After being home again for a couple of days, i find that i can now begin to try to process this trip. i have uploaded pictures onto my facebook page and have included some here as well.
i'm sure it will take many more weeks to begin to sort out all the things i was able to see and do while on this trip. memories that i will carry with me forever. already i am able to put some of my experiences to use, as i am preaching this weekend on Jesus' call to Peter, James and John to discipleship while they were fishing on the Sea of Galilee. How wonderful to be able to connect the story in scripture to my own experience of being on a boat in that very place! I find that I have developed a new appreciation of the challenge that being called to "come, and follow" meant to those individuals, and what it means to each of us today.
I'm sure it was hard for Peter, James and John to leave everything: the peace of the sea, the comfort of home, to follow him and become "fishers of people". As I have heard it said, if you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat! How challenging that sometimes is....
Lord, help me get out of the boat, and follow.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Home Again
I am home. 3 simple words that convey a myriad of feelings. this trip has been unbelievable, to be able to walk the soil where Jesus walked, to touch the stones, to hear the sounds, smell the smells, breathe the air, gaze into the faces, hear the stories....
i think that the journey i began on this trip will never end, in fact i have become a part of the journey, a player in the story that continues to unfold and spread forth from this land. i carry the sights and sounds with me as i move back into the routine that i call my daily life, and i will never be the same.
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message, a story that is timeless, for its beginning and its end are the same: the alpha and omega, the first and the last, He who was and who is and who is to come. We all carry that story out into the world to those we meet. how we choose to deliver the message and share the story is up to us, but we cannot avoid the call to "come and follow", and then to "go and tell". His truth is woven into the very fabric of our being, it is part of our dna, it makes us who we are. we, all of us, are the tselem, the image of God.
how blessed i have been to have had this opportunity, and how i look forward to sharing my experiences with you. i am planning to upload some pictures soon. for now, it is enough to simply be home, to sleep in my own bed, to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning with my husband, and to take time to absorb all that i have experienced.
oh yeah, and i have a sermon to write for this weekend too. back to work. :)
shalom,
jan
i think that the journey i began on this trip will never end, in fact i have become a part of the journey, a player in the story that continues to unfold and spread forth from this land. i carry the sights and sounds with me as i move back into the routine that i call my daily life, and i will never be the same.
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message, a story that is timeless, for its beginning and its end are the same: the alpha and omega, the first and the last, He who was and who is and who is to come. We all carry that story out into the world to those we meet. how we choose to deliver the message and share the story is up to us, but we cannot avoid the call to "come and follow", and then to "go and tell". His truth is woven into the very fabric of our being, it is part of our dna, it makes us who we are. we, all of us, are the tselem, the image of God.
how blessed i have been to have had this opportunity, and how i look forward to sharing my experiences with you. i am planning to upload some pictures soon. for now, it is enough to simply be home, to sleep in my own bed, to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning with my husband, and to take time to absorb all that i have experienced.
oh yeah, and i have a sermon to write for this weekend too. back to work. :)
shalom,
jan
Friday, January 29, 2010
Shabbat Shalom!
we did some more touring today, trying to pack in the myriad of sites to see here in the old city before we leave. i think we are all ready to come home, two weeks is a long time and it feels like i've been here a month. time goes differently here somehow...
it was really neat to see the pools of bethesda today, very moving to be in one of the oldest preserved places in the old city. i can't even wrap my head around all that i have been blessed to see and hear while i've been here. even more moving than the sites we've seen have been the people that we have met and talked with. it seems that this place engenders a spirit of kinship among all people who come here, and it's easy to strike up a conversation with someone that you would ordinarily just walk by on the street. to hear the stories of these "living stones" of jerusalem has been probably the most rewarding part of the trip.
we celebrated shabbat with a jewish community here. the service was beautiful, i could have listened to the cantor for hours. when she sang the song of the sea, the one miriam sang after the israelites had crossed the red sea safely, i was so moved to be able to hear it in much the same way as miriam sang it centuries ago...
shabbat service was followed by a fabulous dinner, with many jewish families and their children. the best part of the dinner was not the food, although that was delicious, but the little boy, son of one of our host families, who stood proudly on his papa's chair and recited the blessing over the bread in a strong, clear, child's voice. it was a lovely moment and the smile on his face and the pride that he obviously felt to have completed such an honor was priceless.
today, we spend the day just enjoying our last day here, then on to a plane to come home. i am ready to leave, but will take pieces of this place with me forward into the rest of my journey that we call life....
