Day 6: Old City of Jerusalem

The final stretch of our stay was mostly in Jerusalem.  After our first night in east Jerusalem, we got up early for a tour of the old city, which started on the mount of olives.  We looked at the old city from there... and saw a camel:

Above: (at Mount of Olives)  View from the Mount of Olives where Jesus is said to have wept over the city. 

One of the most special places I visited was the Garden of Gethsemane.  The Mount of Olives used to be full of old olive trees, but they were mowed down during Israel's takeover of the land.  However, the Garden of Gethsemane and the church were left alone.  So: these trees date to the life of Jesus.  It is believed to be the spot where he and the disciples were the night he was betrayed.

Above: (at Gethsemane)  Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is said to have been betrayed. The trees are 2000 years old.

Above: At the garden of Gethsemane. 

Inside the Church of Gethsemane:

Above: (at Gethsemane)  This is the church at Gethsemane. The spaces which commemorate the more tragic tales told about Jesus tend to be dark inside, which I found beautiful, especially because they often also have mosaics which played with the limited light in affecting ways. 

 The Garden of Gethsemane had a very intense feeling.  What sorrows must those trees hold?

After the garden, we went into the old city.  I wrote about my experience on this blog, so I won't rehash that part.  You can read it here if you like:  I Am That I Blog: Razing of the Temple and My Spirit

Above: (at Western Wall)  It was important for me to touch with Western Wall (the remaining piece of the temple destroyed in 72 AD), especially after my experience at the Jordan River. The ring I wear on my right hand was my Grammie’s. I once watched a documentary about Jerusalem with her and had a lovely conversation with her about wanting to visit these places and better understand the conflicts. So: I did this and took a picture of it to share with my family. I will say that my experience at the Western Wall, however, was… Yucky. Everywhere else has offered so much hospitality; the intense sense of unwelcome, inequality, and hypocrisy at this particular place was striking.

A wall inside the old city holds truth:

Above: (at The Holy City Jerusalem)  "We NEED Peace"

I was also amused that the doors inside the old city were all very short-- some as low as about 4 feet.

Above:  The doors in the old city are all so small! I felt tall for a change. (at The Holy City Jerusalem)

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was my favorite part of the Old City.  The space commemorates the place of Jesus' tomb and crucifixion.  It is fairly dark inside and the space is shared between 4 or 5 Christian traditions, so there is a wonderful mix of noise and ritual.  You must walk through the Coptic Church to get to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  Here is a woman who was sitting outside the Coptic Church:

Above:  (at The Holy City Jerusalem)  Woman outside the Coptic church, which was uniquely beautiful inside. She gave us such warm smiles. Our guide said she is always there. (She gave me permission for this picture). 

Above:  Inside the Coptic church. This photo does not do it justice. It felt so loved and worn in a unique way. (at The Holy City Jerusalem)

Above:  Watching the intense piety among such a diversity of people at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was beautiful. Different churches operate within the same space in a wonderful cacophony. (at Church Of The Holy Seplecher)

Above:  The dome over the tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. (at Church Of The Holy Sepulcher)

Above:  Candles lit in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  

As we waited in line to go inside the tomb, a group of Romanian Orthodox pilgrims sang some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard in a sacred space. They changed the entire energy of the room. Here is a video of their singing.  Apologies for the shaky video; I didn't want to record their faces without permission.

There was so much going on inside.  Here is another instance of chanting and procession:

Above:  Chanting procession (again, didn’t want to film faces). I believe it was Roman Catholic, but there were lots different traditions sharing the space. 

We then visited the place of the "upper room," the spot believed to be where Jesus shared his Last Supper with his disciples.  Here is the room: 

I found that my American mind expected things to be made of wood.  After all, less-expensive buildings in the U.S. are typically made of wood.  Also, in the area I live, stone buildings are impractical because of the risk of earthquakes.  In Palestine, everything is made of stone.  It very much asked me to re-imagine the mental pictures I have about the life of Jesus.  

