(Day 11 - 3/15) Home Again

We give thanks that all are home safe and sound.  Although he likely has hundreds of pictures -- here are a few of George Fleming's incredible shots from our pilgrimage.

(Day 10 - 3/14) The Upper Room and Bethany

"Say to the owner of the house he enters, The teacher asks: Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"  He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.  Mark 14:14-15

It is hard to believe today ends our Spiritual pilgrimage in the Holy Land! Each day has brought many blessings for our group as we saw, heard, felt and read God's word along our journey.

 

Sculpture of Jerusalem in our hotel lobby

Our day began with a few hours of "free time", the first of the trip. Some of us walked the Old Jerusalem City Wall entering at the Jaffa Gate, one of seven gates The walls were built with blocks of grey stone measuring 2.5 miles in circumference varying from 30 to 60 feet in height, built in 1542 on the foundations of the Roman Aelia Capitolina and the Crusader city, some visited the Israeli Museum and others did last minute shopping. Meeting back at the hotel by noon we packed our suitcases on the bus and headed to The Upper Room which lies just outside the Dormition Abbey, also known as the Church of Hagia Maria Zion, behind the Franciscan house on Mt. Zion. It was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century on top of a much older structure dating back to the 1st century. We listened to scripture readings by Dickie and Lucy in Mark 14 and Acts 2  as we invisioned the twelve disciples eating that last Seder meal with Jesus, and He telling them that one of them would betray him. Jesus also established the rite of the Eucharist as well as appearing before the Apsotles after his Resurrection in this place.

 

Upper Room column with ancient symbol of Christ -- Pelican

The Tomb of King David is located beneath the Upper Room. After the Franciscan Frior's eviction this room was transformed into a mosque. It is one of the most visited places by those of the Jewish faith as well as Christians and Muslums.There is a massive stone tomb covered by a red cloth with the Star of David on it. Our group viewed the tomb separately, men on one side with their heads covered, women on the other, as is customary to the Jewish faith.

 

Church of Bethany - Mary, Martha and Lazarus

Two miles from Jerusalem, Bethany lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives which is in Palestinian controlled West Bank. A place Jesus liked to visit because it was the village of his beloved friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The village is built around the burial place of Lazarus. We entered the burial chamber from the street down a flight of 24 worn, uneven steps to a vestibule. There, more steps lead to the burial chamber. It is thought that Jesus stood in the vestibule to call Lazarus from the grave. "Lazarus come out!" John 11:43

Donna reading at Lazarus' tomb

As Donna read John 11 we were reminded that when Lazarus was dying his sisters sent for Jesus. But Jesus delayed his arrival for 4 days after Lazarus had been buried, "so that the Son of God may be glorified." John 11.  We continued walking down a steep hill to the Franciscan church of Mary and Martha. It had beautiful copies of frescoes depicting Lazarus wrapped in white cloths having risen, Mary and Martha with Jesus and many mosaics.

Quickly down the hill to the bus in pouring rain we went to the Garden Tomb north of the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. This is a favoured site by Protestant pilgrims where Jesus was buried and rose from the dead but it lacks authenticity. There are many correlations of things found in the garden to those in the Gospel. One being the skull-faced cliff was the hill of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. It's main advocate was British General Charles Gordon who in 1882 began the excavation.  Although there may be confusion or uncertainty of the exact location we are reminded by our guide that we worship our risen Savior not a place.

Garden Tomb

He is not here -- He is Risen

Gladys coming from tomb

After touring the garden and tomb, LuAnn found an indoor chapel not being used by the many other groups congregating outside in the frigid cold, rainy weather. A true blessing for us. We  had a meaningful service, received communion from LuAnn and Betty Ann and heard a beautiful performance of the Lords Prayer by members of our Hayes Barton Choir along with Alice that brought tears to our eyes.  As LuAnn said, "We have walked in the footsteps of Jesus, where he was born, where he taught, where he healed, where he was crucified, buried and resurrected. A holy place. A place where people all over the world come to be close to Jesus. We can see behind us as we look forward, in a new life with different people when we return home.

Choir singing The Lord's Prayer at Garden Tomb Communion

We will continue our spiritual journey, it doesn't end here because we have all been touched in some way by our experience of being God's pilgrims in the Holy Land.

Pray for Peace

We thank you for following our journey, praying us through it and loving us as brothers and sisters in Christ,

Angie Thompson

(Day 9 - 3/13) Journey into the Desert

After two days in the bustling cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, we headed through the Judean mountains to the Judean desert, land of Saul and David, John the Baptist and Jesus.  The barrenness of the land looked familiar to us and we realized we had come full circle having passed this way a week ago as we headed from Tel Aviv to Jordan.  Only a week?  Could it be?  We have seen and learned so much during this week, thanks in large part to our incredible guide, Hani - a Biblical scholar who speaks five languages, an Israeli citizen of Palestinian descent,  a devoted Christian  and "let me say" Saint,  He has with Betty Ann, LuAnn, Amanda and Alice, truly made the land become a '5th Gospel' for us - giving us a much better understanding of the life, land and history of our Lord.

