The Western Wall

I have been home for 5 days now but my body still feels like it is somewhere over the Atlantic. But after spending a week in such an amazing and sacred land I shouldn't expect to arrive home and go right back to life as I know it. So I continue to "unpack" my experience in Israel.

One of the special moments was praying at the Western Wall. The Western Wall is the only part of Herod's Temple that is still standing. The Temple was built on the sacred site where Abraham nearly offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22). It was the place where heaven and earth met; where the presence of the Lord came to earth. It should come as no surprise that this location is revered by the Jewish people.

Before I entered the area I stopped to wash my hands (ritual of purification) and said a prayer: "Lord, as I clean my hands, so cleanse my heart of all impurity." I then picked up a skull cap to wear as a sign of respect, recognizing that "the divine presence is always over my head" (Rabbi Hunah ben Joshua).

I respectfully and prayerfully came to the Wall, put my hands on the cool, rough stone, and lifted my heart in prayer to God. All around me other men prayed (women pray on the other side of a screen, separate from the men). Some people write their prayers on small pieces of paper and insert their them in between the stones and in cracks in the wall. I saw hundreds of pieces of wadded paper. If they fall out they are swept up and buried in a sacred place.

My visit to the Western Wall has caused my to think about sacred places, sacred acts, and sacred things. God often told his people to set aside certain items and to regard certain events as sacred. Here in the USA we rarely treat anything as sacred. Sacred things are meant to point to The Sacred One: The Lord Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. I wonder how I could invest my everyday life with more sacred meaning that points to the God of creation? In this regard I envy the Jewish people who have a sacred wall full of history and meaning; a special place to pray and to offer themselves to the Lord.

The Western Wall

Scott in Prayer at the Western Wall. Notice the pieces of paper in the cracks.