The Circle of Life

Jerusalem, Israel: I’m just in Israel for a short time, so I want to get in the “big stuff’ right away. I hate missing out on some of the cool local hangs, discovered by my friend, Adria, who is here for grad school, but there are priorities. And most of those are the biblically historic landmarks.

Growing up, I didn’t really read the bible – there were bible verses read in weekly mass, but it was never something I read as a story. During retreats in high school, I was given a copy of the New Testament, but we passed it around and signed it, like a yearbook, rather than absorbing it. Recently, I’ve been looking to the bible as another source of guidance along the path, in addition to other tools I’ve discovered, like meditation.

Today, I wanted to see two things: where Jesus was born and where Jesus died. No matter what your belief about the bible is, there’s something about being in these two places that makes these stories come to life. Standing in front of the Church of the Nativity, the place where Jesus was born, I couldn’t NOT sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in my mind. Unfortunately, there was no stable or cattle nearby, as I had always imagined in my head (it’s been a few years, so some things have changed), but there was a grotto and a silver star on the floor over the spot where Christ is said to have been born.

'or the place where Jesus lay...

Returning to Jerusalem, we headed to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is built around what is believed to be the site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Similar to the birthplace, there was a covering over the rock where the crucifixion took place on. As I reached my hand in the small, cut out area and touched the cool rock, there was simply a better understanding of what being at Calvary was all about.


the four tops at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

In the next few days, I will get a broader look at the country and visit some of the places that will bring other parts of the bible to life, but today, it was the very basic – and full – circle of life… from birth to death.