Thursday, November 3 - Reflections from Cairo

I wanted to tag this post, and couldn't find it.  I'd written it in Cairo, but was apparently unable to post it.  Given what's going on in Egypt today, the conversations with Dr. Shehata, from the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, are particularly interesting.  Sorry this reads more like notes; I should edit it and make it a bit more readable, but here it is raw.

In the middle of the night, I heard text messages going off. I woke up this morning to find ATT had been texting me because of my data usage. I set up my international data plan before I left, but they said that because of my billing cycle, they had to start it on November 3. I guess I’m supposed to plan my trips around ATT’s billing cycles. I didn’t think it could be that bad in a day, but they texted me to say I had used something like 20 MB of data, and since it occurred before my data plan went into effect, they were going to charge me at the rate of $20.00 per MB. Megabyte, not Gigabyte. Megabyte. You know, the average picture is like 3-4 MB? So snapping pics of myself in the airport and posting them to facebook cost me dearly. Enough that I have no qualms about jailbreaking my phone and using another carrier. They’ll probably credit it back when I finish arguing with them, but it won’t be until after I pay them out of pocket. It’s the same thing they did last year, for some equally ridiculous reason – last year I had them set up the plan, and they claimed they made a mistake. This year I set it up, but it would only let me start it after my billing date. Hmmm…. Wonder if there’s a pattern here? It sort of feels like extortion.



Today is our second full day of touring, which probably means it’s Wednesday, November 3. We started the day with devotions on Matthew 2:7-15. We looked at the Scripture through a different lens, as is common here in Egypt – we looked at Egypt not as a place which oppressed Judean slaves, but a place TO which the Lord and His parents escaped from the oppression of the Roman Empire. A wicked Judean king was oppressing Jesus, an Israelite child.


So this is sort of the same theme we covered last year. Here is a link to last year’s blog on the subject. We then proceeded to the Great Pyramids. Walid, our guide, spent lots of time telling people about the dimensions, and how the pyramids were built according to astrological projections, how the Egyptians were actually the progenitors of the One God reality long before the Israelites were exposed to the concept, and how the Pyramids were built, not by slaves, but by skilled laborers – I didn’t really pay attention to all that, not because it wasn’t interesting, but because that wasn’t the space I was in. Even though he’s a skilled Egyptologist, I don’t really have to come to Egypt to have someone tell me that people have historically co-opted African cultures, taken the best parts of it, and claimed it for their own. That’s not news.


We ended one of our discussions with the takeaway that any good Bible study should urge us to ask “so what?” “What’s the point of all this?”


And what really is the point of our being here? I don’t want to just be a tourist and observe. It’s clear God has called me here for a purpose. So we were talking about the Middle East, and about how no countries in the Middle East really established their own borders. The whole Nation/State concept is not the norm in this part of the world. This is still very much a land of tribal associations. Most of the instability, Peter thinks, in the Middle East can be traced to colonialist establishment of other nations.


So. Why are we here? What difference DO we make? After a tour of the pyramids and a rare chance to see the Cheops Boat museum (it’s amazing to me that the Nile used to be so big and wide that we can see outside the pyramids – now in the middle of the desert -- places where boats used to dock) – after that, we had lunch at the Khan Al-Khalili bazaar. There was a constant stream of people trying to sell stuff. Where last year it was mobbed and we were unable to walk, this year the streets were nearly empty, both at the Pyramids and at the Bazaar. Tourism in Egypt has taken a tremendous beating because of the political instability. Which is to our advantage.


So. After lunch, we went to the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. We met with Dr. Dina Shehata, a Senior Researcher. We talked about the Rolling Revolution (because it is still going on). The Al-Ahram Center is one of the oldest and largest think tanks in the Middle East. First they were concerned with the Arab-Israeli conflict; now they deal with domestic concerns. An independent entity, they are loosely affiliated with the newspaper Al-Ahram, one of the older, more conservative papers in Egypt (note: so I wonder how TRULY independent the think tank is; they only do analysis and don’t set policy, so there may be a chance they are vaguely independent). They were first privately owned, then nationalized in the 1960s; similar, she says to the US Institute for Peace. The Al-Ahram machine also runs a publishing house that puts out, among other things, the Annual Arab Strategic Report (it’s not available in English).

Dr. Shehata tells us that the entire Middle East is being reshaped for the first time since WWI. The change is being driven by internal revolutions, such as those we’ve seen in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and so on. “Bread, Freedom, and Social Justice” was the rallying cry in Egypt.

There have been forces for and against this change. The Gulf monarchies are working actively to limit change in their regions; time will tell who will prevail.


What they’ve found so far is that, while the revolution toppled Mubarak, the (corrupt) system is still entrenched. The military intervened at first, but now people tend to feel the military is interested in preserving the regime. Elections will be at the end of November, and then we’ll be able to see if/what happens. Whoever wins the election will draft the new constitution. This is sort of backwards, so there is an opportunity to see conflicts and an opportunity to see consensus building. The mistake, of course, was that the elections will happen before there’s a constitution. Everyone hopes for a balanced outcome, but the only thing that’s fairly sure is that the military will be assertive. It’s the generally accepted opinion that the US tacitly supports whatever the military does.

These are the same kinds of challenges being faced by other countries in the region. The US, we’re told, is generally viewed negatively regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict and the US invasions of Iraq and Iran. The present situation in the Middle East is simply not sustainable, especially as the Arab population increases. One problem is that US-implemented policies have been the cause of social inequality. The hope is for the new Egyptian government to adopt better policies. Lots of people (a new demographic: young, urban, and educated) are hoping Egypt will do it.

Regarding the rest of Africa, Egyptians have admittedly been elitist and/or racist. The hope is that that, too, will change. Ethiopia is especially problematic for Egypt, because Egypt hasn’t paid enough attention to the (other) African countries. Again, it is hoped this will change.


We found ourselves speaking about the Coptic Church (we’ll speak about them later, with the Anglicans). For a long time, the Coptic Church has aligned itself with the military, authoritarian regime. Again, this is likely to change….  Lots of breakdowns have been highlighted since the revolution. Security is weak. Once a stable government is in place, it is hoped this government will be able to address those issues.


We had a question and answer period, then went off to meet with Rev. Dr. Bahiq Ramsey, who works with the Senior Bishop of Cairo. We also met a British priest, Rev. Michael, who’d worked in Cyprus and Scotland.


Across from the Anglican Church’s headquarters is a Marriott hotel. I was still quite tired and wanted some coffee. We had time, so I went over to the Marriott. It’s the one place I’ve seen in Egypt where they actually use the metal detectors. Every place has them, but only the Marriott actually makes you put your things through and pays attention if it beeps. So we went in, and after 3 or 4 times telling then I wanted a cappuccino to go, they told me I could sit down. I waited, and they of course brought me a cappuccino in a cup. But it looked so pretty I decided to stay. I ended up paying 30LE (Egyptian Pounds) for it, which included tax and tip. Which translates to about $5.00 US. While it was an outrageous price to pay, it was in the Marriott, which is, in both décor and patronage, quite different than the hotels we’re staying in. We’re staying in 3-star hotels. The Marriott in Cairo is 4 or 5 star, frequented by American businesspeople and, most likely, Gulf-State elite. It even smelled different – I think perhaps this one doesn’t allow smoking inside. I don’t know. I know that I paid $5.00 for a cappuccino, which is an outrageous amount here, but didn’t mind. Too much.

Dr. Ramsey, a lifelong Anglican, was an MD. While working with his Bishop, they had occasion to talk about spiritual needs, and Dr. Ramsey found himself becoming Rev. Ramsey. His wife, a former engineer, resigned her job to help her husband with his ministry. He shared with us his experiences during the uprising and his thoughts since then. We learned that he and Fr. Michael work at the Egyptian Anglican Refugee Center, which has English, Arabic, and Sudanese speaking people, as well as people from Myanmar, who are effectively slaves. They would, he says, be the Filipino house servants people have in the US.

