Good Friday

Good Friday - a day for reflection and finding some quiet space, as far as I'm concerned.

I visited Jerusalem a few years ago and have memories of walking down from the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane, shown in my picture above. It is still an olive grove, a beautiful and peaceful place, where, according to the Gospels, Jesus prayed and waited on the night of his betrayal and arrest.

We also followed the traditional pilgrimage walk along the Via Dolorosa in the walled city, finishing at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered since the 4th century as the site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. The church is governed somewhat uneasily by several different Christian denominations and many parts of it are lavishly decorated in styles that to my Anglican Protestant eyes seemed rather too opulent. I did, however, find a wonderful sense of atmosphere in the Catholic Franciscan Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross (Station 11 on the Via Dolorosa and situated within the Church itself), which has a 12th century mosaic (pictured below) and a Medici altar from Florence.

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Cross.