Photo link- http://bit.ly/zhP9so
I haven't posted in a few days, and they have been full and wonderful days:
Sunday- Started early (6am) with a trip to the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre). It was wonderful to be there on a Sunday morning, so many different worship services going on at the same time (Armenian, Greek, Latin, etc.). It was also nice to be there before our "tour" there later in the course to take it all in. We then had Sunday worship at the Cathedral at St. George, and then went to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It's a huge complex, but we were there to see two things. The first was a collection of Dead Sea Scroll artifacts, but the real gem was a huge replica of Jerusalem in the period of the Second Temple (as Jesus would have known it). It was about the size of 2 tennis courts and was extremely helpful in understanding the Jerusalem that Jesus knew to compare to the Jerusalem I've been seeing.
Monday- We headed north for the Galilee region starting with Caesarea Maritima, where Paul was tried. It was a city that Herod set up to be the "hip" young city, a hippodrome and other interesting archaeological finds. Then we went to Mount Carmel, where Elijah battled the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. Next went went to a real special place, the Sister of Nazareth have a very special church. After the purchased it, they did some excavations in the 1880s and found a 1st century house. This site isn't open to the public, but they have a connection with the College, so were able to see it, an it was amazing. There was a house, a cistern, and some tombs. Scholars estimate that at Jesus' time, there were about 40 houses in Nazareth, so this place has a 1/40th chance of being the house that Jesus grew up in, but at the least, since Jesus lived in Nazareth for about 30 years, he likely would have known this house, and perhaps even visited it. So many of the places here, we don't know for sure if it's "the" place or not, such as the Church of the Annunciation or Nativity, but this was a real sort of site. It was also nice to get away from the tourists; St. George's is very intentional about this being a pilgrimage, not a tour. We then went to the beautiful Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth that had some wonderful mosaics from all around the world. Then we stayed in Nazareth for the night
Tuesday- Today has been the best day yet. We started in Cana, which is one of my favorite stories from the Gospel, and saw a nice church and had a reflection on commitments. The Bishop of Arizona is in our course, and he led us in a reaffirmation of wedding vows, which was nice to participate in at that spot where Jesus would have attended a wedding. Next we went to Mount Beatitudes, which is a lovely church on the Sea of Galilee. Then we talked down to Tabgha. The walk was amazing, we walked through a field on an ancient "shortcut" road, that we are certain that Jesus and his disciples walked along. It was amazing because I literally saw so many parables before my eyes. Our guide showed us wheat and weeds, and the look almost the same, we see in this in a parable. We heard the birds of the air and saw the lilies of the field (which are in full bloom in Galilee), which was amazing to see. Then we went to Tabgha (the miracle of the loaves and fishes) which was a very simple, but wonderful chapel, one of my favorites so far. Next was Mensa Christi (table of Christ), where Jesus met his disiples after the Resurrection on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and cooked them fish. Then we went to the ruins of Capernaum, which served as the "homebase" for Jesus during his 3 years of public ministry. We're staying at an amazing pilgrims house right on the Sea of Galilee. Our group sat on a porch overlooking the sea at dusk, sipping wine. It was a great close to a great day.
The guide and leadership from St. Georges is amazing, the fellow pilgrims are great company, and the food is wonderful. Tomorrow we head to Banias (the headwaters of the Jordan), Golan Heights, Kursi, and then we'll take a boat ride of the Sea of Galilee. We are them coming back to this pilgrim's hostel for one more night before heading back to Jerusalem. Again, thank you all for your prayers and financial gifts that made this trip possible- words cannot describe the experience, learning, joy, awe, and blessedness that I've encountered. I hope all is well with you. Blessings.
