Open the Doors: The Gates of Jerusalem

Chers Amis,

This morning we started our Advent journey by opening the doors to Jerusalem. This afternoon was book club so our study was fairly light, but we did a few activities. The girls and I read and discussed one of the oldest Advent prayers, Psalm 24. "Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter." (7)
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The side notes to this passage said that Psalm 24 was written to accompany "a ceremony of the entry of God (invisibly enthroned upon the ark) followed by the people, into the temple." We imagined what the procession must have looked like as the Israelites followed the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple. What pageantry!

The Psalm also questions who can stand in His holy place, "The clean of hand and pure of heart who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely." (3-4) This lead to a good discussion of purity of intention, what it means to be clean of hand and the importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, especially during Advent.

Pippin colored Palm Sunday coloring page of Jesus entering Jerusalem through a gate like a King and made a model of the city walls and a gate with his favorite manipulatives - Legos.

Caddie, who loves using a dictionary, had to find the perfect definition of a portal and we all took a virtual tour of the various gates of Jerusalem at Gates of the Old City and The Gates of Jerusalem It was short and sweet and interesting. I like that in a lesson!