How do I even begin to select what parts of my trip to Israel were the greatest highlights? Everything was educational and inspirational. But there was one 30 minute time period that seemed to escalate all others when it came to meaningfulness. It was communion at the Garden Tomb.
Our sight-seeing ended for the day, on our next to last day in Israel, at what is commonly called Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb. The guides at this location will argue that this is the location of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Both our tour guide and Pastor Dan Travis who was our group leader (Dan is a friend of mine who pastors our Palmyra Grace Brethren Church and has made many trips to Israel…in fact, I consider him to be one of the most well versed men I know on the Holy Land) agree that the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which we had visited earlier is the real sight of the crucifixion and resurrection.
This was still cool, though, because it allowed us to picture more vividly what it might have really looked like where Christ died and the tomb where He was buried and resurrected due to the fact that there are no elaborate churches built on these sites.
The best part of our visit at Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb was sharing in communion together at a beautiful site in the garden area. How precious it was for Pastor Whitie and myself to lead this special time of worship as we together as a group “proclaimed the Lord’s death” through the taking of the bread and the cup. As a group we had experienced so much together on this trip that to share in the ordinance of communion at this special location was more than inspiring. We ended our time of communion together by singing the old hymn, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood!” Together the area around Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb heard our voices sing:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains
They lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains
It was a very special communion for me…one that I will never forget. We even used communion cups made out of olive wood that we were then able to keep as a reminder of our visit. But as I left the site I was reminded that what makes any communion special is not the place, after all Christians have celebrated the Lord’s Supper from cathedrals to caves. What makes communion meaningful is realizing the fact that I am a sinner and it is the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, that cleanses me from all my unrighteousness.
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