03 June 2011

“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre and two angels sitting thereon. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

“And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know now where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom sleekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” John 20: 1-2, 13-16

Friday afternoons in Jerusalem are quiet, empty. Many of the shops, restaurants, and sites are closed. It is the perfect day to attend Christian sites, ones like the Holy Sepulchre, the Ecce Homo, and the Garden Tomb, the last of which I attended. The feeling in the Garden Tomb is difficult to describe. The atmosphere is peaceful and bright; the Spirit is strong and testifying. Upon entering the Garden, we were met by a receptionist who introduced us to John, our complimentary guide. We began overlooking a hill believed to be Golgotha, Calvary. When looking at the face of the hill, the face of a skull stares back at you. (For those of you who do not know, the meaning of the word Golgotha, or Calvary in Greek, means ‘skull’.) The exact location of Calvary is unknown, but the ability to visit a site believed to be the place of Christ’s death holds every bit as much importance as the real site. This information applies to the actual tomb as well. The Garden Tomb may not be the true place of Christ’s burial. However, it holds significance for the entire Christian world. The area around the tomb is clear, open, with a view of the tomb entrance all around. It was a nice place to sit and contemplate. I chose to read John’s account of the Resurrection, as stated above. The last twenty minutes were spent singing hymns: How Great Thou Art, I Stand All Amazed, Christ Is Risen, There Is A Green Hill Far Away. The Spirit was anything but weak. The warmth, the comfort immediately enveloped me. The words of a song written in the 1700s come to mind.

“He lives, my kind, wise heavenly friend. He lives and loves me to the end. He lives, and while he lives, I’ll sing. He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King. He lives and grants me daily breath. He lives, and I shall conquer death. He lives my mansion to prepare. He lives to bring me safely there.”

Jesus Christ lives. He atoned for the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane; He died upon the cross at Calvary. He was laid in a tomb, and after three days, he raised from the dead as a glorified and resurrected being. Jesus Christ is our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Friend. His love for us is unwavering. He will never withdraw His hand from us. It is through Him, and only Him, that we can return and live with our Father in Heaven again; it is through Him, and only Him, that we can become perfected beings. He is our perfect example. He lives.

Rather than returning to the J.C. for dinner, I chose to get a falafel. It was delicious. Fresh falafel is one of, if not the best thing, that I have ever eaten since I have been here. The falafel balls were soft. The sauce was perfect. The pickles added just the right amount of flavor. It was the best ten shekels I have spent in the past month. Okay, maybe not the best ten shekels, but it was definitely worth it. A group of students is organizing a Jerusalem Dinner Club that will go out to dinner once a week for the remainder of our stay in Jerusalem. I am really excited for this. The food is one of the best ways to experience a foreign culture, after all.

This evening we were blessed to watch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. I have not seen the Indiana Jones movies for many years. Can I just say that Harrison Ford is one of the most attractive men alive? The movie could have been awful and I still would have spent two hours staring at his gorgeous face. There really is nothing better than that. It was a fun experience, as are all Friday night movies. The Jerusalem Center Faculty really does do a wonderful job of choosing movies for Friday Movie Night. Next week we will be blessed to watch Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. I look forward to another two hours of action, archaeology, and Indiana Jones.

I failed to mention that we stopped at the Basilica of Saint Stephen on our way to the Garden Tomb. The chapel was beautiful with rows and rows of archways. It was well worth the ten minute delay to the Tomb. It was a very special day. I look forward to returning to the Garden Tomb again and continually remembering Christ’s sacrifice, Christ’s resurrection.

02 June 2011

The day you have all been waiting for has arrived and passed. Midterms are over, done , finished. I never have to worry about taking another midterm in any of these classes. However, I guess there are the finals to worry about. Does the madness ever end? Unfortunately, I have to say no, not for another two years at least. And then I will spend my life creating tests and grading them. What am I thinking? Haha. My midterms didn’t go horribly if you don’t look at Old Testament. I got A’s in both Hebrew and Judaism. Life can’t get any better than that.

It was amazing to realize that I no longer had to stay inside of the Jerusalem Center to study and nothing else. The anticipation I had to leave was unbearable. It didn’t help that I had class until four o’clock in the afternoon. Luckily, I found a few people who were willing to go up to Hebrew U with me. I ended up taking them on a slight adventure, however. I can officially say that I have walked around the entire Hebrew U campus. How many people do you know who can say that? I ended up getting a Coke Zero and Tangy Mike N Ikes while we were there. Mike N Ikes have to be one of my favorite candies. They are just delightful. J I have also missed eating them. Once I sent a five pound back of Mike N Ikes to someone, but that is a whole other story! It was so nice to get out of the center and stretch my legs and laugh and talk and do something other than hole up in a study room for hours! It was a relief. My fun in the outside world was cut short, however. Dinner was calling my name.

