Last Day in Israel

We started the day at the Garden Tomb. Though this is not where Jesus was buried, it gives a good representation of the tomb. We celebrated communion with the Presbyterian group from South Carolina that we have been traveling with. Rev. Sloan and I shared in the consecration of the elements and then served the group. Wonderful sharing.

We then traveled to the believed site of the birth of St. John the Baptist. Beautiful church built by the Spanish Franciscans. The interior is covered with blue and white tiles. Is this the site of his birth? If not here then somewhere close. This church was built in the 1200's on top of the church built in the 500's.

Later this evening Jan, Mary Lou, and I went into old town Jerusalem by ourselves and found our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher by ourselves  and then found that the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer was right across the street! What a find. It was really exciting meandering through the narrow streets to Golgotha on our own. The bazaar that we found was undoubtedly the same in the time of Jesus. People from all over selling their wares. The smells - coriander, cinnamon, rosemary, and ginger - along with the sounds of music and bartering, everyone coming to shop for their daily needs. Can you imagine Jesus walking along these narrow streets talking and eating leading a crowd down the streets. What a commotion it must have caused as his many followers filled the streets, talked with the merchants and their customers, as people were healed on the streets and watched as this man whose reputation had preceded him walked among them. And then he came in on a donkey through the Eastern Gate, Solomon's Portico and rode onto the Temple |Mount.

Now we are off to Egypt in the morning. 5:30 wake up call.

Pray with me: Lord help us to see with your eyes that we might never see an us and them, that we might always be a blessing to those we meet. AMEN

By the Sea

We drove through the Judean Wilderness (desert) til we got to Masada.

To get to Masada we had to ride the cable car up! It is at the top of a mountain. Herod built a huge palace and fortress up there that would hold 1000 people. The sad part is the story of the Jewish Zealots - call them terrorists of long ago. They wanted the Romans out of Israel so these men would attack soldiers... and kill them. This started the Jewish War of 66 AD culminating with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The leaders ran off to Masada with their families hoping no one would find them, but the Romans did.

They stayed up there quite a while, until the storehouse was empty and the Romans had breached the wall. Faced with sure slavery the next day when the Romans would advance in, the leaders decided that death was better than slavery and killed first their children, then their wives then each other with the last falling on his sword. The Romans came in to find all dead.

View from Masada

Then we were off to the Dead Sea, which you see above from Masada. Here we floated on our backs in the water and then put the black mud on ourselves. What soft skin we got!

Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for my name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou annointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

On the way home we stopped to see some Bedouins - but also to see the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Unbelievable. This is the valley people walked between Jericho and Jerusalem.

via de la rosa

We started today on Temple Mount. Temple Mount is the size of 12 soccer fields. That is where the temple was before the Romans destroyed it in 70 a.d. but now there is the Dome of the Rock over the threshing floor that David speaks of. That was the foundation of the Temble. The mosque is beautiful from the outside and closed to visitors since 9/11.

We then went to St. Anne's. I do believe I loved this church. It survived all the destruction over the centuries because the accoustics in it are superb. We sang and sang. From there we began our treck along the via de la rosa or stations of the cross which meanders through the narrow streets of Jerusalem. When I say narrow - I mean 3 or 4 people across! Shops and vendors all along the way. We finished at the Church of the Holy Sepelchur which is on Golgatha. There in one church is the rock Jesus was crucified on, the rock he was laid on to wrap, and the tomb he was buried in. On a 1-10 bet of whether this was true, the bet is 10. Amazing to be there, though the church was very different. It is a Greek Orthodox |Church, dark, icons, incense....

We went from there to Jericho - the oldest city in the world for some GREAT fruit and breads. Well, we also saw bedouins along the road, the Judean wilderness where Jesus went after his baptism. Hard to get a picture to really display that. The bedouins had sheep, goats, and camels. We went from there to Qumran. What a desolate place! The Essenes must have really needed to get away from everyone. We were exhausted and HOT!

Prayer: Holy One, we give you thanks for sending your only Son that we might be saved and in your presence. Help us to spread your word. Amen

Wailing Wall

There I am! On a camel!! That's my friend Jan behind me. What fun! We are on the top of the Mount of Olives. From here we can look across the Valley of Judgement to see the house of the Last Supper, Caiphus' house, and the rest of Jerusalem. It was a big WOW!

