The Garden Tomb

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The Garden Tomb was not on our official tour of biblical sites. However, I had read about it as an alternative to the tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and that it was more appealing to Protestant Christians. The tomb was a couple blocks from our Jerusalem lodging, so during a 30 minute break in our schedule on our last day, I walked briskly up the hill and down another one on Nablus Road to get a quick view of this site. The hill near the tomb certainly looks like a skull (Golgotha-skull hill) to me, but you take a look and decide for yourself.

“Many have come to believe that this could be the site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus because it so clearly fits the description provided by the writers of the New Testament.  Whether it is the actual site or not, noted archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon has described the tomb as a good example of a Second Temple Period burial site, so it gives a glimpse of what Jesus’ tomb could have looked like.

Site of the Crucifixion:

• Outside the city walls of Jerusalem
• Near a gate of the city
• Along a busy thoroughfare
• At a place of public execution
• At the place of the skull – Golgoatha
• A garden nearby

Site of the Tomb:

• Located in a garden
• Belonged to a rich man (Joseph of Arimathea)
• Hewn out of the rock
• Sealed with a rolling stone
• Entered through a low doorway
• Burial chamber situated to the right of the entrance”
• Source:    http://www.gardentomb.org/why.php

Click on the link below to see a video of the inside of the tomb.

http://youtu.be/pbIEcYa0il4

Pamela Y. Cook

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Our Trip to the Dead Sea

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On our last afternoon in Palestine-Israel, we visited Jericho and then the Dead Sea. Unlike many of the places we have visited, the Dead Sea does not figure prominently in biblical narratives. Since the shore of this body of water is the lowest land point on earth at  1300 feet below sea level, the water has no where to drain. Fed by the Jordan River, 7 million tons of water in the Dead Sea evaporate daily leaving many minerals behind.  Aristotle, Queen of Sheba, King Solomon and Cleopatra were all familiar with the sea’s medicinal value and many companies market its precious minerals.

It was 104 degrees on the Friday afternoon that we visited. While it was extremely hot, a constant light breeze cooled us off. However, the changing rooms with no ventilation were sweltering. We were greeted by a Speedo clad man who  offered to give us Dead Sea clay massages for $10. I put my belongings down and got in the water. The sea bed was not nearly as rocky as internet reviewers had claimed. I reached my hands down to feel the bottom. At places it was rocky and sandy, but mostly it was clay like. I tried to sit down so I could examine this earth more clearly, but my bottom kept floating up. I finally just gave into the floating. It was so easy! I never imagined it would be so much fun.

I got out of the water for a break and “Mr. Speedo Massager” was right there trying to convince me I would love his massage. I avoided him for as long as I could, but finally yielded. I had done a lot of walking during our trip and my feet deserved a treat. However, the massage was much too quick and only covered my feet and legs. At the end, he put some clay on my face and said it was a bonus. I really did not want it on my face, but he had it on before I could protest. I let the clay dry and then got back in the water. Everything was fine until I started sweating and some of the clay got in my eyes. My eyes started stinging  like they do when I get sunscreen or chlorinated water in them, so I could not see. Fortunately, “Mr. Speedo” noticed I was having difficulty and came down to lead me out the water, up the stairs, and to a hose where he rinsed out my eyes. I had some redness in the corner of my eyes, but otherwise, I was back to normal. It was the end of my Dead Sea adventure, but not the end of my reflection of the politics of this place.

If you did not already know, you would have no idea that the Dead Sea is in the West Bank. This means that it is Palestinian land and should be controlled by the Palestinian Authority; however, it is another resource in Palestine from which Palestinians do not profit. Israel has taken control of most of the prominent tourist sites in the area – the northern shore of the Dead Sea, Wadi Qelt, the Qumran caves, the springs of the ‘Ein Fashkha reserve, and the Qasr Alyahud site (where John the Baptist baptized Jesus). This appropriation of Palestinian land is in open defiance of international law and overwhelming international condemnation. Although we had engaged in an afternoon of fun, the politics of Israeli apartheid was still apparent.

Pamela Y. Cook

Our Lunch Hangout on the Mount of Olives

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We went to this lunch spot on our first and last days in Jerusalem as well as one day in between. Located on the Mount of Olives, it is next to a butcher shop that supplied our fresh meat ingredients. On Fridays, the menu is falafel, chicken, or meat (lamb) in a pita. On other days, the selection includes shawarma. The beverage selection included Fanta Orange (a favorite in our group), Coke Zero, diet Coke, and fruit drinks. Since we were there on two Fridays, we saw people passing by as they left noon prayers at a nearby mosque.

