Day 2 In Jerusalem

This morning we got to sleep in after our marathon day yesterday. Our morning began with a buffet Mediterranean breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, a tuna salad, hummus, yogurt, tomatoes,, cucumbers, smoked meats, cheese, various Mediterranean spices, and of course coffee, juice and cereal.

Followig breakfast, we walked next door tot he cathedral to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with the Arabic-speaking congregation (the English=speaking congregation worships at 11:00 a.m.).
As Marion Porter observed, it was a bit like a little Pentecost in there with many of the prayers and all of the hymns were said and sung in both Arabic and English.

Following the service, some of us joined the congregation in the garden for coffee hour, which is tame by trinity standards. People being served a cup of coffee and then going to sit at tables. During lunch at St. George's we met our tour guide, The Rev. Dr. Kamal Farrah, former dean at St. George's College and an expert in linquistics and interfaith relationships. After lunch, we visited the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book, where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are permanently housed. The scrolls, you may recall, were discovered by Bedouin Shephers in 1947. This discovery helped to lead others in the study of the bibllical intrpretation and provided a window into the contextual analysis of much of the Hebrew Bible. Also, outside the walls of the museum is a scale model of Jerusalem as it would have looked at Jesus time. While this is just a model, it sets up the members of the pilgrimage to have an excellent overview of the layout of the Old City and see how all of the Holy Sites at some level relate to on another.

Following a ride through the Israeli government compound, we returned back to St. George's where we began preparing for our Skype session. It was fun seeing everyone back home and we hope that it was enlightening -- if not entertaining -- for most of the parishioners present.

Have a blessed rest of your day! Tomorrow we are off most of the day to the Old City and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Peace, don