Tuesday April 22, 2008 -(Part 1) Garden of the Tomb

Wow, what a day today! So I'm splitting this blog into part 1 and 2, this part describing my morning. So, I got up and decided to go to the Garden of the Tomb (the tomb of Jesus) to meet Norma and Brian from England who volunteer there, but I knew that I would be rushed because of Yosef's Bar Mitzvah was at 10:30 and it was at the Western Wall. But I made it to the Garden and it was so peaceful there. Brian gave me a private tour which was great and there weren't very many tourists there because of Passover. I really wanted to spend more time there which I'm sure I will return. At the Garden is the tomb of course and right adjacent is Golgotha the place where Jesus was crucified (Golgotha meaning Place of the Skull) hence the pic. I went inside the tomb and it was surreal. My skepticism kicked in and I thought is this really the place, and then I decided it didn't really matter and just absorbed the moment. Just to be in the area that Jesus was in astounds me, and I soaked it in.

Well, I had to rush over to the Western Wall which wasn't too far, so I entered the Damascus Gate of the Old City and realized that this was the road of Via Dolorosa, the path that Jesus had to take to carry the cross. Another moment to soak in.

When I arrived to the Western Wall it was completely packed with primarily Jewish people and I realized that it was a special occasion that during Passover the Jews gather at this time to say a special prayer. The entire areas was full of people praying and the Rabbi gave a special prayer called the Cohenim. The place was completely quiet as the Rabbi prayed. Well I realized at this time that it would be impossible to find Yosef and his mother Ruth for the Bar Mitzvah, but Ruth reminded me that I should have called, she's taken on a mother role with me, but she's right, I should have because Yosef was expecting me.

Well I ended up leaving the Western Wall and headed toward one of my favorite places at the Christian Quarters, the Christ Church area. They have a guest house and a museum there and it's kind of secluded and they have a very peaceful area to have lunch and sit outside and read or fellowship. So I did both. Had some excellent lasagna and met a family from New Zealand who work for a ministry called Ariel New Zealand, http://www.ariel.org.nz/

After lunch I was walking out of the Old City and ran into a group of Americans from Kansas City who are here with the International House of Prayer http://www.ihop.org/ (not the pancake place!) and they were on their way to the Holocaust Museum and invited me to go with them and that will lead me to Part 2 of the day. . . .