February 28, 2015

Today was my final day in the Holy Land. So sad to go!! What a wonderful experience it has been. We ended my trip with a visit to the Mount of Olives, at the base of which is the Garden of Gethsemane.

Below you see the road in front of the Garden of Gethsemane. It is so interesting to see the bounty of religion everywhere you turn.

This is a major intersection in East Jerusalem. So much activity everywhere!

This is the view over the city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

And here are olive trees on Mount Olive!

After a steep climb we finally reached this wonderful little chapel where we, sort of by accident, attended a Catholic mass in German. There were great surprises like this all the time. (I didn’t take a picture of the chapel as I didn’t want to interrupt the service)

The Garden of Gethsemane was a lovely place, containing olive trees that are over two thousand years old, dating from the time of Jesus.

This is the interior of the church next to the garden.

For for my final post I’d like to share two photos, the first is the sign you see each and every time you enter the Palestinian Territories, and the second is an ancient olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane with a message before it.

May this land and our world become more and more a place of peace…

 

February 27, 2015

Another busy and wonderful day. The weather was great today, sunny and warm.

We started the day by going to the Dead Sea. Jerusalem, where I am staying, is on a high ridge. To get to the Dead Sea you have to go down, down, down to below sea level.

This is Jeff explaining something, I can’t remember now. I had such great guides!

The Dead Sea again. The water was so salty it would sting any exposed skin. Not a terribly comfortable feeling…

Good friends!

From the Dead Sea we went to Jesus’ baptismal site on the Jordan river. After driving through the desert this was a beautiful place, lush and green.

There were people here from all over the world. You could buy white baptismal robes to wear while you immersed yourself in the water. Julie and Jeff warned against this as the water is pretty filthy, containing all kinds of trash and sewage. So sad!

But I did collect some water from the Jordan for my lovely congregation. No worries, I will make sure to boil it before using!

This was one of the most heartbreaking visuals of the trip. That yellow sign you see in this photo warns of land mines. They are everywhere around the baptismal site.

We had a great lunch at a place called Limona. Here are a couple pictures of a typical Palestinian dinner.

L

After that fabulous meal we went to Jericho, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. We took a cable car to the top of Mt. Temptation, where there is this incredible Greek Orthodox monastery carved out of the cliff wall. This is the place they believe Jesus faced his temptations, and you can believe it here! Julie said this is as green as it ever gets, most of the time it is a rocky, dry, hot and inhospitable place.

Here you can see the cliff on one side and the monk’s rooms on the other.

Originally the monks lived in caves. You can see these in the picture below.

Below the monastery were some shops and cafés. Pomegranates and oranges are everywhere here. You can get freshly squeezed pomegranate juice on almost any street corner.

This is a hooka. They can be rented in many open air cafés and restaurants for the smoking of tobacco. It is very common to see men and women of all ages enjoying an after dinner hooka together. Julie tells me they are terrible for your health.

 

February 26, 2015 8:00pm

Today was the Old City of Jerusalem. We did a wonderful, but long, tour. So many amazing sights to share.

Here is the Western Wall, the most holy site for modern Jews. It is the last remaining part of the Temple which was destroyed in 70 CE. We happened to be there  on a day many boys were celebrating their bar mitzvahs. You can see that men were on the left and women on the right. Besides spoken prayers, people are invited to write down their prayers and place them in the wall.

And this is the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy site for Muslims. It is the place Abraham went to sacrifice Ishmael (or Isaac, depending on your tradition). Only Muslims are allowed to enter into the mosque.

This is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, his burial and his resurrection. It was a massive, kind of crazy but incredible place. Eight Christian denominations have prayer two times every day. Many of these denominations maintain chapels or shrines within the church. But there are others that have been allowed to fall into disrepair because of disputes over money or power. This church is a first hand example of the diversity within Christianity, as well as the fault lines.

When you walk into the church the first thing you see is the rock where Jesus’ body was anointed for burial. People could lay their hands on it and when we were there the Franciscans came by to say prayers over the site.

