On Monday we not only got to visit some significant historic Christian sites, but then spent some time at the Israel Museum. All of these sites provided visual and in some cases actual tactile interaction with some things that I had read about for most of my life. The expectation of coming close to some of these sites brought on great anticipation, but now I need time to process the many feelings that I have after the full experience. We followed the plan first visiting the Garden of Gethsemane and then the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which contains within the church both the sites of Golgotha (the site of Jesus’ crucifixion) as well as the tomb which was the site of his burial and resurrection.
We first reached the Garden and outside it was a very peaceful place. The church at the site had alabaster windows to cut out the light so that it would seem like night (which was when Jesus was in the Garden praying then then where he was betrayed). Just being at the garden after having read about it so many times was a powerful experience. I think that part of this was the garden being outside was somewhat quiet and there was time to think. Moving on to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we got to see and touch the sites of Golgotha and Jesus tomb as well as the slab which his body was supposedly prepared for burial on. I realize that since this church has been either burned or razed several times that these are not the actual artifacts but the position that they are in is supposedly close to where those events happened. Compared to the Garden, when we visited this site in the morning, this church was anything but quiet. I almost felt like I was in a theme park due to the many tours and groups moving about and usually not too quietly. I think that I was somewhat unprepared for this although in retrospect I don’t know what else I should have expected. In the morning, we visited the altar of Calvary and some of us knelt under the altar to touch the stone. The tomb was very crowded however and we did not even attempt to go in. We visited several other parts of the church and then moved on to the Israeli museum. However, before I talk about the museum, I want to describe that in our free time, I wanted to come back to this area and I came to this church again. It was late afternoon and much quieter. I got to go inside the tomb and got to touch and pray at the slab and altar inside the tomb with only two other people. It was quite a different experience. However, as a Christian, I am still trying to really process what seeing these sites actually means to me. Having gone to these places was an amazing once in a lifetime experience and something that I never thought that I would ever be able to do. However, as we learn about historic events especially in religion, at this point I am struggling with the meaning of visiting what may or may not be the site of an important event. Does visiting or touching it make it any more real especially if it is not the real thing. The reason that I am putting thought into this (besides my personal thoughts) is the fact that in current times other places that we have visited on this trip are in constant conflict because of what people believe might have or have not happened on that ground. Lives are lost in these conflicts and that is what I am questioning the purpose of.
After the Christian sites we visited the Israel Museum which has an outside exhibit showing the layout of the old city, and exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as a new exhibit about the history of Mankind. These plus other exhibits seen were amazing. The layout of the old city helped us to realize where we had been over the past several days. The Dead Sea scrolls are a prelude to what we will see later in the week and the history of Mankind is an exhibit that I will be able to use the thought processes in one of my classes this upcoming year. After this we visited the Night Spectacular…..quite an amazing day.
