Sept 13, 2022
Hello From The Holy Land:
Today we were blessed to visit the Mount of Olives And the Garden of Gethsemane. At the Mount of olives, we went into the room were supposedly Jesus said the Lord’s Prayer to his disciples for the first time. The room was very ordinary, but on the walls were 40 different translations of the Lord’s Prayer including Cree and Cherokee. We gathered in one spot in the room, and recited the prayer in English, and then heard it read in Hebrew, Arabic, and Czechia, which was pretty special. A woman of Scottish descent said she could recite the prayer in Scottish brogue, which sounded good to me, but she only gave me a few lines and left it at that. Gathering at all the holy sites are people from many nations. Everywhere you go you hear languages that are unfamiliar, but there’s no mistaking the deep reverence that all pilgrims from across this globe have for these biblical historical settings. Jerusalem especially is a global village, and everybody goes out of their way to be respectful of one another, for we want all who gather to experience the Holy. Now, if we could bottle that up and send it out to the world to open and drink.
Our next stop was the Garden of Gethsemane. The expected beautiful cathedral was built on the spot, and inside a mass was underway. A lone musician strumming his guitar, and lifting up in song a glorious chant that could be heard throughout the sanctuary. The acoustics are amazing. Apparently they drill many holes in the concrete pillars and walls for the purpose of improving the acoustics. Maybe we should try that.
The part of the garden that still remains consists of Olive trees. It’s fenced off - you can’t get in, but it’s an iron rod fence, so you can easily look upon it. Their is an Olive tree in that garden that is 11,000 years old, and still producing olives! Kim and Walked around the garden, pausing every now and then to peer inside. During one of our pauses Kim said this was the first place we have visited that actually looked like she pictured it. She imagined Jesus being in a Garden like this, and here it was right before her. That kind of stuff sends chills up my spine.
Our last stop of the day was the City of David. The ruins of ancient Jerusalem are spectacular. David was able to capture this fortified by sending his army up the water aqueduct, catching the Jebusites by surprise, and defeating their army soundly. He would name this central location among the tribes of Israel it’s capital, and us it to unite the kingdom. They have dug so deep at this site that we walked down more than 500 steps to get to the entrance of the aqueduct. Once there we took a tunnel all the way to the pool where the waters of the spring of Gihon flowed into a large reservoir. The people of Jerusalem would gather every day to retrieve the water they needed.The tunnel was very narrow, and you were surrounded by the ancient walls that fortified this aqueduct. Walking this tunnel was like walking through the history of Jerusalem. I swear I could hear the footsteps of the women who came down each day to fetch water.
Every day in this a Holy City is filled with wonders. I can’ t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Take care and God bless.
Ed