It was helpful to visit the scale model of Jerusalem as it would have looked during the Second Temple Period (Jesus' day):
Diane was asked to lead the group in singing "How Great Thou Art" in St Anne's Church, and the sound echoed and echoed. Someone said it was like God was singing back to us. Hard for a simple photo to do justice to the moment:
One privilege given the pastors in the tour group: as we stopped at various sites, pastors were asked to read scripture selections describing events that took place at the various sites. Here I am reading Luke 4:14-30 at one of the cliffs of Nazareth, Christ's boyhood town:
Recently, the remains of a 2000 year-old fishing boat was discovered in the muddy shores of the Sea of Galilee. I had read about this some time back and I was anxious to see this discovery for myself. Dubbed the "Jesus boat," this is the remaining hull of a boat that Simon Peter and his fellow fishermen would have used before being called to be "fishers of men":
The Dead Sea is over 30% salt (as opposed to the ocean, which is only about 3% salt). Thus, you do not sink when floating in the Dead Sea. Frank Dartez, my father-in-law, demonstrates this fact:
Here's a shot of ancient olive trees in Gethsemane, the place where Jesus prayed the night before he went to the cross:
I must admit that a lot of the traditional sites marking the events of Christ's life and Passion left me cold: over the centuries, church structures have been built over the sites that were believed to be the places where Christ was born, executed, resurrected, and ascended. The crowds are so packed into these places so ornate with items of veneration--well, it just left my Protestant soul unmoved. But the Garden Tomb was another matter. Here by a skull-like cliff, Charles Gordon found tombs and burial caves, including one believed to have been owned by Joseph of Arimathea, who gave his tomb to the disciples for Christ's burial. We observed the Lord's Supper at this site--a moving experience. Here we are entering the tomb where Christ was laid--or one very much like it:
We covered so many sites that it was difficult to pause long enough to reflect, but I was struck by a thought standing on the Mount of Olives and facing the East Gate of the old city. The prophets say Messiah will come through this gate upon his return to judge (Ezekiel 44:1-3), and many people have selected the valley between the East Gate and the Mount of Olives as their grave site in anticipation of their final judgment by Christ. As I stared at this Gate, sealed with stones and concrete for only One to come through it, I thought, "I will face him as he comes through that Gate, and what will he make of my life?"
We felt quite safe during our trip, but I read today that four Palestinian militants were killed by IDF forces yesterday in Bethlehem (story), 2 days after we visited that little town under Palestinian Authority.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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