l'chaim!
to life!
it was really neat to see the pools of bethesda today, very moving to be in one of the oldest preserved places in the old city. i can't even wrap my head around all that i have been blessed to see and hear while i've been here. even more moving than the sites we've seen have been the people that we have met and talked with. it seems that this place engenders a spirit of kinship among all people who come here, and it's easy to strike up a conversation with someone that you would ordinarily just walk by on the street. to hear the stories of these "living stones" of jerusalem has been probably the most rewarding part of the trip.
we celebrated shabbat with a jewish community here. the service was beautiful, i could have listened to the cantor for hours. when she sang the song of the sea, the one miriam sang after the israelites had crossed the red sea safely, i was so moved to be able to hear it in much the same way as miriam sang it centuries ago...
shabbat service was followed by a fabulous dinner, with many jewish families and their children. the best part of the dinner was not the food, although that was delicious, but the little boy, son of one of our host families, who stood proudly on his papa's chair and recited the blessing over the bread in a strong, clear, child's voice. it was a lovely moment and the smile on his face and the pride that he obviously felt to have completed such an honor was priceless.
today, we spend the day just enjoying our last day here, then on to a plane to come home. i am ready to leave, but will take pieces of this place with me forward into the rest of my journey that we call life....
l'chaim!
to life!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, January 28
We left the guesthouse early this morning to travel to the top of the Mount of Olives, to visit Augusta Victoria hospital. it is a hospital run by the Lutheran World Federation, and they do great work here in the holy land. they provide cancer screenings and treatment, dialysis services, and services for the elderly, along with other medical services. it is the only hospital in palestine where cancer diagnosis and treatment is provided, so they also send out mobile mammography units to the rest of the west bank and gaza strip. it was amazing to hear from Rev. Mark Brown, the director, about the much needed services that augusta victoria provides. i now know where many of the quilts and health kits that churches put together are distributed from here in the holy land, and it warmed my heart to hear stories of how much joy those things bring. the quilts are especially appreciated by the children in the refugee camps, who have never had anything to call their own, and bring a bit of joyous color into a world that most times looks bleak. another project that augusta victoria and the lutheran world federation is taking on is building housing units for palestinian christians next to the hospital, in order to help maintain a christian presence here. God willing, construction on these units will begin later this year. we ended our time at augusta victoria with a visit to the church there, which is built on the traditional site from which Christ ascended into heaven. it was a beautiful church and we enjoyed singing together in it. the acoustics were very good, and we sounded really great! the church has a very high tower, which we were able to climb up inside. i opted not to climb, as my knees are getting a little sore and i knew we had a long walk down the mount of olives awaiting us. the view from the top provides a spectacular view of all of jerusalem, up into the galilee, and down into the jordan valley and the dead sea. i had a friend take my camera up and get pictures for me, so that i can live vicariously through my camera!
the journey down the mount of olives provided a stop at the place where Jesus wept over jerusalem, then continued down to the garden of gethsemane. it was a beautiful, clear blue sky, sunshiney day, about 70 degrees and i enjoyed sitting in the sun and appreciating the peace and calm of the garden and the grove of olive trees. i know why Christ loved to go here and pray, it is very peaceful and calming.
many of us are now on the countdown to the number of hours that it will be until we see our families, not that we haven't enjoyed our time here. it is time, however, to go home, embrace our loved ones, and carry on the work that Christ commissioned us all to do when he ascended back home from that peak that we stood on today - "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
words to live by.
the journey down the mount of olives provided a stop at the place where Jesus wept over jerusalem, then continued down to the garden of gethsemane. it was a beautiful, clear blue sky, sunshiney day, about 70 degrees and i enjoyed sitting in the sun and appreciating the peace and calm of the garden and the grove of olive trees. i know why Christ loved to go here and pray, it is very peaceful and calming.
many of us are now on the countdown to the number of hours that it will be until we see our families, not that we haven't enjoyed our time here. it is time, however, to go home, embrace our loved ones, and carry on the work that Christ commissioned us all to do when he ascended back home from that peak that we stood on today - "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
words to live by.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Via Dolorosa, Holy Sepulcher, Shrine of the Book
today we walked the via dolorosa, the way of the cross. we began our journey by leaving our guesthouse and going out zion gate, walked outside the city walls, and came in through herod's gate, near the antonia fortress. this was our first stop, at the site of the antonia fortress, where Jesus was judged by pilate, who found no fault in this man, then had him flogged. it was eerie standing in the courtyard there, in the place that Christ was scourged. from there we walked just next door to the place known as "ecco homos", "behold the man", which is where Christ was presented by pilate to the crowds along with barrabas, offering the crowd an option to release one of them. they, of course, chose barrabas, and from there Christ was handed over to be crucified, stripped of his clothing, given a purple robe and crown of thorns, mocked and spat upon before being given his cross to carry. we descended down a flight of stairs to the old part of the street that has been preserved, where we were able to see the roman street that existed at the time of Christ. i wondered, was he spat upon here? did he drag his cross along this street?
