Saturday 20 October 2007
Well, here we are in Jerusalem! We can access the internet but, as there is a minimum charge, decided it was better to “save up “ the entries and upload a few at a time... so apologies if you have been eagerly waiting!
Our journey started at about 3.30a.m! There was a big decision – to go to bed or not! Catherine – who is recovering from throat & chest infections got a few hours kip but Kathryn (the night owl!) decided that there were jobs that just had to be done (well, as they were to do with getting things in for a November issue of the diocesan newspaper, she may have been right!). Keith was kind enough to get up at 3a.m. and we picked Catherine up at 3.30 to be at St Edmund’s church in Southampton for 4a.m. It was dark and cold but there was a sense of excitement as people put their bags on board and were extraordinarily cheerful for people who had had very little sleep – or none.
We arrived at Heathrow at about 5.15 and had the long queue to check in and go through security – but the time after that passed easily enough with tea and browsing books. Sadly, we were split up on the plane – something to do with the airline having allocated seats as we were such a big group but it was only a 4 hour flight and we were with good company – and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the film of choice (“for those who had working head-set"– Catherine)– so all was not lost.
We landed in a sunny and warm (29C) Tel Aviv (though it has been too warm for too long for many people who live here). The airport is beautifully designed and very tranquil-feeling after Heathrow with several closed-system water features (they recycle the water and don’t use it up) and a sense of space. The outside is being landscaped with bougainvillea trees (at least, that’s what they looked like). The journey to Jerusalem took about 45 minutes and Ran, our guide, pointed out Christian and Muslim villages – the olive groves and cotton fields – tree plantations dating from the British protectorate (a planting which continues to this day). We were surprised by how much it looked like we expected it to look – though seemed more barren in places with lots of bare rock. As we approached Jerusalem, one of the first sights was the cemetery. This is in keeping with the tradition going back to Jesus’ time – and Roman times – that people were buried outside the city walls. Ran also explained that anyone building in Jerusalem has to use a certain kind of stone so that the city maintains the look it has had for centuries – other places can use concrete and so on. We have only seen the west side so far. This is modern with busy roads (once Shabbat ended after sunset) and hotels.
Our hotel (Park Plaza) is comfortable and has everything we need for our stay (except free internet!)– though we brought kettle and tea-bags from home! Many in the group decided to go to local bar to watch the rugby match tonight – the World Cup Final in which England are playing South Africa. Catherine and Kathryn decided to see if they could pick it up on the TV in the room – which Catherine did on a French channel! At the time of writing this, we are in the first half so don’t know who won!
We’ll end the day with the first of the prayer sheets prepared for our pilgrimage. Tomorrow is an early start – though not quite as bad as last night! We leave at 8a.m. to go to the Old City and to look around there – and will have Mass in the Garden of Gethsemane! Wow... It promises to be a busy but powerful day – so more tomorrow!
Well, here we are in Jerusalem! We can access the internet but, as there is a minimum charge, decided it was better to “save up “ the entries and upload a few at a time... so apologies if you have been eagerly waiting!
Our journey started at about 3.30a.m! There was a big decision – to go to bed or not! Catherine – who is recovering from throat & chest infections got a few hours kip but Kathryn (the night owl!) decided that there were jobs that just had to be done (well, as they were to do with getting things in for a November issue of the diocesan newspaper, she may have been right!). Keith was kind enough to get up at 3a.m. and we picked Catherine up at 3.30 to be at St Edmund’s church in Southampton for 4a.m. It was dark and cold but there was a sense of excitement as people put their bags on board and were extraordinarily cheerful for people who had had very little sleep – or none.
We arrived at Heathrow at about 5.15 and had the long queue to check in and go through security – but the time after that passed easily enough with tea and browsing books. Sadly, we were split up on the plane – something to do with the airline having allocated seats as we were such a big group but it was only a 4 hour flight and we were with good company – and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the film of choice (“for those who had working head-set"– Catherine)– so all was not lost.
We landed in a sunny and warm (29C) Tel Aviv (though it has been too warm for too long for many people who live here). The airport is beautifully designed and very tranquil-feeling after Heathrow with several closed-system water features (they recycle the water and don’t use it up) and a sense of space. The outside is being landscaped with bougainvillea trees (at least, that’s what they looked like). The journey to Jerusalem took about 45 minutes and Ran, our guide, pointed out Christian and Muslim villages – the olive groves and cotton fields – tree plantations dating from the British protectorate (a planting which continues to this day). We were surprised by how much it looked like we expected it to look – though seemed more barren in places with lots of bare rock. As we approached Jerusalem, one of the first sights was the cemetery. This is in keeping with the tradition going back to Jesus’ time – and Roman times – that people were buried outside the city walls. Ran also explained that anyone building in Jerusalem has to use a certain kind of stone so that the city maintains the look it has had for centuries – other places can use concrete and so on. We have only seen the west side so far. This is modern with busy roads (once Shabbat ended after sunset) and hotels.
