It is a Beautiful Catastrophe...

(The Festival of Shavuot)

The Old City of Jerusalem is an incredible and fascinating place. For those of you that do not know what I mean, let me explain it to you. When you read in the Bible and historical books you read of a Jerusalem (for example, where David brought the Ark of the Covenant, where Jesus did some of His earthly ministry, what Rome destroyed 66-70 A.D.). But nowadays when you turn on the T.V. you hear about a city called Jerusalem as well. These are one and the same. Though Jerusalem right now is a modern city, much like Calgary in every way. From public transit, shopping malls, soccer stadiums and hospitals. But the kicker is the Jerusalem that you read in the bible still has its roots amongst this modern city. While it has been built over in many ways, the walls have been preserved (in the very least from Crusader times) and though the city that used to exist has been built over, you can still see some remnants of what used to exist. So in the heart of Jerusalem lies an ancient gem, what is known as the Old City of Jerusalem. This is a brief and surface level explanation of what the Old City is.

I have seen and experienced in-depth and into great detail this Old City. I have walked the streets several times, I have seen the "have to see" sites that the Old City offers, ate in the restaurants, talked with some local Jews and shopkeepers. I have been here with some of the best academics, tour guides, and teachers that the 'Holy Land' has to offer. In fact just yesterday myself and Luke came down to the Old City (via the Palestinian bus) just to walk the streets of the Old City for a couple of hours because we love the place, the culture, the feel of the city, and the people.

And let me tell you...

I can't even begin to describe the impact that this place has had on me. Theologically and Biblically this place has opened my eyes to many things I was previously completely unaware of. But simply as a human this place has really hit me.

When I see this land and these people I cannot help but think that this place is a beautiful catastrophe. Beautiful in that the multiculturality of this place(it is a word, just Microsoft says no) is so obvious and so beautiful. Within 100 metres here you have three of the 'holiest' sites on earth... there is the Western Wall for Jews, The Dome of the Rock for Muslims, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians (where Jesus was crucified and buried).

But this place is tremendously ugly and catastrophic because SO much of what goes on down here in the name of religion is such a far cry from what God calls us to. This morning (4:00 wake up) I went to the Western Wall for Shavuot, which is the celebration for Jews when God gave Moses the Torah (it's one of the three biggest days of the year for these people. Actually, this is the festival that the disciples were celebrating when the Holy Spirit came upon them in Acts 2) and there were probably around 10,000 Jews there. I couldn't help but realize the true meaning of many of Jesus' words as I looked around at the Jews. People were praying loudly, praying in public, dressing to get attention, carrying huge phylacteries to show how 'spiritual' they are, doing these routines so that everyone sees them (and the list goes on)... I go to the Dome of the Rock where there are Muslims reciting Qur'an, being in their Qur'an studies, and doing their call to prayer five times a day... all to their god.

There is so much religion here, but so little relationship with God. It's heartbreaking. The landscape of Jerusalem is beautiful, the cultural here is heart breaking... and I haven't even touched on the political reality of this land, and that is the real kicker. This place is so much more complex and complicated than I could have ever imagined at the beginning of my trip.

The more I have come to know, the more I realize I really don't know anything, that's the true adventure I suppose!

Hope you are all well,

-kAt