Jerusalem!

Holy Land Trip, Day Three, January 23, 2011

Up in the Lobby of the hotel for morning prayer at 5:30 a.m.  Breakfast then off to the days sites which would culminate with our arrival in the Holy City - Jerusalem.  Our first stop was at the Church of the Nativity in Nazareth.  The Church of the Nativity is perhaps the most impressive Church in the Holy Land from a contemporary aesthetic.  It is one of the most recently constructed and is built over the top of previous churches and over the traditional site of the Annunciation.

 Julie did the devotional for the group and was great helping us not only to think about Mary, but also to think about what we can learn from Mary's "pondering" God's plans in her heart.

From Nazereth we drove to Har Megiddo (Armeggedon).  This is an archaeological Tel which has excavated down to the time of the Canaanite, to King Solomon, to the time of King Ahab, one society building over the top of another.  I have been reading James Michener's The Source to get ready for the trip and that helped immensely in understanding what I was looking at here.  One of the chief eye openers at Har Meggido is the tunnel that goes down to the water source which allowed the people who lived there to hold on to the town longer when invaders were laying siege to their city.
From there we drove to Caeserea Maritima (Caeserea Maritima) and visited Herod's impressive excavated Harbor City.  Also drove a bit north to see the Roman aqueducts.  Amazingly impressive work.

Arrived in Jerusalem as the sun was setting and checked into the Olive Tree - had a wonderful dinner and then took a walk down to the Damascus Gate of the Old City.  Stopped at a Bakery near the Damascus Gate and picked up a treat to end the day.

Watchiing The Sun Rise Sort Of

Day 2 of Holy Land Trip, January 22, 2011

The day began with my alarm going off at 4:45 a.m.  Intentionally.  My goal was to beat the sunrise and get down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee before the sun came up.  Got there at 5:20 am. and no sun yet so mission accomplished.  Spent the time taking pictures, enjoying the view and gathering shells.  Daylight came but the sun never did quite make an appearance - at least not by 6:15 a.m. when it was time to head back up for breakfast and get ready for the bus.

We stopped at the baptismal site where the Jordan River emerges from the Sea of Galilee at the southern end.  This is not the site where John baptized Jesus - that's closer to Jericho and is actually at a spot where the Jordan River is in the country Jordan.  It was a great way to begin the day and Julie led the group in a service of renewal of baptism.

We visited the ruins of the Roman city of Beit Shean.  I climbed the Tel there and had a great view of the surrounding countryside.

Next stop was the Kibbutz Nof Ginnosaur where we viewed the Jesus boat, an ancient boat from the time of Christ that was discovered buried in the mud by two members of the Kibbutz.

We stopped at the Chapel of the Primacy of Peter next.  This Chapel commemorates the location where Jesus made a post-resurrection appearance to his disciples, sharing breakfast with them after they had been out fishing for the night.  It is at this breakfast that Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, Peter responding each time that he does and each time undoubtedly remembering the three times he deniied Jesus in the courtyard outside of Jesus' trial.  There is a breathtaking statue at this Chapel of Jesus and Peter.

The last stop of the day was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  The weather has been beyond beautiful so far and this was surely true during our boat ride.

Had a nice run in the late afternoon and then Julie and I went walking with another couple from our bus.  Then dinner and off to pack bags - leaving Tiberias in the morning

Luke 1, 2, 3.

January 23, 2011

Luke 1, 2, 3

Overview:  Luke's account of the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus.  Also, Jesus goes to the Temple with his family when he's twelve and stays longer than they do.  Grown up John prepares the way for Jesus in the wilderness and Jesus begins his public ministry at thirty years old.

"I too decided, after investigating carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Throphilus."(1:2)   Luke makes this observation after noting that many have already undertaken to lay out an orderly account.  I find it telling that Luke intentionally states that he intends to write an orderly acount.    An orderly account seems to be exactly what he has written.  Details are everywhere.  Small details.    The explanation of how Zechariah's section of priests happened to be on duty and how he was chosen by lot to serve that particular day.  The specifics of context in Luke 2:1 and 3:1.  The reason behind Mary and Joseph's return trip to the Temple and the stories of Simeon and Anna.  The genealogy of Joseph at the end of Luke 3.
What I am getting to is the details make a difference to me.  They make a story that could easily have sounded like a fairy tale instead sound compelling, convincing and authentic.  Luke sets out to write an orderly account, I believe, so that there can be no doubt of his seriousness and no doubt about the authenticity of what he is sharing.  The Incarnation is not a "once upon a time" sort of story.  The Incarnation is a story of the very specific, very real, particularity of God in our midst.

Drinking Grapefruit Juice At 11:30 p.m. With The Sea of Galilee Right There

Still on pace with the reading and getting caught up on the accompanying blogging.  In the meantime, I plan to throw in a few stand alone pieces on my happening as we speak Holy Land trip.  This is the third time I've been able to travel here, but the first time with this sort of ability to blog about it.
Today was our first full day and it was full.  We were off at 8:00 a.m. following a breakfast buffet with many things that I did not recognize.  Some were good.  I'll try to find them tomorrow.  We stopped along the Sea of Galilee at the Mount of Beatitudes.  Beautiful place.