Our hotel (Park Plaza) is comfortable and has everything we need for our stay (except free internet!)– though we brought kettle and tea-bags from home! Many in the group decided to go to local bar to watch the rugby match tonight – the World Cup Final in which England are playing South Africa. Catherine and Kathryn decided to see if they could pick it up on the TV in the room – which Catherine did on a French channel! At the time of writing this, we are in the first half so don’t know who won!
We’ll end the day with the first of the prayer sheets prepared for our pilgrimage. Tomorrow is an early start – though not quite as bad as last night! We leave at 8a.m. to go to the Old City and to look around there – and will have Mass in the Garden of Gethsemane! Wow... It promises to be a busy but powerful day – so more tomorrow!
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Sunday 21st October
What a day! So many new things to see – and experiences to savour... The best way is just to start at the beginning – with the alarm clock again! After a good breakfast we were ready to leave at about 8a.m. to head into Old Jerusalem.
Our journey took us first to the Church of the Ascension – one of the places from which Jesus is said to have ascended to heaven. It is at the top of a high hill overlooking Jerusalem and we were surprised by how many trees there were. Somehow, we’d imagined the hill would be open and green! It just shows why it is so good to come and see the real thing.
The coach then took us to the Mount of Olives to a spot with a panoramic view of Jerusalem – the Golden Dome – the El Aqsa Mosque – and the Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre... and on the horizon, shrouded in heat haze, the Judean hills.
Then began our walking!
It was interesting as we walked down the hill to visit part of the Jewish cemetery. Ran told us that many people want to be buried there because, for Jewish people, when the Messiah comes, the righteous people there will be the first to rise from the dead and walk along a newly-created bridge to the restored Temple. For Muslims, the Kidron Valley was seen as a place leading to hell. As he said, it is interesting to see how religions and cultures draw on similar places and ideas – and sometimes come up with the complete opposite... but still sharing something important.
We walked through more olive groves to the church called Dominus Flevit – the church commemorating the moments when Jesus looked over to the city of Jerusalem and wept because so many people did not understand what God wanted for them – and that one day, the beautiful Temple and many other buildings would be totally destroyed.
A little further down the hill – and we came to the Garden of Gethsemane – a name which comes from the Hebrew words for “press for olives”.
The olives are now fenced off which is sad – but probably they had a little too 
much unwanted pruning from the visitors! It still had a feeling of quiet and prayer – even with busy roads nearby. We had thought we would have Mass in the church but were directed across the road to another part of the Garden where we found an altar and steps in a curve around it. To one side was the hill – to the other the City. We used the gospel from Matthew where he tells us of the agony Jesus went through begging God to “take this cup away” – the cup of his death – but coming to the point of accepting God’s will. As Fr Mark said – and we could see – with all the trees Jesus could so easily have hidden and avoided capture... But he chose to stay...
As we had waited for Mass to begin, we had heard the bells ringing for the Christian Sunday services in the City – and, as Fr Mark spoke, the muezzins began their calls to prayer... It was very special to hear them calling people to praising and thanking God as we prayed the Jewish prayers of blessing over the bread and wine... a very precious moment.
After Mass, we went down the – very steep! – hill, and visited the Church of Mary’s tomb. This is a very dark church almost underground where you can see a tomb. It has many lamps in the Orthodox style and is run by Greek Orthodox... it is a haunting place.
Then a very long walk uphill across the Jericho Road up to the Lion Gate which led us into the Old City. Here we met many Muslim families coming home from the midday prayers – and had to squeeze in to the walls to avoid the cars coming along the very narrow roads.
We turned into St Anne’s gate and went to the church cared for by the White Fathers. The acoustics are amazing and we sang “Tell out my soul!” in honour of the mother of Mary – remembering St Anne’s (the school near St Edmund’s Southampton). Outside, we saw ruins of the old city – from around Byzantine times. You could just see a muddy pool right at the bottom – the remains of what people believed to be the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the man who had been sick for 38 years.
