Reflections on Life at JUC - August 31, 2010

Sunday morning we walked to Christ Church near Jaffa Gate in the Old City. On our way I noticed two soldiers (a gal and a guy) walking toward us from the Old City Wall. As they approached, I thought they were going to ask us for identification. Imagine my surprise when they asked us how to get to Jaffa Gate! We were directing them? They spoke in Hebrew but switched to English and we told them we were headed that way and to follow us. Ronit and Micha were to meet others at the entrance to Jaffa Gate. Ronit was from Herzeliya (sp?) near the coast. She told us she had a sister living in the US. We found out later from Dr. Paul Wright that a number of Israelis have never been to Jerusalem or only to West Jerusalem and have never entered East Jerusalem. He said, "Many of them are afraid for their safety just like some parents in the US are afraid for their children's safety. "We saw a lot of young soldiers in the Old City that day and Dr. Wright said they were probably in Basic Training and as part of that training they are taken to the Jewish Quarter, the Western Wall and other meaningful places to help them remember what they have fought for over the years. They looked so young to me and carrying a rifle slung over their shoulder. Young men serve three years and the women serve two years.

The worship time at the Anglican Church was very meaningful as we heard a speaker from the Barnabas Fund in the UK preach from Jeremiah 2. Worship had a charismatic flavor to it and was very meaningful. The Barnabas Fund is helping Christians in Pakistan who have suffered from the terrible flood damage. I was touched when he described a mother and her daughter who lost everything. They have nothing and yet the mother said, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." What faith! He told us the damage is devastating in Pakistan. I do hope you are praying and giving to help alleviate this suffering.
Another pleasant surprise after the service was to meet Allison Barlow a Taylor graduate from 2008 who is teaching at the Anglican School. She met up with us and invited us and other Taylor students to her apartment for dinner over Succot. She did her student teaching at this school and then they offered her a job. She loves being here.

In the afternoon Dr. Wright took his Physical Settings class on a walking tour of the Old City from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. It was fascinating and exhausting. He is a wonderful teacher and we visited the Upper Room, overlooked the Temple Mount area, visited the Jewish Quarter and walked down the Cardo and looked at the archaeological remains, visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, walked through a portion of the Muslim quarter, and entered and left through Zion Gate. The views were amazing and he helps us understand more how the Israelite pilgrims to Jerusalem must have felt on their journey to Mt. Zion. The Psalms of Ascent have taken on more meaning to me as they must have encouraged each other with these Psalms as they climbed. Psalm 122 and 126 are wonderful to read and think about. My feet were sore by the time I returned back to campus. A regular work day here is Sunday with the Israelis observing Saturday and hardly any traffic on the streets.

I was able to contact Annie Fischler (the woman we met on our way to the King David Hotel last Friday) via email and she is preparing an art exhibition. We have invited her to JUC to join us for dinner next week. She is from Belgium and has lived in Israel for 38 years. We look forward to knowing her better.

Today a Taylor student and I went back to the Old City and went to the Western Wall and sat down in the women's section and observed other women praying and reading the Bible. There were quite a few young teen-agers there in their school uniforms. I sat and stared at the amazing foundation stones from the second temple period that were there during the time of Christ. There were pidgeons flying onto the ledge of the stones and some plants growing out of the wall. We noticed that the orthodox do not turn their backs to the wall so when you leave you back away from the wall and then after so many steps you can turn. Esther and I did the same thing, without tripping! There is a barrier wall about six feet tall that has small openings where we ca peek at the men worshipping on the other side. They were singing songs together and they had good voices! We then visited the Burnt House museum which contains the remains of a house that was probably owned by a priestly family (found an inscription there) and that was burned by the Romans in approximately 70 AD. There were skeletal remains found plus all kinds of pottery and other implements and the outline of the house. What was fascinating to us was to watch the movie that had been put together with actors replicating what it may have been like at that time and the division that existed in Jerusalem between the Zealots (who lived in the lower city and wanted to rebel against Rome) and the priests and others who lived in the upper city. There was much injustice but it was so vividly portrayed with the burning of Jerusalem that it really left an impression of what it could have been like at that time and also another reminder of how many Jewish men, women , and children were killed. Some escaped through tunnels but many were killed.

We found ourselves again walking through the Jewish Quarter and observing how compact and dense everything is. Some of the apartments here go for over $ 1 million. It is such a sacred space to some that they want to live as close to the Temple Mount as possible. Little children are in the narrow streets playing and I wonder who is watching them but they seem to be okay and know exactly where to go. We also walked through the Armenian Quarter - there are four quarters within the Old City walls - Jewish Quarter, Armenian Quarter, Christian Quarter, and Muslim Quarter. Another reason for all the difficulties here.We were in three of the Quarters today and met a lovely Christian woman who owns a pharmacy just inside Jaffa Gate - across the street from Jacob's Pizza! I'm learning my way around but I can easily be confused by the streets .

During dinner last night Larry and I became acquainted with two more graduate students who are amazing women. One is from Hong Kong and has worked for 17 years with Time Magazine in their Marketing Division for the Asian market. She feels God has called her to leave that and learn more about the Bible and it's history and roots so she can more effectively present to the Chinese the validity of Biblical history. The other woman is from New York, not far from Manhattan and worked most recently for seven years as a pharmaceutical rep . Before that she had been overseas for seven years as an entrepreneur bringing food to Gambia, Sierra Leone and other African countries. She learned finance at Carnegie-Mellon then felt God calling her to help provide food to these countries and she became an importer and set up her own company and contacts with store keepers there. She also tithed off the food and allowed those who needed help to come and take the food she had set aside. She has a passion to learn more about the Bible in the land of the Bible. God is doing amazing things in the lives of the men and women here and I am so blessed to be a part of this and to hear these stories of how God leads in different ways with each person. Each person is unique and each story is a little different but our mighty God is working in amazing ways all over the world!