We had the most amazing chocolate mousse in the entire world tonight. It was rich and dark. Yum. I wouldn’t mind if they served that every night. The food here is still good. They have a lot of variety, but at the same time, the also serve the same foods during lunch. Like, every Thursday we have falafels and every Friday we have cold-cuts. Those days are my favorites, actually! I am sure most people here would actually agree on that.

My evening was eventful. Our volleyball tournament finally started! I am part of a team with Morgan, Amber, Josiah, Angela, Matt, and Krystalee. We call ourselves the Samaritans. Well, we were actually given that name, but it has definitely grown on me! We didn’t end up winning…which was bummer but we did have a lot of fun, and it was really close! We will get those Hyksos next time! They had better watch their backs. I may or may not get a little into these games. It’s just a lot of fun to do active things with a bunch of crazy college kids. After the game was over, I played the piano for over an hour. It was so nice to play the piano and sing. That is one thing I have really missed. Of course, these little uprights in no way compare to the Baby Grand at home, but they get the job done.

There is a lot on the agenda for tomorrow. None of it involves studying. It is hard for me to believe that! I will be able to leave the J.C. again. And there will be cold-cuts for lunch! Nothing is better than that. Haha. Jerusalem is still as amazing as ever. I am so thankful to be here; I wouldn’t give up these experiences for anything in the world.

01 June 2011

I would like to begin by wishing everyone a happy Jerusalem Day. In June 1967, Jerusalem was reunified and Israeli control was established over the city. It has been declared as a minor religious holiday to “thank God for victory in the Six-Day War and for answering a 2,000 year prayer”. We did little in the way of celebrating this holiday. Dr. Chadwick and Dr. Yarden spoke briefly on the significance and meaning of this day, but that was it. We were able to see a march of Israeli men down our street…through an Arab neighborhood. I couldn’t understand what they were singing, since it was in Hebrew, but I am sure it was something to commemorate their freedom and control over Jerusalem. They were obviously brave souls to have done something like that in a Palestinian area. There were also fireworks tonight that I was able to watch from the fourth floor lounge through a giant window. This was the second set of fireworks I have seen since being in Jerusalem! These people know how I like to celebrate holidays.

As I have mentioned a million times, midterms are this week – tomorrow actually. So, another day was spent inside the Jerusalem Center studying for these midterms. I think my brain is about ready to explode into a million gooey pieces, but I am more than prepared. I feel confident and prepared. I wouldn’t mind taking these tests right now! But I doubt my professors would bend to my desires in such a way. I will just have to wait until tomorrow morning before I can prove myself. I studied most of the day with Alise, Megan, and Morgan, and we actually had a very productive day! I was able to finish each of my study guides and even study a lot of the Hebrew letters. Morgan, Megan, and I actually sneaked off to a room while Alise was in Arabic and wrote sentences to each other uses Hebrew script letters. Our sentences were crazy and we often had to bend the rules just a tad, but it was very helpful. I doubt I will forget the script letters on the test! The block letters are a whole different story, however. Luckily we have three hours before the exam tomorrow and one of those hours is actually a review session.

We had a forum tonight which I really enjoyed. It wasn’t someone speaking out to us about the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Rather, he talked about the influence of the media in painting a true picture of Jerusalem. As a journalist, himself, he wanted us to understand how the media twists its stories to create something that is believable but far from the truth. He gave quite a few examples, of which I can’t repeat, but it made me realize how skewed our view of the world can be if we rely on only one source for any type of information. The truth is not always told in full by the media. It is often presented in a way to make a headline. It reminds me of the Newsies when Jack ‘creates’ headlines to make his papers sell, and David calls him a liar. The headlines are true to an extent. Jack just spices them up to catch the attention of his cliental. The modern media does this as well. The attention of the world is caught by words like murder, war, terrorism, and gun. The world rarely wants to hear a story about an average individual. Halman was trying to teach us that Israel, the Middle East isn’t all about war and bloodshed. While there are things that occur here, there are things that occur everywhere. I have been living in Israel for over a month and not once have a seen a terrorist attack or heard of a bomb going off like the paper profess so often. It is important to be caught up on key events; don’t get me wrong. But it is important to know your sources and to know what is really occurring out in the world.

I had this plan to go to bed before ten o’clock tonight. Seeing as it is close to eleven, I don’t think that is going to happen. Hopefully I don’t fall asleep during my Old Testament exam. Now that would be tragic! I have studied far too much for that to occur. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, then my midterms buried me alive….wish me luck!