Like everyone in Egypt, these priests are waiting to see what happens after the elections. The process of revolution, they say, has actually seen the church GROW. They say they feel safe in Cairo; Fr. Michael says he feels safer there than in most big Western cities. Fr. Ramsey thinks one of the most significant effects of the uprising is that people are finally learning to say “no.” Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are now realities, not just foreign concepts.

Regarding Copts, we were told that 90% of Egyptian Christians are Copts. They have, it is perceived, a “mother church” attitude. They’ve been very powerful, if not mobile. Fr. Ramsey stated that many Christian clergy were confused at the beginning of the conflict. It was only, he says, when they saw Mubarak doing poorly that they began to speak (which is consistent with Dr. Shehata’s statement that they were aligned with the prior authoritarian regime. CP editorialization: looks like we still have not learned the lessons of Constantine’s merger of church and state…).  These fathers also stated that the economics of change are the most visible, with people being concerned about security.

At the beginning of this post, we were talking about what difference any of this makes, and why we do it? Fr. Michael shared with us the three priorities of the Bishop of Cairo:

- SHARE the faith. Evangelism. You can’t share the faith, of course, unless you:

- KNOW the faith. Discipleship. But it’s not enough to simply share and know, you have to:

- SHOW the faith. Missions. Do something to demonstrate the Good News. Show someone the love of Jesus.

It’s interesting that we started our day with that question, and ended it with that answer.


I came home and FINALLY got my jailbroken phone to work (at least the voice part. We’ll have to work on data next) with an Egyptian phone card. Once I get the data working, I can stop using my ATT phone card, saving hundreds of dollars in ATT’s exploitive overcharges.

Jerash, Amman, and Home

So we did end up going to Jerash.  The Nabotean kingdom, I think they said, co-existed with Arabia, and Paul spent 14 years there.  Jesus also took several tours to the area: 

• to Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon)
• to the Decapolis (the 10 cities, of which Amman and Jerash (Gerasa) are two)

On our journey, we passed through Beq'aa, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan.  We went to Hadrian's gate, and we saw models of various temples, including a temple to Molech (I think Molech is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah, where people are sacrificing their kids to him).

After this, the group went to Old Amman.   Peter had decided that my meds weren't working and I needed more, so he sent Samer and me off to a pharmacy while he and the rest of the group went to a sweets shop.  And they didn't even save us anything.  While we were walking, Samer bought me a fresh-squeezed OJ, and somehow I felt we both knew that was a better choice.  My conversations with other group members confirmed this thought.

While we were out, I bought a second piece of luggage because I knew I'd OD'd on souvenirs.  I would put most of the souvenirs (especially the mud) into this second bag, which would be my carry on, in addition to my camera bag.

We came back to the hotel.  Before I'd left, I'd taken everything out of my suitcase.  When I came back, I found the staff had folded it all for me!  Everybody remember the Larsa Hotel in Amman, Jordan.  It's great!!

So we had dinner, took a little rest, and then were off to the airport.  We were met at the airport by our transit person, Jihad, who escorted us through the process.  There was security going into the airport, like in Tel-Aviv.  I think we had to wait before being able to go to the gate to check in.  They only open the ticket counters shortly before the flights are due to take off.

I think.  I don't really remember.  What I do remember is these young people behind me who kept pushing their luggage cart into me.  I turned once and asked them to stop and they pretended like they were playing.  So when the line was about to move again, I announced, quite loudly, "If these people behind me push that cart into me one more time, I don't know what I'm doing to do!!"  That was the end of the cart pushing.

When we got to the Air France checkout gate, it turned out that I had to take my mud out of my luggage or pay a $65.00 fee (at some point I'd decided to put it into the luggage so it would go through security without a hassle).  I took the mud out, sure that it would be confiscated at the gate.  It wasn't.  Also, coming into the airport, they apparently put a sticker on my camera bag that everything in it should be searched.  Jihad took it off.  We cleared customs, who seemed to want to keep me in Jordan, tipped Jihad, and were off to the gates.  Which, of course, were closed.  They don't even let you near the gate until it's time for your plane. 

So we went to duty-free and I got some coffee for the office and some more trinkets.  We found ICE CREAM, which we all made a beeline for.  I paid for the souvenir in dollars with a debit card.  Paid for the ice cream in dollars.  He gave me change in dollars, but didn't have enough, so he gave me the rest in dinars.  Which was perfect, because then I had souvenir dinars.

Got on the flight and everything was great except there was a very large lady stuck in the middle seat.  She was very uncomfortable.  I felt bad for her, but not bad enough to switch seats with her.  It was bad enough that my preference with Delta is for a Window seat, and on every leg of this flight, both to Rome and Cairo and from Amman and Paris, they put me on an aisle. 

At one point, there were TWO crying, whining, screaming toddlers on the plane.  The flight attendants got them bottles, but I'm not sure that helped.  They handed out lovely little menus of what breakfast would be:  fruit juice,  coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fresh fruit salad, poached eggs Florentine, beef sausage, potato croquettes, buttered and sauteed spinach, chocolate cake, roll, butter, and preserves.    They also offered beverages and sandwiches at the beginning of the flight. Plus they had a sleep kit with the things that cover your eyes at night, ear plugs, and headphones. 

After the sandwiches, I tried to get a little rest and to wake up in Paris, but I was not successful.  Some guy came along and bumped my leg, the woman beside me wanted to get out, and then, when it looked like we could finally get some sleep, they came along and started serving breakfast.  There is a certain crazy psychology that takes place when a couple hundred people are in a tube flying through space, true, but I swear I watched them serve rows 1 - 16 and then rows 18-20-something, go back and give coffee to people, move around for people to go to the bano after eating, all before they FINALLY came to serve us in row 17.  So I ate.

And then I guess I slept.  We deplaned in Charles deGaulle, and I sat with Mary Margaret and Hoyt.  We had a good convo.  I had a bit of a scare since we had to go through security yet again.  They made me take out all my cameras, lenses, and hard drives.  Then they saw the mud in the carry on.  One guy looked at it.  He called another guy.  He called a lady.  She looked at it, she felt it, she poked around -- I told her it was mud, "to make me beautiful." (she was a black Frenchwoman).  She told me to have a nice day.  I put the stupid ATT sim card back in, just so I could check in a Charles De Gaulle Airport.  Gevey and a local sim card is the way to go, iPhone users.  I will never again use ATT's international data service, mostly because they're just so outrageously expensive. 

Turned out the screaming baby was on this flight, too.  I tried to knock out quickly, but couldn't.  That last medicine I took appears to be quite effective, perhaps overly so.  Or maybe it's just that I'm too neurotic to use a bathroom on an airplane because they are sooo creepy.  It will be so good to get home.

Air France gives you a LOT of food.  I could only eat some of the brunch menu, which consisted of:  orange juice, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit compote (apple sauce), farmer's cheese, brioche, butter, and preserves, turkey and selection of cheeses.  Then for the main course we got a choice of a cheese omelet with ratatouille or Crepe with caramelized apples and simmered fruit.  I watched Limitless, Super 8, and finished watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

There's a black guy with a British accent in a Tag Heuer commercial.  He says he's a Formula One Champion.  Silly me.  I didn't know black people did Formula One.  But then, someone said to me that she didn't know black people did skydiving.  Guess it's all about expanding experiences. 

All beverages on Air France, even alcohol, appear to be complimentary.  And they even had hot chocolate!  I like Air France.  Plus, they're a Delta partner, so with my miles from last year and this year, I can probably go on a trip to the Caribbean or something.

Then they fed us AGAIN about an hour before the plane landed.  They gave us a piece of chicken with ratatouille, bread, and a brownie, plus something called pave frais, which is either cream or cheese.  It was all cold, and a bit too much for me, but God bless 'em for the thoughts.

