Olive harvest in Gethsemane, songs on the Mount of Olives, and the scent of oil at the Stone of Anointing. An October morning in Jerusalem, carrying the prayers entrusted to us.
The roads into Jerusalem were full this morning.
The city had the feel of a place getting ready for something, though none of us could quite say what.
9 AM in the Garden of Gethsemane
Mornings in the Judean hills are always cool, at least by Jerusalem standards. At nine o’clock a fresh 20°C (68°F) welcomed us into the quiet, pastoral garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives.
We arrived in the middle of the olive harvest. The 2026 season opened in mid-October, and these are the busiest weeks of the year in olive groves and presses across the land. In Gethsemane too, the garden staff were up on ladders, gathering olives onto wide nets spread beneath the trees. Some believe that the oldest trunks here have stood since the time of Jesus.
It is hard to watch a harvest in this garden without remembering what happened here.
Here Jesus prayed in anguish, and “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44), as He took upon Himself the sin of the whole world, while His closest disciples fell asleep, worn out by sorrow.
And to this same garden Judas came with the crowd and the soldiers. Here Jesus was handed over to those who sought Him, with a kiss.
We carried the prayers among those trees.
Songs on the Mount of Olives
From Gethsemane we drove up the steep road to the lookout at the top of the Mount of Olives.
The parking area was packed with buses, and the lookout was full of pilgrims from all over the world. Guides told the story of the city spread out below. Groups sang songs about Jerusalem and about Jesus.
The Garden Tomb
From there the team continued to the Garden Tomb, just north of the Old City walls near the Damascus Gate. For many Protestant and evangelical Christians, it is one of the most moving places in the world.
The garden was full of visitors, from Brazil and from the United States among them. Some knelt in prayer along the wall. Others stood in silence before the rock-cut tomb.
And yet nothing seemed to disturb the quiet, the spirit and the peace of the place.
We carried the prayers into that stillness.
Through the Old City
From the Garden Tomb we made our way through the Old City toward the Western Wall.
It was good to see the shops of the narrow lanes open to visitors again, and to smell the spices, the freshly squeezed juice and the sweet pastries of the East filling the air once more.
The Western Wall
The Western Wall was relatively quiet this morning.
That made it easy to reach the stones and to place in the Wall the prayers of everyone who had sent one.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
From the Wall we continued to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The great restoration of the church’s floor and foundations, a joint undertaking of the three main communities who share it, the Catholic, the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian, is still under way. Building materials were stacked just a few steps from the Stone of Anointing.
That restoration has also brought something remarkable to light. Excavations beneath the floor, led by Professor Francesca Romana Stasolla of Sapienza University of Rome, uncovered remains of olive trees and grapevines around 2,000 years old, along with low agricultural walls. They bring to mind the words of John’s Gospel: “At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden” (John 19:41).
The Stone of Anointing gave off the deep scent of the fragrant oil with which it is anointed. It fills the whole entrance of the church, and anyone who has stood there once will recognise it immediately.
Here, as on every visit, each prayer was laid on the Stone of Anointing and photographed, and then handed to the church staff, so that the priests who serve there read and pray for it.
Out Through the Jaffa Gate
We left the Old City toward midday. A warm autumn 28°C (82°F) followed us out through the Jaffa Gate and into the new city.
Behind us, the prayers we had carried were in the olive garden of Gethsemane, in the stones of the Western Wall and in the hands of the priests at the Holy Sepulchre. If you sent one, it was among them, carried by hand to the sites you chose.
Emails with access to a personal photo album, with photos of each prayer at the holy sites and videos that captured the moment, have already been sent to everyone who ordered them. If you did, we hope you enjoy them and treasure the moment.
May the Lord hear every prayer carried today, and answer each one according to His loving will.
