שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם

The title, Shalom Aleichem, literally peace to you. On fast Sabbath we had a beautiful meeting overlooking the old city. It was spiritually rich to see this beautiful background as we listened to testimony from fellow followers of Christ. One visitor from Finland  who is blind, stood up and shared with us his powerful testimony of the power of this place. He said, "I do not need to see Him, to know that He lives and that he was here." I reminded me of the apostle Thomas and his journey to apostleship after uttering the words 'except I shall see Him, I shall not believe.' After a Sabbath meetings a group of us treked towards the Mount of Olives. As we climbed the mount we came to Dominus Flevit meaning the Lord Wept. This church built in the shape of a tear represents the scripture in Matthew 23: 37-39 that says "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets..." This may be the view that Christ had as he overlooked the city.

As we descended down the Mount of Olives we came to a little street. We began to travel up the road (we do a lot of adventuring since we don't know the city yet) and after a couple of minutes turned back down the road and amazingly to our left was Gethsemane. As we walked in I felt an immediate peace and reverence for the place. Whether or not it truly is the locating of the greatest act in the history of mankind I do not know. But regardless, the commemoration is close and spirit was strong. As I sat a reviewed the gospel accounts I realized, each of these accounts has something unique to it from the others, and yet they all teach and inspire me to be a better person. My time there was too short and I look forward to going back soon.

It is custom in Hebrew to greet with the phrase Shalom Aleichem and to for the returning party to say Aleichem Shalom. As I leave you I say,

Aleichem Shalom!