Kissing Rocks

I might have been a little harsh in my last post. I keep wavering between trying to see some holiness here and just crass commercialism. I’m still waiting for someone to try and sell me autographed pictures of the apostles and something carved from the original cross. There are souvenir shops at every attraction, hotel and stop sign. There are merchants trying to sell you all sorts of things, but they aren’t as aggressive as they are in Mexico, so it’s not bad.

I counted 36 buses in front of the hotel yesterday. There were more around the corner out of sight. In defense of Daphne, I may disagree with her on history and theology, but when it comes to getting us around she is a Pro. She has been good at shuffling our schedule to avoid the busiest times at attractions and restaurants. She is on the phone more than Carli Costello checking on things ahead of us. She even tried getting our flight changed to get us home a little faster, but it looks like Monday afternoon is when we’ll get to Seattle. We are really homesick and I miss my bed.

We were at the Western Wall and the Muslim Quarter of old Jerusalem Friday. Friday is the holy day for Muslims and they go to the temple at noon and get out at about 1:00. Daphne got us there early so we could be out of there by 1:00, she said that they had a radical speaker and he could get them riled up and sometimes they riot afterwards. There were lots of riot police at every corner, more than she had seen before. She is always telling us everything is safe, but she was clearly nervous. We were away from there at 1:00, but nothing happened. She said that the Muslims in Jerusalem were peaceful, but many Palestinians come into the city on Fridays and they are the ones that cause the problems.

The only other time that I have seen her concerned was Thursday afternoon. We were in front of the Church of all Nations, beside the Garden of Gethsemane, which is next too a very large Jewish cemetery. Some Ultra Orthodox Jews started coming by, just a few at first then enough to block one lane of traffic, then the whole road. She told us not to take their picture because they have been known to come and break cameras. She told us not to look at them and they wouldn’t bother us. Apparently a high rabbi had died and they were going to the funeral. Jewish law requires burial before sundown. Daphne said that the Ultra Orthodox cause a lot of problems. She said they are all on public assistance and “breed like rabbits”. The biggest problem is that they vote in a block and the present administration needs their votes to stay in power so they won’t do anything about them. Those have been the only times that there has been any concern; we have felt very safe all the time.

We have seen lots of sites, too many. I am getting real tired of old rocks. It seems like there is something on every block. We can’t stop at everything, but we have seen plenty. They are all starting to run together. I have taken lots of pictures, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to differentiate them. I have seen way too many people kissing rocks. So many of the sites have multiple churches claiming to be on the exact site of this or that. Nothing dates back to Christ, everything here has been built, destroyed and rebuilt numerous times. Christian Churches are destroyed and Mosques built on the site, then they are destroyed and churches rebuilt and so on. So many of the locations are based on tradition, there is no real proof. I have seen lots of emotional people. I can understand that being here imagining what Jesus went through can trigger great feelings. I just can’t see kissing rocks that may or may not have been touched by Him. I know that most of these people are sincere, but it still looks like idolatry to me. I really don’t want to do or say anything that could take away from an emotional connection with God, but it sure seems misguided. This place is rich with history and tradition, but the thing that stands out to me is that no one gets along. All the different Churches fight over turf with each other and the Jews and the Muslims. There are a few Churches that are owned by a few different traditions that are in need of repair or restoration, but it can’t happen because they don’t agree. All of this just doesn’t seem like how Jesus would want it.

This may be my last blog from here, or I might have some time tomorrow, you’ll just have to wait and see.