As we approached the Dead Sea we were reminded that it is 1400 feet below sea level - the lowest place on earth.  35% salt, its water is 10 times saltier than ocean water.  It is "Dead" because nothing lives in it or beside it.  Unlike the Sea of Galilee, which gets water from the Jordan River and nourishes much life around it, the Dead Sea, which is also fed by the Jordan River, doesn't give life to anything.  Hani reminded us that it was in this region that Jesus told the parable of the talents, teaching that we should share the blessings we receive to enliven others instead of keeping the blessings for ourselves.  As always, in that parable, Jesus used the familiar landscape to illustrate His point to His audience.

Heading south with the Dead Sea on the left side of the road and the rugged, rocky desert mountains on our right, we were reminded that it was in this wilderness that Jesus was tempted to turn these stones into bread.

Approaching Masada, Hani recounted the story of  Herod building this mighty fortress overlooking the vast wilderness.  Here, Herod built his lavish palace with bath houses and a swimming pool, where he could see potential enemies approaching from all directions.  Later, after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD, a group of 900 zealots occupied Masada for three years, until under siege, they chose to take their own lives instead of becoming slaves to the Romans.

Next stop was Qumran where in 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy found seven clay jars containing Biblical parchments - now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The scrolls were written by the Essene community, a monastic brotherhood that left temple worship for the purity of the desert.  Sally Lazar, in her excellent devotion, pointed out that sometimes we choose to go to the desert  and sometimes we find ourselves there against our wishes; either way, Jesus has been there before us and is with us.

After all this learning it was time to relax, so we headed to the Dead Sea where many of us put on our bathing suits, covered ourselves in the black mud and floated on the Sea.  After 20 minutes, we emerged wrinkle free and  looking 10 years younger!

Returning to Jerusalem, Hani pointed out the acacia tree, the only green plant growing near the Dead Sea.  It only survives because it has very deep roots which go down to a fresh water aquifer.  I pray and believe that while in this land, we have all deepened our spiritual roots  - to allow us to thrive whether we are in our own deserts, valleys or everyday neighborhood and  lives.

Anna Neal Blanchard

(Day 8 - 3/12) The Old City of Jerusalem

I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Travel is the best cure for ignorance and prejudice."  Hayes Barton pilgrims have certainly seen and experienced many new foods, customs, and people on our Holy Land pilgrimage.  Betty Ann Buckley has proved an intrepid planner.  Her knowledge of Jordan and Israel has safely guided us while LuAnn Charlton, Alice Kunka and Amanda Dean have directed our spiritual journey.  Of course, George Fleming has documented all with his masterful photography skills.  Mary June Jones "coined" the operative word for our experience: WOW.  Every site has indeed been another WOW experience; and everyday has been our new favorite!

Our Day 8 adventure was exploring Jerusalem, The Old City.  Fred and I can see the city walls from the balcony of the King Solomon Hotel.  Today, we finally enter those walls!  Yesterday we were blessed with sunshine; today we are blessed with wind and rain.  Our chipper crowd provided the sunshine either from good cheer or a merry traveler daze.  "Cool and fresh" is now our funny and scholarly guide, Hani describes the day.  Hani is the sort who not only makes lemonade out of lemons,, he creates the entire orchard!  On the bus ride to the Old City, LuAnn led a centering prayer.  We passed by the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the Old City Walls and the Valley of the Shadow of Death, which today is a park.  Next was Potter's Field, the scene of Judas' suicide after his betrayal of Jesus.  Finally is The City of David, a source of much conflict between Palestine and Israel.  Arriving at the Old City, we are told Bibles must remain on the bus.  Our whisper headsets and umbrellas accompany us.

Two miracles occur, and it's not yet 9am.... the sun comes out and there is NO LINE to The Temple Mount, the main Muslim area!  Today the Dome of the Rock sits atop the Temple Mount where the pure gold dome glistens magnificently in the sky.  The structure is made up of mosaics of blue, green, yellow and white tiles - what an edifice!

Because we Christians are "infidels" here, we cannot enter the mosque.  The beautiful blue tiles were brought from Persia' marble stones adorn the exterior. Lead was used as the "super glue" to hold the stones together,  From the Temple Mount, we can view the Mount of Olives, one of our wonders visited yesterday.  Before descending the Temple Mount, we see the Gate of Mercy, the Beautiful Gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem.

