Easter 2023: Thursday Night Procession

 After Palm Sunday, the next landmark of the Savior's last week we commemorated was Jesus's agony in Gethsemane, betrayal, and imprisonment at the palace of Caiphas.  So on Thursday April 6, about 9 pm, we gathered in the upper auditorium where we enjoyed scriptures, hymns, and musical numbers about the Savior's suffering for our sins.  The music was mournful and meditative.  Then we gathered with the students and walked together to Gethsemane at about 9:30. 

On the way, we walked through the streets of Suwana, our East Jerusalem neighborhood.  There were extra crowds of people who looked like they were walking home from the Haram es-Sharif (temple mount), and there were lots of extra vendor stalls selling crepes and corn and drinks.  It was quite a festive atmosphere, from our point of view, although we learned later that there had been unrest that evening a few blocks away from where we were walking.  Thankfully we didn't notice anything amiss and felt safe with our Muslim neighbors and our Palestinian security guards.  

We waited outside of the Church of All Nations/Gethsemane for the service there to end.  I had attended this service a few years ago, and I knew it would be lovely and multilingual, but extremely crowded, so I was glad that the BYU-JC students had our own program.  Our all-English service was very sweet and increased my gratitude for all the the Savior did for me, taking upon himself my sins, as well as my pain and heartache, so that he would know how to succor all of us and be our perfect advocate with the Father.

From Gethsemane, hundreds of pilgrims gathered to walk through the Kidron Valley.  From our place in line we could see the line of candles stretch down through the stair-lined path,  We moved slowly along, hearing the praying and singing pilgrims who walked along with us.  At the foot of the stairs, we started seeing the ancient graves and monuments carved into the steep slopes of the valley.  This was literally the valley of the shadow of death, and I remembered Psalm 23, that even though our path may be lined with the unmistakable reminders of our own mortality, still we should fear no evil because of the power of God that walks along with us.  We may not be able to choose our path, the psalmist seems to say, but we can choose not to fear, instead drawing strength from the guidance of the true shepherd.

When the path slanted up again, we walked clockwise around the southern edge of the old city.  where Savior Easter observance mostly consisted of reading scriptures and trying to get a sense of which events occurred on which days.  I read Eric Huntsman's book, "Greater Love Hath No Man," and in it there are scriptures and artwork, suggestions for songs and activities for each day leading up to Easter Sunday.   

Ramadan 2023

Like I was saying in the previous post, this year Ramadan, Easter, and Passover are all overlapping.  That's a lot of logistics to think about for one small, traffic-clogged city! 

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How can you tell it's Ramadan in Jerusalem?  

1) Lights!  They are draped across Damascus Gate, twinkling on roofs in Silwan, blinking across storefronts and in apartment windows throughout East Jerusalem 

2) Longer Call to Prayer, because chapters from the Quran are added

3) The cannon blast at sunset, fired from somewhere beyond the Rockefeller Museum.  We watch for the puff of smoke, followed a second later by a boom.

4) Ramadan Pancakes!  These are 4' in diameter, cooked on one side.  People fill them with cheese, fold them in half, then fry them and soak them in honey syrup.  My favorite Falafel stand inside Damascus Gate has been converted into a pancake factory, where you can buy packages of these pancakes ready to fill.  Other Ramadan delicacies include almond juice and tamarind juice.  

4) Everyone walks a tiny bit slower.  If people are fasting  during daylight hours, they are usually a little bit more subdued, metering their energy.  Many Christians also fast for lent during the month before Easter.

5) Extra traffic on Fridays.  Over 130,000 people gathered on the Haram-Es Sharif (Temple Mount) for the most recent Friday noon prayers.  There were a few incidents earlier in the month that flared up, but for most of the month the only side effect has been traffic on Fridays and just before sunset.  The streets get clogged with people trying to get home to break their fast when the sun goes down. 

Imagine this plaza covered with people praying in lines, shoulder to shoulder.

Interior of the Dome of the Rock.  We were able to visit last November, a once-in-a lifetime experience!  Typically non-Muslims are not allowed inside. Notice the indicators on the floor for worshippers to pray in lines.  

There is just so much eye candy in here!  The enclosed space is huge, and so much of the structure is covered with lush ornamentation, clearly intended to set this apart as holy space.

Unrest always makes the news, but considering the number of people flowing into the city this month, it's a miracle that most of the worship is peaceful.  Netanyahu made the unpopular but brave decision to not allow Jewish worshippers up on the temple mount during the end of Ramadan.  He was criticized by some coalition members, but in my opinion this was a sensible move by him and his cabinet.  

