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Video shot for Grace UMC, Sherman, TX from The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem

Mt. of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane and Bethlehem

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.  Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side.  They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God."  Luke 19:41-44 NRSV

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 NRSV

Today was a mix of experiences, instead of making our way to Jericho and the Qumran Valley, we started out day at the Mount of Olives, walking the path that Jesus would have taken down to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Stopping at the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem we then moved over to the Garden of Gethsemane.  If you watched the video Adam Hamilton put together about the last 24 hours before Jesus Christ was crucified, the video did not do it justice at all (I don’t know why I am surprised, I’m sure my pictures won’t do the area justice).

From there we headed over to the Palestinian Authority where Bethlehem is to visit the Church of the Nativity and the Shepherds’ Field.  There we saw the mixture of three different denominations that see over the cave where Christ was born. Green Orthodox, Armenian, and Roman Catholic influences are all over the church and the difference is immense. The only down side of the trip to the Church of the Nativity is that we couldn’t spend a lot of time down in the cave where Christ was born. Massive crowds lined the sanctuary of the church to go down to see the birth place of Jesus Christ.  On the upside, we did get to observe an Armenian worship service while we were at the church of the Nativity.

From there we went to the Shepherds’ Field to visit the place that the angels visited the Shepherds to proclaim that Jesus Christ was born. This filed is also important because it is the field that Ruth met Boaz (Ruth 2). Once again showing how tightly connected the Hebrew Bible is with the New Testament.  Another treat was having an impromptu worship service with the priest of the Church of the Shepherds’ Field and Christians from Ecuador.  We listened to the Christians from Ecuador chant in the church then the priest led us all in Angels We Have Heard on High. Needless to say it was beautiful.

Tomorrow we will visit the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mound followed by a trip to the Israel Museum and I believe Jericho. God bless you tomorrow as you head to worship.  I wish I could be there to hear Wilson from Kenya give his testimony.  

Thanks for reading, more to come tomorrow.

Day 5 of Israel Trip

Pictures of Day 5 from my trip to Israel

Northern Israel

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,  to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  Luke 4:14-22 NRSV

After we packed up and left the Sea of Galilee, we climbed up to the city of Nazareth, passing through Cana (the place Jesus performed his first miracle). Unfortunately, we did not have time to stop at that Holy site or at the Church of the Annunciation (I do have a picture of the Church of the Annunciation unfortunately I don’t have one of the churches in Cana). However we ended up at the Mount of Precipice.  This is the place where following the above scripture, the people of Nazareth chased Jesus to and tried to throw him over the side, but he escaped through the crowd.

From this mountain, there is a 360 degree view of Lower Galilee and the Jezerel Valley (also known as the Valley of Armageddon).  From this place you are connected with stories of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. First of course is the childhood home of Jesus and where Mary heard from the Angel she was to give birth to Jesus.  Just to the east, almost like a suburb of Nazareth is the home town of the prophet Jonah.  Moving Clockwise from Nazareth around the 360 degrees, also in chronological order we see Mt. Tabor where the prophet Deborah took on the Canaanites in Judges 4, next is the hill of Moreh where Gideon took on the Middianites in Judges 7. The next Mountain visible is Mountain Gilboa where King Saul came to his death by running into his sword (1 Samuel 31). Finally to the West you can see Mt. Carmel where Elijah took on the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). It is easy to imagine an elder of Nazareth sitting down with the children and pointing to these mountains and sharing the stories with them over centuries.

Please take a look at my pictures there is a link in the post before.  There are pictures of above, Tel Megiddo, Caesarea by the Sea… which is gorgeous, and a couple of pictures of Jerusalem when we arrived this evening.

Tomorrow we celebrate the nativity as we head to Bethlehem, Jericho and the schedule says Qumran… I guess we will see. Thanks for reading!

Day 4 of Israel Trip

Day 4 of Israel Trip Pictures.

Top Ten List from Tracy

Tracy and one of her co-workers wrote me this Top 10 List for Israel... enjoy

Top 10 Things Chris shouldn’t do while visiting the Holy Land

#10 – pull on someone’s beard at the Wailing Wall.

#9 – Pee in the Sea of Galilee (I think I get bonus points on this one since it rhymes)

#8 – Call the American Consulate and ask him if his refrigerator is running! 

#7 – Order a pulled pork sandwich at a kosher restaurant.

#6 – with a side of fried pork skins!  And a diet coke

#5 – Ask a rabbi if the thing on his head is a really bad toupee. 

#4 – write his prayer on toilet paper for the Wailing Wall (am I obsessed?).  they do have toilet paper don’t they?

#3 – Carve “Chris wuz here” on everything he sees

#2 – Jam on his Ipod in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and sing out loud a little.

#1 – Plaster a poster in every synagogue that depict an Uncle Sam version of Jesus with the caption “I want YOU!”

The Sea of Galilee

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.  Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught."  So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."  A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep."  He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.  Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."  John 21:1-19 NRSV

Today, we kicked it into gear…. After a short jog along the coast of the Sea of Galilee, we visited 7 sites around the Sea of Galilee.  First the Church of the Beatitudes, followed by the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fish, then the Church of the Primacy of Peter, then we traveled to Jesus’ home base of Capharnaum, then on to the Sea of Galilee for a short cruise, the ruins of Bet She’an and finally the Jordan River. 

While this may sound like a lot of driving most of these sites are extremely close to each other on the North Side of the Sea of Galilee.  It is said that Jesus did 80% of his ministry in a triangle area stretching from Migdal (home of Mary Magdalene) to the west, Korazim to the north and Beit Saida to the East. Jesus’ home in Capharnaum is located almost halfway between Migdal and Beit Saida.  The approximate distance between Migdal and Beit Saida is 16 km, (I’m way too tired to do the math into miles so go for it).

Being on the Sea of Galilee, reading through the story of Peter walking on the water has been the highlight of the day.  Seeing the churches we visited earlier from the boat and imagining what the disciples might have thought as we sat out on calm still waters off of the beach where Jesus was cooking fish was an experience that I will treasure for always.  I find that I can be like Peter and the other disciples, I get so busy in my work, distracted in my problems, too worried about the future that I fail to see Christ right there in front of me.

Today has been quite a journey. I hope you are able to look at the pictures I’ve posted below.  Tomorrow we visit Nazareth, Megiddo, Caesarea and end up in Jerusalem where we will stay for the rest of the journey. Thanks for reading.