worshipers in a variety of languages, this faith thing is bigger than whatever boundaries we can impose on God's creation.  Amen?

(Garden of Gethsemane next to Church of All Nations)

Back on the bus, to the checkpoint at the seperation wall which is new since I was here last and clearly is a painful thing for our guide to countenance.  She is a Christian who lives in Jerusalem and grew up within the walls of the Old City.  We pass through the checkpoint and drive into Bethlehem.  To be clear,  Jerusalem very nearly runs into Bethlehem.  In our time there is no five miles between the two.  We visit the Church of the Nativity, a massive ancient structure with it's "Humility Door" that requires bending down as you enter and which serves to keep enemies on horseback from riding into your sanctuary.

  After going under the altar to view the traditional spot of Christ's birth and emerging on the other side a nice moment looking back across the  worship space at the front of the Church.

We stopped outside of Bethlehem at the Sheperds's field.  A very appropriate devotional and divine singing by a minister father (spoken word) and talented daughter (beautiful voice).  The angels who sang to the shepherds would have approved.

Two more stops. First at St. Peter Ingallicantu (Galli - Rooster, Cantu - Chants), a church built over the spot where Caiphas house was.  Jesus was tried here after his arrest in the Garden.  It was in the courts outside of this house that Peter denied Jesus three times.

And Jesus perhaps likely walked these very steps on his way back down through the Kidron Valley after the Last supper and then on his way back after being arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane.

A long, full, day is a wrap with a stop at the site of the Upper Room.

A great day ends and we head back to the hotel to rest before another day of our pilgrimage inside the walls of the Old City.  Goodnight Jerusalem.