HOLY WEEK in JERUSALEM

It’s an exciting time to be here! Despite some disturbing recent unrest, Israel’s identity as “The Holy Land” currently seems magnified and enhanced given the timing this year of three of the most sacred and currently overlapping observances of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While Passover and Easter celebrations often coincide, Ramadan—also using the lunar calendar (but added upon with a complicated Islamic scheduling formula) enters the spring confluence of religious traditions only once about every 33 years. There have been so many celebrations, processions, outings, walks, worship moments, and food challenges (no unleavened bread in the Jewish markets, so no pita bread!). But it has been a beautiful spring time to be in Jerusalem.

Our friends Peter and Debra Bendheim from Newport Beach were in Jerusalem for two days, and we enjoyed touring them around.  Played the carillon, visited the Herod Family tombs, then down to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church where we got in on the end of their 10 a.m. service, and we met the Rev Dr. Stewart Gillan who is a Scot from Nova Scotia. Saw the ancient tombs right below St. Andrew’s.  Walked past Montefiore Windmill, back to the Center for lunch, and then had a Palm Sunday Devotional. Celebratory hymns, the Primary kids sang, scriptures and psalms.  Then we started our long walk, waving our palm fronds, to the Franciscan Church in Bethphage, joining people from all over the world--Africa, Philippines, Europe, you name it, in a noisy procession that slowly snaked its way down to the Garden of Gethsemane and ultimately to Lions’ Gate and the Via Dolorosa.  It was pretty warm, but everyone was excited.  The students loved it.  We and the Bendheims took the shortcut down the steep street to Garden of Gethsemane and were there to see the procession arrive.  The bells at Gethsemane were clanging, bands were playing, people singing.  What a start to Holy Week!  We walked back through Orson Hyde Garden.  Went to our “Chicken Lickin’” restaurant in Wadi al Joz for dinner.  Bendheims wanted shawarma, and they got it!  

Peter Bendheim, "Jesus," Debra Bendheim, Jim

Jo Ann Seely

For the second day with the Bendheims we showed them the British War Cemetery; played the organ at Augusta Victoria and climbed the tower; then to Jaffa Gate.  We had a fun short visit with Santa of the Ho-Ho-Holy Land; Latin Patriarchate church; Tower of David; David Street, Udi the artist; Cardo; shawarma at a very busy place near Hurva Square; Western Wall; Muslim Quarter; Cotton Merchants’ Street; Little Western Wall; Via Dolorosa; Coptic Christian Churches; and Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Jim got his hair cut at little Arab barber shop around the corner from Church of the Redeemer. 10 minutes, $10--no knife this time!  Omar’s shop, George’s shop, back to Mamilla, dropped Bendheims off at their hotel. What a great day!

Tower of David

View from the Tower of David

Fresh pomegranate-orange-carrot juice in the market

Omar's shop

Jim went over to Maison d’Abraham, a Catholic hotel and spiritual retreat, to meet with Bernard Thibaud, the director there.  He’s from Paris.  He showed Jim all around their complex with great views to the south side of the Old City and Mount of Olives and the big Jewish settlement nearby.

Bernard Thibaud

We went with Barkers and Roses to the Maundy Thursday foot-washing mass at Notre Dame of Jerusalem. We saw Fr. Cristobal there, then got pictures by the "I Heart JLM" near Jaffa Gate.  At 9:00 pm we had a service of scripture and hymns at the Center that Eric Huntsman had put together.  After that the students walked down to Gethsemane and Jim went with them through the carnival of Ramadan on our back street, throngs at Gethsemane, buses, police, noise. This was surprisingly not a very solemn occasion. We lit our candles and many walked across Kidron Valley and up the stairs to St. Peter in Gallicantu.  Jim went back into the Church of the Agony and Garden of Gethsemane by night, beautifully lighted. 

Family night out

Eric Huntsman at the Maundy Thursday devotional

"Jesus" again (he's really an American who walks around the Old City)

Southeast corner of the Old City, with candlelight procession up the hill

Jim and Paul went to the Good Friday procession at 10:00 am at the Church of St. Savior in the Christian Quarter.  It was all in Arabic and very slow moving. They decided to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but it was blocked off.  But they can say they were in the Old City on Good Friday and tried to get to a Golgotha.

