Saturday, March 8, 2014

Letting my Leaves Fall: Israel Two

Continuing my thoughts on my trip to Israel. Part 2 here. 

This post will be simple, and therefore hopefully profound.

I'm going to tell a story, then put some of Jesus' words after it.  Read the story, then the words, mix them together in your head/heart and see if any relevant or meaningful conclusion comes from it.

First the story.

This is The Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Sepulcher is a Latin word for "tomb".  This site is one of the possible places Jesus was killed.  It's so big it also encompasses one of the possible tombs he was laid in.

For a while the church had a huge problem.  There are six major forms of Christianity that all claim some sort of ownership of the church.  They each want the right to hold their own services inside, and they each want their own ownership of a specific part of the building.

Roman Catholic, Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Eastern Orthodox, all lay claim to some part of the function of this building. Protestant forms of Christianity aren't represented in the church.

Naturally, none of the 6 denominations trust any of the other 5 denominations to effectively manage or run the place.

For many years, talk of back stabbing and ill management rang out between the different denominations.

Finally a solution was discovered.

None of the Christians trusted each other, so the keys to the church were given to, and reside with to this day, a Muslim family who unlocks the building every day at 5:30am.

20 “My prayer is not for these men alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.



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