I respect the devotion of my Muslim friends who celebrate Ramadan.  Many wake up early to eat breakfast before dawn, then fast from food and water all day, then gather with family to eat after sunset.  The family meals are huge at the beginning and end of the month and then may be smaller in the middle of the month, but there is still a huge amount of cooking for the women of the families. I can't imaging shopping and cooking for a huge feast while fasting-- what a sacrifice!  Most people still work at their jobs while fasting, but there is a definite air of contemplation, for instance I saw the store clerk reading the Quran while waiting to ring up my groceries, and I've seen people praying in unexpected places, like in the grocery store or on the side of the road. 

My friend Raghad invited me and a few students over to eat dinner with her family, and it was magical!   Her dad had set up tables, chairs, and twinkling lights along the patio.  We sat and chatted, then as the sun sank, Raghad and her sister brought out dozens of platters of food, salads, rice, chicken, meet dumplings called kubbe, crisp savory pastries with zatar or cheese, plus french friends, pickles, and yogurt.  She kept saying, "I hope you're not too full because there's more!"  

Her mom made an appearance, then disappeared again, probably to prepare more courses!  We talked, ate, and laughed, and then more food came:  fresh fruit, then chocolates and pastries filled with cream, then watermelon and Sahlab, which is a warm drink made from orchid flour.  When I've had it before, Sahlab was something like a warm horchata, but we ate it thick like pudding.  It was incredible!  We played dominoes together, and finally, we had to excuse ourselves even though our hostess was sad to let us go.  

More photos from the Temple Mount:  Al Aksa Mosque is the main worship area on the Haram es-Sharif.  This photo is from last November.  

The interior of Al Aksa Mosque is made of row after row of arches supported on columns.  This encloses a huge space for prayers.  

Plenty of beautiful ornamentation inside Al-Aksa!

Palm Sunday 2023: Hosannah!

 

Easter season has been pretty amazing this year!  One reason is that Easter overlaps with both Passover and Ramadan celebrations.  So the three major religions have these intertwining festivals with heightened spiritual awareness, increased crowds, and important rituals which set the season apart from the rest of the year.  

We began focusing on Easter in earnest at Palm Sunday on April 2.  The center sits on the south end of the Mount of Olives, so with a 20 minute walk through an East Jerusalem neighborhood, we arrived at the church of Bethphage.  The Palm Sunday walk used to begin at Bethany, but the current separation barrier makes that impossible.  Carrying slender, spiny palm branches, we gathered behind the church which celebrated Jesus alighting on a young donkey to make his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  

The ancient crowds shouted, "Hosanna, to the son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord"  (Matthew 21:9).  Consequently, the modern pilgrims sang songs filled with hosannas and other expressions of praise.  Some groups held printed song books, others sang as if the songs were part of their soul.  There were guitars, drums, loudspeakers, and one group just sang to the accompaniment of a cell phone held aloft.  Our group from the BYU Jerusalem Center sang restoration hymns of praise, including "The Spirit of God" --think of all the hosannas!  

The streets near the church of Bethphage where we started were lined with Muslim neighbors, old and young.  Some waved to us from balconies and windows, others sold cold water, a good idea on a sunny day.  Then the onlooking crowds thinned as the road narrowed and turned, funneling us through switchback turns past churches and cemeteries.  As the sun got hot and a short cut was blocked by guards, it made me think of how we sometimes reach points in our discipleship when enthusiasm wanes before our goals are in sight.  

What do we do to keep ourselves moving forward at those times?  Stiff upper lip?  Positive mental affirmations?  Fall prey to the siren song of others' expectations?  For me, first, I was encouraged by watching my fellow pilgrims and their devotion.  Second, I counted my blessings, the nice weather, modern comforts like comfortable shoes and sunscreen, not to mention a cell phone I could use to find the family members I had lost sight of soon after we began.  Third, I thought of Jesus Christ.  Did he feel lonely in that crowd?  Amid all the praise, how many actually understood his prophesied role?  

How many of the crowd were cheering for the immediate end of their political troubles rather than celebrating a future heavenly kingdom?  Hosannah is a plea for God to save us now.  When the political salvation did not arrive the following week, how many of the shouters would be turning into doubters?  It is easier to cheer on a revolutionary than to do the hard work of turning myself around to repent, or inaugurating Christ as the king of my soul, to recommit and re-covenant.  Jesus must have known that within the week he would be bound and lifted up on a cross, so that he could bind all of us to him and lift us up.  At one point this drove him to 

Finally the road made one final twist and we were in sight of the Church of All Nations, which marks the traditional site of Gethsemane.  We technically did not continue to the final destination, instead heading home after we reached Gethsemane.  The rest of the procession continued up into the Old City.  The ultimate goal was the church of St. Anne's by the Pool of Bethesda.  There, we heard later, our students enjoyed a holy mosh pit of boisterous praise and dancing!

Palm Sunday Processional 2017

Palm Sunday Processional 2017 with Amanda Brown