the rest of the stations were marked, many with small chapels where we were able to stop and ponder. i was surprised at how respectful the marketplace vendors were as we walked by, not bothering us with the usual hawking and encouraging us to come and look at what they had to sell.
we ended at the church of the Holy Sepulcher, where tradition holds is the place of Golgotha, where Christ was crucified, and also the place of the tomb. It is an enormous place, very beautiful and very old, from the 3rd or 4th century. i did go up to the place that is marked as the spot of the cross, it's quite a climb up the steps, and was able to kneel and touch the stone of golgotha beneath the altar. after i descended, i looked to go down to the tomb area, but had an overwhelming feeling not to go there. and then the verse from scripture popped into my head, "why do you seek the living among the dead? he is not here, he is risen." i took this as a pretty good cue and instead went to sit outside in the courtyard of the church, among the stones of jerusalem and the birds. that felt like the right place to be.
after lunch (we found a place that sold pizza slices, kosher of course!) we got on the bus and journeyed to the israel museum and the shrine of the book. they have a large scale model outside, 1/50, of the city of jerusalem at the time of the second temple, the time of Jesus. that was really cool, to see a bird's eye view of the entire city as it was back then.
the shrine of the book was, i think, my favorite thing today. in here are housed many of the scrolls and codexes found in the excavations at the dead sea. it is shaped like a large jar, such as the type that the scrolls were found in. walking into the center of the room, you see the isaiah scroll, the most intact and complete scroll found at qumran. it is not the whole scroll, only a portion, and is not the real thing, it is a replica. but it was still amazing to see the huge piece there for viewing. i was very moved to be able to observe such ancient texts, many of the jars, and tools found in the excavation of the site. our tour guide, Naim, was one of the workers at the excavation site and personally knew the young boy who first discovered the scrolls in the caves. it was fun to hear him talk about the excavation and to point himself, the boy, and many of his colleagues out in the pictures on display.
the day has gone from the way of sorrows of the word made flesh to the way of joy of discovering ancient words.
shalom,
jan
the rest of the stations were marked, many with small chapels where we were able to stop and ponder. i was surprised at how respectful the marketplace vendors were as we walked by, not bothering us with the usual hawking and encouraging us to come and look at what they had to sell.
we ended at the church of the Holy Sepulcher, where tradition holds is the place of Golgotha, where Christ was crucified, and also the place of the tomb. It is an enormous place, very beautiful and very old, from the 3rd or 4th century. i did go up to the place that is marked as the spot of the cross, it's quite a climb up the steps, and was able to kneel and touch the stone of golgotha beneath the altar. after i descended, i looked to go down to the tomb area, but had an overwhelming feeling not to go there. and then the verse from scripture popped into my head, "why do you seek the living among the dead? he is not here, he is risen." i took this as a pretty good cue and instead went to sit outside in the courtyard of the church, among the stones of jerusalem and the birds. that felt like the right place to be.
after lunch (we found a place that sold pizza slices, kosher of course!) we got on the bus and journeyed to the israel museum and the shrine of the book. they have a large scale model outside, 1/50, of the city of jerusalem at the time of the second temple, the time of Jesus. that was really cool, to see a bird's eye view of the entire city as it was back then.
the shrine of the book was, i think, my favorite thing today. in here are housed many of the scrolls and codexes found in the excavations at the dead sea. it is shaped like a large jar, such as the type that the scrolls were found in. walking into the center of the room, you see the isaiah scroll, the most intact and complete scroll found at qumran. it is not the whole scroll, only a portion, and is not the real thing, it is a replica. but it was still amazing to see the huge piece there for viewing. i was very moved to be able to observe such ancient texts, many of the jars, and tools found in the excavation of the site. our tour guide, Naim, was one of the workers at the excavation site and personally knew the young boy who first discovered the scrolls in the caves. it was fun to hear him talk about the excavation and to point himself, the boy, and many of his colleagues out in the pictures on display.