So I FINALLY arrived at JFK.  I was the only person who clapped when the plane touched down.  I was happy to be home.  Went through immigration -- they put me to the front of the line because of my cane -- and then when I went through customs and answered truthfully about the "have you handled any livestock,"  they took me over to the side to examine my shoes and all. They always do it; the alternative is to lie, but I prefer to be truthful and tell them that I rode a horse and a camel.  Besides, they were having a slow day.

Went to the super shuttle waiting area.  The driver was having a really bad day. Long story short, after waiting around endlessly, he only had me, a French au-pair, and a Hawaiian guy here to check out NYC for the first time.  That's it.  Usually super shuttles are packed, but two things have happened:  1) the big buses that drop everybody at 42nd Street and don't require reservations are out; and 2) travel in general has declined.

But I finally arrived at home, used my electric toothbrush (the thing I miss the most when traveling) and got into bed.  It's a couple days later and I still haven't had my sleep patterns return to normal, but I'm trying.....

Little Petra and Mt. Nebo

So yesterday, I got a horrible case of that phenomenon which besets all travelers. It happened when we were in Petra – I had an explosive reaction, was so weak I thought I would pass out, and – well, you get the picture.  I think I posted about it yesterday.

It got worse during the night.  Much worse.  It was absolutely horrible, to be honest.  So this morning, Peter and Samer decide that I need some Immodium and some antibiotics.  Here you can get antibiotics without a prescription. So they took me to a pharmacy, got me some stuff, and I took it.  For a while it didn’t seem to work – within a couple of hours, my breakfast had passed through me, and I was alternately hot and cold and weak.

We went to Little Petra, and I walked part of the way with them, wondering to myself if you’d ever see black people going “hey, let’s go see what’s in here!”  or “Let’s go climb this mountain!”  I guess we do, I just wasn’t feeling good and wasn’t seeing the point of climbing a bunch of rocks from a prehistoric town. 

We went up the King’s Highway, which connected the Moabites with others, all the way to the Sea.  The Romans, of course, renamed it and constructed a second road to the east.  But we went up the King’s Highway.  That was cool.  Except for the fact that I was sick as a dog….  Along the way, we saw Juniper trees and 900 year old pistachio trees, though I could never see the pistachios on them. 

So the group went to Shoubak Castle. I went to the bathroom. 

I slept and was in agony for much of the day; the group went to Madaba (mentioned in the book of Numbers and in Isaiah 15).  I stayed in the bus.  Gilead, I think I heard them say, is to the north.

So we went to Mt. Nebo after that.  I really wanted to go to Mt. Nebo, but I remembered it as being a long walk.  It wasn’t so bad, and thank God I was able to go up and take pictures.  That was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We came back to Amman.  We had a group meeting before dinner, but I wasn’t really present for it.  I’ve finally gotten some food in me (and some juice, because I didn’t eat anything and was really weak), and am about to go to bed.  We do Jerash tomorrow.  Not sure I’ll do the whole walk with them, but it’s supposed to be a great way to contextualize the world of Jesus and Paul.  OK.  I’ve seen that.  Not that I’ve seen all there is to see, but I’m in all kinds of pain and don’t know if I want to make the walk.

I should say that at some point during the day, Samer, our guide, brought me some yogurt with garlic. He said it would sterilize the stomach. I could only eat a couple of small teaspoons of it – I don’t really do raw garlic.  But it was kind of him to do it (he keeps telling me to say I’m healed in Jesus’ name), so I just tucked it in a bag.

We are now at the Larsa Hotel in Amman, where we see some of the same guys I saw two years ago. I remembered them, and they remembered me.  It’s all good.  I’m going to bed now.

Petra

Today was all about Petra.  Petra was built by an ancient Arab tribe called the Nabateans.  The Nabateans were conquerors of the Arab world, but were, of course, subjected to Roman domination and influence.  This is the Biblical land of Edom, and back in these rose-red rock hills, they have carved edifices out of the stone.  It’s amazing.  Part of the region encompasses the tomb of Aaron, on Mount Hor.  It’s referenced in Num. 20:22.  Also, according to Samer our Guide, Sela in the book of Isaiah means Gorge, and that’s Petra.  
 

We hiked down to what had been called the Treasury.  It didn’t serve as a treasury; it was only called that when in the 18^th century it was discovered and people tried to loot it.  I got my obligatory camel ride pictures.  After that, we walked down to the Museum.  It was a couple of kilometers in, then maybe 500 or 700 meters to the museum.  It was all on a gradual incline, and while it was challenging for me because I don’t do nearly enough cardio, it wasn’t as difficult as it was two years ago.

 

I had intended to hike in and ride a carriage out, but two things happened.  1) we stopped for tea at some Bedouin joint.  It was delicious, but afterwards, I began a love affair with the WCs, which is not a good thing here in the Middle East (I usually decide “I don’t have to go that bad,)” but this time was different.  I walked down to the restaurant in front of the museum.  I was talking with the Bedouin guy and began to feel light-headed.  I was also quite hot, and took off the sweater that was tied around my waist.   I got a mango juice, which put some sugar in me, but I still didn’t feel quite right.  And then there, in the middle of the hot Jordanian sun, I got the chills. The sun was beating down on me, and I was freezing!  After a few minutes, I started to get hot, and the cycle repeated itself in about 15 minute intervals.  I started to have visions of myself slung across a camel and being evacuated out of there. I was thinking about riding a camel out, but didn’t feel like it, which is pretty significant for me.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a busy day for the restaurant, so I sat there til I felt better, about an hour.  I then started to walk out (of Petra).  I got back to the treasury, which is where the carriage rides are, only to find that 2) they were all being used by people who’d booked them for round trips, both in and out.  I tried to strike a side deal with a guy, but he wanted $50.00 (remember, this is about a mile), so I waved him off.  Others were equally extortionist; I was with some woman who sounded Italian who wanted to split the ride with me.  At that time, we only had ½ to ¼ mile to go, and the guy wanted $40.00.  So we walked.

As we got to the horse run, I did take a horse.  It was supposed to have been free, but of course the guy wanted 3 JD (about $5.00).  Then he wanted a tip.  I tried to give him a couple of dollars, but he actually asked for more.  Remembering the kindness of the Bedouins who had let me sit in their shop for an hour, I gave him more.  I got him to take my picture on the horse (so I FINALLY have a horsie picture, and now have pics of me riding a camel and a horse in Petra), and I took pics of him.  It’s all good. Jordan, and Petra in particular,  derives much of its income from tourism.  I wrote in 2009 about how commercialized it was.  I didn’t buy anything today.  I was talking with the Bedouins in the restaurant about it, because they thought that people should spend money when they travel. I told him that sometimes people have to save up to travel, and the economy is just as hard for us as it is for them.  I don’t think he believed me.  Everyone thinks Americans are rich.  And by comparison, that sometimes seems true….

So we came back to the hotel early. I lay down for a while, then went downstairs to get my free Turkish bath. It was WONDERFUL!!!  First you get into a steam room.  The interesting thing about this steam room was there was plenty of steam, but it just didn’t seem that hot.  Given my earlier incident, I didn’t push it, but I stayed in for 15 minutes or so.  Then the guy comes and gets you and you go into a room and lay on a marble table.  The woman pours warm water on the table to warm it up, you undress, and get on.  She rinses you off, front and back, a few times.  Then she takes something not as course as a loofah and scrubs your body all over.  (I guess that was exfoliation)  After that she washes you with something, and then massages you all over.  At the end, you kneel by the sink and she rinses your hair and face.  It was Divine!

