Oh blessed event!

This is going to be short but sweet.

This evening we went into the city to attend the baptism of Peter and James, the sons of our friends Mark and Naomi who are here until June. 

We went in early and first visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  As Wikipedia says,

The site is venerated as Golgotha,^[1] (the Hill of Calvary), where Jesus was crucified,^[2] and is said to also contain the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulchre). The church has been an important Christian pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus. Today it also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, while control of the building is shared between several Christian churches and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for centuries. Today, the church is home to Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.

We were only there for a short time, but it was incredibly large and one at the same time ornate and rudimentary. 

What an overwhelming thing, to be on such sacred ground. 

It was very meaningful, to go from the site of Jesus' death, the very gift of Himself to us, and then to attend the beautiful baptism of the twins, a tangible manifestation of the fruits of Jesus' sacrifice.

The baptism was at the church of Simeon and Anna and I want everyone to go there.

It is tiny, simple, full of soft light and an intimate, welcoming community. 

 The Mass (apart from the baptism) was in Hebrew, and the music offered haunting Hebraic melodies where one feels transported to the earliest of liturgies.

Pictures and more reflections to follow....