the day has gone from the way of sorrows of the word made flesh to the way of joy of discovering ancient words.
shalom,
jan
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Gethsemane
we had the afternoon free today after some meetings this morning. a bunch of us walked down to the marketplace and found a burger place! the hamburger i ordered was as big as my head i think, and came with onion rings or fries and a beverage. i ordered the onion rings, at least once on this trip i need to have onion breath, right? it cost me 55 shekels, which is roughly 13 or 14 dollars, but it was worth every shekel. not as good as the burgers at home, but when all you've been eating is chicken, lamb, falafel, or schwerma for over a week, it tasted like heaven!
after lunch, we walked to lion gate and traveled down across the kidron valley up to the mount of olives and the garden of gethsemane. there is a beautiful church there that i'm sure we will tour when we make our group visit, but we opted to walk the grounds and enjoy the garden. it was beautiful, even though it was a cloudy day, and i enjoy the peace of the place immensely. i have to brag here, because i hiked up to nearly the top of the mount of olives, which presented me with a beautiful view of the kidron valley, the garden, and old jerusalem, looking upon the golden gate, which Jesus is supposed to enter through when he returns. the muslims have bricked it shut though, like that's gonna stop him! lol.
some of the trees there are over 2000 years old, which means i was looking at trees that were there when Christ was, how amazing is that? we had a wonderful experience when we met the gardener who is in charge of caring for the old olive trees within the fenced in area, the really old ones. we visited with him for quite awhile and he told us how he cares for the garden and the trees. he was kind enough to offer to take our cameras inside the fenced in area and take pictures of the oldest tree from inside, AWESOME!! he is a palestinian christian, whose father used to be the gardener before him. he is not married, (it would cost him 10,000 dollars in dowry to get a wife), so he has no son yet to carry on his profession. that was sad to hear about. now i know why the young men are offering me 40 camels for my daughters! i'm holding out for 75 camels girls, so don't worry yet, you have to haggle a bit to get the price you want.
all in all, it's been a very good day and i end it with sore feet after about six miles of hiking and a full heart after being able to pray where my Lord did before his death. powerful.
God bless you all.
five days until i come home, but who's counting?!
shalom,
jan
after lunch, we walked to lion gate and traveled down across the kidron valley up to the mount of olives and the garden of gethsemane. there is a beautiful church there that i'm sure we will tour when we make our group visit, but we opted to walk the grounds and enjoy the garden. it was beautiful, even though it was a cloudy day, and i enjoy the peace of the place immensely. i have to brag here, because i hiked up to nearly the top of the mount of olives, which presented me with a beautiful view of the kidron valley, the garden, and old jerusalem, looking upon the golden gate, which Jesus is supposed to enter through when he returns. the muslims have bricked it shut though, like that's gonna stop him! lol.
some of the trees there are over 2000 years old, which means i was looking at trees that were there when Christ was, how amazing is that? we had a wonderful experience when we met the gardener who is in charge of caring for the old olive trees within the fenced in area, the really old ones. we visited with him for quite awhile and he told us how he cares for the garden and the trees. he was kind enough to offer to take our cameras inside the fenced in area and take pictures of the oldest tree from inside, AWESOME!! he is a palestinian christian, whose father used to be the gardener before him. he is not married, (it would cost him 10,000 dollars in dowry to get a wife), so he has no son yet to carry on his profession. that was sad to hear about. now i know why the young men are offering me 40 camels for my daughters! i'm holding out for 75 camels girls, so don't worry yet, you have to haggle a bit to get the price you want.
all in all, it's been a very good day and i end it with sore feet after about six miles of hiking and a full heart after being able to pray where my Lord did before his death. powerful.
God bless you all.
five days until i come home, but who's counting?!
shalom,
jan
Monday, January 25, 2010
Mornings in Jerusalem
There is something about waking up in this place. as i sat on the rooftop this morning overlooking the dome of the rock and the old city, sipping my cup of coffee, i heard the sounds of the old city carried up to me. the voices of the vendors in the market, the prayers of the men and women at the western wall carried on the breeze toward me, softly praying to the Almighty. suddenly the city is awakened by the sounds of the jewish call to worship over a loudspeaker, competing with the muslim call to prayer from the minaret. as if to not be left out, the bells of the redemmer church and the church of the holy sepulcher begin to ring, pealing the joy of the lord in the resurrected one.....
this is morning in jerusalem, and it is lovely.
this is morning in jerusalem, and it is lovely.
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