So now I’m in my room uploading pics and waiting for dinner.  The food here (at the Amra Palace Hotel in Petra, Jordan) has been outstanding.  Can’t wait for dinner and to pack up and make an early night of it.  Tomorrow we head to Amman, via Wadi Musa (we go see the rock where Moses stood), Mt. Nebo, and Jerash. Not sure I’m up for a hike through Jerash, though there’s a great restaurant there.

And then we head back to the States.  We may do something else; I’m not sure.  It’s been a great trip, I’m excited that the first female Bishop of the CME Church is staying at the Mount David Hotel where we stayed, and I’m looking forward to working with her to FINALLY make a CME (or at least CME-sponsored) Pilgrimage a reality.

Going to dinner now.

What a Day today Was....

We started the day, as we’d said we would, getting up early for a 7:30 am departure.  I found out much too late (last night) that the hotel has two massage chairs in the lounge.  For NIS 5, or less than two dollars, you get a 15 minute massage.  I tried it out last night and again this morning.  Delightful!

The reason we got up to leave so early was to make good time getting into Jerusalem.  We could not have been more wrong.  We were stuck at the Dung Gate, so we went down through the Hinnem Valley and entered in through the Moroccan Gate, or Magreb, for African, gate.  As we drove through the Hinnem Valley, we passed by the site where Judas is alleged to have committed suicide.

Once inside, we saw the lines were incredibly long to get onto the Temple Mount.  The reason was this was the first day the Mount had been open for a number of days, because of the Eid feast.  We wanted to go, so we waited 1 hour and 45 minutes on line, only to have the guard tell us (within 5 minutes of the entrance) that the Mount was closed.  While it would reopen at 12:30, we had to get busy in order to come down to the bridge and cross into Jordan.

So we went through the Old City again.  It was incredibly crowded, with tour guides attempting to push their groups ahead of everyone, and even people with collars on behaving in unseemly ways. It bothered me and I wanted to have a “New York Moment,” but I didn’t.  It was hard, but I didn’t.

The lines to get into everything were really pushed and crowded.  We started out at the Sisters of Zion convent.  They have a quiet, private church in the rear of the convent that they let us use.  The chapel, it turns out, prominently displays 1 of 2 arches constructed by Hadrian in the second century.  The basilica was actually built around the arch, and the middle arch extends out into the Via Dolorosa.  It is called “Ecce Homo”, Latin for “This Man,” and is a testament to the time when Pilate says to the crowd “ Look,  here is your king.”

Archaeological evidence doesn’t always point us to the exact, actual place where events occurred (how could it?); what happened over time is that people demonstrated a need to commemorate events, and the places grew up around them. 

Of course, downstairs in the Sisters of Zion convent is the Lithostratos.  These are paving stones from the time of Hadrian with etchings on them that indicate a board game, Basilenda, or “The Making of a King.”  This was played by Roman soldiers, with dice, with condemned prisoners.  The roll of the dice determined the prisoners’ fate:  some were “proclaimed a king,” perhaps crowned and/or draped with a purple robe;  some were mocked; some were tortured – and all were eventually put to death.  The story is told in Mark 15.  Here, incidentally, is one of only two places in the Gospels where Jesus is called the King of the Jews.  Jesus and his followers never actually used the term.  Also in the Sisters of Zion convent is the Praetorium, where Jesus was brought before Pilate.

So we left the Convent and went on to the church of the Holy Sepulchre.  We actually went in through a back way because it was so crowded; this was good for me, as I’d never seen inside the Ethiopian Orthodox section of the Church. 

We went up to Golgotha, but the lines to revere the spot were just too long.  We took some pictures, then went down to the Empty Tomb, where the lines were also quite long.  There were just too many people.  As I said last year, if Heaven is like this, I don’t want to go.  And what I learned is that not everyone was there for religious reasons.  Some people were there to revere holy sites; some people were there to visit a museum.  All the tour guides were standing around explaining stuff, some people were milling around just looking, some people were revering sites, and it occurred to me that we are all here for different reasons.  It’s the same way with coming to Christ.  We can intellectualize our experience, we can try to explain or rationalize our experience, we can explore our emotionalize our experience – but at the end of the day, what is called into question is how we MANIFEST our experience with and of The Divine.  Who is Jesus Christ, and Where is He in Our lives?

After we left the church, we had lunch in Jerusalem and continued our walk through the Old City.  We went out through the Joppa Gate and met our driver.  We drove down to the border crossing at the Allenby Bridge.  The Israelis didn’t want us to pass because we didn’t have our Jordanian visas (which were on the other side of the border waiting for us).  Peter went and spoke to them and got us through. 

When we got to the place where they inspect our bags, and where the Jordanian guide was supposed to be, we found they weren’t there.  So Israel would not, of course let us go out (well, they might, but Jordan wouldn’t let us in.)  It turned out our Jordanian guides had gone to the wrong border.  They were supposedly an hour and then about a half hour away, but that was before I sat down to write.  They’re still not here. 

So we’ll keep waiting…..

We did keep waiting, and the Jordanian guides and our visas finally came.  We took the three hour drive to Wadi Musa, had a DELIGHTFUL dinner, and are now preparing to go to bed so we can hit Petra in the morning.  No more climbing for me;  the group wants to go up to the Place of High Sacrifice and all that;  I'm hiking in, sitting and having tea and checking out the Bedouin guards, and taking a carriage out.  I have neither need nor desire to climb the mountains in Petra.  Instead, I made arrangements to have a Turkish bath, including steam room, all over body scrub, and relaxing massage; Jacuzzi; Unlimited internet for two days, and a cup of tea in the Turkish bath, all for 13JD, or about $20.00 US.  That's way more my speed than climbing a mountain, and that's what I plan to do after Petra tomorrow..... 

The Old City, The Oldest City, the Lowest City (with thanks to Mary Margaret and Hoyt)

So we set out today, Wednesday November 9, to tour the Old City of Jerusalem and to go to the Dome of the Rock.  We started out early, as it promised to be a long day.  We met down at breakfast at about 7:30 so we’d be ready to go at 8.  That was good, since we mostly avoided the big groups that are in the hotel.  This hotel, the Mount David, is awesome.

So anyway. We were stuck at the wall, waiting for the checkpoint stuff to clear.  The conversation in the van turned to Obama and Sarkozy and Palestinian Christians and Muslims and their relationships to each other.  I think the Obama “slip” shows that he does have an understanding that he’s dealing with Israelis who have a hidden agenda and may not be forthcoming in their negotiations.  Regarding the relationships between Christians, Muslims, and Jews, we were told that traditionally, that relationship had been good but has deteriorated since 1948.

So we entered the old city through the Dung Gate, and decided that if we were lost, that’s where we’d meet up.  The Dung Gate, incidentally, is where I got the Israeli police hats.  As usual, we discussed the Israeli settlements, the Geneva Convention, and their illegal occupation of the West Bank.  (In a nutshell, they’re there illegally, in violation of the Geneva Convention, and building in an occupied territory is CERTAINLY illegal.  They maintain that possession of the land is theirs because they took it from Jordan who was not legally in possession of it.)  We talked about the formerly progressive Labor party and the conservative Likud party, and how, contrary to what one would have thought, illegal settlements have actually grown under the Labor party.

The Dome of the Rock was closed, so we went to the Western Wall and then headed off to Masada. 

On the way, we passed through Ein Gedi, noting that references to it can be found in 2 Samuel (David goes through it) and in the Song of Songs.  A Gedi is a kind of Ibex, though we never saw any.  Josephus, the historian also talks about Ein Gedi, and talks about the defenders of Masada.  (By this time, I think we’d made it to Masada). The defenders of Masada are ruthless, and the attack on Ein Gedi occurs on Passover (more on this later).  We learned that the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, and Essenes were the four groups Josephus refers to.

The Sicarii are also a group at Masada.  Josephus appears to suggest the Sicarii were some sort of anti-Roman terrorist group who wanted to violently expel the Romans from the area.  When they were unsuccessful, they spent the rest of their time on Masada (which means “mountain fortress.”).

