Jerusalem the Golden

Finally, here we are in Jerusalem. Tuesday begins at St Peter in Gallicantu, or St Peter of the Cock Crow, where we remember Peter's three-fold denial of Jesus.

Listen to an extract from our worship

We hear how Jesus came here to the house of the High Priest. It is one of the few places where we can be completely sure that Jesus actually trod. (The others are Capernaum and Lithostrotos on the Via Dolorosa.)

We go down into the excavations, deep beneath the church. We crowd into the cavernous pit, where Jesus was imprisoned.

The lights go off: we are plunged into darkness. We imagine Jesus being lowered down into the cold dark damp cave. Up above, Bishop John reads from Psalm 88, a cry of despair, of desolation.

We move up into the church for Mass, celebrated by Archdeacon Karen. In his address, Bishop John says that this is the moment that Peter finally grew up. He learned he was as fallible as the next person. "He denied Jesus not just once but three times," he says.

"Peter the Rock became Peter the Pebble. He finally lost his innocence."

He challenges us: have we ever denied our faith, played it down? "When Peter denies Jesus it is a form of betrayal. Judas had betrayed Jesus, but this was another form of betrayal - a betrayal of friendship. How did Jesus feel as one by one, the disciples fell away?"

He reminds us that only hours earlier, Peter had promised Jesus his love. Now he stabbed him in the heart.

"Now Jesus was down in the pit. How much worse can it get? The answer: a lot worse. But there's no pit that you have been in or are in or will be which Jesus doesn't understand. No dark place where Jesus is absent. No problem where you are alone.

"But at this point Jesus was alone. Very alone."



"He denied Jesus