יום אחד - Day One

‎‏ And it was evening... ויהי ערב

My first thoughts en route:

The extra security screening for the whole plane at the gate in Philly saddened me.The USB ports on the seats that kept my iPod fully charged for the whole trip gladdened me.

‎‏…and it was morning Day 1 ויהי בקר יום אחד

My first Hebrew conversation:

?זה כולם שער שלך

!יופי 

Is that all your hair? 

Beautiful! 

(Of course she touched it).

Then:

Two little boys discovered each other in the passport line. They were exactly the same height and about 3. (It is almost a cliché, but one was Jewish and one was Muslim.) They fell in like long lost friends and howled when their mothers took them to their respective passport lines. 

At the Tantur Ecumenical Institute:

An amazing group of participants for the formal program here: Anglican, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, UCC, United Reform, women and men, clergy, seminarians, lay and church educators from the US, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and Great Britain. The Tantur leader is Orthodox (Christian) from the US.

And boo hiss: My new camera behaved badly and told me the internal memory was full with only six shots on the 2G card. By the time it self-corrected the sun was down and I couldn't take any photos of this beautiful place. Something to look forward to tomorrow on my morning walk.

Evening Prayer:

Holy One of Old,

older than the stones and bones

of this holy city,

gather this city and all who love her

under the shelter of your wings.

Teach us to pray for peace,

teach us to work for peace,

teach of to live for peace.

Grant us that peace that defies human understanding.

May it be so,

soon and in our days.

Amen.