Sabbatical Journal 11: Wandering and Wondering / Deambulando y preguntándome 7.22.19

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Wandering and wondering
There have been many blessings to this pilgrimage so far. While you are in the Holy Land you can feel such intense moments of connection to the triune God, and especially to Jesus. But there is a strange tension at almost every holy site- too many of us want to be there having our connection to Jesus or our spiritual tourism (to be honest it is a bit of both for even the most holy). And so there are almost always people at each site rushing you along. In Shepherd's Fields yesterday we ran into signs that said "Five minutes only" in each chapel. In the Holy Sepulchre we had about 3 minutes to pray at the traditional site of Jesus' burial. In the Church of the Nativity there was no one supervising and a group kept the rest of us waiting about half an hour as they sang songs. I was rather annoyed and then started singing along. What to do? So you try to be in the moment, and grateful that you are here. You find the moment however brief to pray.

 On Sunday we saw St Anne's Church next to the pool of Bethesda. We saw where Jesus would have healed the man who had sat long years by that pool. We sat in the starkly beautiful sanctuary and heard a Korean church sing together (the other day a Filipino church sang as we watched in the Church of All Nations). We snatched quick moments of prayer- at the Milk Grotto in Bethlehem where tradition holds that the holy family hid during the massacre of the innocents. I wondered at God's touching earth right at that humble caravansary town of Bethlehem. A fulfillment of scripture, yes, but also always a shocking miracle.

God came and dwelt among us. Jesus was saved when others were killed, so that he could teach us better how to love and live.  And we relished the moments when there weren't crowds and we could be on our own schedule. At Shepherd's Fields we were almost alone. I imagined those shepherds, transfixed, taking in angels, sky and the cold night grown suddenly so bright.

Deambulando y preguntándome

Ha habido muchas bendiciones a esta peregrinación hasta el momento. Mientras estás en la Tierra Santa puedes sentir momentos tan intensos de conexión con el Dios trino, y especialmente con Jesús. Pero hay una extraña tensión en casi todos los lugares sagrados; muchos de nosotros queremos estar allí teniendo nuestra conexión con Jesús o nuestro turismo espiritual (para ser honestos, es un poco de ambos, incluso para los más santos). Y, por lo tanto, casi siempre hay personas en cada sitio que te apresuran. Ayer, en Shepherd's Fields nos encontramos con letreros que decían "Sólo cinco minutos" en cada capilla. En el Santo Sepulcro, tuvimos aproximadamente 3 minutos para orar en el sitio tradicional del entierro de Jesús. En la Iglesia de la Natividad no había nadie supervisando y un grupo nos hizo esperar a los demás alrededor de media hora mientras cantaban canciones. Estaba un poco molesto y luego comencé a cantar. ¿Qué se puede hacer? Así que tratas de estar en el momento, y agradecido de que estés aquí. Encuentras el momento por breve que sea para orar.

El domingo vimos la iglesia de Santa Ana junto a la piscina de Bethesda. Vimos donde Jesús habría sanado al hombre que había estado sentado durante muchos años junto a esa piscina. Nos sentamos en el hermoso santuario y escuchamos a una iglesia coreana cantar juntos (el otro día, una iglesia filipina cantó mientras observábamos en la Iglesia de todas las Naciones). Captamos breves momentos de oración en la Gruta de la Leche en Belén, donde la tradición sostiene que la sagrada familia se escondió durante la masacre de los inocentes. Me pregunté por la conmovedora tierra de Dios en ese humilde pueblo de caravasarios de Belén. Un cumplimiento de las escrituras, sí, pero también siempre un milagro impactante.
Dios vino y habitó entre nosotros. Jesús fue salvo cuando otros fueron asesinados, para que pudiera enseñarnos mejor cómo amar y vivir. Y disfrutamos los momentos en que no había multitudes y podríamos estar en nuestro propio horario. En los campos de los pastores estábamos casi solos. Me imaginé a esos pastores, paralizados, absorbiendo a los ángeles, el cielo y la noche fría que creció de repente tan brillante.



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