Pilgrimage to Israel Day 4

Wow! And I thought yesterday was hard to describe. Today's experiences still seem like a dream as we immersed ourselves in the city of Jerusalem. We were grateful once again to have our tour guide, Meir More, who knew exactly how to make the best use of each minute of the day. We left the hotel at 8:30 and returned at 6:30, walking almost non-stop. 

We began just outside the Jaffa Gate. There are several gates that lead into Jerusalem, named after the city that gate faces. As we stood outside we read Psalm 122, one of the psalms of ascent. Pilgrims who would come to Jerusalem would sing songs on their way and this one in particular was sung just outside one of the gates. While we didn't sing we did read it and follow the tradition of entering the gate on our right foot, literally.

Our next experience was at the Western Wailing Wall. The wall above ground is 57 meters long and split into a men's and women's section. We offered our prayers written on a small piece of paper with names of family, friends, church members, and both churches I have served. But even more fascinating are the tunnels underneath. You see the current ground level is not the ground level of Jesus' day. As different empires conquered Jerusalem, they just built on the layer before. The original length of the western wall is 488 meters, much of it visible underground. Through careful excavation, you can now go underneath and see the 7 layers of different civilizations who have built on top of each other. One of the boulders that made up the wall weighed almost 600 tons! We saw and touched part of the wall that existed in Jesus' day. We walked on some of the original stones that Jesus could have walked on. To go underground and see the different layers of the wall representing the turbulent history of that piece of land was simply amazing.

Another piece of history we saw was a 2700 year old wall from King Hezekiah's reign found in 2 Kings 18:13-27 and 2 Kings 19:32-37. The wall was 7 meters wide and originally extremely tall. The King of Assyria was coming to conquer Jerusalem while Hezekiah was king. He assured the people that God would protect them even though they were no match for the Assyrians. Well the Assyrians caught a very strange disease one night and in the morning 185,000 had died. The rest abandoned the attack on the city and Jerusalem was saved. God had intervened and the part of the wall is still standing. Hard to grasp it has stood for that long.

But the highlight of the day was walking the Via Dolorosa, the 14 stations of the cross. While the stations do not have the same significance to Protestants as they do for Catholics, it was a very spiritual experience nonetheless. We began where Jesus was put on trial by Pontius Pilate. Then we moved to the church commemorating the beating Jesus received and the cross that was put on him. Then we went station by station down the alleyways and narrow roads that make up the Via Dolorosa. While some stations are in the Bible, like Jesus speaking to the daughter of Jerusalem in Luke 23:28-31 and Simon the Cyrene taking the cross in Luke 23:26, other stations are not biblical but have been passed down from oral tradition, like Veronica wiping Jesus' face with a cloth. The road leads to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 

The Church itself has 7 different Christian groups that "own" or claim a certain part of the church. No, Presbyterians aren't one of them. Stations 10-14 are in the church itself, including where Jesus was stripped of his garments, where they nailed him to the cross, where he was crucified, where they took him down and laid his body in a cloth, and where they laid him in the tomb. You could actually touch the rock called Golgotha where he was crucified. You could rub the stone where it is said his dead body lay as they wrapped it in linens. And you could go into a cave like structure in the church where it is said Jesus' tomb was. The tomb was the holy moment for me. As Rose and I entered this small cave with a stone slab, we knelt down, held hands, and bowed our heads in silence, tears streaming down our faces. There were no words, not at that moment nor now. The emotions were overwhelming: grief and gratitude co-mingled in an unexpected way. 

Jerusalem is an incredible place. A place of history. A place where Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Armenians all live closely together sometimes peacefully and sometimes in conflict. A place of destruction and building. A holy place for so many reasons to so many people. A place of pain and death. A place of new growth. Jerusalem, much like Jesus' life, is full of sorrow and yet after destruction there is always resurrection. After so much turbulence throughout thousands of years, it still stands strong, ready to bless all those pilgrims who with a song of praise on their lips dare to enter her gates on the right foot. May God grant us an open spirit, a listening ear, and a willing heart.

