Collar trumps Beard

We got to the airport extra early but the Security people were extra nice so we got through extra quick. So nothing to report. I was worried that The Beard might provoke deeper questions as it had done for Mikey. "Did you have fun?" was the primary question asked.

No bag search for us (a first for me). We got a "White 2" sticker which is the best a non-Israeli could hope for. I suggest wearing a clerical collar and when they ask you your purpose say: Spiritual. Convenient of course that its true. Or maybe the two go well together: Beard emphasises holiness of Collar?

The Beard has fulfilled its vow, I expect it to leave quite soon. In the meantime, here endeth the Blog. Its been fun and useful for me to think through something for the day to share but the rest of the Sabbatical looks like this - a week reading Theology in Barcombe, a week in the Lake District (with family), a week at Houseparty, a family wedding, Camping for a week in Norfolk and then a week here before starting work again - my Next Sunday: 29th August.

Russian Orthdox Church

On the slopes of the Mount of Olives, there's a multi golden onioned, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, Church. It looks utterly fabulous on the outside. As if its saying to the Dome on the Rock on the other side of the Valley, we may not be as big as you but we're shinier!

Only open 10-12 on Tues and Thurs. I've never been in, the doors are open, its not where we were headed for but hey, seize the day. Inside it is quiet and modest and a place to pray rather than to be swamped with tourists.

Just above it is the Dominus Flevit, the Church where Jesus wept (well, he wept somewhere here and frankly you would too if you read these newspapers).

We queued to go up to see the Dome on the Rock. There's only one way up for non-muslims but you need to know who to ask to find out where it is and when it is.

There's a sign here from a chief rabbi saying (in a complicated way) Look, you're not Jewish, you're going up on a site we think is really holy and you might wander near where the Holy of Holies and you're just making the site unclean, think about it. By the time I had thought about it I was up.
This is a Muslim site but when you're up here there's no signs saying Non-muslims can't go into the mosque just a slightly tired man but its not as if their own website gives this info.

Its nice up here but I don't feel comfy enough to just sit down and have a think. There's a boy playing footy against the Dome itself. he can play footie against it, I can't go in it. (For a better pic see 30th June, that pic underneath the Dome is a pile of riot shields if you hadn't figured it out.)

This is a gorgeous glow-in-the-dark cross. No I didn't buy it.

Here's an evening view from Mike & Bettina's roof. Enjoy the bells, quite often they're interspersed with fireworks which is a little weird given the political tension.

Southern Wall of Temple Mount

Oh go on indulge me, I won't be writing this much longer on account of me not expecting to have daily adventures. Of course I'm still on sabbatical but only till the end of August. What? only a three month sabbatical - says one Israeli academic who's moving to London for his twelve month sabb. What? says the RC Priest from St Anne's: only three months! And so on. It turns out that lots of other jobs and nations do this all the time. Like the Australian Civil service (3 months).

In the Ha'aretz weekend paper (think Guardian) there's a story of a woman arrested for reading from the Torah (first 5 books of the bible) with other women at the Western Wall. She's part of a Women on the Wall prayer group. There's even a court order against women doing this.

Lucy & I walked to the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount. You know the way some people like kissing icons, well this is as equivalently close as it gets for me.

This is exactly where Jesus walked. Another Ground Zero moment only more so. If we're playing Top Trumps then it would beat the Holy Sepulchre. I don't actually kiss the ground, too many pigeons have been here already, but this is it. So we sit and pray and look at the view which is similar and different to Jesus'. (Pic above of Lucy standing on the bedrock step for walking into the Temple in Jesus' day)

Then round to Gethsemane where some pilgrims are singing in Chinese the Taize Bless the Lord my soul. Suddenly the church is empty. We had the place to ourselves and a nice monk who wasn't shooshing us out.

This is a useful picture of what not to do in Church. They don't want flowers left and would rather you didn't cycle about in here. Pic below of Lucy alone in Gethsemane.

Up into the Old City for a posh Fallafel and Schwarma (£9 each). Its gone 5pm, all the Churches are shut except the Holy Sepulchre so in we go and now for the first time in 30days the queue for the Tomb is ok.

Today is a high scoring day for touching Ground Zero places. marvellous.

King of Kings

I heard one 40 min sermon on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the main thing I took away from it was the call to Be Nice. I sort of hoped he'd tell the Parable of the Good Palestinian.

