Sunday, July 4th. The pilgrims (our troupe) head to Abu Gosh

This is one of four possible Emmaus sites and today it is our site of choice. The mass will be in Franch and Latin and we have been promised to opportunity to participate in exceptional liturgy. As it turns out we are not disappointed. A few scenes from our journey.


The entrance to the Crusader Church, parts of which date to the twelth century, is through this heavy wooden door that we needed to ring a bell to be allowed entrance.

As we entered, this was our first sight. The organist was playing some Bach that was absolutely beautiful and created a feeling of stepping back into time. The Church was mostly dark with the daylight coming through a couple of openings to allow us safe journey around this old place of worship.

Not long after we arrived, this woman appeared and started lighting the candles from the center out - first the left side for one candle and then the right side for other candle and then back to the left side. Her movement was intentional and yet graceful and modeled for us the culture of this place of worship.

This is the worship space at the Crusader Church. The altar at the back of the photo under a window that allows the morning light to draw us into prayer and the ambl in the front center where the person proclaiming God's Word will face us.

The readings are checked by the person that will be proclaiming the first and second readings of the day. He will proclaim without the need of equipment and again his preparation is exceptional. He processed just behind the thurifer. The sisters entered just before singing, bowing reverently and taking their place.

I restrained from using the camera during the liturgy except for these three photos. A couple of the Tantur Pilgrims took part in the presentation of the gifts and I wanted to capture these moments.

Note the deacon on the left. He had a very prominent part in the liturgy as he came out into the naive and led us in the chanting responses. Again it fit this liturgy and his presence just a few few feet away "gave us to know there was nothing to fear," in the language. We had been provided music when we entered and although the Franch was a challenge, the Latin did conger up some great memories.

The sisters all wore long veils for mass that started at the forehead and flowed to the floor. Their beautiful voices created for me a sense of the awe in our midst as Mass was truly celebrated.

We stayed after Mass for almost an hour, not wanting to leave, but the call of earthly nourishment brought us back to Tantur for lunch. After lunch we visited the Citadel at King David's Tower in Old Jerusalem. This is a Museum that depicts the history of this part of God's Kingdom over two thousand years. The excavations and the ongoing dig offer pieces back to the time of Jesus. The history has a very Jewish flavor and unfortunately seems to miss much of the Muslim history. That being said, the time is well spent as it gives us a good Jewish context for Jerusalem.

Prayer, formal dinner and a review find us ready for a nights rest.

Peace and Blessings.