Will You Go On a Pilgrimage With Me?

           With an upcoming pilgrimage to Israel, there is no better time or reason to resurrect this blog.  I took a pilgrimage once back in 2006 to the Camino de Santiago.  It was a life changing experience.  Now as I anticipate a pilgrimage to Israel on Feburary 28-March 14, 2014, I recall the meaning of pilgrimage once again in my life.  I invite you to join me on this pilgrimage as I share my thoughts and experiences with you.

            First, a little background on pilgrimage.  Pilgrimage is one of the most ancient practices of humankind.  It is associated with a great variety of religions and spiritual traditions.  While it can be traced back many centuries to the cultures of Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the pilgrim instinct itself lies deep within the human heart.  The earliest pilgrimage, recorded 4,000 years ago, is Genesis 12 when God tells Abraham to leave his country to a new land.  It is no surprise then that the three great monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, have historically discovered meaning in pilgrimage.  The Jewish people make pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the holy city.  The Muslims, who list pilgrimage as one of the five pillars of faith, travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.  Also, the Hindu religion uplifts the importance of pilgrimage to seven holy rivers, such as the Ganges River in India.  Buddhists undertake pilgrimages to the four holy places associated with Buddha in Nepal.

Christianity has a long history with pilgrimage.  As mentioned, the first pilgrim ever recorded was in Genesis 12.  The first Christian pilgrims arrived at Jesus’ birth site, Bethlehem.  These magi traveled great distances, no doubt in great danger, to lay their gifts at Jesus’ feet and worship him.  It wasn’t until Constantine came to power in the 300s that the idea of pilgrimage was established among Jesus’ followers.  Now that Christianity had become an acceptable religion under Constantine, his mother Helena traveled to the Holy Land to look for Jesus’ birth place.  When she found it (and we don’t know what kind of “proof” she had) she had a church built on top of it, the Church of the Nativity.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was also built on the site of Jesus’ tomb.  Since then, Christians have been making pilgrimages back to Jerusalem to see the holy sites associated with Jesus’ life and death and resurrection.  After the destruction of Jerusalem when travel became much harder and more dangerous, Rome became a popular pilgrimage destination.  With the deaths of Peter and Paul in that area along with the central power of the church, it quickly rose to the second most popular site.  In the ninth century, the Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain came into existence and rose to its height in the middle ages.  Because of some abuses and the idea of “earning” forgiveness, the Reformers railed against the idea of pilgrimage which then lost its popularity and has only just begun to see an increase in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Why did people go on pilgrimage?  Many were forced to by the justice system, especially in the Middle Ages.  It was their punishment to make a pilgrimage and come back with proof that it had been completed.  Others did it as a form of penance, to make up for their sins to God and ask forgiveness.  Still others as a form of love and devotion toward God.  In the early years, to go on pilgrimage meant that one might not return.  They created wills and “set their things in order” before they left.  But why do people go on pilgrimage now?  Here are some quotes that might give us an idea.  “The object of pilgrimage is not rest and recreation–to get away from it all.  To set out on a pilgrimage is to throw down a challenge to everyday life.”  (Phil Cousineau in The Art of Pilgrimage)  “Pilgrimage-a transformative journey to a sacred center.”  (Phil Cousineau)  A Buddhist monk explained, “The point of the pilgrimage is to improve yourself by enduring and overcoming difficulties.”  Theologian Richard Neibuhr said, “Pilgrims are person in motion–passing through territories not their own–seeking something we might call completion.”

Nowadays, pilgrimage is a way of reflection, meditation, discernment, and listening to God.  It is a unique challenge to body, mind, and soul that can be found nowhere else in the spiritual life.  Pilgrimage is a journey of the soul, into the depths of one’s being and God’s heart.  Pilgrimage has a great history with so many religions.  Perhaps the Protestant Churches can also claim this rich tradition and incorporate this powerful spiritual practice as a way of growing in the Christian faith.  Join me on pilgrimage to Israel and let us grow in our faith together.