REFLECTIONS ON MY TIME IN JERUSALEM
Patricia Sexton
It has taken me weeks to put into words some reflections on my trip to Jerusalem. I went for a two-week course at St. George’s College on “The Palestine of Jesus.” We were based at the College but also took many trips. St. George’s is in the same compound with St. George’s Cathedral and an Episcopal K-12 school for boys (99% Muslim students and 1% Christian – did you know that there are only 7,000 Christians left in all of Israel?). The College is located a few blocks away from the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem.
I left D.C. on January 3rd. We changed planes in London and flew on BMI to Tel Aviv, arriving Jan. 4. From the airport we took the “sheroot” (a packed little bus) which dropped us off at the College. The staff and faculty at the College were wonderful throughout our stay. I highly recommend their program as a well-organized, top-notch experience. Accommodations and meals were also great! Let me say here that I could not have had this amazing pilgrimage experience without the generosity of my home parish, my field ed parish, my seminary, my bishop, my brother Kevin, and a grant from the Colorado Episcopal Foundation. I am so grateful for their generosity. I will be a better priest because of this formative experience.
My classmate, Jennifer, and I arrived a day early so that we could acclimatize ourselves and get over jet-lag. On that first day, we went into the Old City a bit and we visited the Garden Tomb, an alternative site that may have been the site of Christ’s tomb. We learned right away that there are numerous proposed sites for almost everything in the life of Jesus. I think that’s why I totally loved being at the Sea of Galilee – because we were SURE that it was the place of Christ’s ministry (also because it was so beautiful and so peaceful – there was a sense of utter calm there which I found in very few other places in Israel).
The next day, our whole group took a bus tour around the outside of the Old City of Jerusalem. We got a sense for the geography (the Kidron Valley and the Valley of Gehenna) and a view of all of the walls and gates of the Old City. We had our first lecture that afternoon. The next day the 17 of us (8 from Virginia Theological Seminary – others included several Episcopal priests, a Methodist minister, a UCC minister, and a Jewish and Christian couple from New Hampshire) were split into four “family” groups and we were sent out to explore the Old City on our own. Each family was supposed to spend the day exploring one of four quarters (Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Armenian) which make up the Old City. My group of 5 was assigned the Christian Quarter. We had a great time wandering around, getting lost, walking in circles, checking out churches and shops, visiting the King David Museum and Tower (a Crusader site), and we stepped into the Armenian Quarter to have lunch at the Armenian Tavern which was recommended by a VTS classmate. We had a wonderful time, and it was a great way to get to know each other.
For most of the days we had a lecture or group discussion and a day trip. We were also invited to attend Morning Prayer, Eucharist, and Evening Prayer at the Cathedral any time we were around. On some of the day trips, we held our own Eucharist at beautiful outdoor chapels. I gave the sermon at Mt. Tabor, alleged site of the Transfiguration of Christ (see Mark 9:2-8). We all were lectors or gave sermons or reflections at each site and worship service. I had the unusual experience of attending Saturday Eucharist at the Cathedral chapel and it was just me and the priest! I did all of the readings, and we just kept smiling at each other!
Day trips included: the Shrine of the Book (the Dead Sea scrolls) and Israel Museum (mostly closed due to renovations); Ein Kerem (birthplace of John the Baptist); Bethlehem (the shepherd’s fields and the Basilica of the Nativity);the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, and Al-Aqsa Mosque (they don’t let you inside); the Pool of Bethesda; the Wailing Wall; the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane; and many, many churches!
We also took a three-day trip to the Galilee region of Israel, and this was my favorite part of the trip. This is where the majority of the kibbutzim are (communal farms), and there are beautiful groves of bananas, mangoes, oranges, etc. We visited Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean Sea and saw Roman structures, including remains of one of Herod’s palaces. Then we went to Nazareth and the Basilica of the Annunciation which was incredibly beautiful. I have to say, kudos to the Catholic Church for the exquisite architecture and landscaping and meticulous upkeep of their properties in the Holy Land. The Franciscan monks have been custodians of the “Terra Sancta” for hundreds of years, and their gardens, churches, and chapels were consistently the most peaceful places to be.
We went to Mount Beatitudes, alleged site of the Sermon on the Mount. Then we went to the site of St. Peter’s fishing village and his home and the local synagogue and Capernaum. At Ginosar we took a boat (a wooden replica of a fishing vessel of Christ’s time) out on the Sea of Galilee, and it was such a joy. For much of the ride we maintained silence and then we sang and it was utter bliss. The next day we went to Mount Tabor (see note above), Jericho (the poorest, most desolate town we visited), the desert, and back to Jerusalem.
To get into Bethlehem and Jericho, which are in the West Bank, we went through Israeli military checkpoints. These places (and MANY others) are cut off from free ingress and egress by the concrete walls Israel has built (and continues to build) around Palestinian areas. I couldn’t help but think of the walled ghettos that were built to keep Jews “in their place” near big cities in Russia and Europe, and here are the Israelis creating the same kind of oppression! The walls look like prisons and when you are inside them you feel imprisoned. I came away from the Israeli part of the experience feeling complete despair about any possibility of peace in Israel. I never felt in any personal danger there, but with groups of teen-aged Israeli soldiers with automatic weapons patrolling everywhere, one has the sense that violence could break out at any moment over the smallest provocation. And one also has the sense that when the Israelis started shooting, then all of the hidden Palestinian weapons would come into view.
We had free time on Sundays, and one day I went to the Israeli Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. It is built on a beautiful hill outside of Jerusalem. The museum documented the persecution of Jews throughout their history, with incredible detail and artifacts from the Holocaust. There were very moving film clips of Holocaust survivors telling their stories -– such a testament to man’s insane hatred of “the other.”
On the second last day in Israel we walked the Via Dolorosa (the Stations of the Cross winding through the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem). Up until that day we had had sunny days in the 70’s, but the night before our walk it started to rain. It poured torrentially for 24 hours! So we walked the “Way of Sorrow” (starting in the dark at 6AM) in rain. The stations end at the Church of the Resurrection, where Christ was allegedly buried and resurrected. The church was one of those places that I enjoyed least, the ones where different Christian denominations have fought for centuries over who controls what on this site (like the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem). Walking the Stations with our hearty band of pilgrims was a wonderful group activity with which to end our time together. For those of us from VTS it created a stronger bond, and for the others, it created new friendships (I have already “friended” everyone on Facebook).
Every time I have heard scripture in the weeks since my return, I have had a different experience of it, having been to the places mentioned. I have a deeper understanding of what it meant for Jesus to leave Galilee and turn his face toward Jerusalem and his death there. And I absolutely understand how he wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-42 “As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”). Sigh! Such an amazing, beautiful, transcendent, profane, struggling, flourishing, dying, complex place! I am so glad to have had the opportunity to be there.