Leaving Israel

When the time came to leave Israel I realized there were some things I hadn't shown you yet.

Friendly seller of all the earth

The variety and supply seems endless!

Things like shopping (you may not have minded missing that!) Once I got over my hesitation to bargain and my fear of being ripped off, I really enjoyed the encounters with shop keepers, and bargaining became part of the fun of it. After I finished in one shop, the owner said, "Your husband is lucky! You got good prices!" "Yes, but you're still smiling" I replied. "You're smiling too," he said, with a big grin, as we shook hands and I left. I guess that's how it's supposed to be.

The Archbishop of Canterbury

Shane Claiborne, great youth speaker

I didn't take you to the special occasions where we met famous people, nor did I have a chance to introduce you to the more regular but dynamic individuals we encountered day by day. All of them, known and less known, inspired, challenged, enlivened and brightened our stay.

Jean Vanier of L'Arche (in Bethlehem)

Yazeed, Adrian & Keith at Tantur

Izzy

Living in a compound like Tantur led to a community of life, where little Izzy would show up at our garden door like a ray of sunshine, or Keith would say, "Let's go for fish and chips" in the Jewish market on a Thursday night, or someone else would pop in for coffee. The care and sharing, learning and growth that evolved was a gift and life example.

Sunrise view from Mount Sinai

Elliot on his camel at 2:30 am

More amazingly, I didn't take you to Sinai, to the mountain in Egypt that Moses climbed to meet God. On Sinai he received the ten commandments. We took a bus to Egypt, then rode camels up the steep, rocky desert mount, hiked for the last hour, and summited in time for sunrise at 6 am!

Morning on Mount Sinai

That glowing sun, gleaming over the red-rock mountains, bathed us all in glory, just as Moses had shone up there, with the glory of God.  Our dear friend, poetic Father Michael, an Irish Catholic priest who'd climbed with us, said the sun reminded him of the eucharist being raised over a beautiful new day. I hope I'll always remember that image of God's grace saving and blessing the whole world with hope and light, new every morning.

Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai

At Sinai we stayed in St. Catherine's monastery guest house and attended evening prayers with the monks. That's another event I hope I'll remember, perhaps on my dying day - black-robed monks reading the eternal story of humankind, with the prayerful whisper of incense and the tinkle of little bells. I loved it when a twinkle came to the monks' eyes, and a lilt to their pacing steps as the story changed to joy with the wonder of salvation. Afterwards, the boys, Paul and I lay out on rugged rocks under the desert stars, and gave thanks.

Elliot carries the gospel

Oliver carries the cross

I didn't show you the way that Elliot and Oliver got to serve in special church services, nor could I convey how central a part they were of the life of Tantur. Whenever we got together for a group event (and there were many), our boys were a highlight in music and conversation and just being themselves. The people we met didn't know us only as individuals but as a family unit, and that was a real joy for all of us.

Cereal aisles under Passover plastic

I didn't get to share the dailiness of life with you. The work and study, the cooking on our small gas stove, or shopping for groceries. (It was quite a shock to enter the grocery store during Passover week and see so many shelves barricaded by plastic, and the bread section filled with potato chips! There must be no hint of yeast or possibility of leaven being touched during those holy days so all flour products were banned.... Our family had to improvise some meals that week!)

Our second teenager!

Elliot's b'day dinner during Purim,
when everyone dresses up for fun!

I didn't cover the birthdays, the garden parties, the impromptu get-togethers or devotional times we shared. I didn't mention all the games we played: Rook and Rummy and Trivial Pursuit - classic rock edition! (Elliot, our music scholar, won most often though we were all very creative with clues!)

Dedicated mom with little Georgie

Hey, it's Franklin!

I didn't tell you about the lovely variety of birds, including the tiny "sunbird," Israel's peacock-blue version of a hummingbird, and a black and orange hoopoe, Israel's national bird, familiar to both Paul and me from our childhoods. I didn't mention the local wildlife - like the chameleon Paul found, or the tortoise that became "Franklin", or the many little kittens we watched grow from shut-eye tininess to adorable playful perfection.

I didn't take you to the Armenian Pottery where we met 87 year-old artist/owner Marie Balian, who has designed and painted mosaic tiles for buildings around the world (even the Smithsonian held exhibition of her work.) Marie's family fled to France during the Armenian genocide. Then in the 1950's they were brought to the holy land to do restoration work on the magnificent painted tiles in the Dome of the Rock. Maria has stayed ever since.

Elliot & Oliver by the Dome of the Rock

And I haven't taken you there, to the golden dome that highlights every view of the city of Jerusalem: the Dome of the Rock. Built in 691 AD on the flat platform that once housed Herod's magnificent Temple, this Muslim dome was designed to parallel the dome on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (where Golgotha and the empty tomb are - remember?) Made of wood, the Dome of the Rock was given its pure gold veneer in 1993, when King Hussein of Jordan sold one of his London houses for about $8 million to buy the 80 kilos of gold needed to plate the dome. It gleams spectacularly now, above the intricately carved, beautifully painted mosaic wall tiles that Marie's family helped to preserve.

The Dome above the Western Wall

Light shines in through
carved holes, not glass

Not everyone can go inside the Dome of the Rock, but we did, with a guide at daybreak. It is not a mosque, but a memorial shrine of multiple significances. Here the Prophet Mohammed is said to have had his night journey to heaven, where he received instructions on prayers. Here it is that Muslims believe the angel Israfel will sound his horn on resurrection day. Here, controversially, is the "Foundation Stone" of the Jewish Temple, where the Holy of Holies stood. (Jews are forbidden, by their rabbis, to step on Temple mount in case they step on that most holy place). Finally, significantly for all three monotheistic faiths, the "Rock" below the dome is Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered up his son to God.

Women praying under the Rock

I touched the rock, place of courage and submission, as we walked down steps below the dome's floor to the small underground room with the Rock as its ceiling. Some Muslim women were in the room, praying.

Women praying by the Western Wall

As they left I prayed too, and later realized that there, under the Temple Mount, I was also behind the Western (Wailing) Wall where I'd prayed alongside Jewish women at the very start of our journey into the holy land.

The Jerusalem Cross

And so we've come full circle. We have come back to where the holy land started: back to prayer and back to Abraham, of the long and quiet journey. Under desert stars and across dusty hot plains he travelled at God's call. He left a righteous trail behind him; a trail of faith and insistence, curiosity and courage.

Paul, Elliot, Oliver and I have followed that trail and what flows in its wake. It's a trail of light, with attendant shadows. Here in the holy land we have encountered passion, politics, and people of all perspectives. We have laughed and cried, listened and cared. We've breathed the fragrance of roses and smelled the stench of fear. We've been buffeted by issues and smoothed by love. Questions were raised, conclusions drawn, and questioned again.

And so our time here ends. We're standing at a rock, where Abraham faced his life's question. It's the same question that Peter "the rock" faced from Jesus. We are all faced with it, wherever we live. In the midst of hard circumstances it comes. "Do you love Me?" The way we answer determines our path. Peter cried, "Lord, You know that I love You." May we do the same. And like Abraham, may we follow the God who asks.

Thanks for sharing this sabbatical journey with me! We've taken crazy taxi rides together, visited wondrous sights, learned faith's history and ways, met lovely people, and been blessed. I've enjoyed it all so much more because you've been with me, through reading this blog. Thank you.

As we leave, let us remain in prayer and say, "Peace be upon Jerusalem." May the peace that passes understanding, that only Christ gives, rest in our hearts now and forever.
Shalom.