Maundy Thursday in Jerusalem
Don Hamer is on professional development leave until May 15. He is writing occasional posts to this blog to share some of his experiences. From April 4 to April 20, he is writing daily updates while he and his wife Debbie make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Today all of the walking of the previous days caught up with me, and I woke up very late in the morning after more than 10 hours of sleep. Once outside the guesthouse, we discovered a small Palestinian coffee shop around the corner from the guesthouse, and the owner had just taken out of the oven some delightful pastries called baroka -- a salty cheese inside and poppy seeds on top -- and another style of kind of a turnover, some with cheese, some with prune, some with apple, some with poppy seed, some with chocolate. It is very difficult to stick to a gluten free diet here, and not having had any breakfast, popped a "gluten pill" and had one of the pastries with a Turkish coffee. We made small talk with the owner -- a man named Mohaned (not a typo) -- who shared that his parents live in Patterson, New Jersey, just a few miles from Debbie's parents.
We then ventured for the first time on our own into West Jerusalem to find the place we are to pick up our rental car next week, and to generally explore. As this is a largely Jewish section of town, virtually everything was closed, but we did get a view of the famous King David Hotel -- the best hotel in the city -- and the famed YMCA building, which has now been converted into a hotel. We had lunch at The Arches restaurant (a very different setting and menu for arches than we have in the states) and then walked back to the guesthouse in time to change our clothes and attend the Maundy Thursday service at the cathedral which started at 6 p.m. It was a beautiful, though rather simple, service, again offered in both Arabic and English. Typical of many American churches, the Cathedral of St. George had only a small part of the congregation come forward to have their feet washed by Bishop Dawani, who was suffering from a bad cold this evening. One of the highlights of the evening -- and something that can only be experienced here -- was the procession up to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. Overlooking the Old City, with the Dome of the Rock all lit up to our left, and the full Paschal Moon shining brightly behind us, we sang a hymn and took a long period for silent reflection. As we watched and prayed, one could hear the call of the muezzim from the mosque calling everyone to prayer. I was profoundly moved touching the rock wall underneath the cypress trees surrounding us. I couldn't help but think that all of these centuries later, Jesus is still weeping, over the continuing cruelty perpetrated by God's children against one another -- purportedly in the name of God. As I retire this evening, my prayer is more fervent than ever that God open our eyes to be more open to the wideness of God's mercy and presence in the world. With prayers for a blessed Good Friday, I remain, Faithfully in Christ, Don+
Today all of the walking of the previous days caught up with me, and I woke up very late in the morning after more than 10 hours of sleep. Once outside the guesthouse, we discovered a small Palestinian coffee shop around the corner from the guesthouse, and the owner had just taken out of the oven some delightful pastries called baroka -- a salty cheese inside and poppy seeds on top -- and another style of kind of a turnover, some with cheese, some with prune, some with apple, some with poppy seed, some with chocolate. It is very difficult to stick to a gluten free diet here, and not having had any breakfast, popped a "gluten pill" and had one of the pastries with a Turkish coffee. We made small talk with the owner -- a man named Mohaned (not a typo) -- who shared that his parents live in Patterson, New Jersey, just a few miles from Debbie's parents.
We then ventured for the first time on our own into West Jerusalem to find the place we are to pick up our rental car next week, and to generally explore. As this is a largely Jewish section of town, virtually everything was closed, but we did get a view of the famous King David Hotel -- the best hotel in the city -- and the famed YMCA building, which has now been converted into a hotel. We had lunch at The Arches restaurant (a very different setting and menu for arches than we have in the states) and then walked back to the guesthouse in time to change our clothes and attend the Maundy Thursday service at the cathedral which started at 6 p.m. It was a beautiful, though rather simple, service, again offered in both Arabic and English. Typical of many American churches, the Cathedral of St. George had only a small part of the congregation come forward to have their feet washed by Bishop Dawani, who was suffering from a bad cold this evening. One of the highlights of the evening -- and something that can only be experienced here -- was the procession up to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. Overlooking the Old City, with the Dome of the Rock all lit up to our left, and the full Paschal Moon shining brightly behind us, we sang a hymn and took a long period for silent reflection. As we watched and prayed, one could hear the call of the muezzim from the mosque calling everyone to prayer. I was profoundly moved touching the rock wall underneath the cypress trees surrounding us. I couldn't help but think that all of these centuries later, Jesus is still weeping, over the continuing cruelty perpetrated by God's children against one another -- purportedly in the name of God. As I retire this evening, my prayer is more fervent than ever that God open our eyes to be more open to the wideness of God's mercy and presence in the world. With prayers for a blessed Good Friday, I remain, Faithfully in Christ, Don+
posted by Don+ @ 4:08 PM
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