Thursday, March 17th

Today was another unsettling day for me. We began that morning by visiting the Al-Haram Ash-Sharif which is the site of the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque. We spent an hour or so here, after a brief explanation from Nasser, our guide, and a reflection by Andrew, the course director, we were allowed to roam about. I was quite uncomfortable here, I felt like I was intruding on another's worship. I was reminded of the time I went to the National Cathedral when Desmond Tutu was leading a discussion after the service. As we went up for the Eucharist people started filling in on the sides and started to poach seats. It was a very uncomfortable and upsetting experience for me. Being at the Dome of the Rock and the mosque, I felt like I was doing that to people there truing to pray. After this we went to the Wailing Wall. I had the same experience here, the sense that I was intruding on another's worship.
The rest of the day was much less intrusive for me but after these two things I was mentally worn out, on top of being physically worn out from everything we've been doing here. We went to St. Anne's church which has on its site the Pools of Bethesda. St. Anne's has amazing acoustics so we gathered in there and sang a hymn led by Kevin. The effect the building had on the sound was glorious. After this was lunch and from lunch we went to a museum by the western wall that showed excavations of the Second Temple. Here we also were able to walk on the steps that led up to the Temple, the steps that Jesus, and many others, would have used.
After dinner we had a guest come and speak with us about the Palestinian view of the peace process. By this point I was very exhausted so I didn't take in as much as I could have probably, but his view point was about what I expected. It was interesting to hear all the facts he brought with him, especially about the settlements in the west bank.
It was a difficult day for me. I felt very intrusive for a better part of the morning and this really wore me out for the rest of the Day. The Dome and the Wall were both very amazing and moving, but I couldn't remove that sense of being an intruder on someone else's prayer. The struggle between pilgrim and tourist I felt at Bethlehem was a similar struggle, there I was the pilgrim and was weary of my pilgrimage being lessened or diminished by the sense of being a tourist. Today I was conscious that I was the tourist and aware that my presence could have a detrimental effect upon the experience of true pilgrims and worshipers.