This morning I stumbled into King David's tomb. I had climbed up Mt Zion by the unorthodox route, walking at one point through someone's garden where a young man was stood swaying and praying. My path climbed up and disappeared into a labyrinth of stone-arched tunnels, no signs, not obviously leading anywhere. But I could hear singing, I hadn't a clue where I was. I made my way towards where I thought the singing was coming from and I arrived here. I stood in the doorway for a moment then collected a kippa for my gentile head and went in. They were singing and dancing, I couldn't understand what about but they looked happy. A man with long curls asked me where I was from, he asked if there were any Jewish members of my family, he was very keen to know if I was related to any Jewish people, maybe he was trying to find out if I was friend or foe. When I said that I was an Anglican he seemed happy. He told me they were praying for peace and prosperity for the world and invited me to dance with them. I declined, giving the excuse that I just wanted to watch. I could also see a doorway on the other side of the room and I was keen to see what was in there. I had to push my way passed the dancers in the small space and made my way through to an even smaller space where there was a tomb and an old man sat on a chair, he was leaning on the tomb praying and I stood there for a while, feeling happy that I'd found a way here. My friend saw me again and said that if I wanted to send him prayers he and his friends would pray for us. What struck me most about this encounter was how easy it was. These people genuinely welcomed me being there. I'm glad I stumbled in to them : )
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AuthorCommunity Priest at St Barnabas Church on the Moss Rose Estate, in Macclesfield Archives
September 2015
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