Gethsemane
A Thousand Dimensions
Volume 1
SOMETIMES, we see something that catches us completely on the hop, transporting our mindset back to some distant event in some other land ... and we know what we look at is merely reminding us of some event ... but tonight, just now, everything stopped here in this room… … … in a trillisecond …
One of those indelible moments that cannot be erased.
Chapter One
It is around 1999, a warm autumn evening, a knock on the door.
Are you sure this is okay Gemma? It's closed!
Oh yes. They'll be in. Come along.
Hustle and bustle of city life behind me, the Mediterranean sun still very hot if I stepped out of the shade ...
Footsteps …
The door opens.
Ah Gemma. How good to see you. Shalom-Shalom! Everyone has gone now. The last of the pilgrims and tourists left an hour ago. We have some tea on. And this must be …
I step forward and reach out … Good evening Minister. It is indeed a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you. And you also. Greetings in Yeshua's Name.
And you also, sir.
SOMETIMES, we see something that catches us completely on the hop, transporting our mindset back to some distant event in some other land ... and we know what we look at is merely reminding us of some event ... but tonight, just now, everything stopped here in this room… … … in a trillisecond …
One of those indelible moments that cannot be erased.
Chapter Two
It is around 1999, a warm autumn evening, a knock on the door.
Are you sure this is okay Gemma? It's closed!
Oh yes. They'll be in. Come along.
Hustle and bustle of city life behind me, the Mediterranean sun still very hot if I stepped out of the shade ...
Footsteps …
The door opens.
Ah, Gemma. How good to see you. Shalom-Shalom! Everyone has gone now. The last of the pilgrims and tourists left an hour ago. We have some tea on. And this must be …
I step forward and reach out … Good evening Minister. It is indeed a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you. And you too. Greetings in Yeshua's Name.
And you also.
Chapter Three
The door closed behind us. Total silence. A Garden, the like of which seemed to explode in awe, beauty and wonder. Another dimension.
I looked at the high wall.
That is amazing! ... the other side it is hustle and bustle, honking and hooting, impatience ... and I've only taken five steps ... and on this side - total silence and peace. Such Peace!
Knowing smiles! Quiet pleasure at my acknowledgement.
As we wandered up to the private veranda beneath a natural canopy of gorgeous branches and foliage, everything seemed exactly how I read of it in the scriptures through boyhood, adolescence, manhood, middle age … even the path through the grove into the distance, a slight incline.
I did not ask the question ... I think I just asked it with my eyes ... wide-eyed wonderment!
Gemma beamed. That stunning smile for which she is famous, the look of triumph over her half-moons, the chain keeping the spectacles that saw all, in place, emphasising her elegance, powerful even, with her Jewish London Kensington high-english accent.
Yes dear, it is indeed The Garden of Gethsemane. But come. We will go to the Tomb later.
And whenever I went back through those doors in later years it was always the same.
Chapter Four
Now I had no idea, twenty minutes ago, that I would close the day with these thoughts.
But here is why all of us must always share the beauty of illustration, of art, of pure beauty, whatever its form.
This image of an ancient door - I know not where it is for it sits on the cloud unaccredited - reminded me of the most important place I've visited in my life.
What did He say?
... And when you pray, go to that most secret place...
This, for me, is that most secret place now deep within my confines, my very own most secret place. Some believe that this must, surely, be that most secret place I talk of elsewhere but choose not to reveal. Not so. That particular place is for me only. You too will each have your own secret place deep within.
END
Afterword
This beautiful door appeared on my screen. A Recollection of that Memorable early evening in Jerusalem at the Century’s turn, in one of the most famous gardens on this planet. It is in the vast hallways of my mind as if but yesterday.
10 July 2022
All Rights Reserved
© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2022
First written 18 February 2020
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
