Jerusalem Bound. Rodney Aist

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СКАЧАТЬ Old Testament records the practice of erecting monuments to remember important events. Abraham built an altar in Shechem after God pledged the land of Canaan to his offspring (Gen 12:6–7). Jacob set up a pillar at Bethel after dreaming about God’s promise of descendents, land, and blessings (Gen 28:10–22), and the Israelites created a twelve-stone memorial in Gilgal after crossing the Jordan River so their children would remember the benevolence of God (Josh 4:19–22). Holy places are expressions of religious memory, markers of our spiritual past, which continue the centuries-old practice of the Gilgal stones. The Christian Holy Land works on the same principal: an original event, like an episode in the life of Christ, the erection of a church or a commemorative marker at or near the site, and subsequent visitation to remember the event. The Christian shrines continue the biblically sanctioned practice of marking places of spiritual importance.

      The Jewish Pilgrim Festivals

Appearing before God at a place of God’s choosing, the people of Israel were required to attend three annual festivals: the festival of Unleavened Bread (Passover), the festival of Weeks (Shavuot, or Pentecost), and the festival of Booths (Sukkot, or Tabernacles).16 Offering a biblical parallel to Christian pilgrimage, the Jewish festivals include elements of divine calling, sacred time, place, and people, and the reenactment of sacred stories.

      Called by God

      Although pilgrimage has never been a Christian mandate, God is constantly calling Christians to the Holy Land. Receiving a calling to go on pilgrimage comes with a number of obligations, including prayer and journaling, sharing the experience with others, and a renewed commitment to Christian service. What is often overlooked, however, is that a calling lowers the weight of undue expectations. Having received a calling to take a one-year, around-the-world journey, I was released from the pressures of a perfect trip. It was God’s business and that made all the difference. Bolstered by a sense of calling, I was able to make purposeful decisions, was satisfied skipping certain attractions, and remained content when I was sick or tired. Times of sadness, loneliness, and disappointment were felt with meaning, and weather simply framed the experience. Whatever happened, God was in the facts; what actually occurred was infused with divine presence.

      The same holds true for the Holy Land: being called to Jerusalem reduces the pressure of a perfect journey. That is comforting because aspects of the Holy Land can be unnerving. As with any trip, there are irritants and unpleasantries. Not everything goes as planned. When the Holy Land is approached as a once-in-a-lifetime event, there is an insidious pressure to relish the experience. But pilgrimage can be a rainy-day parade. By approaching one’s appearance in the Holy Land as a divine summons, as an act of faith left in the hands of God, success is not measured by the enjoyment of the trip. When God calls you, it becomes God’s business, and that makes all the difference. A calling equips us to confront the challenges of the journey and to perceive God’s presence amidst frustrations and unexpected detours. Plans may go awry; parts of the trip may be difficult and disappointing. But that’s okay. God is imbued in the actualities of life, rain or shine. Pilgrims hope for pleasant conditions and enjoyable experiences, but their primary calling is to journey faithfully, to live holy in the Holy Land, and to carefully attend to what God reveals along the way.

      A Sacred People

      Just as Jerusalem pilgrimage shaped Israelite identity as a sacred people formed by God, the Holy Land experience fosters a particular expression of corporate holiness: the short-term Christian community. To be a sacred people on pilgrimage is to engage the holy as a corporate experience. Pilgrims participate in a common life, sharing together in worship, meals, travel, site visits, and presentations. While the group experience is a meaningful part of the journey, short-term community has its own set of struggles. Common life requires a commitment to patience, respect, and mutual cooperation. The difficulty of living well together is accentuated by the challenges of the journey from exhaustion to the encounter of foreign cultures. The tardiness of others, the idiosyncratic behavior of fellow pilgrims, and the pursuit of personal interests are additional challenges of group travel. Short-term Christian communities live faithfully together through a covenantal arrangement that honors God, respects the individual, and fosters the group experience while recognizing personal needs and cultural differences. Seeking a balance between intentional community and facilitating community formation in natural, unforced ways, pilgrims live out their calling as a sacred people.

      Holy Land pilgrimage raises the larger question of what it means to be a Christian in today’s world. Jerusalem is unrivaled as a place of ecumenical and interreligious gathering, offering pilgrims a unique opportunity to explore issues of Christian identity: what are the defining beliefs and behaviors of the Christian faith, and how is Christian identity shaped by one’s cultural context? Along with the global influx of Christian pilgrims, there are thirteen historical denominations in Jerusalem, primarily of eastern origins. The Holy Land is an encounter with Judaism, past and present, while, to many people’s surprise, the region is a model of Muslim–Christian coexistence. Examining the question of Christian identity, Jerusalem pilgrimage explores our relationship with the religious Other.

      Sacred Places

      The Jewish festivals occurred at the place of God’s choosing, a concept that likewise appears in the call of Abraham (Gen 12:1) and the binding of Isaac (Gen 22:2). A place is holy by virtue of the fact that we have been called by God to go there, summoned to see something that God will reveal, an act that is both intimate and mysterious. For Jerusalem pilgrims, the Holy Land is sacred for the same reason: it is a divinely determined destination, a place of contemporary revelation.

The Jerusalem temple was ultimately chosen as the festival venue and was considered holy for a number of reasons. The temple was recognized as the dwelling place of God, epitomized by Jesus’ boyhood reference to “my father’s house” (Luke 2:41–49). The image of the house of God evokes the question of divine presence, which is at the heart of pilgrim spirituality: where is God? Is God more present in some places than others? Is God somehow confined or, at least, located by human constructions of holy sites? What is the meaning of a consecrated place? Emphasizing Christ’s presence in the gathered community, the New Testament church largely transcended the idea of sacred places. The Holy Spirit is ubiquitous; God inhabits the world. A temple religion became a table religion, and Christ was recognized in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:30–35). Yet, the idea of a holy site as a dwelling place of God still appeals to Christian experience, and “God is everywhere”/“there are holy places” is a theological tension that fuels the pilgrim quest. Pilgrims seek God’s presence in special places, and personal experience is sometimes at odds with our own theology.17

      The temple’s holiness was enhanced by the idea that a significant event had previously occurred there, namely, the binding of Isaac (Gen 22:2). Following God’s instructions, Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, before the angel of God intervened, providing him with a sacrificial ram. Identified as Mount Moriah (2 Chr 3:1), the temple site had Abrahamic associations of sacrificial worship. Recalling the previous discussion on monuments, the idea of a sacred place as the setting of a past event is fundamental to the Christian Holy Land: places are holy because special events in the life of Jesus happened there. Moreover, given the divine nature of the incarnation, the holy sites have theophanic connotations: they are meeting points between heaven and earth. Like the temple, certain Christian sites are enhanced by primal narratives. Christians place the tomb of Adam and the binding of Isaac at Calvary. Jesus’ baptism site draws upon the Israelite crossing of the Jordan River and the ministry of Elijah.

Beyond consideration of past events, Judaism views the temple site as a place that is inherently sacred—it was created holy. The temple was the navel of the world, the cosmic center that gave life to all creation, and Judaism envisions the created world as a set of concentric circles of decreasing holiness emanating outwards from the temple: the holy of holies, the temple precincts, the city of Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and the rest of the world. Christians have likewise viewed the places of Christ’s passion in cosmological terms—as СКАЧАТЬ