Lucy Arrives

There's a sort of Taxi called a Sheroot, a minibus, (£10) vs taxi (£50) but takes quite a bit longer because (unlike a bus) they pick you up from your home, when they're full then off we go!

I sat next to Sonia who's a professor in America and about to publish a book on The Abuse of Women in the Holocaust.

She says Its easier to learn modern hebrew than Biblical hebrew - (today's English to Shakespeare). She said how usually the word "Jesus" is a conversation stopper as its often followed by "says you're going to hell" etc. I wonder what sort of Christians she tends to meet. She wanted to hear about the ethics of american creationism (see my Grand Canyon talk of last year).

Lucy has arrived. That's the Dome on the Rock behind her, the view from Mike's roof. In the sky there's a tiny white dot, a Police Blimp. It's watching the tension in the City of David below. Its not a good sign.

The Beard, She says it more impressive in the fluff than on film. But it must go. Its a small price to pay.

Sunrise

What do you do if you've already seen something marvellous before 6am? Does it make the rest of the day seem a bit down or does it mean you can relax and not worry about achieving so much? or what?

I went to the Wohl museum where grumpy officious men guard ruins that really posh religious sanhedrin (boo) types lived in. Quite likely this is where Jesus came when he was arrested and Peter too, before the cock crowed.

You're not allowed to take photos here. One of them even followed me about for a bit. Fortunately I took lots of pics last time I was here.

The interesting thing isn't the mosaics or the mikvots its the model and you begin to realise (a) how very corrupt these religious types must have been to have had this much cash and no wonder they weren't keen on Jesus for suggesting a review of their expense claims and (b) how very brave Peter was to get that far inside the house (the courtyard you see, in a Roman-style house would be in the middle, like a quad).

I wanted to join the monks at St James' Cathedral for 3pm vespers and then do the same at St Mark's at 4pm but alas they were both shut. Ho hum. This is not where I'm supposed to be today.

So I went to visit the Loo in Christ Church and bumped into Marie, who I met in 2007 on a Pilgrimage Tour. She seemed really chuffed that I remembered her name.

She remembered me from the Purim party - a sort of pantomime enactment of the story of Esther. Perhaps today is a day to be a blessing and there's at least half a blessing for me in that.

By popular request here's a close up of The Beard. Maybe tomorrow I'll let you see the other side.

St Andrews

Sometimes we have to go the long way round to get to where God wants us to be.

I exchanged what's left of my sterling at the Post Office and got the best rate ever (£1 = 5.76nis). So I thought I'd pray at the Garden Tomb which turned out to have closed for Lunch as was St Anne's as was the Dominus Flevit (after a 30min walk!).

I had cunning plan to write a blog about what I read in the papers this morning - a story about Methodists in UK deciding not to buy produce that comes from (illegal) Israeli Settlements.

This pretty much boils down to certain beauty products and tasty dates. The Israeli writer berates Methodists for being anti-Semitic (its actually anti-Zionist but that's a distinction that's lost and beside the moment that you throw that sort of mud around it sort of sticks). It berates the middle class Christians for being asinine in making parallels between Apartheid (oppresion of black people) and what's going on here (oppression of Palestinians). And so I was going to end my blog with Jesus wept and weeps still. (The "no gun" photo is outside a UNWRA girls basic school, good to see they teach one thing I think is fairly basic).

Alas, my water bottle fell out of the bag and clattered 200yards down the hill. Very funny. Unless you're hot and not in the mood. So I came home and stopped at the Scottish Church of St Andrews. Its a wonderful navigation beacon - if ever you get unsure of your bearings look for the scottish flag and you'll be fine.

Its not a tourist attraction and perhaps for that reason its a great place to pray in. Their prayer for the month, starts like this: Show us good Lord, the peace we should seek, the peace we must give, the peace we can keep, the peace we must forgo and the peace you have given in Jesus.

Christ Church

The sermon was 39mins but delivered by a tour-guide turned priest so its magnificent meat for me.

Its a call to be as passionate about the Kingdom of God as Jesus was/is. The word Kingdom might give you shivers re: power, control and position. But that's not Jesus' Kingdom which is about love and mercy and service. His And finally came 17mins before the end.

At the eucharist he says Those of you endeavouring to put Jesus first in your life are welcome to join us for Communion. Nice.

I went with Mike & family to the Mall which was so uninteresting that I sat down to read the Book of Esther. A Taiwanese man asks 'English bible?' His wife is trying on clothes, so he tells me how Jesus is coming soon to the Mount of Olives, how China is 10% Christian and South Korea maybe 50% and how most pastor's downfall is to do with money or women.

Someone asked me what I'm eating out here; so for breakfast a bowl of (hebrew transliterated) Kurnphlakes, pre-lunch we had slices of mushroom pizza in the car on the way to the Mall and then the most fabulous plate of Indian food and tonight we're making Sushi.

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.