The Wailing Wall is the sole remnant of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and was the western wall of the second Temple. According to Jewish teachings, God’s divine presence filled the Temple and still rests upon this wall. To this day Jews gather to wail and pray for the restoration of the Temple. Christians from all around the world travel to the Wailing Wall to pray, and to visit the Temple where Jesus prayed, taught, and overturned the moneychangers’ tables.

During his recent visit to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Pastor Paul O’Neil of the Hillsboro United Methodist Church, placed a list of the first names of the members and extended friends and families of Smith Memorial Church into a crevice in the wall after praying for each of us individually and as a vibrant, beloved, faith community of God. His prayers for us are part of more than a million that are left each year. After 6 months all of the slips of written prayers are ritually gathered and buried in the sacred cemetery in the Mount of Olives. In one way or another, all are prayers for peace, for shalom.