{"id":2168,"date":"2019-10-21T23:18:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T20:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/?p=2168"},"modified":"2020-01-27T19:06:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T17:06:28","slug":"the-holiest-of-cities-and-most-contested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/2019\/10\/the-holiest-of-cities-and-most-contested\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holiest of Cities (and most Contested)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monday, 21 Oct ~ Bev Abma<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where to begin with a day in Jerusalem that was seen by each of us through very different eyes depending on our life experiences?  It would be safe to say that it was a very emotional day for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Descending the Mount of Olives, we passed thousands of Jewish graves decorated with stones in even more abundance than flowers in an American cemetery. A vast Arab cemetery lay further down the mountain. Every step of our way was monitored by security cameras \u2013 a small foretaste of the bigger separation and control we would continue to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jewish graves on the Mt. of Olives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we descended, we stopped at Dominus Flevit where Jesus wept over Jerusalem and the Garden of Gethsemane. For some there was a deep sense that Jesus\u2019 prayers and tears were not only for the Jerusalem of his day but also for the fear, hatred and pain so evident today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Garden of Gethsemane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Evident in our visit to the Dome of the Rock in Old Jerusalem: a highly contested area sacred to both Jews and Muslims as the rock on Mt. Moriah where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son. The two faiths differ in whether it was Isaac or Ishmael that Abraham was preparing to offer. Over time the area has become even more sacred to Islam as the rock from which the Prophet Mohammed began his night journey to heaven. As non-Muslims we were given this rare privilege to visit both the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque. As women we need to appropriately cover our hair, and also cover our arms to the wrists and legs to the ankles. Anyone wearing slacks was given a long skirt to wear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dome of the Rock, Al Aqsa Mosque Compound<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the Western or Wailing Wall Jews grieve the loss of this location as the Temple Mount by inserting prayers into crevices. Men and women are separated: women peering over the wall to see the bar mitzvahs of their sons. Israeli soldiers maintain tight control on security and quietly watched a group of young conservative Jews demonstrating at the Dome of the Rock shaking of fists and shouting that the place belonged to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Young Jewish settlers chanting taunts at the gate into the Al Aqsa Mosque compound<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Via Dolorosa with its fourteen stations of the cross is now a crowd filled market area \u2013 difficult to associate with the path Christ took. However, St. Anne\u2019s Church that marks the place of Mary\u2019s birth near to the pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed a sick man (John 5:2-9) was different. It offered a sacred moment as the strains of \u201cHow Great Thou Art\u201d resonated in the amazing acoustics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pools of Bethesda, next to the Church of St. Anne.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our group sang \u201cSpirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.\u201d The words are a powerful reminder of how we all need God\u2019s wisdom and healing, especially in this place where Christians have fought over control of this church planned to enclose the site of both the cross and tomb (John 19:41-42).  Later in the day we were challenged to consider how we can live out Christ\u2019s message of peace to all humankind. Blessings!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, 21 Oct ~ Bev Abma Where to begin with a day in Jerusalem that was seen by each of us through very different eyes depending on our life experiences?  It would be safe to say that it was a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-october-pilgrimage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2168"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2180,"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions\/2180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livingstonespilgrimage.org\/lsp-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}