Right next door is the Garden of Gethsemane (Gethsemane means olive press). In the church located there called the Church of All Nations or Church of Agony is the rock that Jesus prayed on. The tree you see here is at least 2000 years old. All the trees in the garden are ancient except the one planted in the 1990's by the pope.

This is the Wailing Wall or the West Wall. After all the destruction from various wars, this is the only one still standing. It is unbelievable. The bottom blocks are 300 tons! It is built with one block on top of another - no mortar. The small blocks are 2.5 tons!

It is a sacred wall because directly on the other side of the wall is where the Holy of Holies was. Praying at the wall is as close as you can get to being with God.

I cannot tell you how this day has affected me. To put my hand on the rock Jesus prayed and sweated and bled on as he waited for Judas and the soldiers to come and arrest him, then to put my hand on the West Wall and hold all of you in prayer, my family, my friends, my church and myself. I was drained and at the same time encouraged.

Let us pray - God, creator and almighty, merciful, compassionate Lord, I give you thanks for sending your Son, for walking with me, for always being there. Amen

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Today was the day for nativity. We went to The House of the Outrageous Caiaphas first, though. The archaeologists are certain that the villa uncovered was his house, found the room he was beaten in while the trial was going on, and found the pit 3 stories down that he was lowered into for the night a pit dug out of the stone that was probably 6 foot across. From there the next morning he was taken to Pilot.

"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in |Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David....While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2: 4-7

From there we went to the Church of the Nativity, yes to the very cave where Mary birthed Jesus. Yes the star is the birthing place. Three churches, the Armenian, the Greek Orthodox, and the Catholic church all take turns 'owning' the birthplace by procession into the cave and literally homesteading for a day. Incredible. So all three have churches on site and little doors leading to the birthplace that they do their procession from. The church of the Nativity is in Bethlehem - across the Wall into the Palestinian occupied territory. That is a discussion we must have sometime.

And low and behold the coffee shop across the street!!!

A prayer: Lord help our hearts to see with eyes only you truly have. Amen

Away from Galilee

We left the beautiful Sea of Galilee and headed east for Cana to see the church which is on top of the original house where Jesus's first miracle of changing water into wine occurred. We have many couples in our group and they renewed their wedding vows today - complete with a certificate from the church!

Next we were off to Megiddo. This is an ancient city. There are 25 cities one built right on top of the other. The last was vacated in the 4th century BCE. You will have heard of Armageddon - that is the final war, a war between good and evil, between all the kings, all the nations found in Rev. 16:16 "Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon." An interesting city on a hill that is at the crossroads of all travel in the middle east.

From there we went to Nazareth, the city where Jesus grew up. There we found the most beautiful Greek Orthodox church with the spring that was the purpose for the town. Nazareth's root word in Hebrew is grandfather - as in the grand fathers of Jesus, those of the past. Wow!

Then we visited the Basilica of St. Mary where countries from around the world have sent their depiction of Mary. Took a picture of the one from the US.Sorry the picture is on its side. Can't fix it on this computer.

Finally, we were on our way to Jerusalem. Staying until the 17th here. Beautiful hotel. OH!! Saw muskrats in the Jordan River yesterday as people affirmed their baptism. Soooo cute.

Blessings. On to Bethlehem tomorrow.

What a day!!!

John 21:1-16
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. 9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.



15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Today we sailed on the Sea of Gallilee (Tiberias) actually out of Tiberias. What an amazing feeling - to be on the same sea that Jesus walked on, calmed the storm, healed the demoniac, fed the 5000... and said these words to Peter. He ordained his first priest right there as he fed the disciples fish and bread. Amazing and overwhelming. So many times Jesus had said to the crowd and to his disciples, "Come and see." Here in the last chapter of John he is saying , "Go and do." Jesus says tend my sheep - find those who are mine and baptize them, gather them in. Then he says feed my sheep - teach them my Word so that they hear my voice, feed the hungry, heal the sick. I pray that we never just come and see with the same old eyes,, but that we come and see with new eyes each time so that we are more prepared to go and do.

Let us pray. Lord God give us the strength to answer your call to come and see, allowing the changes to come to our hearts so that we can do nothing less than go and do. Amen