The Swifts & the Prayers of the Temple Mount

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

 My soul longs, indeed it faints, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

 Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    my King and my God.
 Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.

            Psalm 84:1-4 NRSV

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, 

there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

                           Galatians 3:28 NRSV

There were members of our family and likely friends who wondered about our sanity when we decided that our plans to go to Israel would go ahead despite increasing unrest and tensions surrounding the intersection of Ramadan, Passover, and Easter this year. We took a calculated risk, listening attentively to Ruth's sister who lives in Israel, and following events closely. 

We were in Jerusalem on Holy Saturday, visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that evening, and then worshipped at the Garden Tomb on Easter morning. The city was bustling with Christian pilgrims and Jews who were in the midst of Pesach. 

We ventured to the Western Wall at the base of the Temple Mount, knowing that part of the tension was the heavy-handed action of the Israeli military forcing Muslims out of the Al Aksa mosque at night even though they were peaceably worshipping. There were soldiers at every entrance to the Old City and we went through security to gain access to the plaza at the Wall which is directly below the mosque and the Golden Dome. 

                                                                     Western Wall, Passover 2023

This might sound like a recipe for serious trouble and even danger but there was almost a festive atmosphere near the Wall with Jewish families and hundreds of children everywhere. These were mostly Orthodox and ultra- Orthodox Jews whose men wear various forms of black clothing, about 20 different "flavours" of dress, black because they still mourn the destruction of the temple. 

Jewish men and women are strictly separated for prayer at the base of the Wall, with a substantial screen between them. There have been protests and plenty of controversy about this separation.

My brother-in-law and I donned kippahs and went to one of the massive limestone blocks from 2,000 years ago which formed the retaining wall for the Temple platform. I suppose I was offering a seditious silent prayer, recalling the liberating words of the Jewish rabbi, the apostle Paul, who was convinced that the Jesus, born a Jew, sets us free from gender distinctions. 

You may be aware that visitors to the Wall often push prayer requests written on paper into the cracks between the blocks. I was enchanted by the cloud of swifts (like large swallows) which were swooping about not far above us, back and forth along the length of these stones. They nest in the higher crevasses, well away from humans and their squabbles. For me they were prayers in flight, an avian reflection of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We were back on the plaza the next day but there weren't nearly the number of birds -- this had been a gift of the moment.