At 6am this morning we left the College to follow ‘the way of the cross’ (the path Jesus walked with the cross on Good Friday) in the old city. This was a devotional exercise and so no photos were allowed – for photos see my Good Friday (2 April) blog when photos were not prohibited! The whole event was much quieter than on Good Friday, when there was understandably a large press of people. Once again, I found the prayers moving, but did not have a particularly strong personal sense of accompanying Jesus on this road. There was still so much going on that I found it hard to focus and connect. In contrast, some others were obviously deeply moved, and one of our group was openly weeping behind me – weeping in company with the women of Jerusalem as Jesus passed by on that fateful day (Luke 23:27).
In the afternoon we went to Emmaus – only this Emmaus (Kiryat Ye’arim, also known as Abu Ghosh) was different from the Emmaus I went to last time (Nikopolis). For a discussion of the numerous alternative sites for Emmaus, see my blog for 6 April.) Along the way we went past Moza, which the Dean said was considered to be the most likely site (not 60 stadia away from Jerusalem as Luke states at Lk 24:13, but 30 stadia there and 30 stadia back to Jerusalem – so 60 stadia for the round trip). The site we were going to was 60 stadia from Jerusalem and famous in Israelite history as the place at which the ark of the covenant stayed for some decades, in the house of Abinadab, after it had been returned by the Philistines (1 Samuel 6:21-7:1; see also 2 Samuel 6:1-2).
We went to the Roman Catholic church of Notre Dame Arche d’Alliance, (Our Lady, Ark of the Covenant) which belongs to the sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition. We shared a Eucharist just outside the church in a lovely spot.
Just behind the Dean, Stephen Need, and the Course Assistant, Lois Symes, there was a beautiful view up to Jerusalem.
The Eucharist was peaceful and a nice way to begin the winding up of the course. It wasn’t quite the end, though, because after our return to the College we had a ‘come all ye’ concert, with songs, skits and poems performed by the students. It was nicely hosted by Fred Rose, who had been on both courses with me. It was lovely to experience the witty, topical, beautiful and thought-provoking things that came from the group members.
One particularly memorable item for me was offered by the oldest member of our group, Mair. Mair was Welsh, and she spoke about her childhood on a small farm in Wales and the interaction she had had with gypsies who used to camp at the bottom of the farm by the river. She then went on to deliver a poem in Welsh about gypsies. Her own story made a beautiful connection with the poem.
After some drinks and dinner, I wrote up my blog for the days in Galilee, then I had a final beer around a table with about 15 of the course members. It had been a great time and we had shared a lot in a short space of time.
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