Gifts of Grace

Jaffa Gate (road leads from here to OT Joppa)

As a tourist walks through the Jaffa Gate, excitement swells with the sight of David’s ancient Tower on your right, lively restaurant alleys on your left, the cobble-stone road marked by marching soldiers in your path, and straight ahead, the mysterious, magical bazaar. You plunge in and discover the world of the holy land!

As a pilgrim walks through the Jaffa Gate, all those same exciting sensations occur, with one added: a sense of expectation. For the pilgrim there is always the possibility of the eternal breaking in, the holy wonder of maybe meeting God in the mix. The pilgrim comes to the holy land desiring to encounter the Divine. Pilgrim senses are attuned, hearts are focused on what is beyond what is seen. When the encounter happens, it invariably comes in the form of love, because God is love.

Damascus Gate at night

There are many gates in Jerusalem because it's a large, walled city, and you need formal exits. One of the most dramatic is the Damascus Gate. Here the road to Damascus begins, on which the apostle Paul received his remarkable, life-changing vision of Christ.

Skull-like hill of the Garden Tomb

Not far from the Damascus gate, back in 1883, a British army officer called General Gordon was having his breakfast on the city wall. Looking out from that vantage point he saw a skull-like indentation on a rocky cliff. "By George, I think I've got it!" he cried, wiping his mouth on his napkin, folding his newspaper, and telegraphing England.

"Got what?" you ask. After all, no-one was looking for Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, where the cross had stood, were they? The hill and tomb had already been found, and were commemorated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, consecrated in 330 AD.  Ah, but a wall had been built around the city by Suleiman the Magnificent in the 1500's, putting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre inside Jerusalem, and we all know that Jesus was crucified "outside the city walls".  (In the 1800's, excavations had been minimal in this area, and they didn't know that Suleiman's wall was not in the same place as the original wall. Since then, it has become clear that the Holy Sepulchre Church was originally outside the old walls.)
 

The rock face of the Garden Tomb

Questions about the true location of the cross and tomb had risen, so when General Gordon spotted this skull-like hill outside the wall, he thought with joy that it may be the real Golgotha. And since there was a tomb close to this unique hill, in a setting much more like the English ideal of Jesus' early-morning resurrection garden, General Gordon forged ahead. Though Queen Victoria did not approve the location, "The Garden Tomb" was developed as a holy site.

Cathryn entering the tomb

There it was we went on Mother's Day weekend - just an ordinary weekend in Jerusalem. The tomb, carved in a rock wall, looks like a Bible story book painting, and you can go inside. Even if it isn't the actual tomb of Christ, it's nice to visit! The garden is owned and tended by England, and it's filled with snapdragons, hollyhocks, pansies and roses, mingling among palms, fronds and local vegetation. Stone benches are placed artfully throughout, allowing space to pray and ponder the wonder of the cross and resurrection.

The still, small snail!

I sat on one, quiet under the trees, as still as a snail on a clay pot nearby. I listened to birds singing gloriously overhead, accompanied by a Tamil group raising their voices in song, and a distant European soloist belting out "To God be the Glory!" The sounds melded together from all quarters of the garden, and of the globe, in equal worth and praise to God. Creation lifted its voice as I sat. I lifted my heart.

Then I turned my head. In this garden of resurrection I saw a pink amaryllis growing, just one stem with two glowing flowers on it. I walked over and as I did, my sister Cathryn came from another path. "Look, Cath!" I said.

The pale pink amaryllis is a flower of special significance in our family. My Mum had been given one and tended it through the long winter of her suffering. It bloomed just in time for her birthday, as radiant and lovely as her face, and we have a picture of her with it, the flower as large as her smiling countenance. 

Now here was a blooming amaryllis, alive from the dry ground in this place of death and resurrection, and it was God's gentle smile on Cathryn and me, as we remembered our beautiful Mother on Mother's Day weekend. It was a true pilgrim encounter with love. We exclaimed and wept and took photos!

VEXILLATIO - Detachment

LEG X FRE  - Legion 10 Frentensis (of a sea strait)

The next day we all went to a Crusader church at Abu Gosh. I was keen to go because I'd heard about the frescoes and the acoustics. The church is part of a Benedictine community of both monks and nuns who meet together for services. We were struck by the beautiful grounds – it was a weekend for gardens - and we went to the low wall where an inscription from 2000 years ago tells us that the Roman 10th legion of Emperor Titus was here.  (The Crusaders came 1000 years later, and built the church on the same site.)

After the Crusaders had left, the church was used as a stable until 1899, when French Catholics bought it and turned it into a monastery. There is something profound about that history, especially when you go in and see the magnificent frescoes, wall paintings from ceiling to floor, which had for ages given glory to God in the simple presence of animals! The frescoes, though dimmed and worn by time, are breathtaking. In their midst, simple, soaring stone arches curve and call our eyes and voices upward, creating a sanctuary for worship. 

But why did the Romans and then the Crusaders build here, some way from Jerusalem? (It took about 45 minutes by tour bus.) You just know there’s a history to every story in the Holy Land!

The Well, with underground spring

Steps to well/baptismal tank

We found the answer downstairs in the crypt, which is home to an ancient well, now a baptismal tank. Water is essential for thirsty soldiers. But this water was holy, and so the church was built over the well. It’s the well of Kirjath Jearim from Scripture (that's the village's original name, still often used. “Abu Gosh” is the name of a brigand family who took over!)

Ages before the Romans or Crusaders, in the time of the Prophet Samuel (1150 BC), Kirjath Jearim was home to the Ark of the Covenant for 20 long years, until King David brought the Ark back to Jerusalem. With the Ark came the very presence of God! It’s a good story to look up in the Bible, with the drama of the Ark carried on an ox cart, and it was amazing to be on this very holy ground. That morning, a sense of expectation hung in the air.

The family gathers, a little nervous!

Grandmother pours water

We soon discovered why! After the monks and nuns processed in, after the sermon had been preached (in French!) and hymns echoed through the wondrous acoustics, a priest led us all downstairs to the well. There, on this non-local Mother's Day, a beautiful baby baptism took place. An infant girl, smiling and cooing, was presented to God. Parents, grandparents and godparents took vows. The babe's simple dress was removed and, splashing and laughing, she sat naked in a copper basin over the ancient baptistry well. The basin had been filled by her grandmother, godfather and a nun.

The priest baptises the lovely baby

Robed in beauty, all is well!

Three times the priest poured water from a silver cup onto her head as she wiggled and squealed! Then, lifted again from the water she was whisked into the most gorgeous three-layered white baptismal gown, final prayers were said, and there she was, beautiful and new. Her grandfather wiped away a tear or two. Nuns and monks smiled broadly. The mother looked relieved.

Tribute to a wonderful Mother

How good God is, on this non-mother's day in Israel to provide such a mother-blessing to us pilgrims! I had gone expecting music and art. I had received, in addition, a sweet reminder that God loves families, and they, since ancient times, are recipients of His tender blessing. I was reminded that we all, naked and vulnerable as children, are bathed in God’s mercy and dressed in pure, wondrous, beautiful grace.

As we approach the time of benediction and departure from this holy land, I pray the pilgrim sense of expectation always goes with us. God is near, whether in a garden, a soldier's garrison, a stable or a special service. May we all have open hearts to receive His abiding love!

My 15-year-old Mother's Day gift
under huge, much older trees!

The gift of a sister's visit!

My 12-year old Mother's Day gift, in action!

With our friend, Cal Dolfo-Smith