Next stop, the Pool of Bethesda, is reknown for healing properties.  Hani explains about the tradition of giving sacrifices, the great blood involved.  And, what would be the best way to remove blood?  Water, of course, the Gihon Spring.  There are two pools; the Northern Pool and the Southern Pool.  Rans Douglas provided context for his scripture reading of John 5:1-9.  The story says the first person to enter the pool would be healed.  LuAnn reminded us that one of the stores we continue to hear is that of Jesus the Healer, and she led us in a prayer of healing for ourselves and others.  Concluding our visit was a group sing of "Alleluia."

In 1040 the Church of St. Anne's was built.  As we entered the church, a group was singing "How Great Thou Art."  The beautiful echo filled the church as we raised our voices again in "Alleluia."  The marble altar was dressed in purple with lovely white orchid bearing 13 large blooms and 4 buds.  then, another miracle -- we met a French priest who ministers in Africa.  He explained this was a Romanesque church on one side and the beginning of a Gothic structure on another side.  He blesses us!

A mournful and solemn journey, the Via Dolorosa, known as The Way of the Cross, contains Jesus' walk though the 14 Stations  of the Cross:

Station One: Jesus is condemned to death.  Wilson Hayman read John 18:28-19:16a, which tells of Jesus' arrest and trial by Pontius Pilate.  Jesus is handed over to be crucified.  With a voice like an angel, Alice Kunka performed the sorrowful "Via Dolorosa" in English and Spanish - so fitting for this occasion.

The Second Station: The Chapel of Condemnation, is where Jesus received his cross, was scourged and bound.  He was given a crown of thorns.

The Third Station: Jesus falls down the first time under the weight of the cross.

The Fourth Station: Jesus meets his mother, Mary.

The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross.

The Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.

The Seventh Station: Jesus falls for the second time.

The Eighth Station: Jesus consoles the crying women of Jerusalem.

The Ninth Station: Jesus falls for the third dime.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains the last five stations of the cross.

The Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of His garments.

The Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross.

The Twelfth Station: Crucifixion and Death.  This station represents the place where the cross was erected and Jesus died.  Under the altar is a silver dish marking the exact location of Calvary.  Kneeling and reaching our arm down, down,, we can touch this place, like touching the bottom of despair and death.

The Thirteenth Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross.  Mary, who had not earlier had time to prepare His body fully, enfolds His body in her arms.  Then, the body of Jesus was laid on the Stone of Anointment and anointed with myrrh and oil.

The Fourteenth Station: The Garden Tomb.  In 1883, General George Gordon makes and amazing discovery -- the Garden Tomb, a tomb thought to resemble that of Joseph of Arimathea who provided a tomb for the body of our Lord!  This Via Dolorosa, a place of profound sorrow, is today a maze of vendors, passageways and aromas.

Lunch - FINALLY! Our group of weary pilgrims is so happy to rest our once happy feet and relax.  What an morning.  Most of us enjoyed an ethnic lunch of burgers and pizza.  Some of us met Father Bruce and Father David, two rabbis from New York.  Father David hopes to retire to Myrtle Beach -- perhaps there really is no accounting for taste!

Our afternoon featured visits to the Wailing Wall and The Teaching Steps.  Located just inside the Dung Gate, this section of the wall is very sacred to Jews because Herod the Great constructed this wall to encircle the Temple area and is closest remaining section to where they thought the Holy of Holies was.  We
stopped to offer our individual prayers at the wall, men on the left side and women on the right side.  Crevices in the wall are filled with messages from worldwide pilgrims.

Our last stop, the Teaching Steps, are an outdoor classroom.  Just imagine, here, Jesus, Peter and others preached to crowds.  We were standing on the very steps where Jesus and others actually taught their followers and disciples, another miracle!

Our bus ride to our hotel home was blessed with a devotional led by George Fleming.  George aptly summed up our trip, "a journey way beyond our expectations and excavations."  As we view the lovely vistas, we have discovered many of the best views are on ceilings and in the skyline.  Lesson learned, look up, always look up.

Shalom,

Lynne Misenheimer

(Day 7 - 3/11) Mt of Olives and Bethlehem

Jerusalem -- the Holy City

We have definitely left the peace and beauty of the waters of the Sea of Galilee and its green hill sides, the ancient communities where Jesus walked and the quiet churches and their grounds to the coolness and bustle of Jerusalem.  The crowds are definitely here.  The atmosphere is full of worldly activity.  How can we work through all of the "noise" and take in that part of Jerusalem that can offer us the Christ experience?  It was so easy in Galilee to hear it in all that quiet.  Will it be possible here?  Perhaps it will take a miracle, but maybe that is the point.