The group went down to look at Herod’s winter palace, while I sat to try and collect my thoughts.  While Masada represents a rallying point in modern Jewish national identity, there also appears to be archaeological and historical evidence to suggest that these folk were the Sicarii, the terrorist group that wanted Rome destroyed and wanted to kill all Israelites who cooperated with Rome.  The fact that they (the Sicarii) committed mass suicide is not heroic; it’s acknowledgement that their mission failed.  Peter sees parallels to the mass homicide/suicide that happened on Passover after a failed mission with the fact that Judas killed himself on Passover after betraying Jesus.  I’m not quite sure I can make that connection. 

But I do realize that Masada is a  indisputable archaeological site because it shows us how Romans defended themselves (there was an outer wall that, in times of peace could be used as living quarters, but in times of war could be filled with rocks and used to fortify the walls surrounding the location); how they relaxed (the preserved frescoes, the bathing rooms with hot, medium and cold baths, the vaulted ceilings so the condensation didn’t drip on you in the steam rooms, and the system for heating the sauna, with underground water and terra-cotta pipes on the walls.  Really pretty amazing).

Another guide was talking about ritual suicide.  His version, and presumably the “company line,” was quite different than Peter’s version.  The group has gone down to see Herod’s palace.  While I passed (too many steps for me), I do note that I can go down steps without holding the handrail and without my cane. I couldn’t do that when I left NYC; we’re supposed to be working on that in my last three Physical Therapy classes.  So I guess I’m making some progress with these old knees. 

We stopped at the bottom of Masada for snacks.  I was relieved to see large coffees, and ordered one.  I got a medium.  Then I went over to get ice cream. I got passion fruit and pecan.  It was 18 NIS. I gave the guy two 10 shekel coins.  He claimed he didn’t have any change.  I wonder how much he makes every day with that racket?

So then we went on to Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were originally found.  I posted last night about seeing the Scrolls in the Israel Museum.  So the folk at Qumran, the Essenes, rejected the Temple Cult (the Pharisees and Sadducees).  Among other things, they adopted a solar calendar instead of a lunar calendar.  But they saw themselves as the true Israel.

We’ve talked a bit about this term Israel. The ancient Israelites, the “Israel” referred to in the Bible, were a People, not a Place.  This People self-identified as Israelites, although others have referred to them with various labels, including “Judean.”  From this term “Judean,” we apparently get the modern appellation “Jewish.”   The problem is that the ancient Israelites were a fairly diverse mix of Ancient Near Eastern people.  Over time, people who have been labeled “Judean” have been expelled from various places around the world.  They’ve come together under the umbrella term Jewish, which would be fine except that there now appears to be an attempt by this group of people to assert that they have a right to “return” to the lands inhabited by the original Israelite people.  I ain’t tryna be racist, y’all.  I’m saying that it’s crazy to think that a bunch of people of European descent have a “right” to return to the Middle Eastern land once inhabited by the Ancient Israelites.  If that’s the case, then instead of funding them, the US Government needs to make arrangements to give me my 40 acres and a mule here in the US, and/or make clear the way for me to “return” to anywhere I choose in Africa and then support that economy.  Oh, that would be neither logically sound, morally right nor economically feasible?  Well, then….

After Qumran, we went on to Jericho.  Jericho is the oldest continually inhabited City in the world.  I think the figures are that Jerusalem has been continually inhabited for 6,000 years, and Jericho has been continually inhabited for 8,000 years.  It is also the lowest permanently inhabited city in the world, at about 820 feet below sea level.  We had lunch in the Arab quarter.  The group raved about it; I wasn’t really impressed.  It was just ok.  Thankfully, it wasn’t the lavish spread we’d been accustomed to getting.  So we went to see the Tel Es Sultan, which is by the Spring of Elisha (where Elisha sweetened the water).  This area has been continuously inhabited for 8,000 years.   This was what we saw of Old Testament Jericho.

Then we went on to New Testament Jericho.  We passed by Herod’s winter palace.  We saw a place where there’s an unexcavated structure of something like a horseracing track with an amphitheatre, but it’s on private property and won’t likely be excavated soon.  We also went back to the Sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed.  We read the passage from Luke 19:1-10, where Peter reads “Jesus” was small in stature.  He does this because, he says, the original Greek does not state who the “he” is.  I wonder if the Greek has a linguistic rule like English, where a pronoun without a definite article is assumed to refer to the last noun referenced.  Or something like that.  I don’t know Greek grammar well enough to debate the point, and so didn’t choose to bring it up there. 

The point Peter wanted to make, which is a valid one, is that interpretation and translation modify the text.  Peter’s assertion is that in the original Greek, “he” is not definite.  (See question above about rules of grammar regarding referents without definite articles).  We translate through tradition, and our readings of the text are often informed not by what the text says, but by what our tradition says. I need to find that passage in the Greek and read it.

From there we went on the Old Jericho Road.  That was amazing, full of twists and turns and crevices. It did illuminate the Good Samaritan story.  We stopped at St. George’s monastery, which is nothing short of breathtaking.

We’re back in the hotel; I’m uploading pics, and then will pack.  We’re up at 6 tomorrow, off to the Old City at 7:30, and then on to Jordan.

It’s been a great journey so far!

Would You Believe We Climbed ANOTHER Mountain Today?!?!?

Today is November 8.  Don’t know what day it is; my iphone says Tuesday. 

We started the day with a walk through Old Bethlehem.  We walked from the hotel up the hill, and through the streets to the Church of the Nativity (which, incidentally, was built by Helena, Constantine’s mom.  She also had St. Katherine’s built, I believe…).  There were just TONS of people there, and one of the things Peter told us is that in an Orthodox Church, you are not to cross your legs while seated,.  I wonder if that’s where the rule comes from that clergy aren’t to cross their legs while they have their robes on…. 

The original columns of the church were Constantinian.  Justinian came along later and remodeled the church, raising the floor.  Beginning in the 1970s, it has been renovated and people have been able to see pieces of the original 4^th century building.  In my pics, for example, you can see where the floor has been cut away to reveal pieces of the original fourth century tiling. 

All the icons, we learned, are from the Crusader period.  The balls hanging down appear somewhat tacky and gaudy at first, but they are symbols of fertility and birth. Our modern day Christmas tree ornaments mimic these.  Some are egg-shaped, but most are ball-shaped. The paintings on the wall represent the different ecumenical councils.  Even though much of the interior of the church has been restored, this church HAS BEEN IN CONSTANT USE for 1700 years.  They say that when the Persians were going through the area destroying all Christian churches, they saw murals on the walls of this church that had Asian features.  Because they recognized their own features on the wall, it’s said, they did not destroy the church.

We were making our way down to the caves underneath the church, to see the place where Jesus was supposedly born.  There is also supposedly the place where He was placed in the manger, as well as the place where the magi stood when they adored Him.  As we waited in the lines and listened to the Romanian Orthodox priest who wouldn’t shut up despite the Greek Orthodox priests continually asking everyone to be quiet; as we listened to the Orthodox congregants chatter and (IMHO) behave badly; as we looked at humongous lines of people crowding and bustling to get down these stairs and look at a little hole in the ground, it occurred to me that Heaven HAS to exist outside of space and time as we know it.  It just HAS to. 

Part of the reason for the delay was there was an Orthodox liturgy going on.  Folks would come out and ask everyone to be quiet, and people kept talking.  I wondered why people would come out to a church and disrespect it like that, but Richard explained that the people in these lines are not all pilgrims; to many, this is like a museum.  That thought had never occurred to me.

So after we went down and looked at the spot, we came up and looked at the original Constantinian Mosaic again.  We chatted about the apparent Orthodox sense of superiority.  For us as Protestants, God intersects human history in the Person of Jesus Christ.  For Orthodox Christians, God intersects human history in certain revered Places.  That’s why the sacred Places are so important, and why they reverenced them so much.

