Airport prayer

"All the nations you have made, will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name." ~Psalm 86:9

On my way to Tel Aviv, I had an 8-hour layover at Frankfurt am Main Airport, a major international airport in Frankfurt, Germany. I had come across the information that airports around the world are equipped with prayer rooms, and to my delight, Frankfurt am Main is one of them. I had not anticipated a pilgrimage to an airport chapel/prayer room would be included in my to-do list during this trip, but I'm so glad it did!

Protestant chapel in Frankfurt am Main

Even though I ended up sleeping there, it was a unique experience nonetheless (the sleeping was actually the best part). While I curled up on the chairs and drifted in and out of consciousness, I had dim recollections of a steady flow of faithfuls coming in and out of the chapel, all very quiet and respectful of the tranquil space (or my sleeping). I was very much refreshed, touched, and encouraged after my nap (no one woke me up or shooed me out!) and left a prayer of thanks on their guest book. I pray that more people would come to the knowledge of this wonderful facility during their stay in the airport, that the people I approached to ask about the whereabouts of the chapel (only one out of five people I asked knew about it.) would be provoked to curiosity about the place and set out on a mission to find it, and perhaps upon finding it, enjoy an undisturbed nap there. :) And may the prayers that flow out of here bless the nations.

As if I couldn't get enough of airport religious facilities, I ended up staying for a night in Ben Gurion Airport's synagogue while I waited until daytime to catch a taxi to my hostel. The place was quite nice. There was no one there, but I took a seat at the female section behind the mechitza and selected at random a book out a vast array of Hebrew texts before me. Just in case someone came in and spotted me sleeping, not praying. ;)

Synagogue at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv