Hope and Healing Family, St. Andrew AME Church, and everyone who loves me enough to pray for me and wish me well,
GREETINGS FROM JERUSALEM!

This experience is awesome in ways that I can not explain. Everyday I feel my growth as a person, a contributer to a community but simultaneously an individual with a particular history and particular goals. As I have expressed to all of you, I can't wait to see what happens in my life. My eyes have not yet seen the plans that God has for me...but I hope that this is a glimpse!

Hello Children of Child Life Education and Movement. I hope that you all are having a great summer, and that you are being as physically active and eating as healthy as you can. Jerusalem is a great place for healthy eating. Nearly everything is grilled or fried in olive oil so there are little to no TRANS FATS! Also, eggplant, omelets, falafel, and salmon are everyday foods that are both delicious and tasty! I will try to get some recipes for you when I return in August so that you can try some of this wonderful Jerusalem cuisine.

And speaking of Getting Moving, if you look at my pictures, you might notice that we walk everywhere. Except for places that are about an hour away by car or are unsafe to walk, our feet are our major mode of transportation. I have spent at least 5 hours on my feet everyday since being here, visiting the Garden of Gethsemane, The Tower of David, and the Israel Museum. I know that it is a little different here because of the cultural expectations--if you live in this part of town, you are expected to walk. However, you all should try to walk everyday so that you can prepare your bodies to take trips like this one as well.


Tomorrow we go to the Dead Sea, so even though it's only 3pm or so for you all, it's just after 11 pm for me! I've got to get some sleep! Stay tuned and send me some updates on what's going on with you.

Love
Leonard

Is balance what I'm after?

Hey Friends! I have involved myself in an internal debate about extremism on either side of the faith/belief spectrum. Tonight I had the privilege of engaging some current doctoral students in my internal debate. I also have to acknowledge that my thoughts are coming from various conversations with folks in various stages of their undergraduate college career. Here are my thoughts.

1. I have encountered both people who are critical and even contemptuous of people with faith. I have also encountered people who find it necessary to reprove or rebuke folks who are more skeptical or balanced in their approach to belief. It's funny to me that both groups don't see that their efforts are equally as damaging as the other. To the skeptic, my faith is personal and communal, and very hard won so your scorn finds no place with me. To the rebuker, you don't love me, you don't know me. Your rebuke is out of place because it lacks wisdom and charity.

2. I am a little weary of people who discount communities of faith. We all are seeking to gather knowledge that will help us explain our world. Some of us do this through the study of science, history, music, or math. A person of communal faith who believes that God exists, and that God desires to know them, wants just as badly as the personal attempting to figure out the nature world to know what things, settings, mindsets, clothing, environment, etc. one needs to set the atmosphere for God's presence. And although we don't believe that God is equivalent to a mathematical formula, we do hope that God will honor our attempt at getting God's attention. What we all can learn is that God is God and does what God does--be that natural or spiritual. You believe that gravity is a measurable force that can be counted on to keep things in place. I believe that God is able to put a bottom on the pit of despair and offer people a revolutionary new knowledge that breaks cycles of pain and poverty. I don't believe that the ideas are that far apart. So churchgoers, continue going to church. People of faith, continue being faithful--in community! Be encouraged by all of the haters! LOL

This is the Church of All Nations. A Very cool place.
Absalom's Tomb
Me before the doors to the Church of All Nations
Dominus Flevit
The Chapel, Dominus Flevit, looks out directly at the Dome of the Rock. This is an awesome sight on the Mount of Olives.

I have had the privilege to visit The Shrine of the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, the Mount of Olives (Garden of Gethsemane), Absolom's Pillar, Tomb of Jehoshaphat, The City of David, Dominus Flevit (a chapel in the Mount of Olives), and a ton of sites in Eastern Jerusalem. Enjoy the pics!

Some Holy Land Pics

One Holy Land Day at a Time

Hello Friends,

I wanted to give you an update on my travels through the Holy Land. We arrived in Tel Aviv Saturday evening and got a van to bring us into Jerusalem. What a place! The airport had palm trees and the McDonald's looks like a castle--a castle which, by the way, can serve kosher meals and cooks its fries in olive oil. While riding from Tel Aviv we saw homes in the mountains that looked like museums. And, I think that I finally understand why the Bible heavily contrasts valleys and hills/mountains. Valleys here are really not places where one would want to be.

After finally finding our house, we unpacked and moved in. At the time there were 6 of us (now there are nine) and we all quickly claimed rooms and beds without the television drama of The Real World or Flavor of Love. Although exhausted, we all put our stuff down and ventured out into Jerusalem to find food and entertainment. New to the city, I didn't find it difficult to navigate. Most people speak English and are very quick to point you in the right direction if you are lost. Fortunately, we have a great guide leading us through the city and found a restaurant with the most amazing hummus that I've ever had!! And after a great meal, and some drinks, we called it an evening.

The next morning we ventured forth into the Old City. Jerusalem is an interesting place with so much visible, tangible history. We entered through the Jaffe gate and then toured the Tower of David/Citadel and Museum. From the top of the tower, you can see the entire city of Jerusalem, gate to gate to gate. The museum had awesome replicas and exhibits of the temple and the city in its different historical stages. And, there were gardens inside the citadel...talk about environmentalism. I'm almost certain that no one cared about that when the building was restored and retrofitted to be a museum but, I'm glad that they are there.

After leaving the Tower, we visited the bazaars. There are so many merchants here--buying and selling and bartering and haggling prices. It is definitely an experience. Is it rude to tell someone that 470 Shekels for a pair of sunglasses ($1=about 3.3 Shekels) is ridiculous and slightly foolish? Or do you walk away from someone who is calling after you, pursuing you to purchase their product? I guess that after spending so much time trying to see everyone's humanity that it was difficult to be the person/thing reduced to a sale--a part of a commodities exchange. But bazaar as the bazaar was, I enjoyed the learning process. Only 5 days into the experience, I am already a better and more assertive person.

The Wailing Wall. What else is there to say. One has to pass through security checkpoints to get to the wall but once there, it's well worth the hassle. Men and women are kept separate by a divider with men on the left and women on the right. Men have to wear the Yarmulke and women have to have shoulder's covered and knee length skirts. The wall is the Western wall of Solomon's temple, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, rebuilt by Herod and destroyed again by the Romans. It the only remaining part of the temple and thus is a holy place in Jerusalem. I made sure to put a prayer in there, but mostly I was thankful to be surrounding by the prayers of all those around me.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the most awesome things that I have seen in Jerusalem. Referred to as the center of the world, it is the place that traditionally houses Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus. The outpour of emotion, sorrow, joy, and gratitude by followers of Christ was amazing to see. I felt really privileged to be in touch with the more tangible part of my Christian faith. Growing up in the American Black Church, symbol and relic were not emphasized. It was enough to believe in God, have faith in Jesus, and walk in the power of the Holy Ghost. I did not realize how overwhelming to the senses and how awe-inspiring the physical places and physical objects could be for a believer.

O! To be in the Holy Land! And the journey has really just begun. I can't wait to tell you all about the Garden of Gethsemane or the Mount of Olives or The Tomb of Mary or Bethlehem. I bet you can't wait either!

Be blessed,
Leonard

Blogging is tough. It's somewhat difficult to put your thoughts and feelings into space for the world to judge and critique. Pray that I do not shrink but that I grow.