Holy Saturday:  We had our Easter church service at 10:30.  Jim played a half hour prelude. Children sang “When He Comes Again.” Branch choir sang “Behold the Wounds in Jesus’ Hands.”  Student choir sang “Come See the Place Where Jesus Prayed."  Nice Easter service, even if it was on our regular Saturday schedule.  Here we are all celebrating while the rest of the Christian world is still waiting for the resurrection. We had our big Easter Vigil concert at 7:00 pm on Saturday evening.  Deanne had done a ton of work to arrange all the details, print music, rehearse, conduct the music, etc. So well planned and executed.  Jim played organ and piano for it all.  It reminded us of a St. Mark’s Easter morning service with all the different music.

We went to the Garden Tomb for the 9:00 am service on Easter Sunday.  We knew it would be an “evangelical” event (i.e., with a rock/praise band), but were curious and wanted to be able to say that we’d gone to the Garden Tomb on Easter.  When we arrived with the throngs at the Garden Tomb, we said “Happy Easter” to the greeter, and he shot back with a big smile, “Why are you all here?  Don’t you know he’s not here!”  We sat in one of the side meditation areas where they had loudspeakers and TV monitors so we could see the program being broadcast from the tomb. There were friendly and excited people from all over the world.  We were seated by a woman from Fresno who is now a missionary with her South African husband in Mozambique (and speaks Portuguese), and also by Max, a German guy now living in Holland.  We had delightful conversations with them and exchanged Easter greetings.  The music was loud and very rock/Christian music that obviously many of the people attending knew.  As always we appreciated the intensity of their worship (even though not our style), and was reminded that this is the way so many contemporary Christians prefer their worship, as opposed to classical sacred music and reverent tones.  Can’t fault them.  The guest speaker was Nicky Gumbel, a very charismatic British preacher and former atheist. He was a fine speaker, very positive, and said that that he had examined all the evidence for the resurrection and believe it.  He said that Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize Jesus at first, but then she did.  He said that there was a reason that each of us was there this morning, and maybe there are some who don’t recognize him either, and if we don’t already recognize Jesus, this would be an ideal time to do so.  He also said that the year 2033 will be the 2000^th anniversary of the resurrection of Christ, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone on the planet could have received the gospel message by then. He encouraged all to work towards that goal.  It was a different Easter service than we had ever attended, but we enjoyed the experience.  

Mica, who lives in Mozambique, and Max, from Germany

Mary Ellen and Mark Rosen

In the afternoon, Jim played Easter music on the YMCA carillon. Several students joined us, as well as the Rosens and Barkers. The "old folks" decided to do the YMCA pose this time!

Sadly only two more weeks with this group of students. It's been a wonderful semester.

Another week with LOTS of touring! Plan your reading accordingly.

March 27, 2023  Monday:  Up early and on the bus for our 4-day trip with the students to Jordan.  Amman is only about 50 miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies, but the tedious border crossing procedures at Allenby/King Hussein Bridge caused the typical delay of a couple of hours.  They don’t make it easy to cross from Israel into Arab countries.  But after that, Jordan was a real pleasure.  Friendly people, clean and tidy (in stark opposition to the part of Jerusalem where we live), and stunning archaeological wonders.  

First stop was Mt. Nebo, with its view over the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.  This is where Moses was allowed to view but not enter the Promised Land because of his disobedience.  Outside a church on top of the mountain is a sculpture depicting the brass serpent in the shape of a cross, symbolic of John 3:14: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Pizza Hut pizzas on the bus for lunch (because "Pizza Hut delivers!").  We missed going to Machaerus because of the delay at the border.

Dr. Mark Rosen, James Wallis, Jim

We did make it to Madaba where we saw the fascinating 6^th century AD map in mosaic of the Holy Land on the floor of St. George’s Greek Orthodox church.  From there we had a 4-hour bus ride to Petra, where we stayed at Hayat Zaman hotel, a nice place reminiscent of Death Valley hotels. We expected Petra to be sparsely populated, but it is a big town with endless hotels and tourist services.  No surprise there!  

