Yesterday was a very, very long day. Good, but long. I would have posted here to follow up the previous blog (as promised), but my legs wouldn’t let me get down to the Hotel Business Center to do it. It’s about 6 in the morning here now as I’m posting yesterday’s events, so you have to give me that. It is difficult to know what to talk about each day because every day is packed full of fascinating and powerful images.
We began yesterday with a powerful one - St. Peter in Gallicantum Church. It is built over the site of Caiaphas’ house. Beneath is a small cramped enclosed place where it is believed Jesus was taken to be questioned and beaten. It is a cold, stone-like dungeon where prisoners are let down thru a small hole far up above. Here was a powerful devotional moment presented by one of the trip pastors. We sang several choruses inside this small space and it was a moving moment.
Just outside the present day church is the area believed to be where Peter denied Jesus. Curiously enough, as we exited the church, a rooster not far away crowed.
From there we toured to the Room of the Last Supper, which is also the Upper Room, where Jesus’ followers gathered after His ascension. This is a momentous place for those of us in the faith who are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is here that tongues of fire rested on each head.
Underneath this place, now a church, was the tomb of King David. To view the tomb area, men had to be separated from women by a curtain. Each man also had to wear a kipa (yarmulke) to enter this space.
Next, we entered the Old City of Jerusalem via the Zion Gate. We visited various sites within a portion of the Old City. The city is divided into four quarters: the Armenian quarter, the Jewish quarter, the Christian quarter and the Herodian quarter. That's us above Old Jerusalem.
One other highlight of the day was a visit to the City of David. This was the city as it was 3,000 years ago, during the time of David. Situated just away from Old Jerusalem just a few hundred feet on a downward, sloping hill, you could easily imagine David spying Bathsheba from his position up high in his palace.
The daytime hours ended with a walk thru Hezekiah’s tunnel. Here had been a water passageway carrying water into the City of David from an outside source, hidden by King David so approaching armies would not be able to cut off their water supply. We only travelled about 5 minutes thru this tunnel and it was extremely tight and narrow (and low in places), but it was a great, fun adventure.
After a short break, we spent the night hours at The Citadel - a former fortress - where we saw a beautiful light display covering the entire huge wall of this enormous space. It depicted the history of Israel in a magnificent and one-of-a-kind light show. Following that, we walked down the street to the Eucalyptus Restaurant in the Artist’s Colony area, where we sampled “Biblical Israeli food” for a late dinner.
I can’t wait to see what today holds.
And be blessed.
1 comment:
I finally bit the bullet and bought a new laptop this morning...and HALLELUJAH, it works...lol. My old 9 year old Gateway served me well past it's prime.
At any rate...there is so much that you got to see and experience. Thank you for giving us a glimpse. If any of the pastors there know of a really good documentary about the Holyland from a Christian perspective, please let me know and I will order one. I saw a PBS dvd, but they covered each religion...and while it is interesting, I want to see more about Jesus.
Your time is drawing to a close. Thanks for taking the time, even when you were tired to write about it. Just a thought, I know you are super busy, but it would be awesome if you either incorporated the trip into a sermon or had some sort of a class or presentation on another day. There is so much it is hard to put it all together.
PS..are you giving the sermon Sunday or do you need a week to recuperate? :)
Save travels! Kathy
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