Resurrection Sunday Sunrise Service at the Garden Tomb!!

 I went to the Garden Tomb the day before the Sunrise Service (on Passover Saturday), just to get some pics of it for you before the huge crowds are there. The Garden Tomb is a site that has a hill that sort of looks like Golgotha, and a nearby tomb. This is not likely the actual place of Jesus' death and resurrection (there is much stronger evidence that the actual place is at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), however this a beautiful garden area, and a wonderful place to come and pray, meditate, take communion, and worship.

 They have a place to take communion, on that table is some matza and grape juice, and I just sat there under the shade trees in the garden and took communion by myself, it was wonderful.

 Here's the hill that looks like Golgotha, actually a stone quarry place. It does sort of look like a skull.

 The Garden Tomb...this tomb dates to the Byzantine period, after the time of Jesus, but gives you an idea of what tombs were like back then.

 Here's a pic from inside the Garden Tomb.

 Some of the girls and I decided to have a picnic on Saturday. We just grabbed our lunch from the dining room, and walked way down into the Hinnom Valley (also called Gehenna, or "hell" in the Bible, because here is where refuse used to burn, and pagan and even child sacrifices use to take place), right below Mt. Zion where our school is. One of the girls, Clara, commented that this was the day that Jesus descended into Hell before His ressurection. Wow, she is quite perceptive, and there we were in the Hinnom valley, remembering His death and ressurection.

 OK, this is the next morning, Sunday, VERY early...about 5:45 am. This is Clara, and we were walking through the streets of the Old City to get to the Garden Tomb for the Sunrise Service. It seemed so strange that the streets were completely quiet and empty, as during the day they bustle with activity, shops, people, noise, etc.

 Here we are waiting in line in the dark to get into the Garden Tomb, there were hundreds and hundreds of people there, maybe a thousand, I don't know....so we weren't the only ones who got up early to come worship the Lord on Resurrection Sunday!

Here's a video of one of the songs we sang...it was powerful!!

 People were there from every continent of the globe, all worshipping together.

HE IS RISEN!!  We're in the garden, right after the service, now it is about 7:30 am..this is Laurie, Laura, Chelsea, Liz, me and Clara, all sweet girls, all being constantly mothered by me:)