Then on to the Via Dolorosa – the Sorrowful Way. After Jesus was captured in the Garden, he was brought across the Valley and up into the City to the palace where Pilate questioned him. There is a church here commemorating his interrogation with stained glass windows and a mosaic of the crown of thorns set into the roof over the altar.
We didn’t follow the whole Way – many of the group were getting tired – but we certainly got a clearer idea of what it meant for Jesus as most of it was uphill. Nowadays, it has hard surfacing but was still very hard going – and you had to watch your step as it was easy to lose your footing... how much harder for Jesus carrying a heavy wooden cross?
Part of our journey took us through a bazaar – just as Jesus’ would have taken him through stalls of people selling things for Passover celebrations. This was fascinating with many sumptuous fabrics and wonderful smells and interesting artefacts – but not really time (or energy!) to stop until we’d had lunch!
Suitably strengthened we continued the journey to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was odd seeing such an important church for the first time – because, although it is huge, you only see a very small part of it at any one time. Ran reminded us that this is a unique place – the place where we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus in a very particular way. As you go in, there is a mosaic depicting the last Stations of the Cross. Turning right, we went up very steep steps to the Catholic chapel of Jesus being nailed to the cross. This has stunning mosaics including one commissioned by the Medicis.
Passing through that, we were caught up in even more crowds and were drawn to the Icons marking the death of Jesus. Here, people crawl under an altar to venerate the cross – and then go on to light candles. We lit them for the many people we love and pray for. Downstairs, we went into the “Adam chapel”. This is directly underneath the Crucifixion station and stems from an idea that the Crucifixion happened directly above the burial place of Adam – in some of the paintings, we saw a skull and bones pictured under the ground where Adam lay waiting for the one who was to come to redeem the sin that brought death to humanity. We went back to the “Anointing stone”. This is traditionally where the women anointed Jesus’ body for burial – which followed the custom of anointing bodies and then laying them in the tomb. Here they would rest for a year until the flesh had gone and then the bones gathered and buried. Ran helped us to see what a huge gift Joseph of Arimathea was giving when he gave Jesus his tomb that no-one had yet lain in... this was a very precious thing for a family to have – and to give it to an executed criminal was an incredible thing to do.
We saw the shrine of the sepulchre – but are returning tomorrow for Mass – likely to be another powerful occasion. It means another early start – but will be a good place to start tomorrow’s blog (with a few extra bits from the rest of today).
much unwanted pruning from the visitors! It still had a feeling of quiet and prayer – even with busy roads nearby. We had thought we would have Mass in the church but were directed across the road to another part of the Garden where we found an altar and steps in a curve around it. To one side was the hill – to the other the City. We used the gospel from Matthew where he tells us of the agony Jesus went through begging God to “take this cup away” – the cup of his death – but coming to the point of accepting God’s will. As Fr Mark said – and we could see – with all the trees Jesus could so easily have hidden and avoided capture... But he chose to stay...As we had waited for Mass to begin, we had heard the bells ringing for the Christian Sunday services in the City – and, as Fr Mark spoke, the muezzins began their calls to prayer... It was very special to hear them calling people to praising and thanking God as we prayed the Jewish prayers of blessing over the bread and wine... a very precious moment.
After Mass, we went down the – very steep! – hill, and visited the Church of Mary’s tomb. This is a very dark church almost underground where you can see a tomb. It has many lamps in the Orthodox style and is run by Greek Orthodox... it is a haunting place.
Then a very long walk uphill across the Jericho Road up to the Lion Gate which led us into the Old City. Here we met many Muslim families coming home from the midday prayers – and had to squeeze in to the walls to avoid the cars coming along the very narrow roads.
We turned into St Anne’s gate and went to the church cared for by the White Fathers. The acoustics are amazing and we sang “Tell out my soul!” in honour of the mother of Mary – remembering St Anne’s (the school near St Edmund’s Southampton). Outside, we saw ruins of the old city – from around Byzantine times. You could just see a muddy pool right at the bottom – the remains of what people believed to be the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the man who had been sick for 38 years.
Then on to the Via Dolorosa – the Sorrowful Way. After Jesus was captured in the Garden, he was brought across the Valley and up into the City to the palace where Pilate questioned him. There is a church here commemorating his interrogation with stained glass windows and a mosaic of the crown of thorns set into the roof over the altar.
We didn’t follow the whole Way – many of the group were getting tired – but we certainly got a clearer idea of what it meant for Jesus as most of it was uphill. Nowadays, it has hard surfacing but was still very hard going – and you had to watch your step as it was easy to lose your footing... how much harder for Jesus carrying a heavy wooden cross?
