כנסיית הגואל

This was a brief (very brief) visit to Lutheran church that our guide showed us because we come from Lutheran church (two actually) from the United States. This church does have a Hostel connected with it, because it was the way pilgrims from around the world would stay by connecting with their church denomination. This was before hotels became more prominent. They hostels are still available to stay in.

In our four days in Jerusalem we made a habit of walking after dinner from our hotel into the Old City, at peace, without crowds. We wandered each night past the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and eventually, always, to the Western Wall. We noticed on our first night out a posting for a Christmas concert at the church just a few days away and went out for the concert when scheduled. The pastor was welcoming, surprisingly in English, and the musical director folded us, the audience and temporary parishioners, into his agenda (though the program was in German). The eight of us will remember this tiny bit of holiday reflection, spirituality, and entertainment until we can remember no more. The Church is just over a cenrtury old but the architecture is reminiscent of high gothic but reflects a post-reformation dearth of decoration as if still unfinished after six or eight hundred years.