My First Class

Today I got up and went to church. Several other JUC students and I decided to go to church with a couple of the grad students (the allure of not getting lost was pretty strong :P ). We went to an Anglican Church called Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was only about a 5-10 minute walk away, which was nice since it decided to rain and blow lots of wind today. The service was really interesting for me on several levels. First, I've never been to an Anglican church before (at least not that I remember). While I thought the service was really good, I was a little off-kilter on occasion since I was unfamiliar with their practices and liturgy. It was also really interesting for me that part of it was in Hebrew. While the preaching and readings were all in English, some of the songs as well as the Shema were sung/recited in Hebrew. It was actually really cool!
After church we came back to JUC and had lunch. Directly following, we had our first class. I know, I know. You're thinking, "But it's Sunday! Don't they believe in a Sabbath?!" Well actually, yes. It's just that Sabbath (or Shabbat as it's called) is sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. This mean that the best day for field study is actually Sunday, the first day of the week. So that is exactly what we did.
We met by the gate of JUC at 1:00, and Dr. Wright gave us an introduction about the complexities and multi-dimentional aspect of Jerusalem. Basically, it's not as simple as Jews and Arabs, or Jews, Christians, and Muslims. They are far more interconnected than those designations allow for. From there we walked up Mt. Zion and looked out over the Hinnom Valley (also called the Valley of Gehenna). As a side note, yes, I am overlooking Biblical hell for the next 3 months...and I must say I've never seen it looking so attractive before!
Moving on from Mt. Zion we went to a place believed to be the site of the Upper Room and King David's Tomb. While it's impossible to prove if this is the exact room or not, it's reasonable to believe that it is withing 200 feet or so of the spot. And since centuries of tradition (both Christian and Muslim) hold to this spot, it's not unreasonable to think it might be. Either way, it's fascinating to stand inside and see how the space has grown over the centuries. The room contains a mixture of architecture from the Byzantine era, the Muslim control (mosque structures), and finally the Crusaders.
After that we saw more things that I could hardly take in. We walked past Domitian Abbey and the Church of the Redeemer. We went to a place that overlooks the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. Perhaps the highlight of the day for me was visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Not only does it house a relatively plausible place for the crucifixion of Christ, but also the place which was almost certainly the tomb of Jesus. I'm not sure that I can quite wrap my mind around the idea that earlier today I was standing at the site of the resurrection. Wow!
This church also shows some of the complexities of Jerusalem. Six different Christian groups claim rights to it. This means that they have a set rotation every day for the services of each group, and it has been exactly the same for 150 years. And it will continue to be the same for forever. Not only do the Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Copts, and Ethopians claims rights to it, but the keys remain in the hands of a Muslim family. Every morning the church leaders have to wait for a Muslim to come let them into the building. This is a political and religious statement. The Muslims are claiming the superiority of their religion. Christianity can be tolerated but only as long as it is under Islamic control. And the Christians certainly don't like that the keys to the church they treasure remain in Muslim hands. I've only been here 2 days are Jerusalem is already so complicated it makes my head hurt thinking about it! So much to learn...
That pretty much concludes my day, which was awesome! Oh, and did I mention that it was cold and pouring rain for nearly all of the 5 hours that we were out doing field study? Welcome to a day in the life of a JUC student in January. When they said rain or shine, apparently they meant it!!
Well, I'm off to a couple hours of fun (and brownie sundays) at the home of our director and his wife. Hope you've enjoyed the stories from the day!