September 7

Hello friends,Today journey took us to the Garden Tomb, Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu, Mount Zion and the Wailing (Western) Wall.I shared with you earlier about our visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which was built over the area believed to be Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus. There are other thoughts about this location--one of them being the Garden Tomb. Edward Robinson argued during the mid-nineteenth century that the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher would have been inside the Roman city walls and therefore could not have been the actual place of Jesus crucifixion and burial. Since then an alternate site has become popular among Protestants. It is a beautiful spot and worth a visit but it is not with certainty that it can be claimed as factual. During this visit, one of our group offered devotions and I found that his words offered healing to my heart. That is an answer to prayer and I am thankful and grateful for God’s grace and mercy.Mount Zion--Old Testament writers so closely associated Solomon’s temple with Mount Zion that one may suppose the temple stood on Mt. Zion. But the name Zion is not associated with the Temple Mount. Rather is is associate with the hill at the southwestern corner of the Old City. Probably the name Zion shifted to this hill during the Byzantine period when a majord church stood there. In any case, early Christian tradition located the site of the Upper Room on this southwest hill.Church of St Peter in Gallicantu is the probable location of where Jesus told Peter he would deny him (Jesus) three times. Peter was shocked by his words and yet before the cock crowed three times, Peter had denied him.Western Wall--this is a remnant of the retaining wall that surrounded the Second Temple and is a holy site for Jews. The wall is divided--men on one side and women on the other. While there we witnessed parts of 2 Bar Mitzvah’s. Lots of music and celebration. So much more to share about this when I get home.Wednesday is our day of rest before we begin our journey home. We will have dinner in Bethlehem tonight then return to the hotel and get ready to leave. We leave the hotel at 1:00 A.M. so we can catch our 5:00 A.M. flight from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt. From there to Chicago, then to Dayton. I plan to sleep on Friday and return home with Thurl and our dog on Saturday.Again, my gratitude to all of you at Paoli UMC for your generosity and your prayers to make this trip possible. I can’t wait to share it with you!ShalomPastor Pam