Part of our journey took us through a bazaar – just as Jesus’ would have taken him through stalls of people selling things for Passover celebrations. This was fascinating with many sumptuous fabrics and wonderful smells and interesting artefacts – but not really time (or energy!) to stop until we’d had lunch!
Suitably strengthened we continued the journey to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was odd seeing such an important church for the first time – because, although it is huge, you only see a very small part of it at any one time. Ran reminded us that this is a unique place – the place where we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus in a very particular way. As you go in, there is a mosaic depicting the last Stations of the Cross. Turning right, we went up very steep steps to the Catholic chapel of Jesus being nailed to the cross. This has stunning mosaics including one commissioned by the Medicis.
Passing through that, we were caught up in even more crowds and were drawn to the Icons marking the death of Jesus. Here, people crawl under an altar to venerate the cross – and then go on to light candles. We lit them for the many people we love and pray for. Downstairs, we went into the “Adam chapel”. This is directly underneath the Crucifixion station and stems from an idea that the Crucifixion happened directly above the burial place of Adam – in some of the paintings, we saw a skull and bones pictured under the ground where Adam lay waiting for the one who was to come to redeem the sin that brought death to humanity. We went back to the “Anointing stone”. This is traditionally where the women anointed Jesus’ body for burial – which followed the custom of anointing bodies and then laying them in the tomb. Here they would rest for a year until the flesh had gone and then the bones gathered and buried. Ran helped us to see what a huge gift Joseph of Arimathea was giving when he gave Jesus his tomb that no-one had yet lain in... this was a very precious thing for a family to have – and to give it to an executed criminal was an incredible thing to do.
We saw the shrine of the sepulchre – but are returning tomorrow for Mass – likely to be another powerful occasion. It means another early start – but will be a good place to start tomorrow’s blog (with a few extra bits from the rest of today).
(More photos: http://www.panoramio.com/user/793436)
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Monday 22 October
And our third day... The queue for the shrine was very long, yesterday, so we decided to visit it on our return for Mass. On the way back, we travelled through the Knesset area and saw the government buildings. In the evening, Catherine and Kathryn led the Evening Prayer – allowing people to gather up the events of the day and then joining in the great cycle of daily prayer of the Church – praying the psalms in Jerusalem was a very special experience.
And our third day... The queue for the shrine was very long, yesterday, so we decided to visit it on our return for Mass. On the way back, we travelled through the Knesset area and saw the government buildings. In the evening, Catherine and Kathryn led the Evening Prayer – allowing people to gather up the events of the day and then joining in the great cycle of daily prayer of the Church – praying the psalms in Jerusalem was a very special experience.
Our scheduled Mass was at 8a.m. which meant an early start for everyone! We all made it to the coach, however, and drove to a stop near the Jaffa Gate where we climbed up many steps to go through the Gate and back into the Old City. We were early enough to see children and young people on their way to school and very few of the street stalls were open.
The church itself was much quieter – though there was still a queue for the shrine.
We found the chapel set aside for our Mass – it had a couple of beautiful sculptures of the Resurrection and the Mass was a Mass of Easter. It was very powerful to think that very close to the spot where we prayed the Mass, Jesus had died – his friends had seen him die and thought all hope was lost as they buried him in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea – and then, returned three days later to find an empty tomb as the Lord had risen! The whole Mass – but again the Eucharistic Prayer took on even more special qualities as we remembered all that had happened in that place. At the end, Fr John and Fr Mark began to sing the Doxology and people began quietly to join in gradually getting louder as we sang: “Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, Almighty Father, for ever and ever AMEN!” The “AMEN” really did resound through the chapel. After Mass, we were able to go to the shrine of the Sepulchre. It is made of wood and has gigantic candles in front of it.. They looked very impressive, though the effect was lost a little by the fact that they had a light bulb at the top rather than a wick. It made sense of course, but just looked a bit odd. Inside was a small ante-chamber and then you duck down under a door decorated with images of the women bringing oils and an angel sitting on the other side – Jesus is depicted rising at the top of the door. The stone where tradition has it that Jesus was laid was very simple – though there were icons above - again reminding us of the Resurrection.
We walked back to where the coach was waiting – taking a quick photo of the St Helena’s Road sign. Catherine and Kathryn’s home church is Holy Cross – and St Helena is supposed to have found the true cross from which it takes its name.
We walked back to where the coach was waiting – taking a quick photo of the St Helena’s Road sign. Catherine and Kathryn’s home church is Holy Cross – and St Helena is supposed to have found the true cross from which it takes its name.