We attempted to go down into the caves where Jerome translated the Vulgate, but some Orthodox group went down and chained it off from everyone else.  So we went outside and took pictures of the statue of Jerome and the front of the church. 

While we were waiting for our bus driver, I met a woman who’d been born in Palestine, but who now lives in Jordan.  She and her husband had lived in the US for several years.  They have two sons, a year and seven months apart, who are both mechanical engineers.  We talked, and she wanted me to tell the world about how life is for the Palestinian people.  It is for them, she said, like living in a jail.  That’s why I keep going back to Israel and that’s why I keep blogging about it – America, we need to recognize what’s going on here and how complicit we are in the systematic oppression and attempted genocide of a people.

I do what I can.  But what happened for me today was that in the midst of everything that went on, instead of being annoyed with people or things outside my control, I began to praise God – not For anything, not Because of anything – just praising God because I could.

Glad I did.  After we left the Church of the Nativity, we went to the Herodion.  We climbed it.  I don’t know how high it was – after Mt. Sinai, nothing seems all that high.  It was a bit taxing, yes, but no big deal.  I have pictures.  The Herodion was Herod’s summer palace.  He made it, of course, higher than any other structure in sight, literally having guys chop the top off a surrounding mountain and move it to his to make his palace higher.  In direct view of the Mt. of Olives, it is possible that Jesus was watching this feat when he talked about people having the faith to move mountains.  Herod (don’t remember which one this was) was something.    

We left the Herodion and went to the Orthodox Shepherd’s field.  I’d always gone to the Franciscan one, so this was a treat.  We started by reading Luke 2: 1-15.  Except, of course, that we were interrupted by a group of Orthodox Christians on a tour.  I wondered how you could interrupt someone else when you see them reading the Bible (or the Quran or the Torah, for that matter), but I was reminded that people reverence PLACE.  At least, that’s what I chose to believe.

There was a BEAUTIFUL fragrance in the Garden.  We ultimately found that it was Myrrh, likely incense used to sanctify the Greek chapel.  Then we went down into the cave and explored the chapel.

After that, we went to the Dollar restaurant.  The owner just got his US citizenship a month ago.  He applied several years ago, using refugee status.  Again, US, we’ve got to do better. If we acknowledge that Palestinians are refugees, why in the world are we supporting the government that oppresses them?

Lunch at the Dollar was amazing:  we all ordered chicken sandwiches.  They came with appetizers of hummus, some sort of corn salad, some cabbage salad, and a mixed green salad.  And lots of pita bread.  By the time the free appetizers were over, we were stuffed.  I took half my sandwich with me, and still haven’t eaten it.

After lunch, we went to the Mount of Olives and looked out over the City of Jerusalem.  Peter gave us history lessons, and I shared with him my thoughts that I tend to look things up when they interest me.  There’s lots of good history here and he helps to contextualize it; I just can’t write fast enough, so I take in what I can and look up the rest. 

One of the things I learned was that Jerusalem has had over 6,000 years of continuous human history, or 3,000 years before the Israelites.  While Jerusalem is the Hebrew word for city of Peace, or City of Abundant Peace, it is also an Arabic(?) word that means foundation of Shalem.  Shalem was a Canaanite god.  If we look in the 30^th and 31^st chapters of the book of Jeremiah, we see references to the god Molech in the Hinem valley, which is right outside Jerusalem.  The point is that there were, and always have been, non-Israelite people in the city and in the region, long before the Israelite people laid claim to it.  

As Peter introduced us to the history of Jerusalem, we talked about how Saul was the first king of the United Monarchy, the first of three monarchs:  Saul, David, and Solomon.  Saul established “The High Place,” his family place, as the seat of his kingdom.  That showed a preference for his own tribe.  David, on the other hand, established the capital in Hebron in the South, and then moved it to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was on the border of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, thereby showing no tribal preference and attempting to unite the Kingdom.  But this City of David is near the Hechom (Gushing) spring, in Jerusalem.

We looked at 2 Samuel 24:21-24.  There we saw David coming to Arauh’s threshing floor.  What was interesting was the land.  Even a covenant does not automatically give you the land; you still have to respect and negotiate with the people who are there.  We were told that Araunah is the place where the Dome of the Rock sits.

We talked a bit about the traditional theological issues dividing Muslims and Christians.  Specifically,  in the Muslim tradition, the son Abraham was about to sacrifice was the firstborn (you always sacrifice the firstborn or the first fruits.  See Cain and Abel), who was Ishmael.  In the Judeo-Christian tradition, we believe Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac. We Christians believe that Jesus is the first-born son of God, and Jesus was the sacrifice for all humankind.

We looked at the Solomonic temple mount, and Peter talked about the significance of placing the temple on a raised platform, but I wasn’t paying attention. 

Next we walked on to the Garden of Gethsemane.  This was a different spot than the one we normally go into, and we didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate Communion here.  The spot we went to was Dominus Flentius, our “Our Lord Wept.”  Here we read Luke 19: 35 – 38 or so…  In the earlier passage Luke 2:14), the angels proclaimed, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace…”  In this passage, the angels proclaimed, “Peace in Heaven and glory in the high places….” The Pharisees, told him to rebuke the disciples, Jesus said “If these remained silent, the stones would cry out…”  and then Jesus looked out over the City of Jerusalem and wept over it, saying (v. 42) “if you, even you, had discerned in this day the things having to do with peace – but now they have been hid from your eyes.” 

All the above is what is commemorated in this Dominus Flentius spot. 

We spent some quiet time in the Garden, took some pics, and then went into the Chapel.  I couldn’t help myself --- the acoustics were AWESOME, and while I didn’t sing it, I had to at least hum “I Come to the Garden Alone.”  Everybody was sitting there, and while I didn’t want to intrude on anyone else’s worship experience, the acoustics WERE awesome.  So while I’m sitting there humming, I’m wondering about people who get slain in the spirit.  I wonder what would happen if they got slain in the spirit on marble floors like these.  Inquiring minds and all.  I mean people say the Holy Spirit will never let anything happen to its children, but if that’s the case, how come humans always run to cover up women who get slain in the spirit?  If they’re really slain in the spirit, shouldn’t the Holy Spirit keep them covered?

So while I’m in the midst of these deep thoughts, a group of Africans came in.  They didn’t fall out, but they did fall on their knees, some prostrated themselves, and they filled the church with their audible prayers.  By this time our group had left, but again I wondered how we could have sat there in such a place and not at least sing, so I hung with the Africans for a while.  I was about to leave, since they were half praying and half taking pictures, but then their leader led a prayer.  So I prayed with them and then I left.  I saw them outside, and they were all greeting me with “Shalom.”  They were all dressed in purple and gold from the same material, and they looked awesome.  I was proud of my peoples.  J

We walked to the foot of the Mount of Olives and met our driver.  Then we went to the Israel Museum.  We saw the 2^nd Temple Model, which looks at ancient Jerusalem from the point of view of the Mount of Olives.  Since we’d just seen the real thing with our own eyes, this model made a whole lot more sense this time around.  In another 4-5 visits, I might be able to fully comprehend it.  Met an old couple there – they were from California, doing Israel on their own.  He was born in Germany and they moved here; he’d worked in his own business and had retired, then had volunteered with SCORE for 20 years, and was now making a return trip to Israel.  We talked about it, and about economics in the US.  He thought he was too old to relocate to Israel, but he was admiring it.  There was a gleam in his eye that comes, I think, from thinking you’re seeing a place for the last time.  It was a pleasure spending time with him.

When I returned to our group, the question came up, “who killed Jesus?”  Peter’s answer was that we don’t really know, and that it doesn’t really matter.  We are all complicit, we are all in need of God’s Grace, and Salvation is available to all.  Jesus Christ’s Blood was shed for all.

