Beit Gemal

Shabbat today so Mike's neighbour drove me to a nearby Synagogue. Its the sabbath so no work, you don't take notes and you don't take photos.

She whispers to me a rough translation and that's why I know the sermon (12mins) was about how Moses and Jeremiah are remarkably similar. Not sure what you're supposed to take home from that but two days ago was the remembrance of the Fall of Jerusalem (70ad) so we read something depressing from Jeremiah which says God's not given up on you, even if life is tough.

Everything is sung unaccompanied, people arrive as and when and great each other and chat away if you're walking by. A baby is blessed and the family are danced around and now its their job to see to the catering afterwards (no tea or coffee (the kettle could involve work) but some wine or juice and cake. Total service time = 2hrs.

You won't find Beit Jamal (as its also spelt) in your guide books. Maybe Rabbi Gamaliel (see Acts) lived here and the story is that he allowed the body of St Stephen (1st Christian Martyr) to be buried here and maybe Nicodemus was also buried here.

They've hidden the Church round the back, past the basketball court, past the rear carpark. The artwork is fabulous.

There's a Nunnery here too. A Nun explains how she was working for an NGO in Asia until 3years ago and just didn't feel whole, but God has called her here and its a mystery but a good one.

Watching football in the evening in a hall full of Germans. This time, I'm owed a bag of M&Ms.

Shepherds' Field

Chuffed to bits with myself for getting a bus into Bethlehem. You have to flag them down, they don't just stop and wait but they come regular enough. And when you get off them you have to sort of jump as the bus doesn't completely stop.

In the Church of the Nativity a guide offers to give me a tour, so I tell him about why the star of David is 14 pointed and why Matthew starts his gospel with a threefold 14 dynasty, he didn't know that - "no charge" says I.

I walk 40 mins to where the Angels appeared to the Shepherds. So now you can guess how long it took fit shepherds to run to the manger. There are 2 churches that make this Angelic claim, they've both been here since 300ad-ish but this one was a shepherd's cave for long before that.

I walk the 40mins back to Nativity Church and then another 30mins, passed the Stars and Bucks shop, to find a shop I've been looking forward to coming to. Its closed. Unbelievable. "Open tomorrow" proposes a man guarding the car park.

So over the road I go to buy some stuff - I got 50% off because I'm a pastor who brings tour groups out here and he'd like me to bring the next group here. Its a gambit that works for me (50% off!) and it works for him (I bought way too much).

The guard at the Checkpoint can't find my airport stamp and gets all flustered but in the end he pushes me through the cattle market that they call security. The soldier manning the X-ray machine is away with the fairies, so I tried not to wake him up.

Aceldama

I've tried getting into this monastery twice already. Aceldama means 'field of blood'. It is allegedly here that Judas hung himself. I wanted to come here and think about sin and confess and pray and read my bible. But this is my 3rd attempt and its locked, it should be open but its locked. I buzz the buzzer. And then I buzz again, only longer. And then one more time, a really long buzz followed by five short buzzes and another long buzz. And then I start buzzing all over again. This goes on for maybe 10 minutes.

At last a grumpy babushka appears. "Please can I come in". Begrudingly she lets me into the chapel, a cave, dedicated to St Onuphrius. My guide book says he was a hermit famous for the length of his beard which was his only garment!

There's no where to sit and its too dark to read and I'm not able to feel remorse for my sins because I'm mildly euphoric for having finally got in. I shall have to meditate on my sins later, I'm too full of thanksgiving.

The babushka guards the garden (see photo). "Quickly, I have things to do" she waves me to go further down across the top of the quarry to some small caves. Finally I reach them. Only now do I remember, these aren't caves, they're tombs.

If it was ever a Potter's Field (jeremiah), its been a burial site since 900ad when they used to bury Pilgrims here. I leave as swiftly as I can, heaping blessings on the babushka as she shoos me out.

Dome on the Rock

No bible in my bag this time, but I did have a prayer in my pocket. Such a little token of rebellion is hopefully not what the pile of riot shields are for. I only got shouted at once by a security man, for climbing up the walls to take a photo of the Mount of Olives.

A spanish woman asks me "Is that the Golden Gate, that Jesus will come through when He comes again?" Her english and my theology aren't really up for a discussion on Millenialism of any kind. I say "Yes".