We went to the David Tower Musuem where I took this bit of footage from.

King of Kings Church is a full on, happy clappy, set in conference centre at the base of a shopping mall. Its slick and loud. We sang a chorus tune to "O for a thousand tongues" and there must be 300 here. Alas the projector didn't seem to have all the words.

The sermon (45mins) started off by saying how God wants us to prepare for the coming of the King (amen to that) and how the average religious family in Jerusalem has eight kids (I think I can see where this sermon is going). But then he goes off on a tangent saying how revival is around the corner (amen to that) and how we're going to see Ezekiel's Dry Bones (the Jews) brought together from all over the world and built into a State and then the Spirit will breathe through them, the people of God. Who said quality allegorising died out with St Augustine? His "In Conclusion" was come join the Prayer Rota!

Sataf

Its a bit of a crush in the Souk on Shabbat and makes me think about Jesus stopping suddenly to say 'Someone touched me'. Everyone's jostling each other!

The Garden Tomb is quiet and peaceful place to pray and over the air comes a lovely (Chinese?) version of "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow".

Sataf is a lovely place for a walk. At last somewhere that's not religious or political.

Or at least it is now. Back before 1948 this was a small muslim village with 100 houses and 500+ people here. But then the war and now this, homes that were wrecked and have now been turned into a beautiful olive grove. I've no idea where the original people now live but hey its a really nice park to walk in.

Ir-Amim

is the name of a free tour around the southern and eastern bits of Jerusalem that are this side of the Wall of Separation. Our Israeli guide prefers to call it the Fence. In part because quite a lot of 760km is fenced and because it helps him think about this being temporary even reversible.

The 4hr lecture in a nice air conditioned bus with 45 students, some of whom want to listen, took us to see: looking towards Bethlehem, an olive grove on the wrong side of the Fence (from the Palestinian owner's point of view). There's a law from 1949 that said If you ran away from your home during the 1948 war then you're clearly Enemy and that means we can confiscate your land. Its called the Absence Property Law. If you're clever you can use try and apply this law to this man's olives.

On the east side of Jerusalem there's a cream building (top photo) designed to be the Palestinian Parliament. But its on the wrong side.

And then if you're an Arab, living in Shu'afat (north jerusalem) on the plus side you get to pay Jerusalem taxes because you're a resident. On the downside Israel built the Wall through your neighbourhood so that you're on the wrong side of it. (next photo)

Ordinarily this shouldn't matter, after all you've got a pass that will take you through the check point when its open. On the downside the Binmen don't like coming here, and Firemen insist on having an army escort and you can forget about getting a plumber out here or an ambulance.

Bear in mind that this lecture was from an Israeli who is proIsrael and hopeful about the possibility of real peace and a two state solution.

Sorry about the lack of comic content today so here's a photo of a camel you can ride for £1 round the roundabout much to the annoyance of the Taxi drivers. No, we didn't.

Rampart Walk

For a mere £3 you can walk the walls of the Old City. This is a handy way to get used to the heat and for me to impress Lucy with all I've learned.

I expected to see little else but religious sites but here's a shot of a basketball (left) and a dusty football field (right) with the Dome in the not so far distant, as taken from the Muslim Quarter. I've got a similar pic from the Jewish Quarter. (trying to be even handed).

St Anne's was one of the many churches on a lunch break last time I walked past so I was a bit miffed to find it closing and walked in the exit. It works well to walk either as a stupid tourist who doesn't know any better Or as a Local who owns it all anyway and just keep walking until someone bigger than you says stop (see also local politics, oops).

There's a priest in the church, putting out chairs, and he invites us to sing, Go on Sing! So verse 1 of Tell out my soul. Marvellous, it slowly resonates all the way up, gathers itself and then booms it back like a hundred angels singing. Also here are the Pools of Bethesda (see John 5). Here Jesus healed a man who'd been an invalid for 38 years.

This is what's called Ground Zero by some pilgrims, a real spot, with real certainty: Jesus did that here. Right here, not making it up, not guessing of all places maybe here, not competing with other possible venues. Solid. Whilst the photo looks really dull, this sort of thing does something tingly funny to me, possibly even louder than a hundred angels.

Lucy's socks have been walked off. The Beard continues. Alas for Germany losing, I'm owed another packet of M&Ms.