Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Hello again. We are kept very busy since our arrival here. Not only do we take classes. We have tours in various parts of the Old City and speakers as well who come to lecture to us about important things about Israel, her people, her politics and her religions and their relation to one another.

Where do we stay? We are located at the Notre Dame Center, which is just outside the Old City. It was built by the French toward the end of the 19th as a house for French pilgrims. After the government of the Ottoman Turks began to disintegrate, certain European powers were able to acheive concessions for these kind of pilgrim houses. Shortly after the house was built, a "New Gate" for Jerusalem was built, which is only 125 years old.

One of our speakers described Jerusalem as a time warp. The people here tend to deal with history in terms millenia or at least centuries. This is one of the reasons why there was much trial and error in renovating the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The place where Christ died, was buried, and rose is perhaps the most deeply venerated sight in Christendom, if not the most frequently. During the 1930s, the time of the British mandate government, leaders of the Catholics, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Copts, and Ethiopians all got together for a plan to make renovations. But the disputes of hundreds or sometimes thousands years were still very much alive, and they were unable to arrange a settlement. In the 1950s, the met again with similar results. Yet the third time there were able to agree on renovation. Fortunately the roof did not collapse in the meantime.

The situation is that the Church cannot merely be a completely unified place of worship. The site of the crucifixtion, Golgotha, is especially venerated. There is a stone that is believed to be where Jesus was laid after he was taken down from the cross. Finally, the main dome of the church draws your attention not to an ordinary altar, but to a smaller chapel. Inside of this chapel is tomb of Jesus Christ, richly adorned with icon and stone. The main apse or the Church is the Greek Orthodox section. There are several other areas in the sprawling structure and caves around the church that are no doubt reserved and dedicated for different people and purposes.

So, when one goes to this Church hidden in the Christian Quarter, there is the danger of being scandalized by all the disorder and disorganization one seems to finds there. I have been there twice, and surely it is not a comfortable parish Church. Rather, for me it is like entering into another world, heaven on Earth. There are so may people and places that I do not yet know there. Yet, the one thing that I do know hightens my senses. Jesus risen from the dead is still alive in the chanting or in every footfall of that holy place.

Last thing. When I was waiting my turn to go into the sepulchre, a women behind me announced that she was Muslim and wanted to know what she was to do in the shrine. She confessed that she was Muslim but she believed in Jesus. I realized that she and I were both walking through one of the most profound and challenging declarations of faith; that of faith in the resurrection. So this is why we are Christian. We believe that Jesus Christ died and rose, reconciling us to God.

I hope to have many more visits to the sepulchre, just 1/2 mile from our hotel. If any other good things come of it, I will be perhaps urged to tell you.