A Birthday to Remember!! Check these pics out...

To have a birthday in Jerusalem is...well, a Birthday to Remember - for sure!! Here I'm wearing my JUC T-shirt cuz it says the school was established in 1957 - do you see that on the shirt?? As it turns out - so was I!! Yup, born in 1957, too.  Such a blessing that Edith is in Jerusalem now, too - best buds...

 

So, today on my birthday I so happened to have a required field trip for my "Christian Communities in the East" class, a course about all the different churches in the Middle East.  Wow, we went to so many places, saw lots of churches,  met lots of people. Here's a pic of the "St. John in the Desert" monastery...is in the Judean Hills outside Jerusalem. Beautiful, serene...

Below is an icon of St. John the Baptist...the really interesting thing is that the scroll he holds is written in Hebrew....very unusual - and it says "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world..." This place has a history of many Hebrew speaking Jews coming here who believe in Yeshua as Messiah.

 

Below is an olive tree overlooking the Judean wilderness

Here's a Russian Orthodox church also in the Judean Hills...I had to climb LOTs of steps to get up here.

View from the Russian church, overlooking the  homes of the Russians who live there...Judean Hills

 

Me and my professor, Dr. Petra Heldt, who led our field trip today...awesome woman of God...she bought me some ice cream for my birthday!!!

 

Every one in the group indulged....ooh my, what a sweet treat. Mine is in the cup with the blue spoon - I had Halva (dairy free:) gelato... Halva is a sweet dessert sort of like fudge that's made from sesame seeds...it is so delicious and so was this ice cream!!!

Enjoying our treats at the gelato shop...

 

Another monastery...the Holy Cross Church...here's a pic of Abraham planting/watering 3 trees that grew into one, from which the beam of the cross was taken (so tradition says...)

Inside the Holy Cross church...lots of it was built in Crusader times

 

Courtyard at the Monastery

 

Back to the Old City, we attended a Syrian Orthodox service at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher...sort of inside a cave in a side room.  Here's 3 Syrian ladies waiting for the service to start....

 

A sight I'd never seen before...Here's the tomb of Jesus, from where He rose from the grave...All lit up!! See the big lights?? It's usually quite dark in there. But today there was a big celebration (feast)about the cross, involving the 3 main churches in there.,.and they had it lit up so brightly, lots of people, lots of joy in there...

Outside in the Old City, saw a big banner of the martyrs killed in Libya by Isis, remember this?...back in April. They are all now remembered as martyrs by the Coptic (Egyptian) church. 

Now we are going into the headquarters of the Coptic Church in Jerusalem...

 

We were ushered into this somewhat opulent reception hall....

To meet this man...the ARCHBISHOP of the Coptic Church. He's the spiritual leader of them all. This is a church that has been and is going through much persecution in Egypt. 

We were told to address him as "Your Eminence". Here's he's checking out a JUC T-shirt we brought him.  Seems like a silly gift, but what do you bring a highly respected/prominent/wise and aging spiritual leader? He loved it! Said he'd go jogging with it:) It was wonderful to meet with him. He said he wants the church in America to remember the Coptic church, to understand the suffering and persecution they have gone and are going through, and especially to pray for them. 

Ended my amazing birthday with dinner at Roladin in the Mamilla Mall with Peggy, Jane, Edith, me, Deborah and Vic.  WOW, thank you Lord and thank you everyone!!!!!