Jerusalem Day 2

I am tired tonight after a day that seemed like several!  Was it just this morning that we walked to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to start our day?  Watching as people draped themselves over the slab of stone that pilgrims believe was part of the tomb of Jesus?  Orthodox Christians/Greek Orthodox, Armenian...people from all over the world here absorbing what they believe is a holy place with actual artifacts from their Lord/God, while the Quakers look on with quizzical faces wondering how symbols and things can mean so much on spiritual and emotional levels.  I have had both perspectives in my upbringing to some small degree, and I was kind of wondering when I would be hit with a deeper sense of something.  

Just to recap the day...after the walk through the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we walked to the Western Wall.  I touched that wall and wondered what it would be like to have so much reverence for this singular place - so much of a sense of history and the sense that "God" was there.  From a terrace above the Wall we could see the Mount of Olives which is where we headed next.  We walked through the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations.  From there we hiked up to the Mount of Olives for a truly spectacular view of Jerusalem. We regrouped after that with lunch and coffee at a small cafe and heard from Jesse Hampton who is here for a while and just out Seattle College of the Pacific.  She is working with Coalition of Christian Churches here.  What an articulate young woman.  We then walked back and through the old city, through a Roman era route that showed road stones and games that children would play to 'mock' kings which many believe is where Jesus was mocked on the road to his crucifixion.   We decompressed a bit, shopped and got hounded by shop keepers to buy buy buy! (except for my new friend here, Mohammad, who doesn't barter, prices all his things, and was a very, very kind soul -- I sat and talked with him a while while others' were being harassed by merchants!)  Then, it was off to dinner with an incoming Guilford student and his parents and sister.  Amin, Ronna, Yazan and Bene were delightful and fed us so very well.  Amin started the "Hand to Hand" schools, teaching both Arab and Jewish students.  Yazan will be coming to Guilford in the fall!  What a delightful evening in their home.  

So many sights and sounds to write about, but more details tomorrow.  Legs are tired from stone walks and steps, but what an extraordinary day.