Jerusalem Day 1

So today was a pretty long day. It's evening (8pm) right now and we had a full day of hiking, walking, and sightseeing. First we taxi'd up to the church of the ascension on the Mount of Olives and looked at the city from that side and talked about the ascension as well as Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. On the way walking back toward the eastern gate of Jerusalem (the Lion's gate) we stopped at the Garden of Gesthsemane but couldn't go in because we were wearing shorts. So instead we walked across the street to some random olive groves and talked about Jesus's prayer in the garden. Apparently the garden in the time of Jesus would have looked much more like the random little olive grove we were in rather than the ornamental garden that was built on top of the actual one. What I thought was really cool was that while we were there we read the Psalms that Jesus and his disciples would have sang after the Last Supper - the connections and parallels to Jesus's prayer when he was in the garden are amazing. Check out Psalm 116!

After that we went to the western wall of the temple mount, also known as the wailing wall because of all the prayers there. It was cool to see a Bar Mitzfah going on while we were there. It was also really interesting how all people were required to "dress modestly" which included men who didn't have a head covering putting on a yamakuh (sp?). I got a picture of Pastor Aaron wearing one =]. Then completely randomly we saw another couple from Highrock that was there touring with a different church from California that they had a connection to! Small (ancient) world!

After that we walked around the old city some more and went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was crucified and buried. It had a very reverent feel to it and it was really cool to see the actual place where Jesus was crucified but it was nothing like I had imagined. Constantine (I think) had the church built on top of this place and it is very large and very decadent. But the thing that I was struck by the most was that it seemed as though a lot of people here were worshipping the place and te objects because they consider them holy, which I can understand. But I was definitely feeling like God is not in these rocks and nothing we build to commemorate these holy places can compare to His Glory. The whole reason Jesus came was so that God could bridge the divide and live with and in us. So God is with me and I didn't feel especially close to Him at any of these places in particular, which I guess is a good and bad thing.

Then we came back to the Ecce Homo Convent where we are staying and had dinner. Three course meal with poached pears for dessert! Yum. Time for sleep soon I think. Oh, also, I don't feel in danger at all. People just living there lives normally around here with the addition of hordes of tourists. Also, I've seen a few Israeli soldiers on the streets with their machine guns slung on their backs so I feel even safer. =]

-Will