From the Mount to the Valley, and Back

Monday, June 20, 2011
by Kerry Grayburn

Today was quite an extraordinary day.  Extraordinary not only for the sites we visited and the things we did as pilgrim/missionaries, but for the people we met, the cultural contrasts we encountered and how our hearts were touched by them.  As Debbie related on the most recent entry, we descended the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem and passed through the Garden of Gethsemane.  At no time during our journey have we so closely walked where Jesus walked.  At no time did we so clearly see how the familiar accounts of Jesus' last days played out on the stage of this holy city.

Yvonne takes in the view of Jerusalem

Patty and Bo at the summit of the Mount of Olives

The view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives is breathtaking, the imposing walls stretching north to south along the Kidron Valley.  These walls enclose the Old City and the Temple Mount clearly identified by the presence of the brightly gilded Dome of the Rock Mosque.  The Kidron Valley stretching between our vantage point and the city is covered with thousands of graves.  These are graves of the faithful who wish to be as near as possible to the spot Messiah will first appear at his coming, the Mount of Olives.  Also visible in the mind's eye is the Jerusalem Cross, a figure formed by the movement of Jesus through the city on the day Of his crucifixion.  As our guide, Raymond, explained, centering on the Temple a cross can be mapped out with Gethsemane to the east, the court of the High Priest to the South, the Jerusalem residence of Pilate to the north and Calvary to the west. As your eye follows this Cross, you are transported. We were there.

Bob and Vivian at the Garden of Gethsemane

The oldest tree in the Garden

We continued down the Mount to Gethsemane. Where we followed Jesus' steps from a bit of a distance earlier, higher up the Mount, here we walked with Him. We walked around a carefully tended grove of olive trees protected by a fence.  It seemed to be a place of very limited admittance.  Raymond explained to us how scientists from UCLA had recently dated these gnarled and tortured trees to before the time of Christ.  These silent sentinels were there.  It sent chills. After viewing the Rock of Agony inside the church where the faithful from the beginning believe Jesus sweat drops of blood while in fervent prayer, we went back to the Garden thinking we would be exiting.  Unknown to us, the Franciscan father had spoken to Dr. Speed asking him if we were pilgrims or tourists.  Jim told him we were a church choir on a musical mission trip to the Holy Land.  The father much to our surprise and delight, concluded we were pilgrims and opened the gate to the Garden.  I suspect others felt as I did, but that experience of walking though those olive trees, knowing who had walked before was almost overwhelming.  More chills and some tears were a common experience.  The father made one request of us.  That we pray for peace.

Janice, Bruce, and Anne at the Church of the Nativity

The tour 'supports' the Church of the Nativity
(striving for shade)

Later in the day we crossed into Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity, the church that was built over the cave believed to be the site of Jesus' birth.  Our morning experience could almost be termed sublime.  Our trip the few short miles to our Lord's birthplace was less so. Bethlehem is in the West Bank and is separated from Israel proper by the same 20 ft high concrete fence that encircles most of the West Bank.  Whatever its strategic merits this fence is ugly. We had to pass though a checkpoint to enter.  As tourists, We did so rather easily.  Native Palestinians and Israelis do not have it so easy, especially the Palestinians.  The economy of Bethlehem has suffered significantly since the construction of the wall as tourist dollars have dried up.  Many Palestinian Christians have left a city that was formerly majority Christian.  It is difficult to create a good life for oneself when the movement of people and goods is so restricted.  We offered our support the best way we knew how by giving our souvenir business to a worthy Palestinian Christian merchant.  The General Manager, Edward Tabash, asked to have a word with us as we descended on his store.  After describing the merits of his wares, he eloquently explained the plight of the Palestinian common man, not the leadership, the ordinary person caught up in forces beyond his control.  He made one request.  He asked that we pray for peace.  This is now the second person we encountered in only a few hours on opposite sides of a wall of separation whose only request of us is that we pray for peace.  These people are scared.

The Nativity Site

Back to the Church of the Nativity.  This building is the oldest church structure in continuous use up to the present time.  Built in the sixth century, it has withstood earthquake, fire, conquest and reconquest.  Damaged but not destroyed (:-))this church continues to serve the faithful to this day.  The interior shows its age.  The marble which originally adorned the walls was stripped, taken away and used when the Muslims decided the Dome of the Rock needed a face-lift.  Remnants of the beautiful mosaics that once covered the upper walls are still visible but the walls both upper and lower are mostly barren.  The original Byzantine columns that support the roof show evidence of fire damage.  Still the church remains a magnet to pilgrims wishing to visit the cave where Jesus was born.  It is ironic that one must pass checkpoints of armed men as testament to the disunity of our tmes to get a glimpse of the birthplace of the Prince of Peace. It is what it is.  A pleasant surprise to many of us was finding ourselves in the very cell where St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin.  Along with Augustine's City of God, this was one of the most influential accomplishments of the early Church age, its effects felt for the next 1,000 and beyond.  We Were in that room.

On leaving the church, while waiting for our bus, some overly aggressive souvenir merchants descended on us.  What at first was mildly irritating became quite humorous as a couple of the ladies in our company became the objects of good natured matrimonial advance by our merchants desperate for a sale.  On learning that Debbie Harris' suitor offered 150 more camels for her hand than the 100 Liz Saunders was offered, Liz was comforted by the knowledge that Debbie's beau was offering only wooden camels while her 100 were the real thing.  So Les, if you wake one morning to find your driveway full of camels, you'll know its time to look for a suitable sight for a wedding reception.

We concluded our day with a concert at the Bethelehem Bible College.  Our audience started out modest but continued to grow throughout the performance which included our entire repertoire for the first time.  The reception and response was warm and enthusiastic, including a standing ovation, a couple of requests from the audience, and an encore. Perhaps the greatest compliment paid to us was the comment from one that when we performed, they felt loved; another expression of the need these people have for peace.  That is just how we wanted them to feel.

To see a video from tonight, follow this link:

Bethlehem Bible College

I will conclude by telling you briefly (yeah, sure) about a couple more people we crossed paths with.  Roger is a Christian school superintendent from Kentucky returning from a mission trip to Kenya.  He listened to us at St Georges the night before and was moved to come again to this performance to hear more.  You could see him struggle with tears several times throughout the presentation.  A delightful man, our new groupie hitched a ride on our bus back to the hotel. Another is David Sawayfa, born to Muslim Palestinian parents but without a stomach, yes you heard right.  He was taken in by Dutch Christians, who were his surrogate parents through the many surgeries involved in the saving of his life.  His cheerful faith belies his hard life.  We exchanged information, and I hope to keep in touch.  Missionaries ministering other missionaries, amazing.

From the sublime beauty of the morning to the hardscrabble reality of life in the west Bank, a truly amazing day.

Shalom.