Gethsemane

Of all the places we visited this spot should have been the place where I felt the greatest influence of the Spirit. However, it seemed so sterile and guarded to me that I had a really hard time connecting the suffering of the Lord to the spot we stood. The church here is called The Church of all Nations. It overlooks Jerusalem, which is interesting because the pulpit actually faces the East, so the Parishioners would face the West — contrary to the usual tradition of having it face the East (this was actually news to me, I had no idea that tradition holds that parishioners look West). The reason for this, George told us, is that Christ overlooked Jerusalem, so the people should as well.

This is the oldest tree in the Garden of Gethsemane. Tradition holds that it dates back to the time of Christ. As you can see, there is a fence around it. There is actually a fence around the entirety of the Garden, which served greatly to influence my detachment from it. The fence is especially high here to prevent people from breaking off pieces of the tree to take home as relics. I think it is so tragic that we have to physically prevent people from taking things home with them. But, then, I can see why the desire exists.