Jerusalem: Death and Resurrection

By -
Friday is our last day in Jerusalem. It’s a significant day to gather our thoughts. What stories will we tell? How will we answer the question, “How was it?” I asked a few people today. Their responses were “Beyond expectations,” “I can’t reduce it to one thing,” “Just being here.”  
As if we couldn’t learn anymore or see anymore, we ended our journey with a visit to the Holocaust Memorial and then the Garden Tomb--an odd combination, but very powerful.
The Yad Vashem Memorial is a moving tribute to the 6 million jews who died in Europe, including the 1.5 million children. A Cantor sang three songs beginning with Psalm 23, then two prayers the Jews would have sang as they walked to their death. I saw a little boy dressed for Sabbath. The next generation of Jews who will tell the stories of their grandparents and great grandparents. We found the tree planted for Corrie Ten Boom and her family in a grove of trees dedicated to Dutch "righteous" who were gentiles that gave refuge to Jews.
Then on to the Garden Tomb. The place some believe is where Jesus died, was buried and rose again. He died for the sins of the whole world, which is the connection with the Holocaust.
How moving to see the evil committed within the last 75 years, and know Jesus died for that. The tomb is empty, Jesus is Savior and Lord.
We celebrated communion, sang, shared, prayed, gave each other the peace of the Lord. What an awesome ending to a wonderful pilgrimage.














Comments

  1. www.janicecoy.comMarch 9, 2012 at 12:26 PM

    I've enjoyed your pictures and thoughts Mike. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heather HejmanowskiMarch 17, 2012 at 5:53 PM

    You are a great writer, Mike. I really enjoyed revisiting the sites through your descriptions. I especially liked the story about the bus driver taking the group to his home for tea. I wonder how surprised his mother was when he showed up with 40 people! And I appreciated hearing more of the historical detail, like the story about Jesus entering the old walled city through the Sheep's Gate, reserved for temple sacrifices. I didn't know that story. I'm curious if the Golden Gate was blocked to Jesus personally, or just blocked in general. Why would the gate be blocked to prevent the Messiah from returning? Wasn't the Messiah anticipated to return?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cappadocia

By -
Image
Amy and I have traveled to Turkey twice before, but this is our first time leading a group into Cappadocia.  What an amazing way to start our 14 day pilgrimage on the footsteps of Paul. It feels like we're in a different world. The landscape is more like the moon or a scene in Star Wars.  Hittites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks all passed through and conquered. First century believers returned here after Pentecost and Peter wrote his first letter to encourage them in their persecution and suffering. In the fourth century, Simon devoted 42 years of his life in isolation on top of a fairy castle, seeking time alone with God. People brought him food and were drawn to his way of life and stayed. The soft tufa volcanic stone allowed for monks and whole communities to create monasteries and homes hidden inside whole mountains.  We visited a handful of those 365 churches (one for every day of the year) that once existed in the Goreme and Zelve valleys.  It strikes
Read more

Camino de Santiago Day Thirty-seven and Thirty-eight: We made it!

By -
Image
A Salceda to Santiago de Compostela We decided to walk 22km to the outskirts of Santiago and walk the last few kilometers in the morning. Neither of us could sleep, so we got up, packed our mochilas for the last time and walked to the old city at 5am. It was dark and rather than being joined by other pilgrims, we passed a few late night partiers and a woman walking her dog. It's not the entrance into Santiago we pictured, but we were all alone in the Praza do Obradoiro in front of the Cathedral. It was June 17 — thirty-eight days and 780 kilometers since we started May 11, in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. We were two of the first ten pilgrims in line for our compostelas , which meant we got tickets for a free lunch at the historic parador. Peter from Australia showed up and introduced us to Michael and Linda from Washington DC, who also got the lucky tickets. Peter also knew Ted and Darlene from Winnipeg, and gave them contact, since my phone died and we cou
Read more

Camino de Santiago Day Thirty-four to Thirty-six

By -
Image
Gonzar to Melide to A Salceda Today we completed two 30km days in a row and we are within 25km of Santiago. We've walked over 700km from Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, for more than a month.  And after two days of rain, the sun came out and the sky was clear and blue.  We stopped in Melide for the night where we found an amazing vegetarian-vegan restaurant Casa Alongo run by Concha. She was happy to speak English and share her passion for fresh, local food. After a Camino of meat and typical pilgrim meals, it was a great find. She served us grilled vegetables with avocado aioli and  tostada de pulpo-- Galician bread toast with local cheese and octopus. . One bar along the road has bottled their own La Peregrina lager and invites pilgrims to write something on the bottle and decorate the patio. We walked our second to last day with friends we met a week ago--John, Norbert and Agnes. We talked about our families and what it's like to make friends on the Camino.  Everyone is a
Read more