Pastor Michael & David
Dale dancing with Gillian
Canadian Tourists sampling the
Grog
Fasching Celebration
Shrove Tuesday
at the Guest House
"Jesus' footprint" (to the right) in the Chapel of the Ascension
Stairway at Dominus Flevit with a view from same
To the right looking down into the Kiddron Valley through an olive grove
Shopping at the At Tur greengrocer
The German expats helped us get ready for Ash Wednesday. On the last Saturday of the Epiphany season they organized a Fasching costume party with a “Stunksitzung, Musik, Tanz und Grog.” Donna and I put on our Tilley clothes and went as “Canadian tourists”, complete with name badges and Canadian pins! Viel Spass!
On Shrove Tuesday, Donna and Suzanne Wagner, a pastor from the U.S on sabbatical, made pancakes for the guest house folk. Pancake Day with Canadian-style pancakes and maple syrup from St. Jacob’s was a new experience for the Europeans and the Australians.
We observed Ash Wednesday at Pastor Holman’s flat with the Ash Wednesday liturgy, including the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion. After worship we all partook of a potluck meal. It seems contradictory, doesn’t it? One of the four disciplines of Lent is fasting and we had a feast on the 1st day of Lent. For Lutherans it’s more like “fating” than fasting. I guess it’s just that profound Lutheran sense that we don’t do things like fasting to win God’s love. Jesus has done that for us! Maybe fasting for Lutherans is giving up a part of one’s self out of love for others in response to God’s unconditional grace. Whoops! I’m starting to write a sermon. This Wednesday the Brown’s have invited us to the Stone House for midweek devotions, and potluck, of course!
On the 1st Sunday in Lent Donna and I walked down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane where the Greek Orthodox Church seems to be in control. We looked at the rock where tradition holds that Jesus was praying just before his arrest, and descended into the grotto where the Greeks think Mary was placed in a state of dormition (deep sleep) and where her assumption (being taken up bodily into heaven without dying) took place.
We crossed the street to visit St. Stephen’s Greek Orthodox Church and got a rather unfriendly welcome from the woman caretaker. She was suspicious of us when we entered the church, and we were barked at when we tried to go into a small room that was apparently out-of-bounds. “That’s the church out there! And no pictures!” she snarled. And as we left, I said something to her in Arabic. That was the last straw. “Why did you speak to me in Arabic? Didn’t you see the Greek flag on the roof? I’m Greek.” I replied that I spoke Arabic because this is Palestine, and she was insulted that I had taken her for a Palestinian. As far as she was concerned, in a Greek church under a Greek flag, she was in Greece. So much for Christian love and interfaith dialogue!
On Shrove Tuesday, Donna and Suzanne Wagner, a pastor from the U.S on sabbatical, made pancakes for the guest house folk. Pancake Day with Canadian-style pancakes and maple syrup from St. Jacob’s was a new experience for the Europeans and the Australians.
We observed Ash Wednesday at Pastor Holman’s flat with the Ash Wednesday liturgy, including the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion. After worship we all partook of a potluck meal. It seems contradictory, doesn’t it? One of the four disciplines of Lent is fasting and we had a feast on the 1st day of Lent. For Lutherans it’s more like “fating” than fasting. I guess it’s just that profound Lutheran sense that we don’t do things like fasting to win God’s love. Jesus has done that for us! Maybe fasting for Lutherans is giving up a part of one’s self out of love for others in response to God’s unconditional grace. Whoops! I’m starting to write a sermon. This Wednesday the Brown’s have invited us to the Stone House for midweek devotions, and potluck, of course!
On the 1st Sunday in Lent Donna and I walked down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane where the Greek Orthodox Church seems to be in control. We looked at the rock where tradition holds that Jesus was praying just before his arrest, and descended into the grotto where the Greeks think Mary was placed in a state of dormition (deep sleep) and where her assumption (being taken up bodily into heaven without dying) took place.
We crossed the street to visit St. Stephen’s Greek Orthodox Church and got a rather unfriendly welcome from the woman caretaker. She was suspicious of us when we entered the church, and we were barked at when we tried to go into a small room that was apparently out-of-bounds. “That’s the church out there! And no pictures!” she snarled. And as we left, I said something to her in Arabic. That was the last straw. “Why did you speak to me in Arabic? Didn’t you see the Greek flag on the roof? I’m Greek.” I replied that I spoke Arabic because this is Palestine, and she was insulted that I had taken her for a Palestinian. As far as she was concerned, in a Greek church under a Greek flag, she was in Greece. So much for Christian love and interfaith dialogue!
On the way back home, we walked through our village of At Tur and stopped at the Chapel of the Ascension. Inside is a roped-off rock with an indentation that looks a bit like a footprint. It is supposed to be the place where Jesus ascended. I guess the footprint was left when he “pushed off”. The Chapel is really part of a mosque, but remember that the Qu’ran treats Jesus as a prophet and proclaims that Jesus will play a role in the end-of-days, and so it’s appropriate that a mosque should house the place where Jesus ascended into heaven.
As Lent begins, spring seems to have sprung. We had our snow days 10 days ago, but when Donna and I took our 1st-Sunday-in-Lent walk, the temperature was close to+20C, and the sun was shining. The anemones are blossoming in guest house garden, yellow daisies are looking bright-eyed, the lemon trees are in blossom, and I’m told that the poppies are about to put on their red dresses. The almond trees won’t be far behind. We could get used to this.
On the way back to Augusta Victoria, we stopped for some fruit at the neighbourhood greengrocer in At Tur.
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