Then we went into the Shrine of the Book, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept.  Or at least parts of them.  I saw a bunch at the exhibit in San Diego years ago.  It talks about the Essenes, and about Qumran, where we’ll visit in the next couple of days.  But as I read the scrolls, I noted that Jewish people acknowledge that some ancient writings have been preserved in Christianity but not in Judaism (the scrolls support these texts, and the folks who created the exhibit called it “ironic” that Christians have preserved these writings).  I saw earlier that the canon of the Tanakh wasn’t finalized until sometime in the first 3 centuries of the Common Era; possibly a couple hundred years earlier than the Christian canon (at most).  And remember, some of these writings they refer to are canonized or extra-canonical in other Christian denominations.  Then I saw a scroll about the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, which seems to sort of describe the apocalyptic battle in Revelation.

And while it is not PC to say, it occurred to me that Christianity is, indeed, a continuation of the Jewish belief set. 

We had dinner at the Tent restaurant.  Another feast like lunch. I’ll link the pictures to the posts later.  We’re off to the Temple Mount and the Old City tomorrow.   We went to Johnny’s tonight and got some souvenirs.  Not sure how I’m getting everything home, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.   Right now I’m going to bed.    As long as this post is, it doesn’t begin to describe the rich experiences I’m having here.  And yes, I’m on my cane, but I climbed the Herodian today. 

Another wonderful day, Thanks be to God!!

Oh.  And when I left this morning, Bertolucci, the Italian PM, was definitely not resigning. Now he is.  And we were all wondering why Obama concedes to Israel like he does. A leaked tape has Sarkosky, the French PM, stating he can’t work with Netanyahu anymore because Netanyahu is a liar, and it has Obama saying something like “You can’t take it? I have to deal with him every day.”  I know it’s sticky for him diplomatically, but that leaked tape gives me renewed hope, both in our President, and in the possibility of peace and justice in the Middle East.  It lets me know at the very least that our President is aware of what he’s dealing with.  I can only hope that he has a plan, and that his plan is aligned with God’s plan…

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

November 7, 2011 – Out of Egypt

It’s about 11 pm, and hard to believe we began the day in Egypt. But we did, leaving St. Katherine’s about 6 am, after a typical Egyptian breakfast – omelettes, boiled eggs, a variety of cheeses, something I call tzatziki that Peter thinks isn’t (it’s made with a stiffer Greek yogurt, is all), rolls, veggies (tomatoes and cukes at every meal), and I don’t remember what else.  It all runs together. I remember stopping for gas, because I had a conversation with one of the guys.  They only have two octane grades:  90 and 95.  We in the US have three:  80-something, regular; 89, the medium one; and 94(?), which is high test.  But then, Egyptian gas is state subsidized.  We didn’t stop long;  our goal was to get to the border at Taba early enough that we’d miss the lines. 

We missed most of them.  There was one huge Indian tour group in front of us, and that seemed to take a lot of time.  The border guard, though, was very nice and of the seven of us, I think only one actually had their bags checked.  We got through immigration with no problem, though I made a point of “innocently” telling the guy that we were going to Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace (the Israelis hate the thought of tourists going to the West Bank), and that while it was OK for him to check the box for “tourism,” this was really much more for me.  Of course, when I told him it wasn’t my first trip to Israel, he checked me out, and when he found out it was my third trip, and when I kept telling him about how this was the place where Jesus lived and that it was important, he did his best to keep his composure and quickly got me the heck out of his window.

I got a coffee “American” (that didn’t have any milk in it) at the snack bar. That and an ice cream bar came to 20 NIS (New Israelis Shekels, about 6 bucks), which was exactly what I had left in my wallet-belt-thingy from last year.  So that was cool. 

We walked forever to get past all the traffic on the Israeli side of the border (it’s still Eid, so it’s a big Muslim holiday), and got to our Israeli driver.  He’s not Israeli, I don’t think (or if he is, he’s an Israeli Arab); he’s our driver while in Israel.  We went along the coast of the Red Sea, with Peter pointing out all the geography:  the salt mines, the Transjordanian Mountains, the Wadis, Ein Gedi, and so on.  We zipped past Lot’s Wife, and I assured the group I’d share with them my pics from last time.  We stopped at the Dead Sea, though I was the only one who got in.  It was a bit chilly, but a) I like it; b) I thought it might help my knees, and c) I wanted a photo op with my Harlem Y swim cap.  The changing room has changed to a tent, and the towels and lockers you usually rent didn’t seem to be there, but Ruth and Richard were kind enough to hold my things and take pics for the short time I was in there, and it was hot enough that you could air dry.

We had lunch – I had falafel, hummus, and cappuccino, and then we took off.  We tried to go to Masada, but it was closed. Which was just as well, since I wasn’t all that into it.  Not that I’ve seen everything there is to see at or know about Masada, just that I’d really like to hike it next time I go, and I don’t believe that will be on this journey.  We will return there, but I don’t think I’ll hike it.  Then we tried to go to Qumran, but the same thing happened.  We had a long talk about the Essenes and the Zealots, with me putting forth that the Essenes were ascetics and Peter understanding only the social distance part of being ascetic and therefore not agreeing.  I think the evidence shows that the Essenes denied themselves bodily comforts to enough of a degree that they could be categorized as ascetics.

So we journeyed on into Bethlehem.  We’re not in the Sancta Maria, we’re in the Mount David hotel, at the top of Manger Street. It’s brand new. Oh. My. Goodness.  First of all, there is consistent, relatively high-speed (DSL rate, it looks like) internet access, it’s wireless, and it’s FREE.  The rooms are huge, beautifully appointed, and appear comfortable.  I’ve been so busy writing, calling people on Skype, and posting pics that I haven’t even turned on the TV.

We went out and walked around Bethlehem.  I was happy to go to Johnny’s and have him recognize me as soon as I walked in the door. We went and found a store, and a pharmacy and a couple of ATMs.  The people are sooo friendly, traffic’s a breeze after Cairo, and I’m feeling the love. 

I could probably write and reflect more, but I’ma go to bed now.  We’re up at 7-ish to leave at 8 and do the Bethlehem walking tour in the morning, and the Israel Museum in the afternoon.  I’ve done them both, but every time I re-visit things on this trip, I learn more. 

And what I’m learning right now is how to shut things off and go to bed. More later.

I am hurting like I have never hurt before.

Today is Sunday, November 6.  I am in St. Katherine’s Village, near St. Katherine’s Monastery, at the foot of Mt. Sinai in Egypt.  Although I am hurting like I have never hurt before, I am EXCITED, HAPPY and GRATEFUL!!!  Why?  BECAUSE I CLIMBED MT. SINAI TODAY, ALL THE WAY UP THE 752 STEPS.  That's starting at a mile high, climbing about 3000 more feet, and then going up 752 steps.  Which are more like piles of rocks.   And yes, I’m shouting. It’s something to be shout about, IMHO. 

Unlike skydiving, climbing Mt. Sinai is not something I ever have to do again.  This was sort of my last chance, so I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to complete it!  And what a workout it was.  I do kettlebells twice a week and swim twice a week.  I thought I was in decent, or at least acceptable, shape.  And maybe I am, for a middle-aged, urban African-American woman.  For a citizen of the world, however, I may not be in the best of shape.   People come from all over the world to climb Mt. Sinai, with the vast majority of them going up in the middle of the night, watching the sun rise, and coming down early in the morning.  We left about 9:30 in the morning.  While the rest of the group reached the top waaay before I did, I got up there about 1:30.  It was like doing the stairmaster on level 10 for four hours.  Early on, I realized I couldn’t keep pace with the group. I do need to thank them:  Peter, Kristen, Hoyt and Mary Margaret, and Ruth and Richard.  Without them, it’s unlikely I would have made it.  Sometimes the Grace of God, along with properly positioned people, can help you get to places you couldn’t get to alone.  But they were all way in front of me.  While they seemed reluctant to leave me, I didn’t want them always having to wait around for me.  I seem to work better at short intervals, not at a sustained strenuous workout.  Which is fine, if you have the option.  But if you’re on a 45 degree incline (oh, and did I mention you start at 5,000 feet above sea level and climb for another 3,000 feet) – if you’re on a 45 degree incline, you can’t change the incline, so you have to take rests more often. 