Mt of Olives

After the usual early rise and breakfast, we are off in the wind and coolness to the Mt. of Olives, anticipating even rain.  As it turns out, the day stayed sunny with only a few clouds.  We drive a couple of blocks in the heavy traffic and past the King David Hotel, famous in history and movies.  Men walk on the sidewalks to work in business suits not unlike what one sees in Boston or New York on a work day.  Betty Ann offers us a prayer, asking God to keep us safe, especially from the street sales people.  She also gave thanks that Bob is doing better.  We drive down past several gates of the old city, seeing some bed rock upon which the walls have been built, down into the Kidron Valley, the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, then up the other side, part the way up the Mt. of Olives, then got out of the bus.  Looking due West, we saw the brilliant sunshine glowing off the Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem the Golden, with the golden Dome of the Rock shining brightly and the rest of Mt Moriah running North to South, the same mount on which Abraham took his son Issac to be sacrificed.  Above on the top of the ridge easily seen were a half a dozen towering construction cranes working on a building boom going on in Jerusalem.   Just below our view on the Mt. of Olives were thousands of grave stones, the original and current graves of people who die in Jerusalem as no one could be buried in the City.  

LuAnn and Kojak (the camel)

Yes, a certain pastor road a camel.  We then walked part way down to a Franciscan property among thorn and pine trees for an anointing service, the same walk way Jesus took when palms were waved for him on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  The church on the property was built to commemorate his stop to weep for Jerusalem.  

Dominus Flavit -- where our Lord wept over Jerusalem

During the reverent service, we heard above us in the air over our voices in the service the sounds of other pilgrims speaking in many languages, chirping birds, barking dogs, helicopter traffic, cars on Mt. Moriah, emergency vehicles, workmen working, cameras clicking and wind in the trees.  In Jerusalem there is no silence.  Were we able to hear God's voice through the noise?  How can one sitting on the West side of the Mt. of Olives and keep from looking over the Valley at all that is built on the East side of Mt. Moriah? 

Anointing Service

Anointing Service on the Mt of Olives

Anointing Service

Further down we walk between the walls to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of the Agony of Christ, where Jesus could see the guards with their torches walk out of the East Gate and wind their way to the place of his arrest.  

Walking down the Palm Sunday Path

Our group admiring the ancient olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

We ride the bus to the place where Jesus was taken to be judged by the Sanhedrin, the house of Caiaphas, the Chief Priest.  We saw the pit, the dungeon where he was held.  We saw remains of the path that Jesus had walked to the Garden, then taken back to Caiaphas home.  We went into the church.  There were large crowds of pilgrims.  Were we touched by something mysterious while there even in the crowds?  Did we hear other pilgrims in the pit speaking in tongues?  We are seeing visually and hearing stories that more and more reveal to us pieces of the large puzzle that is Jerusalem.

Dickie and Angie waiting to enter the Grotto where Jesus was born

Back on the bus we ride the 7 miles to Bethlehem (the city of David, the city of abundance and generosity) to the Church of the Nativity, a church shared by Greek Orthodox, Franciscans and Armenians.  We enter through a border check out of Israel into Bethlehem, which is inside territory governed by the Palestinian Authority.      We see school girls in various uniforms, some with white scarfs, some with other colored scarfs, wrapped around their heads.  The road is lined with small shops selling food and anything else needed for daily life.  The Church is the only church or synagogue not destroyed Israel by the Moslem invaders because it has the image of the Three Magi carved on its walls.  The Church is under extensive repair.  We stoop through the "Eye of the Needle" door to enter during a service.  We wait to see the said to be birthplace of Jesus in a lower area beneath the church alter.  Magnificent icons are all over the walls, some of wood, some of precious jewels.  Mary has a happy face as she is celebrating the birth.  In Jerusalem she is sad in the icons because she is mourning the loss of Jesus.  While waiting inside the Church, we hear from the outside the Moslem call to prayer.  We have a devotion in which Bill Deerhake tells us that the birth of Jesus causes us to see history as being divided into the period before Jesus's birth then after his birth.  The one who spoke the world into existence came into the world to fulfill a divine purpose, that is to give us the gift of salvation.  An echo enveloped us as we spoke our verbal response to Bill's reading of the word.

Bethlehem man creating a mosaic on the way to the Church of the Nativity

We then bused to Shepherd's Fields, again Franciscan Property, to see a cave perhaps used by shepherds.  Jesus was the shepherd and gate keeper for us, his sheep.  The shepherds were not favored or clean people to the Jews, but they came in haste to worship Jesus.  How wise were the Wise Men?  It took them up to two years to come to worship Jesus.  They were wealthy and riding camels.  They told Herod a new king had been born.  We wonder.  Perhaps, as was said, a better pilgrim is one who walks a lot and suffers some.  A pilgrim searches for answers to questions he can not answer.  Is that a description of us?

Paul Carruth