We drove to the base of Mt. Hermon to Banias, one of the three sources of water to the Jordan River.  Got to give the devotional there for our bus which was a thrill.

It's amazing to have an opportunity to do something like that on a spot (or in the vicinity of a spot) where some important biblical event unfolded.  Banias is also known as Caeserea Phillipi which is the place where Jesus asked the disciples who they thought he was and Peter said, "You are the Messiah."  At the foot of a huge stone cliff there Jesus responded to Peter by saying "On this rock (Peter) I will build my church."  The human rock - Peter - not the giant awesome rock wall right behind him with the altars to the God Pan carved into them.

We drove as far north, just about, as we could go - had lunch in a Druze village - great chicken sandwich - and then drove to a spot overlooking a UN Post on the border between Israel and Lebanon.  The guide pointed us towards the capital city of Syria, Damascus, some forty miles away.  Very close geographically, but you can't get there from here.  The border between Israel and Syria has been and is, closed.
We drove back down to the Sea of Galilee and visited the ruins of the town of Capernaum, the headquarters of Jesus' ministry years in the Galilee.  Awesome to stand in the remains of a Synagogue which dated back close to the time of Christ and which was built over top of the Synagogue that would have been the Synagogue at the time when Jesus was there.  The mind has trouble taking it in.

We also stopped at Tabgha which is on the spot where Jesus fed the 5,000.  Great mosaic of loaves and fishes on the floor there.  Spectacular views of the Sea of Galilee, which I think I could never grow tired of seeing.  Which is why at 11:33 p.m. I'm sitting in sweater and long sleeves on the hotel patio, drinking Jump Grapefruit, blogging and still watching the Sea in the darkness.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

View from Mount of Beatitudes

Mark 15, 16

January 20, 2011

Mark 15, 16

Overview:  Trial wraps up.  The story of the crucifixion and briefly of the resurrection.

Mark is the briefest of the gospels and he is true to form here.  Mark 15 and 16 are concise and to the point and do not waste words.  Particularly in Mark 16 where we have the shorter ending of Mark and the longer ending of Mark which still really isn't all that long.  Mark is in a hurry to tell his story.  He is judicious with his words and adds nothing that does not move the story along.
Some ancient authorities, my Bible's notes tell me, have Mark 16:8 as the end of Mark's gospel.  What a way to end the story.  "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, but they were afraid."  The End.
Stop there and the story just spills off the page.  Jesus is risen, he's on the loose and it's awesome and it's a little scary.  And maybe that's about as close to how we should feel about the state of things as one could get. Nothing has really changed here on the ground.  We live in a world where Jesus has risen and is alive and at work.  It's awesome and if we think about it and take it seriously it's also a little scary.  Mark's challenge to us is to take the story seriously.  Be awed by God who came to us as Christ, but be just a little amazed bordering on a little scared about just how such a thing can happen.  God is all around us.  The living God.  The God made known in Jesus.

Mark 13, 14

January 19, 2011

Mark 13, 14

Not really Peter's finest hour, but not his worst either.
Jesus shares the Passover with his disciples and then tells them that they will all desert him.  Peter is quick to disagree, vowing that even if the rest of the disciples cut and run, he, Peter, will remain strong.  Then he falls asleep, literally.  Jesus takes Peter, James and John (which would probably be the winning answer in Family Feud if the question was "Disciples of Jesus Christ, top three answers on the board...") off to Gethesemane.  Jesus is "distressed and agitated".  He tells them to keep vigil with him then goes off to pray.  And they fall asleep.  The keep repeating this cycle until Judas comes to help with Jesus' arrest.  Ouch.  Skip to later and Peter is denying Jesus, just like Jesus said he would.
In Peter's defense, he did have the courage to put himself in the position to deny Jesus in the first place.  The other eleven were all long gone by the time it got to the courtyard outside of where the trial was going on.  We focus on the denial, but overlook the fact that Peter showed uncommon courage to follow Jesus that closely that far along.  It's not perfect, but it's worth considering, in part because perfection wasn't something Peter was going to accomplish and it's not something we are going to accomplish.  We can so easily dwell on our sins and failures that we begin to imagine that there is nothing we can get right.  That's not so.  God had big plans for Peter and God has important work for us to do as well.

Arriving In Israel On My Birthday

I'm on track with my reading - finished Mark's gospel this morning on the airplane from JFK in New York to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.  Lack of internet access has me two days off in the corresponding blogging.  So Mark 13, 14 and Mark 15, 16 are forthcoming.  However, wanted to throw in this personal bit to share what a great day it's been.  Left Louisville yesterday (1/19) at 11:00 a.m.  Went to Detroit and then to JFK and then left New York at around 9:30.

We arrived here in Israel at 2:57 p.m. with the time change.

Got on a bus that brought us to the Royal Plaza hotel in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee.  The moon is full and I am sitting here on the patio of the hotel, outdoors, blogging and taking in the wonder of the Galilee at night.

Looking forward to getting started on our tour tomorrow and to having the opportunity to lead the devotional at Caeserea Phillipi.  Missing Cameron and Eliza on my birthday, but very thankful for Jane Bond who is staying with them while we are gone.  Here it's snowing back home and computer says school let out early.  I guess it's especially good to be here.