If I forget you, O Jerusalem...

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget it's skill!" - Psalm 137:5.
We had an unforgettable day in Jerusalem! We began our day in the City of David, the oldest portion of Jerusalem. We went down, down, down beneath the city to the Gihon spring and Hezekiah's Tunnel. King Hezekiah's men built this tunnel to protect Jerusalem's water supply 2,700 years ago (2 Chron 32:30)! 1/3 of a mile in gushing spring water through solid rock, amazing! We stopped midway through, turned off our lights and sang Amazing Grace.

We then taught at the ancient Pool of Siloam, where Jesus sent a man born blind to wash in John 9. The story is one of light and darkness, true sight and hard-hearted darkness.

From there we headed to the Mount of Olives for a spectacular panoramic view of Jerusalem. Randy gave us context and oriented us so that we could really understand the geography of the land and the importance of Jerusalem's location. We then descended as Jesus would have at the Triumphal Entry. We stopped in an olive grove near the Garden of Gethsemane to contemplate our Lord's agony and his prayer, "not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39).

We had to hoof it quickly to Lion's Gate to get to the pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the lame man in John 5. Another highlight was singing the Doxology and I Love You Lord in St. Anne's church, with it's amazing acoustics. Pastor Ron commented that it made even us sound good!

Proceeding down the Via Dolorosa introduced us to the sites and sounds of the Muslim and Christian quarters of the Okd city. Our guide for the day, Guy, filled us in on various events in the Via toward the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional location of Golgotha as well as Jesus' tomb. We explored the church while reflecting on Jesus' death in our place for our sins, and his powerful resurrection. "He is not here, but has risen" (Luke 24:6)!

We ate lunch and shopped in the Christian quarter before making our way to the Jewish quarter for a lesson from Pastor Ron about worship with the nearby Southern Steps in mind.

Jaffa Gate and the bus were our destination as we crossed the breadth of the Old City to head to nearby Talpiot and the Bridges for Peace distribution center. There we learned more about the many things BfP is doing here in Israel. From there we went down from Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh, a modern city in the biblical foothills, or Shephelah. We ate a fantastic meal together, and met Meir Malka, our contact in the city. We met our gracious host families and split up to stay in their homes. Some hesitation seemed to melt away as our hosts accosted us with generous hospitality and even more food!

Pastor Andrew Gilmore