One of the great disappointments in Jerusalem for most people is a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Archaeology, history, science and tradition all point to this site as the authentic location of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. But whatever visual construct a person may have regarding the landscape of "Golgatha," they are usually unprepared for the dark, noisy, crowded cacophony of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, with its multiple owners, constant bickering and lack of any sense of the original setting. On the other hand, the Garden Tomb outside the walls of the Old City looks the part perfectly, but doesn’t really make it on scholarly grounds.

So it may be best to characterize the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as the "left-brained" site of Jesus’ death and resurrection. While it is most likely the accurate site of these events, it is very unsatisfying to people of faith, at least those of a more Bible-based variety. On the other hand, the Garden Tomb is the "right-brained" site of Jesus’ death and resurrection. While there is no solid evidence to consider it the actual place of these events, it provides the feel of those things that faith longs for.

We had the opportunity to visit both sites in the last few days and I found the Church more interesting than in the past, probably because I understand its geography a bit better. When you enter the main door, just to your right is a staircase that leads up to a chamber that is likely right above what’s left of the rock of Calvary. But the rock can only been seen through a few panes of glass and felt through a small hole under an altar. When you descend these stairs you come to a stone slab that is thought to be the place where the body of Jesus was prepared after execution. A few dozen yards away is a large indoor shrine that house what’s left of the cave where Jesus is thought to have been buried. Having all of these indoors in a massive cathedral is a bit off-putting, but I had a better sense than before of the layout and the meaning of the layout.

Today we visited the Garden Tomb and had a short worship service and communion. This was spiritually uplifting. The site is quiet, beautiful and meets the mind’s picture of the events. So I repeated something I had said quite frequently in the past week and a half, "I don’t know for sure exactly where this event occurred, but for our purposes this spot is ‘close enough.’" We have seen so many places where it is certain Jesus passed by, it has helped to make these things more real in our lives. I hope each of you has the opportunity to do something like this sometime.