Click the link below to see a video of the preparation of our meal on Friday, June 29, 2012:

http://youtu.be/N9g1cke6CGI

Pamela Y. Cook

Church of the Primacy of Peter on the Sea of Galilee

“9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 1⁰Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some

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of the fish that you have just caught.’ ¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ ¹⁶A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ ¹⁷He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.”

John 21:9-17 (NRSV)

These photos are from the Church of the Primacy of Peter on the Sea of Galilee. Located at Tagbha on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, it is a modest Franciscan chapel that incorporates part of a 4th-century church. According to tradition, this is the site where Jesus made his 3rd appearance after the Resurrection as well as where Jesus reinstated Peter (after his three-time denial of Jesus at the crucifixion) with the words “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-19).

Click the link below to look at video of Kathryn reading the gospel:

http://youtu.be/Ys1SKeTha2o

Pamela Y. Cook

Scenes from Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee

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Our Class with Dr. Naim Ateek of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center

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Today (Thursday, June 28, 2012) we visited the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. We were fortunate to meet with Dr. Naim Ateek, the founder of the organization as well as the author of Uustice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation. I was thrilled to walk in and meet Sarah Thompson who is also a Spelman College graduate.

On Thursdays, the Center  holds a communion service and lunch in which we participated. It was wonderful to participate in a service with a Methodist woman from Oklahoma, a Jewish convert to Christianity, a Mennonite from Indiana, Palestinian Christians, someone from North Carolina, two female Episcopal priests, etc… It was truly a unique experience to hear the first reading in Arabic and other parts of the service in multiple languages. After the readings, Dr. Ateek gave a short meditation and then we all were asked to contextualize the scripture from last Sunday’s lectionary and apply it to the situation of Palestinians under oppression. The result was an amazing communal sermon.

We have been in Palestine-Israel for over a week and I have no qualms in characterizing this as a racial state. A 720km, 20 foot wall separates Israeli Palestinians from Israeli Jews, a wall that does not even follow the borders.  Palestinians who live in the West Bank must get permits to travel to other Palestinian cities in the West Bank and/or to travel to Jerusalem. Since 1967, 24,145 Palestinian homes have been demolished. While there are nice highways connecting the illegal Israeli Jewish settlements to each other, Palestinian mobility is restricted by numerous checkpoints and arbitrary road closures. The result is that Palestinians are essentially prisoners and refugees in their own country, second class citizens not unlike South African blacks under Apartheid and African Americans in the United States under Jim Crow. Consequently, as an African American womanist, such theologizing seemed very familiar.

In my worship class at UTS, I learned from Dr. Jann Cather Weaver that liturgy is the work of the people. In this communion service, I felt we truly embodied this concept—-from the communal sermon to the multilingual readings, to the individual receiving of communion in the faith tradition of our neighbor on the left to the serving of communion in our own faith tradition to our neighbor on the right. I thought about the after communion response of how Jesus and his disciples went out into the Mount of Olives. That phrase now has new meaning for me. Not only  have I been to the actual Mount of Olives but I have also communed with Palestinians, the descendants of Jesus. Indeed, I had witnessed for the second time a Palestinian Christian who had broken the bread and blessed the cup. I could not help but think of Jesus, a 1st century Palestinian Jew under Roman occupation and here I was with a 21st century Palestinian Christian under Israeli occupation. No wonder Dr. Ateek’s book is titled Justice and Only Justice.

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? ”   Micah 6:8

Pamela Y. Cook

This Is What a Palestinian Looks Like

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During our trip, we have met many Palestinians—–refugees, displaced persons, Quakers, Baptists, Episcopalians, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, women, men, and children but no terrorists.

Garden of Gethsemane

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While we have no way of knowing whether this is actually the Garden of Gethsemane, the evidence is fairly strong to support it. The olive trees here are over 1,000 years old. Gethsemane means olive presses and such presses were found on this site. It gave me chills to stand there and consider the fact that I was standing on the same site where Jesus stood.

Pamela

The Wall of Separation in Jerusalem

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Jubilee 2000: Israeli Government Style

“They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’,
when there is no peace.”  Jeremiah 6:14

For the year 2000, many churches around the world wanted to contribute something to Bethlehem in celebration of the Jubilee year of Jesus” birth. Several projects were funded including development of badly needed roads. After over $50 million had been invested in the home of Christ’s nativity, Israeli government forces promptly came in and destroyed it all. The bullet and rocket holes featured here are from Bethlehem University, Christmas Lutheran Church, and the Beit Sahour YMCA. Despite the destruction of their investment, there was no outcry from the global community about this travesty. Such actions will continue as long as the United States government collaborates with Israel as Israel repeatedly violates international law and the human rights of Palestinians. In the birthplace of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, there is no peace.

Pamela

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