At least that’s what I did.  By the time I passed Elijah’s Basin, I was pretty much whipped.  But my cellphone signal went out and I had no way of reaching the group leader to tell him I couldn’t feel my legs, so I had to keep going.  Past Elijah’s Basin is where the 752 steps begin, and where we had to stop last year.  Of course, I’m without my group and have no idea where I’m going.  The steps aren’t really steps like we know them, they’re just rocks piled on top of each other.  So one group of rocks piled on top of another looked like another group, and before you knew it, I was rock climbing instead of walking the steps.  Fortunately, one of the Bedouin guys saw me and steered me in the right direction.

 I have to say this was the most physically challenging thing I’ve ever done.  The altitude, the pitch of the mountain, the unevenness of the rocks – they all contributed to an incredible unsteadiness.  And when you’re that high up and there’s not banisters or any other type of barriers to prevent you from falling, well….  I took my cane, which was the only way I was able to complete the journey.  Lots of women my age were coming down as we came up, and they also had canes, but I had the feeling they used theirs only for the Mt. Sinai climb.  Still, I’m happy I had it, and happier that it helped me in my climbing.

As I went up, I was thinking there’s probably a sermon and/or a teachable moment in the fact that when we’re trying to make some sort of spiritual ascent or spiritual growth, that the situation may be more difficult than we think we can handle.  The song “rough side of the mountain” certainly came into my mind on more than one occasion.  At one point, when I thought I couldn’t make it any more, I pulled out my iPhone and started with my workout playlist.  That had just a little more funk in it than I wanted to hear going up the side of Mt. Sinai (not because of any false piety, misplaced reverence,  or anything like that – without my group with me, the Mountain is an incredibly beautiful, majestic, and fairly solitary place.  Funk just didn’t fit right then, for me.) – that had a little more funk in it than I wanted to hear right then, so since it was Sunday and this was my act of worship, I put on my Sunday morning mix.  Brooklyn Tabernacle’s “I never lost my praise” encouraged me.  I tried singing along with it, but my body realized I was at way over 5,000 feet and climbing a mountain, so it didn’t really cooperated.  I then tried to dance with it, but the same thing happened.  So I held it in my head for a minute, and then began to praise God as I climbed the side of the mountain.

Of course, by the time I reached the steps, I was a mess.  I had claimed the ascent in my head, but my body just wasn’t cooperating.  It was like you’d climb a set of steps, thinking this had to be it, because you couldn’t see anything above you but sky, and then at the top they’d switch back to another set of steps.  I found myself going “please, God, let this end,” and I realized that sometimes it’s stupid to pray prayers like that.  After all, if I’d lost my balance and fallen off the mountain right then,  the ordeal would have ended, but so would my life.  Sometimes, you don’t need to pray for a specific outcome.  You need to pray for strength to do God’s will, or strength to act or behave in such a way that God will be glorified.  Then you need to make your best effort, and leave the results to God.

That’s what I did today, and that’s one of the things I’m learning on this pilgrimage.  Cuz let’s face it :  I’m an American.  In the overall scheme of things, my life has been pretty good.  That’s why this sort of strenuous physical activity is so taxing on my body – I’m not really accustomed to it.  And the way I react when things don’t go my way is that I usually get annoyed or upset or I just tune out.  I didn’t really have that option today.  That mountain was KICKING MY BEHIND, and my only option was to continue climbing.  Even if I had chosen to quit, I STILL HAD TO CLIMB DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!  So there was a good lesson for me.

 Another lesson came at the top of the mountain.  My group wanted me to come, but didn’t know if I was going to make it or not (all of this is not due to being out of shape, btw – my knee is a mess, and the orthovisc and cortisone shots, while they helped temporarily, did not relieve all the pain.  I’m using topical Voltaren and Voltaren pills (Voltaren is an antirheumatic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic.  It’s available by prescription in the US, but you can get it over the counter here), I have something like BenGay and something like Icy Hot.  I’m still in pain.).  So when I finally did make it up to the top and my group was all rejoicing, I had to give props to God.  It certainly wasn’t my power or my might that got me up that mountain, it was the grace of God.  In most of the pictures taken of me at the top of Mt. Sinai, I’m pointing a finger up, acknowledging that it’s not about me, it’s about God.  And like I said before, sometimes God, along with properly positioned people, can help you get to places you didn’t think you could get to.

 

The view from the top of the mountain was fairly anticlimactic.  There’s a church there (we couldn’t, or didn’t go in), and there’s a view of over into Saudi Arabia, and up into Egypt.  And there’s the feeling that you’ve done something that is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I say anticlimactic; on the tape I said “boring.”  It’s actually neither, it’s just a whole lot of mountains, which you’ve just spent four hours looking at.  It’s not the view, it’s the experience.  Like we said about this whole pilgrimage thing, it’s not the external stuff, it’s the internal, the relational stuff, that’s transformative.

If coming up was challenging, coming down was even more so.  Thankfully I’ve been working the quads; otherwise I probably wouldn’t have made it.  I had to come down very slowly, and very carefully, leaning on the cane.  Which makes me realize that we have to be careful what we lean on or use for support.  If I had tried to lean on a cane that was placed on slipping sand, or on an uneven rock, that would have been a disaster.  And even though I’d done all this work getting up the mountain, and even though I could be happy and grateful at this once in a lifetime achievement that was a gift from God, guess what?  To make it off the mountaintop, to get back to life as I knew it, I still had to face the same pitch of the mountain, still had to face the same slippery sand, and rocks in the road, and still had to avoid the same (or new) camel dung on the road.  It doesn’t matter where you’ve been to in life, or even where you’re going – to get from here to there, you have to keep your eyes on the prize, yes – but you also have to keep your eyes on the Road, or the Way that you are traveling. 

We always stop at what I call the CamelStop Tea House.  When climbing up the mountain, it’s the last stop that the camels make, and is the last tea house before you start the steps.  My friend Dale W. told me about it on his first trip to Egypt, so when I went, I had a cup of tea there.  He went back on his second trip, and I’ve now gone back on my second trip.  I talked to the guy, Soleman, in the tea house.  He says he remembers Dale.  But what’s really cool about this Bedouin guy who has a tea house (pretty much a lean to with a wood fire inside and some blankets on benches) – is that he has a facebook account.  As soon as I get proper internet access, I’m going to friend him.  He friends lots of people, and is slowly but surely growing his business that way, I believe.  He’s a very nice and hospitable guy, whose tea really is remarkable; the whole thing of a Bedouin who lives on Mt. Sinai and has a Facebook account is not only practical, but catchy enough that people will remember him.

Anyway, it’s now dinnertime.  Gotta go meet my group. 

I forgot to say that I got all the clothes I’ve worn since I’ve been here, all washed and folded for under $10.00.  It’s 9:30 now.  Usually I shower in the morning, but I’ve had a nice hot shower and have put that ben-gay like stuff on me.  Turning in now; we rise at 5 am to eat breakfast, leave by 6, and head into Israel.  Time permitting, the group will go to Masada (I’ve been twice; I think I’ll pass), and possibly to the Dead Sea and/or Qumran.  Then we’re on into Bethlehem for the next 2 or 3 days, then to Petra, then back to Amman, and back to the US.  We’re only halfway done, and I’m having a ball!

I give God thanks for an amazing day!!!