Beating the crowds

We were up and out early this morning.  Down the narrow stone streets as the Old City (Jerusalem within the old stone walls) began to wake up.  If you watch your feet on the never-ending steps either up or down you can travel quite quickly at 7 in the morning.  Before we knew it we were passing through the first security check point of the morning - entering the area around the West Wall (wailing wall).  Then we went immediately into another line, becoming some of the first non-Muslims of the day to head up to the Temple Mount.  Again through metal detectors before ascending onto the huge stone area surrounding the Dome of the Rock.  It is one of the famous images of the world, the large golden dome, set upon the place where to Jewish Temple stood until it was destroyed by the Romans some 30+ years after the death of Jesus.

The dome was built somewhere around 687 (some 50+ years after the death of Mohamed) basically to provide another point of worship, because of a rift between Muslim powers here and those in Mecca.  A holy story was created, and now 1400 years later it is the second most holy site for the whole religion.

Looking at it historically, rationally - it should not be such a holy site for Muslims.  For the Jews, absolutely.  This is the absolute center for Jews.  But where is the absolute center for Christians.  Is it in Bethlehem where Jesus was born?  Is it at the empty tomb, celebrating the resurrection?  Is it on the hill outside the walls (likely very close to the hotel where I am staying) where Jesus died?  No, the absolute center for Christianity is in none of these places.  That is the wonder of what Jesus did, he took the absolute center and made it possible for that center to reside in His people.  Those who have been called by, those who believe in, those who follow behind, those who walk with - Jesus, become the holy site.  Scattered from point, to billions - spread all over the world.

It makes it messy, it makes it hard to get a handle on, but it is wondrous.  I am not trapped into one place, I don't have one territory to defend.  It means I can be part of a movement which can shift and change to work within all cultures, languages and lands.  I can sit in the lobby here and ease drop on clergy from India and American having a discussion on helping Indians develop (BTW - it took great restraint not to intervene as the American gave all the answers with such little understanding...), and today have my picture taken by a Christian from Singapore on the Temple Mount - in part because our holy center is with people - not buildings or locations.

It is easy for this to be forgotten.  As we follow Jesus - the man without a home - it is easy and comfortable to  define who we are and what we believe by places.  Just as other religions get trapped into places, we can get stuck thinking our church building, our trappings, our patterns - that these things are our faith.  But our faith is our walk, within a community of faithful.  We need each other on the journey, we need some structure to give strength, but more than anything, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith.

Well, this is starting to seem to be as ramblings of a philosophical variety - it has been another great full day - tomorrow we head out of town for the day.

After seeing and learning on the Temple Mount (built by Herod the Great justs before the birth of Jesus), we visited the Western Wall - the place of prayer for Jews.  This wall is as close as they can come to the Holy of Holies (which was destroyed by the Romans).  Then we entered the Archeological park on the south side of the Mount.  Seeing the stones of the wall - some 400 tons.  It was these massive, well built stone structures which Jesus said would not stand - and in fact they did not.  That is the way of this world, all things which we build will come to an end - except those things which we can't put our hands on.  Faith, Hope Love.

For the afternoon we were divided into groups to go and explore the 4 different quarters of the city.  Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian.  Our group headed to the Armenian Quarter.  We had a fascinating discussion with an Armenian man, who has lived back and forth between the USA and Jerusalem.  Now Jerusalem is home, but it is not easy.  In his words, "Armenians have always lived in peace, but the Israelis make it very hard.  They treat us very badly, they lump us together with Palestinian terrorists who strap on bombs and blow people up."  The oppression of all who are not Jewish Israelis here is very real.

Armenian Pottery Shop

Then it was time on our own to explore the Old City, I was actually able to take a nap today, the first time we were back at the hotel before dinner, and without evening plans.  Tomorrow is a Muslim feast day, people will be making Haj (pilgrimage) to the Temple Mount, it is a feast day (actually two) so the market areas are crazy and packed.  It is like before Christmas, Muslim style.  People are buying presents, getting there last minute supplies, etc.  It was a sea of people - an interested scene to wade through back to the hotel in East Jerusalem (in the heart of the Muslim markets).  So, it will be hard to get out of the city as people come in, but after that, it will be a good day to see some sites to the south.

Well, in preparation for another full day - I must say;
Good Night