Sunday Worship in Jerusalem (twice) to Parent's Circle

The story goes that Omar fell in love with the reverent worship and sanctity of The Holy Sepulchre and declared that Christians be permitted to use it freely, however the key was to be kept by an Islamic family so no one Christian sect could claim it. We met the keeper of the key!

The last stations of the cross are in the Holy Sepulchre.  Some of us got up at 6am on Sunday to go there to experience these in a more peaceful setting.  We joined a Greek Orthodox service which resulted in us being circled three times by a procession culminating in the Kyrie.  Following this we entered the shrine of the empty tomb. 

 The Holy Sepulchre is built on Golgotha.

Worship at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 

A Palestinian man from Bethlehem showing his special authorization to travel to Jerusalem on Sunday.  He has this permission because he is over 60.  He must leave by 10pm.

We visited the area where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived and John the Baptist was born.  I hadn't realized the distance Mary traveled when she visited Elizabeth who lived near the temple where  Zechariah served. 

The Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem was very moving.  

Personally, I kept recalling details of a book I read before this trip by Hajo G. Meyer, an Auschwitz survivor and Dutch National.  His book is The End of Judaism: An Ethical Tradition Betrayed 

The Shrine of the Book contains the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as a full model of ancient Jerusalem.  This link gives a great view of what we saw; no photos are allowed, so this video is a gem!

Parents Circle

A Palestinian, Moria Ziad and an Israeli, Rami Elhanan, members of The Parents Circle shared their stories as bereaved people who have lost an immediate family member to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and through this horror became committed to work for peace and reconciliation.  Their message is very powerful.  Rami lost his teenage daughter when a suicide bomber targeted her and a small group of friends one afternoon.  Moria lost her husband when he was shot execution style by an Israeli border patrol officer. They shared their view that both peoples are raising the next generation to be prepared to sacrifice themselves, and the conflict will only stop when both sides realize the price is too high.  They urged us to "not be accomplices" to this tragedy but to actively oppose it; to be pro-peace.  Rami's story is told in the film Within the Eye of the Storm, and Moria's on the website Killing Without Consequences.