The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Psalm 118:22-23 NRSV

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Imagining Calvary

I may regret having said this later, after my return and after I have given it more thought, but for now I have to say that I found the Galilee much more moving than Jerusalem on a spiritual level. It is Monday morning in Jerusalem, and yesterday I spent the day at church (Jerusalem Baptist) and touring holy sites in the Old City. I say "touring" rather than just "visiting" because it is nearly impossible not to feel like a tourist in a space that is so developed, by both the Church and the City.
For example, all of the sites related directly to the Crucifixion culminate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, an extraordinary edifice that houses worship spaces for Eastern and Western Christianity. The only problem is that to build the church, they had to level parts of Golgotha or Calvary. There is no way to get a sense of what the hill of Calvary might have looked like, even though there are designated spots within the church where events are supposed to have taken place.

Don't get me wrong, the ancientness of parts of the city is striking. But the Sea of Galilee and the mountains around it evoke more for me of my Lord's life and ministry. The sea of Galilee I have seen. Calvary I still have to imagine.

3 comments:

K E Alexander said...

You know, I heard my Aunt say the same thing years ago when she visited Israel. For her, it was the natural and virtually "unchanged-ness" of the Sea vs. the much changed cities and other sites. It's a poor analogy, but when I hike the Cliff Walk in Newport, RI, I am more taken by the beauty of the ocean and the rocky cliffs than the "man-made" mansions of the wealthy.

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