If you take a picture in a church, does that mean you've been there?
It was very different today, we were able to harvest olives on the Mt of Olives, and then in the afternoon we visited the area of the garden of Getsemene. The Church of the Nations was amazing. It is filled with beautiful art, throughout the art is communicating the struggle of Jesus in the garden before he was arrested and crucified. In this place there was a priest actively helping the place remain sacred, some place different. A place for refection in quiet, a place for paryer.
So I sat in the front pew again, and prayed. It is a good place for this. But after a time I began to watch the stream of people coming forward, snapping a picture and heading out. How often do I do this? I'm snapping pictures instead of taking in the moment. Armed with renewable "film" we are march out with digital cameras with which we can record everything in our lives. Every party, trip, event, and the beauty around us as well. We keep them forever on our hard drives, put them in scrapbooks, we have our lives well documented - but at times do we miss what is happening because we have an LCD screen hovering 10" infront of our faces? I know I missed so much of what the archetects and artists were communicating about Jesus in my brief time there, how much more would have been missed if the only goal was a digital record of being present. And then there is the spiritual connection with God - the real reason the structure is there - which doesn't happen when we are in click and leave mode.
I'm so thankful for this trip, and the pace we are on. We see alot, but clearly not everything. But we are having the opportunity to experience more! Experience vs. See - there is a big difference. A digital image proves we saw something, but not that we experienced it.
Speaking of experience, I need to go to bed. We are heading out the door at 5:30am Sunday morning for a devotional time on the Via Delorosa.
Good Night
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| Picking Olives |
Hi Dirk! I think you must be on the same trip as some Jeff and Jen, Krista and Mike, Becky and Phil? Have fun!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree about "seeing" vs. "experiencing. I wrote a similar thought down earlier this summer after hiking sans camera. It was such a liberating experience! This trip sounds like just the right thing.
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