Tuesday's Reflection -- Old City Overview

Tuesday, June 13 -- Old City Overview

I was struck on today's whirl-wind tour of the Old City by the various layers of this city -- all different kinds of layers.

There are the obvious layers of time revealed by the very structure of the city. This has been an important location for so many hundreds and hundreds of years that a new era of time is revealed at every corner. Turn a corner and there is an excavation from the first temple wall. Look across at the Mount of Olives and you can picture Jesus riding down the slope on a donkey. Gaze down into the depths where the Pool of Bethesda was located and you see no only the first century pool but the remains of various churches which were built over it which are also hundreds and hundreds of years old. Walk down the street and trip over a stone that doesn't fit right because it belongs to a road from a whole different era. Look at the stones in the wall and realize that those stones have probably been "recycled" over the years and represent many, many layers of time all built into one wall (which is perhaps the perfect image for my day). If we were able to dig down deeper, who knows what new layers we might find. And on top of all of this is the reality that this city is called home by many families who work and play here. We part of one more layer of time leaving our mark on this spot.

Upon this layered ground are diverse layers of people. I tried to see many of them as we walked today. There are those who are driving down the narrow streets or kicking a soccer ball with their son or laughing with friends on the corner or hanging their laundry out on the line because this city is their home. There are tourists who will see only the touristy highlights of the cityn or who have come into the city for the Festival of Lights. There are pilgrims arriving for deeply religious reasons. There are people doing business. There are students (like us) who will try to learn what they can in the short time they are here. And there are police everywhere to make sure we all get along. Because this is really a very small place and all of these layers of purpose can't help but rub shoulders (or fenders) with each other sometimes blessing, sometimes using, sometimes irritating and sometimes offending each other.

And then there are the competing layers of religion that all claim this place as their own. Christian, Jew, Muslim -- each one has driven a stake into this piece of land that is wrapped up so strongly in their history and their faith. Each has their quarter of the city (with the Armenians claiming the last one), each has their special places, each has their religious traditions, each has their churches or synagogues or mosques. Evidence of these religious passions are clearly on display for all to see in the flags that fly, the hats that are worn, the call to prayer that is broadcast, the bells that ring, the crosses that make their way down the streets marking the stations of the cross. These layers must learn to get along here like no where else in the world. A shifting of these religious "plates" could cause a catastrophic earthquake here.

All of these layers make this plot of ground a fascinating and profound place. And to this place I bring the layer that is me: my culture, my person, my faith. I come without great expectations, yet eager to learn and open to God growing me in unique ways so that my story of faith in Jesus Christ can be added to the layers of history and culture and faith not only here in this plot of land, but in the place and time and community that God gives me.