jerusalem = love.

ok. seriously, a lot going on. in favor of a coherent, attempt at eloquent here are my thoughts, reactions and feelings to the things we've been seeing and experiencing this past week.

jerusalem: i will never, ever grow tired of hearing the call to prayer echo across the skies. shabbat. ultra-orthodox, neo-orthodox, un-orthodox bow, pray and sing at the western wall while the call to prayer fills the sky above, from al-aqsa and across the city. jews in kippa, in shtreimel, in long coats with tassels and earlocks, underneath 'allahu akbar' from minaret to minaret. the yeshiva students in their stereotypical american clothes put their arms around each other's shoulders and dance and jump in circles, celebrating the shabbat shalom. pilgrims of all 3 faiths pressing down the streets, the settlers with their tambourines and intense sense of divine right, despite the riff between the secular and the sacred... incense and hymns in harmony and genuine, prayers for the peace of this city, this country from the heart. cats, cats, cats.

galilee: peaceful waters, tiny chapels, beautiful rolling hills. a reminder that our Lord, too, was human, walked these roads. sailed this sea. the mount of beattitudes: blessed are the peacemakers, even here, in this place. especially here, in this place.

golan heights: lush, fertile, scarred by anti-tank trenches and old army bunkers and not-so-distant memories of a war over territory. climbing a military mountain to see (almost) all the way to damascus, to lebanon, to majdal shams and the UN's control over these borders...

nazareth: sleepy, despite all the racket. church of the ascension: bells. gorgeous mosaics of mary surrounding her stone house, carols. more bells. big, white christmas-y lights above the streets to usher in the coming of eid.

there are a few things that i really love about this place. i mean, there are a lot of things i enjoy, but i love, love waking up to intermittent church bells and the call to prayer. i love the smell of shwarma (most of the time), of incense in old, old churches.

we've talked with combatants for peace, with abouna elias chacour, with andy david and ophir yarden, with jonathan kaplan and michael honigstein.
we've been to yad vashem, to the church of ascension in nazareth, to mount herzl. to the arab quarter, the jewish quarter, the christian quarter. we've been to tel aviv and to jaffa (love!). the western wall, the church of the holy sepulcher/ resurrection, the ruins of herod's temple.

i still can't believe this group of college kids gave up their lunch money to share this experience with me. i'm so, so thankful- for all that i'm being challenged with and exposed to, for being able to learn more of j's context, and for being able to share in this with each of them!