Here are some pictures of Old Jerusalem at night.  It was beautiful.

It was a beautiful day.  The love I felt for this city was so important to how I understood this entire trip.

You must understand the whole of life, not just 
one little part of it. That is why you must read, 
that is why you must look at the skies, that is 
why you must sing and dance, and write poems, 
and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.
~J.Krishnamurti

We can read about things.  

History is told by the winners.

Even when we follow “alternative” sources of information, truth is often something that must be felt and witnessed. There are some things that must be seen.  

The ways that Palestinians are living is one of them.

 Sometimes the intensity of life is transformative.  We find ourselves in the midst of an experience that necessarily changes us.

Have you changed your life?

Some videos you may find interesting:

“Pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on us."— Blessed Augustine of Hippo (via theorthodoxbritreturns)(viasacredsecularity)

When it comes to the conflicts of the world, our prayer is important, but prayer that is silent or in private places cannot be enough.  We must remember that prayer must be coupled with action, just as our faith couples grace and works.  

Day 2 of Immersion: Day in Jordan

Hardly slept, even though I was exhausted. Too many thoughts! Anyway, time to see Jordan in daylight. Today’s plan: meeting with the Jordan director of the Orthodox Initiative, the Jordan liason to the Middle East Council of Churches, and meeting with Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Up and at ‘em! (at Century Park Hotel)

Good morning, Amman.

We spent our first day with the Orthodox Initiative.  Our first task was meeting with Wafa, the leader of the organization, whose work is primarily with refugees.  She briefed us on our activities for the day and what the Orthodox Initiative does more generally and some of their big projects as of late.  The Orthodox Initiative is a Christian (Orthodox) organization.  

Hospitality in Jordan is amazing. When we got to the offices for the Orthodox Initiative, we were given some info about the work they do and the refugees we would be visiting before we had to load up in the vans. “There is no time for more questions now, but we will have coffee.” Priority 1: generosity.

 
In the van, driving through Amman.

The feeling of hospitality continued as we moved on to our next site, a church where we were greeted with tea and snacks.  

Jordan almond in Jordan. 

Again, when we arrived at this church to see the Orthodox Initiative, one of our denominational partners in Jordan, to give heaters, jackets, and food parcels to Paelstinian, Iraqi, and Syrian refugees, they offered us tea and snacks.  Arabic hospitality.  It’s a thing.

The Orthodox Initiative, with support from the UCC and Global Ministries, has helped get food parcels, jackets for children, and space heaters to Syrian and Iraqi refugees whom we met at the church.  After the supplies were handed out by some of my peers, we got back in the vans and headed to a refugee camp in Jordan.  The camp houses Palestinian refugees, the families of whom have been at this spot since 1948.  The town was originally tents, but with the help of the U.N., has become more stable housing.  

An image of Jabal el-Hussein, a refugee camp that Jordan set up in 1948 for displaced Palestinians. Originally tents, people built more permanent dwellings after it became clear that they would not be able to return home. The homes are incredibly small, do not shield inhabitants well from the elements, and have become permanent realities for refugees who cannot work in their host country and cannot return to their home.

Images of the refugee camp

The above picture is from inside the home of a family we visited. The kitchen is 2 square meters, if that. There are two other rooms, each roughly the same size and filled mostly with the family’s limited belongings. “Bedding” (looking less warm and comfortable than my camping gear) is stacked everywhere. Their ceiling leaks, the walls do not meet the ceiling in some places. 8 people live in this home; every inch of the floor is used when they sleep. The family is very hospitable. Their home is ours, they tell us. They seem so grateful to be seen, to feel that someone in the world still cares about the struggles of Palestinians.

Here's a short, 5 minute history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  I'll be posting more "versions" of this history, some of which I don't agree with (I feel some tellings are unfair, biased, and leave out important elements that help make more sense of the story).  This particular telling is quite focused on the situation as it stands now: