Ding Ding! Here comes God on a bicycle!

This morning K and I joined a group of early risers to head to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 7:15 to see some of the different services going on. Our host was Daniel Rossing, an Orthodox Jew who used to be in charge of the government department that deals with religious disputes. He is intimitely familiar with the delicate balance at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and had lots of stories to share which can seem silly, but just point out how fragile the status quo is here.

The first service we visited was the Ethiopian Christian service, which was located in a smaller chapel on the periphery of the building. We had an excellent view here b/c they had a viewing section that went along the side of the chapel. K, Cory and I were right up front where the priests were sitting. I found it interesting that while this is a church with African origins, hence all the worshippers and priests were black, yet all the pictures of Jesus and his followers were white! I would just assume that people tend to depict Jesus and other Biblical characters in a way which represents their community, hence the reason why most of us have grown up with a white Jesus, though that's not accurate. But here they didn't represent their community. The ceremony was mostly sung, with one man canting the most. When we first got there, only about 5 men were there and a few women in the back. (Most of the churches we had seperate sections for men and women.) After a few minutes though, a few men came out of the front section where they had been singing behind a curtain. We only caught the tail end of the service b/c they started at 4am! That's dedication!

The second service we went to was the Coptic service. They have a small shrine at the back of the tomb in the main part of the building, so the men participants stand in lines in front of the shrine and the women sat off the the side. We couldn't see too much b/c it was a small space and most of the action was happening inside the shrine, which we couldn't see.

We then watched the Armenian Orthodox men process in from the outside courtyard and then visited the Greek Orthodox monastic service. At first they didn't want to let us in, but Daniel talked to another man and he let us in. This was the biggest space, but most of it was unused. The women sat around the walls, all in black, while the priests, etc. ran the service up front. This service was in Greek and for the priests and nuns. A lot of the action took place up front in an inner chamber where we couldn't see much.

We went to see the Syrian Orthodox next. They have a tiny chapel that we saw on Tuesday which looked like it had been burned. They brought in many wall hangings and carpets to cover up the burn marks and bare walls. And we actually got to sit down at this service! The place was so small that we took up half the chairs! The most interesting part we got to see was a young boy helping whom I assume was the main priest put on his garments. There were so many pieces! It was cool to see how much goes into getting dressed for the service! Nothing like Presbyterians and putting on a robe and a stole!

We then headed up a couple flights of stairs to see the Armenian Orthodox service. This was my favorite b/c they men here sing beautifully! When they all sing together, it sounds fantastic! I wish we had been allowed to stay there longer, b/c I definitely enjoyed it!

Our last service was the Greek Orthodox service for the laity, which is held in Arabic. This was held in a smaller side chapel, but things seemed to be similar to the monastic version, except there wasn't any extra open space.

I felt a little intrusive being at all the services, but mainly b/c so many people in our group took pictures throughout the services, even with flashes. Daniel said that, with the exception of the Roman Catholics, the groups are used to people coming in and out and visiting, but I still think we could have been more respectful. My camera has been dead for days and I didn't bring my charger (oops), so I didn't have that problem, but still, I wouldn't have pulled it out. Observing is one thing, but pictures... I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the different services, and while I still am skeptical of the authenticity of the places the church is commemorating, and while I still find the opulence distasteful, I have an appreciation of the different religious traditions which worship there. I wouldn't mind coming again on a Sunday to visit the services, but I don't really have any desire just to see the church again!

After all those services (the only one we didn't see was the Roman Catholic, although B did go to one later), Daniel talked to us about some of the issues he's had to deal with. For example, both the Syrians and the Armenians believe they have the right to the Chapel of Nicodemus where the Syrians worship. B/c they both claim rights to it, neither one can repair the chapel b/c repairing would mean having ownership of the place. So apparently when the one lightbulb in the room burns out, he and the leaders of the two churches play an elaborate game so that the bulb never technically "burns out." I can explain that better if you're confused. There are other examples and stories which he told us, but you get the idea and I can share them with you (soon!) if you're interested.

We were then taken onto the roof of the church, which most people don't get to do, and Daniel explained the surrounding areas and how many European countries (France, Italy, England, Germany) and the United States all built areas in the city, and some really hoped to take over the city for their own country. But none of those plans ever panned out. While we were waiting to get on the roof, we heard a bell dinging, and K said, "Listen! Here comes God on a bicycle!!!!" Awesome!

We then went to the Notre Dame hotel for a discussion with Daniel and lunch. We got other tidbits of information during the talk, but once again, I had trouble staying awake. I guess I need more stimulation, or maybe I should have taken notes at all these talks to keep me awake! Oh well! Lunch was ok, but dessert was amazing! Iyad made sure that I got chocolate ice cream and it was heavenly! It was so good, that when Asamoah didn't finish his, B and I did! Plus Diana gave us some leftover cake, so overall, we were quite satisfied!

After lunch we only had one stop, and that was the Rockefellar Museum which holds lots of antiquities found from various archaeological sites around Israel. I enjoyed the Egyptian remains from when Egypt controlled Cana and the bones of pre-homo sapiens that were displayed. But then again, if I had stayed with Anthropology, I would have done physical anthropology, so I like the bones. We walked back to the hotel and K & I decided we should go get stones for a little ceremony tomorrow. We need 28 and I grabbed 3 while walking to the Notre Dame, so we only needed 25 more. We were thinking it was going ot be hard to find b/c there aren't any parks near out hotel and free space for grass and stones are hard to come by around here, but wouldn't you know, right across the street was a space of dirt with lots of stones! It was fenced off, so K and I just bent down and picked them up from the side of the sidewalk as we walked. It only took about 2 minutes...score! Then a man stopped us, I think he was British, and asked for directions to a hostel. I didn't know the hostel, but his guide said that is was by the Jaffa Gate, so I gave him direction to the Jaffa Gate. My memorizing the order of the gates finally came in handy! Woot! I was so excited that I could give direction after only being here for 5 days! Go me! Those of you who know me, know that I am directionally disfunctional, so this was really quite an amazing feat! Anways, K and I decided just to hang out until our meeting, so we're watching the Russian music channel, of course! K joked that she could almost speak Russian now b/c we have it on whenever we're in the room! We finished out bottle of wine from last night and now K is napping and I'm about to relax for awhile. Ahhhh...we feel like we should be out enjoying the city, but we're tired, and we're going to be out and about tomorrow. Our shopping is pretty much done, although I still have 40 shequels to spend, so we might either walk on top of the walls or possibly go under the city. We'll see!