September 11, 2008
9:00pm Jerusalem
"Surf's up!" I shouted as the 777 Delta jet bucked and swooshed its way along on the turbulent froth 120mph tail wind for the first hours of our international flight out of Atlanta. We had left the parking lot of St. Augustine's in-the-Woods on Whidbey Island at 8:50am on the morning of the 9th. After 24 hours of travel we touched down in Tel Aviv on the evening of the 10th, having gained 10 hours to our internal clocks.
Our local Christian Palestinian guide, Iyad (pronounced Ee-odd), met us at the airport. His good friend and spiritual brother, a Muslim Palestinian named Mohammed, drove us in a large air-conditioned bus to St. George's College in East Jerusalem. We were encouraged to stay up as long as possible before going to bed, lest we wake up ready to rock and roll at 3:00am. So, after a wonderful dinner including fresh local produce and the best, creamiest humus ever Iyad took us on a brief night walk to the Damascas Gate.
Given that this is the month of Ramadan the pedestrian traffic to the Old City is busy, with a quiet but festive atmosphere. Strings of lights hang above the public gathering spaces and city gates softly illuminating the faithful Muslims going to evening prayers. As a time of spiritual reflection, Ramadan is a time of fasting from sunrise to sunset. A single boom of fireworks announces both the start and end of the daily fast. Breaking the fast at 7:00pm, the evening is a time of celebration and prayers.
While we stood in the warm evening breeze before the Damascas Gate, Iyad impressed upon us the local feel of safety and well being even as he shared the reality of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over territorial boundaries both within the Old City and between Israel and the West Bank.
By the time we returned to our rooms, we were ready for bed. Most slept very well in spite of early morning fireworks and calls to prayer chanted over the public announcement system. If you're awake enough to appreciate it, its quite wonderful and part of what creates the multi-cultural and pan-spiritual environment that makes Jerusalem the most unique place on earth. I think a Rabbi I met here two years ago summed up the situation best when he shared in a moment of quiet reflection, "Working together to create and maintain peace is the most important work we can do; if there is not peace in Jerusalem, there can be no peace in the world." Given the international reach and scope of the political and cultural issues characterized here, his words continue to hold real wisdom.
Waking up on the morning of September 11 (today) the significance of the date did not go unnoticed for us. We quietly offered prayers on this anniversary at every opportunity. Today was an important orientation to the history of the Old City and the local area, within which we will continue to explore for several days. For today, the first thing we did was tour the Dome of the Rock (the Temple Mount) which is a Mosque housing a site which is important in all three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Consquently, we first had to wait sometime for the opporunity to go through a security check point (the first of many yet to come in these travels).
We were led in our tour of the mosque by Ali Qleibo , a Muslim anthropoligist specializing in ancient Palestinian agricultural practices and an artist who was adept at pointing out the beauty of the Temple Mount area and the Dome. Afterwards, we continued to St. Anne's Church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City where we sang a few hymns (it has amazing accoustics!) and saw the pools of Siloam. After lunch back at the College, the chaplain of the Bishop of Jerusalem who is in charge of the College Cathedral spoke to us about the eccumenical work of the diocese. This time was followed by getting back on the bus to go view the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Jewish Museum where the entire scroll of Isaiah is on display for the first time ever. Next, entering the Old City through the New Gate and into the Christian Quarter we toured the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for the first time, since we plan to return at least once more. But this occasion was unique in that we had special permission from the Armenians to tour the Armenian excavations which are out of public view. More on this later.
After walking back through the Arab Quarter and out the Damascas Gate, we returned on foot to the College for dinner and evening prayer. So, after a full day it's time to relax and say, "You at home are in our thoughts and all our prayers! You are journeying with us in our hearts.
Peace,
Pastor Rachel
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