This is the place modern scholars believe could have been the site of the crucifixion. It is a fissure in the rock. Many times crucifixion sites were placed in abandoned quarries, which were abandoned when fissures were discovered.

This is the tomb of Joseph of Aramathea. He donated space in his tomb to bury Jesus. It was a haunting place and gave you a real sense of what a tomb looked like in Jesus’ time.

 

 

February 26, 7:00 am

For some reason I had a hard time sleeping last night. Perhaps it was the video we saw yesterday at Caesarea. It mentioned that part of the reason for that huge city’s demise was earthquakes. Apparently this part of the world is plagued by them. Not a comforting thought.

But really, as an American, one of the most surprising things about this place is how normal things appear. We always hear about clashes here, the violence and conflict, but what I have experienced is just normal life, people working and going to school, people eating, laughing and talking. The signs of the conflict are all around in the check points, the soldiers nonchalantly strolling the streets with machine guns, the graffiti, but daily life goes on. People are amazingly resilient.

A few things about life here- signs are generally in three languages, Hebrew, Arabic and English.

Luckily for me most people are pretty fluent in English.

Though religion is obviously a very prominent  part of life here, it also isn’t the constant focal point. Most people seem to dress very much like us. Muslim women that I have seen do cover their hair, but not their face, much the same with ultra Orthodox Jewish women.

 

End of the day, February 25, 2015

Today was a bit more relaxing. I spent the morning at home while Julie was at a meeting. At noon we left for Caesarea, a two hour drive away. Caesarea is now a national park, but in Jesus’ time would have been a major port and city. It was the place Paul was jailed before he was sent to Rome. It was built by King Herod in 22 BCE.

This is what remains of Herod’s palace. It must have been incredibly beautiful with views out over the Mediterranean Sea.

There was an enormous amphitheater here where they would hold chariot races, and later watch as slaves, Jews and Christians fought lions and tigers. What a lovely pastime!

Here’s the view from our dinner table this evening.

The walls date from the Byzantine era, ca 324-638 CE. They were quite magnificent lit up at night.

Pontus Pilate resided here as prefect from 26-36 CE.  This stone bears an inscription with his name.

Tomorrow we see the Old City in Jerusalem. We’re doing a four hour tour which doesn’t even cover it all! I’m excited to see these ancient places and the mixture of the various religions.

Here’s one final picture from our adventures yesterday which provides another perspective on the situation here.

These are some ancient olive trees. Olive trees are everywhere here and many families own and harvest their own olives. This has become a source of tension since the wall went up between Bethlehem and Jerusalem as many Palestinian families own land and trees on the Jerusalem side that they are no longer allowed to cultivate.

 

February 25, 2015

Yesterday was full! We spent the night at a great hostel in Nazareth. Nazareth is no longer a little village but a fairly large city, primarily populated by Arab Israelis. It had a wonderful European feel to it, with tiny winding passages constructed of stone. It reminded me of Siena. Here’s a picture of a small market.

The political situation here is everywhere you turn. I am so lucky to have guides to help me understand the intricacies of it all. It is so complicated! Below is a rendition of a cartoon character called Handala. He is always depicted from behind because he is watching everything that happens to the Palestinian people. Only when the situation is resolved will he turn and we will be able to see his face.

In Nazareth we saw this wonderful Greek Orthodox chapel constructed around the site of a well, thought to be the place Mary would come to draw water. People would leave pictures of loved ones who needed healing.

From there we went to the Basilica of the Annunciation. This was built on the site of Mary’s house. In the center of this vast Roman Catholic church structure you can still see the outline of a small stone dwelling. On walls surrounding the basilica and in the sanctuary there are depictions of Mary from countries around the world. These were amazingly different from one another. Julie likes the one from China because of Jesus’ footwear.

After Nazareth we went to nearby Sepphoris. This was the largest city in the region in the time of Jesus. If his trade was carpentry, this would have been the place he would go for work. Below is the main road into the city. Amazing to think that Jesus would have walked these very same stones!

