Well, I spent the day in the Holy Land and only cussed twice. I’d say that’s pretty damn good.
First stop of the day was the Mt. Of Olives. Actually before I get to that let me just start by saying I know nothing about the religion I claim as my own. And after spending a day learning about Jesus and his last few days on earth, I can say I still don’t know much about Christianity but I can say that the day made me think long and hard about organized religion and various related topics, most of which were spear headed by seeing a gay couple at the Church of the Sepulchre(the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus)…but we’ll get to that a little later, if at all. Back to the Mt. Of Olives. This is the area of Jesus’ last prayer, his arrest, and a great spot to overlook Jerusalem and old Jerusalem. It looks upon the western gate, or the golden gate, which remains closed until the coming of the messiah. You can see the massive walls surrounding Old Jerusalem and suddenly all of Sunday school comes rushing back to me. It was so weird to see the place I had grown up hearing about and reading about in Sunday school. And even though I hated church with almost every fiber of my being, seeing the setting for some of the stories was awe-inspiring. Some dude was up there with a camel wanting to give rides and take pictures and then there were people selling postcards and pictures and stuffed camels. But once you learned to ignore them, or just sneak in a camel picture of your own, it was cool to look out over the city. On the side of the hill was a Jewish cemetery. It looked like the rice fields in Asia carved into rows on the sides of the mountains. Above ground graves on the west side of the old city waiting for the messiah to bring them back into the city. Or at least that’s what I gathered from my Palestinian tour guide.
Next stop was the garden and the Sanctuary of Gethsemane. This is where Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested, and said his final prayer before doing who know what. It was a simple garden with 8 olive trees who are said to be the 8 witnesses of Jesus’ agony and last prayer. The coolest part was the 2000 year old olive tree that he prayed under and still bares fruit. I took my picture by it. Then we went inside the church and it was guilded like no other and at the front of the altar was a rock that was on the ground and everybody was kneeling before it, touching it, and saying a prayer. I’m thinking it was either the “rock of agony”. It’s the original rock. Outside the church was another rock with a carvin in it. Although not the original I feel, this is where Jesus was so worried bout us he sweat blood. Or maybe that was the rock of agony, either way I don’t know but it was very interesting.
Next stop was mt. Zion. We went to a church that was built on the outskirts of the northern entrance to the old city where the last supper was held. It was empty.
We went into mt. Zion and through the gates and entered the old city. We saw some roman pillars, not sure what they are. And we made our way through the Stations of the Cross to the church of the Sepulchre. I didn’t get to hear anything about the various stations because our tour guide was awful and would leave us behind and then get mad when we couldn’t find him. I digress. we walked down part of the Via Delorosa. I did a lyrical dance because it’s the most overplayed Christian lyrical solo song, even though Lauren Linville’s solo to it was gorgeous and inspired and won 1st overall at nationals. I digress further. I have no idea what this church is or what its significance is or anything about it. Afterwards on the bus ride home I realized just what I saw. This is how bad our tour guide was. This is what I saw inside the church: the window to the right of the front door is the exact spot where Jesus was crucified. Inside directly in front of you is the actual slab of stone Jesus was prepared for burial on. To the right, up the stairs was an altar with Jesus and his two marys on either side over the crack in the earth that occurred when he did. It’s the actual crack. To the left of the front door is the tomb of Jesus located in a big rotunda called the Anastasia. The entire church was built over the site of Jesus’ last hours spent on earth. There were rocks and pillars behind glass in the walls of the church or in altars around the church. There were layers and layers, basements and a floor…this church was literally built around the site of crucifixion. I had no idea during my 30 minutes at this church the importance of where I was or what I could have touched and prayed over.
And now a moment of refection: Since I was so unaffected at the time I WAS affected by an attractive, sporty, gay couple who were holding hands in front of Jesus’ tomb. Something about that moment was so profound to me that I just stood back and thought to myself for a little bit. The battle between being homosexual and being Christian is something that I’ve fought my entire life it seems. And then here, at the most sacred place in the Christian world was an out and affectionate gay couple. How could these things exist at the same time? My mind raced around all the different religions and beliefs I’ve come across in my day and I realized just how negative and restrictive Christianity is. I can accept Jesus as my savior yet I can’t love who I can’t help but love? How is that so? I am accepted as a peer but my lifestyle condemns me? I don’t understand it. I didn’t then and I sure as hell don’t know now. I look at the eastern religions and it’s more of the same only less harsh at times. All these religions accept Jesus as a prophet yet Christianity won’t accept their messiahs as prophets. Why is that? Then I’m watching CNN and its saying how the Muslims are telling their people that their chosen one is returning and god will send Jesus down to help buffer and mediate the confusion of the Christians and he will tell the Christians that the only way to be is Muslim. What is this? Why are these major religions so hell-bent on dominating and being the only true religion? I don’t really want to be a part of that I think. That’s not really my style. Although my thoughts are still young in their conception I feel as though all the major religions point to one main “being”, one God if you will. I believe there is something out there and something that unites us all but I don’t think it’s strictly Jesus, or strictly Muhammad or Buddha, or that fool out there in Utah or found a book and gave us Mormons. It think those people are a path to the greater being but I don’t think one is more legit that the other….accept for that Mormon guy, I just don’t buy it. But back to my point, I think if you are spiritual in your own life and find your own way to God, or Allah, or whomever; you have achieved your religion and your spirituality. I like the way to Buddhists and others put it….when you achieve your utmost enlightenment you are complete, you’re at your nirvana. Its just something cool to think about. I’m not sold on the idea of heaven either yet I still imagine myself sitting on my little cloud with my golden hair and white robe watching the world from afar. My thoughts took me to the book of revelations and the second coming, or first coming depending on your views. I want to watch it from afar; I want to see just what happens. I want to be proven to that all this studying and schooling is for something real. That has been my issue with religion from the beginning. It’s a matter of blind faith and sometimes I just like to have things proven to me. Maybe that touches on something deeper in my psyche or maybe its just how things are. And to come full circle, this trip to Jerusalem and the sites depicted in the stories of the bible, things proven true to me. Jesus was in that garden, Jesus was crucified on that spot, and Jesus was buried at the point. Jesus was a real person. So if that means that I’ve accepted more Christian beliefs then so be it but I still stand behind what I said earlier about finding your own way to God. I do know however that I want to raise my children, if I get to that point, in a church and let them decide for themselves after all the morals and teachings have taken root J Whatever, I’m just a dancer who can turn good. I’ll leave the religion to the pros slash people who think their pros.
Our last stop was the Wailing Wall. This is where Jews go to pray on the wall. They pray here because it borders the Muslim quarters where the Jews weren’t allowed to pray anymore so this is as close as they can get to the western wall. The neat thing is is that you can see the oils and sweat of all the people who have prayed there over the years. I said my own little prayer, after putting on my cardboard yamaka(or however you spell it), and thanked god for making me so pretty and to keep my family safe. I’m a good little Christian boy.
So yeah, that’s my day in Jerusalem. We got back to the ship and Jeb, Shaunacy, Kim, and Jeff all went to the Pinnacle for a nice night of amazing 5 star food and wine. We got some free desert wine after our meal and some shots that were on the house. Haha. We stole our shotglasses. I love the 4 of us.
I’ll be sure and post some pictures once I get home (because it’s too hard to on the ship) so you can see all these places I talked about….check back in a week or so. 6 days left ya’ll. 6 days.
p.s. that quote in my title came from a Jewish man wearing a circular fur hat with two ringlets of hair on either side of his face following about 4 of his kids. The little girl was complaining in Hebrew and that was his response. I laughed OUT LOUD!!!!