Its really wide up here (and free) and the Dome, whatever your faith, is fabulous to behold.

Whilst down below by the Western Wall, Jewish men and women earnestly read the Psalms, heads bowed in prayer. Up here, prayers will be held later and now is the time to just lean back and chat. Its pleasantly calm.

The Rockefeller Museum is free but dull. Unless you're slightly nerdy and up for appreciating Natufian skeletons (pre-canaanite residents) or enjoy looking at Canaanite fertility goddess models.

Here's a worship leader from 1600bc or as we say out here BCE.

I hate haggling so I found the only shop in the Souk that has price stickers and then into Christ Church bookshop where a wholesaler came in to haggle and haggle her enormous bag of crosses with the shop owner. He didn't like it either.

4 pints of milk costs 16.66nis, so I offered a 20note and she said Any smaller change? So I held out my hand with all my change on it, she took 15nis (£3) and said Thanks. In the supermarket! Try that in Tescos!

Yad Vashem

A friend of Mike's chauffered me. A policeman pulled us over (we had inadvertantly driven down a Taxi-only lane). He saw my silly-tourist look and waves us on. At last its paid off looking silly!

This a museum in part to the six million Jews who were murdered in the holocaust. But it also celebrates the strength of character - not just Look how we died but also Look how we survived. Its not very photogenic here, all a bit disturbing, here a person holds a child and screams heavenwards.

At first I lose my faith in God - how can God let this happen, its just inexpressably appalling. Then I lose my faith in humanity - how can people let this happen. And then I wonder if I'd been a Jew, at what point would I have tried to get out. Or if I was growing up with those prejudices, would I have shopped my jewish neighbour? And then you have to say hopeful brave things to yourself about how you'd have done something. And then you have to wonder who is getting away with legalised injustice today? And what will I say?

Having been pushed around from before the war and during the war and afterwards too, you can see why they are so touchy about Security and the Land here. It means everything to them.

Sorry I didn't write down who said it but there's a poignant quote here: "I know when I stand before God on Judgement Day I shall not be asked the question posed to Cain: Where were you when your brother's blood was crying out to me?"

Zedekiah's Cave

To get here I walked through Silwan (Biblical Siloam). There was a riot here last night because the State want to make some space for a Museum about King David here so they'd like to demolish a mere 22 Palestinian homes. 6 police and 22 locals were hurt.

Zedekiah's Cave is a breath takingly huge cave. It's also called Solomon's Quarry, King Solomon used stone from here to build the 1st Temple. Unusually there's no church here! Its a long 230m dark cave (even with the lights very spooky).

Zedekiah, last King of Judah, may have run from here (see Jeremiah 52) before being caught, seeing his kids killed and then having his own eyes put out. The cracks in the ceiling let down water into a pool, you now know why they call it Zedekiah's Tears.

I lost a bet with Bettina (german) that England would win last night's game. I owe her a bag of M&Ms.

Arabic Congregation

I have no idea what anyone is saying, its all in Arabic, they ran out of headsets, the projector laptop is playing up and they only project in Arabic anyway. But its bouncy and full of fun and they're praising the Lord so loudly I feel a tingle in my bones.

The minister here plays the Double Keyboard (top layer is guitar sound, next layer: a keyboard). The man with the djembe can't compete with the electric drum kit but he has a good go. I try la-le-la and then seeing if "Jesus" and "praise him" would scan, at last we sing a song whose English words I know so I belt that out till I'm hoarse.

I'm pulled into a circle of chairs so that I can put my head close to a translator, her earings are mini CDs. A woman gives her testimony about how she was a Sunni Muslim who was taught the Koran but decided she didn't like that god. She went on to study Islamic law and met some Christians at University. She says she didn't like the way she was only ever half a man in the eyes of her god.

The sermon, a meagre 40mins. The Preacher says in God's eyes, through Jesus, we're all equal. He says The Good Church isn't about buildings but people. A shocking thing to say in Jerusalem with its ancient heritage! And how we mustn't have infighting and we're all brothers and sisters, we are all the Eleven (which you might think is a football reference but actually refers to the Eleven apostles). He's not remotely nationalistic or political, Jesus' kingdom wasn't about conquering but about mercy and forgiveness. Amen to that.