Jerusalem Bound. Rodney Aist

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the Holy Sepulchre with the center of the world. Yet, the tradition is relatively minor: the Christian sites appeal to sacred history rather than divine cosmology.18

      The concept of the center of the world introduces a spirituality of power and proximity. The existence of centers implies edges, the elsewhere, and everything in-between. The idea speaks to physical, social, and spiritual location and our accessibility to the holy; it likewise applies to the imbalance of power that characterizes our world. How do we define centers in spiritual, political, and economic terms? Are your religious, cultural, and racial identities defined by their proximity to recognized spheres of power or by distance and separation? Do you live near centers of influence, or are you on the outside looking in? The contemporary Holy Land is a complicated demographical landscape full of centers, borders, and boundaries, while the majority of global Christians lack the means to make a visit. The holy places give pause for reflection upon proximity, distance, access, and isolation. What does Holy Land pilgrimage tell us about power, resources, and authority?

      In sum, the temple introduces several concepts of sacred place:

      •A place is holy because one has been called by God to go there.

      •A holy site is a dwelling place of God.

      •A holy place is a venue of ritual worship.

      •A sacred place is where something significant took place; it is a place of special memory.

      •Some places are inherently sacred; they were created holy.

      Pilgrims perceive the world as containing spiritual thresholds, tissue-thin landscapes, and meeting points between heaven and earth, and personal experience can turn any location into a holy place. While Holy Land pilgrimage is not reliant upon a particular idea of sacred space, religious travelers explore how spatial location influences their experience of God, self, and the Other.

      Sacred Time

      Just as scripture mandated the time and length of the Jewish festivals, Holy Land pilgrimage is a divinely appointed event. Pilgrims travel in God’s time. While the Jewish festivals were seasonal, Christians travel to the Holy Land twelve months a year. The specific dates of group travel are determined by a number of factors that are generally out of the control of the individual pilgrim, but that is precisely the nature of sacred time: it chooses us. Regardless of when we go, to embark on a Holy Land journey is to enter sacred time, leaving ordinary time behind. Pilgrimage is time set aside for a particular purpose; it is a time-based endeavor.

      Linked to the agricultural cycles, the Jewish festivals were times of thanksgiving for God’s material blessings and providential care. Jerusalem pilgrimage continues to be a celebration of God’s creation. Modern pilgrims are struck by the flowers, fruits, and fragrances of the land, from almond blossoms to pomegranates. What agricultural seasons, both home and in the Holy Land, correspond with your travels, and how will you mark thanksgiving in the land of the Holy One? What Christian seasons and holy days will occur while you are there? Will visiting certain holy sites have additional meaning due to the liturgical season? Will you or others in your group celebrate a special occasion or mourn a difficult anniversary? What events will occur back home while you are away?

      Reenacting Sacred Stories

      Commemorating the Hebrews’ flight from Egypt, the Jewish Passover expresses a basic practice of Holy Land pilgrimage: the reenactment of sacred stories (Deut 16:3, 6; see Exod 12:1–28). The Christian holy sites are stations of biblical storytelling, and pilgrimage is the practice of remembering stories of faith. Pilgrims enter the sacred narratives by reading scriptures, observing the sites’ natural features and religious imagery, and engaging in informal practices. As a journey of religious imagination, pilgrims assume the role of various biblical figures. One follows Mary to the house of Elizabeth to hear the Virgin pronounce the Magnificat. Pilgrims imaginatively don the guise of the shepherds and adorn the mantle of the magi in Bethlehem. Pilgrims are immersed in the Jordan River with Jesus, drink from Jacob’s well, sail on the Sea of Galilee, and enter Jerusalem with palm fronds in hand. Pilgrims witness prayer, betrayal, and arrest in Gethsemane, overhear accusations and denials at the house of Caiaphas, follow Christ to Calvary, and enter an empty tomb. Holy Land pilgrims reenact the stories of Christian salvation.

      The Psalms of Ascent

      The Jewish festivals were replete with psalms and singing, such as the Psalms of Ascent (Pss 120–34), which refer to both the physical elevation of Jerusalem and the spiritual status of the temple. Galilean pilgrims generally approached Jerusalem by the steep ascent of the Jericho Road, while the vast majority of pilgrims entered the temple precincts by its stepped southern entrance, many coming up from the lowest point of the city, the pool of Siloam, a place of ritual purification. Pilgrims voiced these psalms as they drew near to the holy mountain: “who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” (Ps 24:3).

      How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord. . . . Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. . . . For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness (Ps 84).

      Christian pilgrims read the festival psalms in appropriate locations: on the bus as they ascend the Jericho highway towards the Holy City and, most poignantly, on the southern steps of the Temple Mount.

      The Babylonian Exile

      A central motif of Hebrew scripture, the Babylonian exile is the most formative event in early Judaism. An expression of coerced pilgrimage, the exile is a testament to remaining faithful in trying circumstances and highlights how one can be strengthened through difficult experiences. The exile speaks in profound ways to time, place, and journey, while its culminating theme, the Jerusalem homecoming, is about returning home as transformed people. Although Holy Land pilgrimage is a privileged experience, it is not without its challenges. Pilgrimage is about being faithful in all circumstances, allowing experience to strengthen us, being transformed yet remaining the same. While Jerusalem arrival may evoke a sense of homecoming—the Holy City has the tensional quality of being immediately familiar and forever foreign—the goal of Holy Land pilgrimage is to sojourn faithfully, returning home as transformed people.

      Jesus as Pilgrim

      The Imitation of Christ

      Pilgrimage is the emulation others; above all, it is the imitation of Christ. To be a Holy Land pilgrim is to walk in the footsteps of Jesus: “for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet 2:21). Christians share the mind of Christ, who “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness” (Phil 2:5–7). The Christian life is one of service and humility, and just as Christians imitate Christ in their everyday lives, the Jerusalem pilgrim lives holy in the Holy Land.

      The Flight to Egypt

      To imitate Christ is to remember that Jesus himself was a pilgrim. After the magi returned home, Herod unleashed his jealous fury, killing the infant males in the region. Warned in a dream, the Holy Family took flight to Egypt. Seeking safety through distance, they sought the succor of strangers. As a political refugee, the infant Jesus patterns the physical, emotional, and spirituality vulnerability of the pilgrim life. How might the flight to Egypt apply to today’s Holy Land experience?

      Jesus in the Wilderness

      Jesus’ СКАЧАТЬ