And back home to Jerusalem. Here is Damascus gate, part of the wall surrounding the Old City.

 

February 23, 2015

Today was a busy day. We saw the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Tabgha (the place Jesus is believed to have performed the miracle of the loaves and fish), the Mount of Beatitudes and the Primacy of St. Peter. Here are a few pictures…

 This is the White Mosque in Nazareth.

 View over Galilee from chapel.

A sign at the Mount of Beatitudes I thought was pretty funny…

 This is the foundation of a house in Capernaum thought to be Peter’s where Jesus stayed.  The rock in the ground is the location of the miracle of the loaves and fish. The tile work in front shows the two fish, but only four loaves. No one knows why…

This is the rock where Peter supposedly received his call.

Me at the Sea of Galilee!

 

 

End of the day, February 22, 2015

I missed you all today! I hope church was good. I was thinking of you around 4:30 in the afternoon here- 9:30 for you.

Bethlehem was wonderful. Went to the Church of the Nativity, Shepherds Field, Milk Grotto. Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

This is a mosque in Bethlehem.

This is the newly discovered floor of the Church of the Nativity. It dates from the time of Constantine ca. 300 AD.

 

Below is the nave at the Church of the Nativity. It is maintained by three Christian sects. The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches.

This is me and Julie in front of the nave at the Church of the Nativity.

This is the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born. You are invited to touch the rock at the center of the star. It is worn smooth by many hands.

This is the spot where the manger stood.

This is a statue of  St. Jerome. The writer of the Vulgate, the first translation of the Bible into Latin. You can see the entrance to the underground cave where he worked.

A statue of Mary at the Milk Grotto.

This is where Mary is believed to have fed Jesus for the first time.

This is Julie at Shepherds Field where the angels are said to have appeared to announce Jesus’s birth.

And this is the view from the field looking back toward Bethlehem.

Tomorrow we are off to Galilee to see many of the Jesus sites in that area.

 

February 22, 11:00 am

went through a check point to enter Bethlehem. Beyond the huge wall surrounding the place. Men with machine guns. Julie told me Palestinians can’t drive though but must walk and be searched like in airport security every time they want to leave. Hard to believe people live like this.

 

February 22, 2015

Got here fine. All is well. Off to Bethlehem today. More to come soon. Love to all!

 

Later in the airport…

Boarding soon! It looks like a full flight. Lots of kids doing some kind of exchange program. Now that I’m actually in the airport some of the nerves have worn off. I think I was very worried about saying goodbye. The kids were great. Very brave and sweet.

Here we go!

 

February 20, 2015

Today’s the big day! I’ll be heading to this afternoon to catch my flight from Boston.

My friend Julie told me they have snow today in Jerusalem!! It seems to follow me…

Speaking of Julie, I thought I’d give you a little background as to why I am taking this trip at this time. Our wonderful friends Julie and Jeff took a position four years ago working for the Lutheran church, ELCA. They are the site coordinators for a study abroad program for recent college grads in Jerusalem. The Lutherans have this great program that places these young people in sites all over the world for a year, sets them up with internships and apartments, provides retreats and study opportunities. Julie and Jeff are the people on the ground coordinating all this in Jerusalem. They have been there for four years and will be returning to the States this summer. I figured if I was ever going to see the Holy Land this would be the time, when I know people there who really have a sense of the culture and lay of the land. I’m sure you will see pictures of these wonderful friends in the week to come. (They also happen to be Zeph, Wren and Milo’s godparents!)

More to come soon- mommy duties call!

 

February 18, 2015

Hello Friends,

I am sitting in the office today with great anticipation for this upcoming journey, but also missing everyone already!  I talked with Rev. Betty French today and think you will be in good hands this Sunday with her worship leadership.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers, for the emails and phone calls.  I appreciate it all, because I must admit, I am a little nervous!

February 15, 2015

Hello this is Sara testing…