On then to Yad Vashem – a place created to remember the 6,000,000 Jewish men, women and children who died in the concentration camps under the Nazi regime. The name is taken from Isaiah 56: 5 and means “A Memorial and a Name”. On the slopes of the hill are the beginnings of a great forest which will have 6,000,000 trees – one for each of those who died: around the buildings themselves are trees honouring individuals who tried to save the lives of Jewish people – there are 12,324 of them of people known to have tried – perhaps there were more, but it is not a large number for the whole of Europe at the time... As Ran explained in his introduction, the purpose of Yad Vashem is several-fold but three in particular are: remembering the victims; remembering the perpetrators – and reflecting on the role of the bystanders... The main building is very large and made up of several galleries, each exploring a different aspect of what led to the Holocaust – or “shoah” as Ran said Jews preferred to call it (shoah means more total extinction which was the aim of what many call the holocaust and which those behind it called the Final Solution). We spent almost two hours looking through the galleries – and ended up rushing the last few to catch up with the group. This was a real shame as these were very powerful and poignant ones and, even though we were in a hurry by now, we could not help stopping and reflecting on some of the images and quotations we saw. Particularly special is the large space with files on them... like something from the British Library. Each file contains the names of people who died. At the moment, there are 3,000,000 – more names are coming in as people send in details of their loved ones – and some names will never be known as whole families and communities were wiped out. It was very sombre – but also thought-provoking - how could we as individuals work to ensure something like that didn’t happen again. Of course, genocides still happen – why? People still harbour hatred – or indifference to the sufferings of others? What is the difference between someone who will help and someone who turns away? One who doesn’t help is not necessarily a bad person – but what is “missing”? And for the one who helps – how do they overcome their fear when they know that helping could mean death... and not just their own but those of their families?
The questions were raised again in a visit to the Children’s Memorial close by. It was dedicated to the memory of a child who was murdered in the Holocaust. It is a very simple but powerful idea –the inside is dark but very large and lit by just a few candles.. but the candle-light is reflected in hundreds of mirrors and gives the impression of countless thousands of lights shining far into the distance. As 1.5 million children were murdered, this is a poignant memorial – lights of their lives snuffed out but recalled here in a moving and beautiful way. We were struck by some words from the prophet Joel on the way out: Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your ancestors? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”
The story must not be lost – since it is a warning to all humanity.
The story must not be lost – since it is a warning to all humanity.
After lunch, we went to Mt Herzl to learn more about the people who had shaped Israel’s history. Herzl was one of the first people to suggest a homeland for the Jews long before the anti-Semitism in Europe became as horrific as it did and he is buried there. Also buried there are heads of state and other political leaders including Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin as well as military personnel killed in action.
On then to the Tomb Garden. This is the Protestant equivalent of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and has a different feel. It is very busy but the sounds are very different –the hundreds of birds joining forces with charismatic prayer and a mix of traditional and contemporary songs. The site reflects some of the biblical references to Jesus’ crucifixion – the Place of the Skull could refer to a feature in the rock which resembles a skull . There are also archaeological features dating back to Jesus’ time and even beyond – it is outside the current city wall and by a gate. The tombs itself has two chambers and ante-chamber and from that another with two resting places for bodies to lie. The garden was a beautiful setting – especially as the evening drew on and the sun set. It had, as we say, a different “feel” but in some way, complemented the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – reminding us that Jesus died in the open air – and rose again from a tomb in a garden.
Back to the hotel and a discussion about the hoped-for trip to Bethlehem. This looks unlikely to happen – the company is still saying we can’t – and attempts to find ways round it have proven fruitless. We could possibly go under our own steam but if anything went wrong (even something as simple as the taxi breaking down) it would impact on the rest of the group which isn’t fair when they didn’t sign up to such a risk. There are a couple of options which we’ll tell you more about tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Catherine and Kathryn are preparing the Mass and have chosen a Mass for Peace – but geared to our experiences here. We have seen how the three faiths which trace their roots back to Abraham rub along reasonably well in Jerusalem – had our prayers join those of the muezzins and other Muslims and prayed with Jewish prayers and for the people we saw depicted at Yad Vashem. So – more on that tomorrow! The days are going very quickly and are so full of experiences – we are very blessed to be able to be here and to walk where Jesus walked and to learn more about others who share faith in the one God.
(More photos: http://www.panoramio.com/user/793436)
(More photos: http://www.panoramio.com/user/793436)
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Tuesday 23 October & Wednesday 24 October
Watch this space! I mean – surely you’ve had enough by now and need a break!!
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