Going to Church

Going to church means leaving Tantur's buildings between 8 and 8:15, and heading down the long hill, past olive trees, towards the front gate.

Once outside the gate, we walk 5 minutes, cross a major road, and wait at a bus stop for either one of two Palestinian buses. It's cute to see Miriam copy what her big sibs do.

The 6 of us ride a bus to Jaffa Gate. This bus is the type that's like a tour bus. Our umbrella stroller goes in a compartment below the bus.

We walk from the bus stop towards Jaffa Gate in the Old City.

Once inside Jaffa Gate, we head toward the narrow alley-like rows of shops ahead. The roads are cobblestone, so Josiah pushes the stroller on a narrow path of smoother border stones.

It's amazing how narrow the 'roads' are in this section of the Old City, how diverse the wares are, and how many people crowd through later in the morning.

I love the bougainvillea trees all through Jerusalem.

A few minutes after 9, we arrive at Church of the Redeemer, a Lutheran church built in the late 19th C. The smaller chapel is where the English-speaking congregation meets.

We discover that quite a few tourist groups are visiting, making the small chapel overflow with people. Instead of squeezing inside the hot room, we choose to sit on stools in the breezeway outside the chapel's windows. It's harder to hear this way, but we still sing and pray, and do our best to follow the sermon. 

We'd discovered a bag of snacks (pita bread and halva) left behind by someone on the bus, and sitting outside for church meant that Miriam could eat and move as much as she needed. We could also walk and dance Selah around when she fussed.

After the service, we enjoy drinking Arabic coffee, listening to church bells, and receiving congratulations from people on Selah's birth. The garden courtyard you can see through this opening is actually a story below us. 

I love these kids! And I love the beautiful architecture and the coolness of this breezeway where we worshiped.

The other side of the courtyard from where we are, and the part of the church where the German-, Danish-, and Arabic-speaking congregations worship.

Selah Marie is 10 days old on her first day at church.

Heading back home, we retrace our steps through the narrow paths of the Old City. This is a shop that sells fresh fruit juice.

It's busier now that it's a couple hours later!

From the Old City, we walk downhill a bit to get to our bus stop.

From our bus stop, we see this park down in a valley below us so we decide to explore a little. (This is looking back up the hill, with the city walls at the top.)

  

There's a 'creek' running through the center of the park -- a delight for children and adults alike! 

Our Palestinian bus home is what you'd imagine a city bus to be like.

We have to specify that we're getting off at Tantur because this bus will take people all the way through the checkpoint but it costs more. We pay our 4.70 NIS each to get off at the last stop before Bethlehem.

The hardest part of going anywhere off-campus is the hill we have to walk back UP to get home once we're inside Tantur's gate. At this point Miriam wants to be carried so Naomi takes Selah and I carry the toddler. It's still easier than walking pregnant!

Once we walk through the impressive entryway, we just cross a garden, enter Tantur's main building, head down a level and then to our own apartment. It's only a few minutes from this spot. I'm so thankful for the chance to go to church!