March 28, 2023  Tuesday:  Up early for breakfast buffet and then to Petra in the ancient region of Edom, “Capital of the Nabataeans,” which has always been on our bucket list.  It did not disappoint—in fact it exceeded our expectations.  Having nice cool weather also helped enormously.  It is blazing hot here in the summer. Jim ended up walking 11 miles, up and down hills—wanting to see everything!  Deanne came in second at 9 miles. The first view of the Treasury is a real thrill, even though the place is mobbed with tourists and vendors.   

Just a third of the students

(Photo clean up credit: Jenna Greenfield. She took out all of the other tourists and trash!)

Jim took the grand loop hike to the High Place of Sacrifice, Obelisks, Garden Triclinium, Roman Soldiers’ Tomb, Wadi al Farasa, the Great Temple, meeting up there with Deanne who had walked the Street of Facades, past the Theater and Royal Tombs, the Nymphaeum, and the Colonnaded Street.  

James Wallis at the Royal Tomb

Great Temple

Mosaic floors in the church

My Bedouin friend and a great salesperson!

Jim then went up the 850 stairs to the Monastery which was truly a sight to behold, so massive and detailed.  Impressive views from up there off into the surrounding deserts. After a fine buffet lunch in the shade at the Basin Restaurant, we rode camels back to the Treasury.  That was a total kick and well worth the $25 each that we paid our camel drivers.  It seemed a much longer walk up the “siq” and out of the valley.   Jim bought an Indiana Jones hat before leaving Petra.  We had a long bus ride to Amman, about 3 hours.  We stayed at the Days Inn Hotel which was passable.  Some students wanted to get out and explore, but we were happy to call it a day!

March 29, 2023  Wednesday:   Today we started at the Jabbok River in the Biblical area of Gilead where Jacob wrestled the angel (Genesis 32). 

Next a visit to Ajloun Castle, with its overlook of ancient Gilead. The castle was built in the 12^th century AD by the Ayyubids.  

Eden, James, Chloe, Ginger, Seth

The highlight of the day was Jerash, one of the Decapolis cities and one of the best-preserved Roman sites in the world.  What a fantastic place this is, with long colonnaded streets, ancient temples and carvings, theaters, all decorated at this time of year with wildflowers. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD.  Perfect weather!  We had about 1.5 hours there to explore, but it’s a place you could spend all day.  Late buffet lunch at the Artemis restaurant, whose specialty is hot naan-type bread they keep bringing to the table.  Back to Amman for the evening.

March 30, 2023 Thursday:   Windy and cold today—rare to be this cold in Jordan.  We had a visit to the King Abdullah Mosque, where the women had to wear head scarves and robes.  Our guide Ibrahim gave us some instruction about Islam and the mosque.  

Ashton Martin with our guide Ibrahim

We explored the Amman Citadel with its ruins, theater, and near the Temple of Hercules, fragments (three fingers and an elbow) of what was once a huge statue of Hercules. This area may have been the location for the story of King David, Bathsheba, and Uriah. 

Hercules' hand

The Jordan National Museum is an excellent and manageable place full of ancient artifacts, but interesting also were the displays upstairs about the many contributions to language, history, science, math, astronomy, surgery, and more, from Arab culture. Very impressive.  We were going to have lunch at the “Taj Mall” food court, but with Ramadan, it was closed, along with most other restaurants, so we had—get this—McDonald’s!  They had made arrangements with a McDonald’s in Amman to prepare lunches for us which we ate on the bus as we drove to Bethany beyond Jordan, the traditional baptismal site on the east side of the Jordan river, right across from the Israeli baptismal site. We had quite a walk under a canopied walkway to the site and had a devotional there by Frank Judd.  Saw an arch commemorating the traditional site of where Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire.  Much warmer down in Jordan Valley than up on top of Amman!  

Students in the children's interactive exhibit area

Our border crossing back into Israel was much less eventful than our entry the other day and we were soon back in Jerusalem, where it was rainy and cold. It was good to be "home" and now we prepare for Holy Week in Jerusalem! Thanks to the Barkers for doing all of the hosting this week! They had 210 visitors in 2 days! It is a busy season here in Jerusalem.