Jerusalem in the late afternoon is a city of golden haze and shimmering beauty. The desert sands of the stark Middle Eastern milieu are a barren stage for the hunger and thirst of spiritual life.

Jerusalem is a city at the heart of twenty-first century life: a center for commerce, an arena of religious contention, a magnet for global ambitions. Terror sits at her gate like an orphan, a child of poverty and madness.

But Jerusalem is also at the heart of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. And because we live on a planet of instant communication and ever-shrinking space, all nations are readily drawn into her orbit of influence.

She is the city of David, the city of kings, and the groom ‘s bride. Yet as the psalmist says, “when prophets come to her, she kills them!”

Listen to the song, “Jerusalem.” Read your morning paper. Ponder your earliest impressions of biblical teaching. Question the depth of your own religious practice.

Time is a thin membrane between centuries, and what goes on today is a timeless vibration of what always is.