Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Israel Pilgrimage: Masada, Qumran, Dead Sea
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| Church at Masada |
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| Karen and Sue in front of caves at Qumran |
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| Bill and Marcie in front of cave #4 where Dead Sea scrolls were found |
November 8-9, 2011
As Jesus came out of
the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the
buildings of the temple. Then he
asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon
another; all will be thrown down.”
When Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him
privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of
your coming and the end of the age?” --Matthew 24:1-3
The end? A thread running through the desert
places we visited today (as we are nearing the end of our time in Israel) was the
end.
At Qumran we saw 2,000
year-old remnants of the Jewish sect usually called the Essenes. These devout Jews grew so disgusted
with what was happening in the capitol (Jerusalem), especially in the Temple,
that they withdrew to the desert awaiting a final apocalyptic battle between
the forces of light and darkness.
(Of course, they were on the side of light.) Before the Romans arrived to destroy their community, they
hid their precious writings in desert caves. Those writings, discovered only about 60 years ago, are
called the Dead Sea Scrolls. They
give us the oldest existing copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament.
At Masada we rode
a cable car that took us up over a thousand vertical feet to see remnants of
King Herod’s opulent palace/fortress perched atop an immense rocky
plateau. Though built by Herod,
Masada is most remembered for being the location of the last stand of almost
1,000 Jewish zealots. This was the
Jewish version of the Alamo. It
took a long time, phenomenal effort, and ample resources, but an estimated
13,000 Roman soldiers finally breached the fortress walls and prevailed. This finally ended the Jewish War,
which already had brought about the destruction of Jerusalem including the
Temple in 70AD. This ending was
exactly what Jesus foretold 40 years earlier (see above). To the very end, those Zealots prayed
for and set their hopes upon the Lord rescuing them.
In recent years I
often have been asked by people, “Do you think this is the end?” Usually that question has come after the
most recent in a dreadful string of disasters. Some have been distant earthquakes and tsunamis, but others
have been tornadoes and hurricanes and tragedies that have hit us where we
live.
So, is this the
end? Only God knows. More important for us as Christians are
Jesus’ promises that the end of this age will be good news for us. Some have gone before us. All of us
will join them in the end that our Lord has prepared for His children. God’s end, God’s final judgment on you
was announced in your Baptism.
That was when our Lord promised, “You
are mine. That is forever.” So now, as we are…
Waiting for the end:
We have been told that this good news is for us to share. God even uses us to bring more into His
kingdom. The risen from the dead Jesus
told his first disciples and tells us, “It
is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own
authority. But, you shall be my
witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth” (Acts 1:7-8).
While we wait:
Tomorrow our pilgrim band will celebrate the Lord’s Supper at the Garden
Tomb. (The Garden Tomb is another
possible location for Calvary where Jesus died on the cross and the tomb where
his body temporarily rested.) In
that simple meal we will again get the promise first announced to us in
Baptism, and the nourishment needed to keep walking and witnessing as disciples
of the risen Lord.
This is the end
of this blog for me, but I hope and expect this is a new beginning for many of
us pilgrims through life. That is
what we all are. We are chosen and
called to share the good news of our living Lord that has named and claimed us
so we might be his witnesses.
Shalom from Jerusalem.
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| The Dead Sea |
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| Swimming in the Dead Sea |
Monday, November 7, 2011
Israel Pilgrimage: Mount of Olives, Upper Room, Israel Museum
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| Marcie Emerson in front of Jerusalem model at Israel Museum |
TRAVELOGUE: Start from the top of the Mt. of Olives, walk the path of Jesus' Palm Sunday procession into Jerusalem, stop where He wept over Jerusalem for rejecting the ways that make for peace, and near the end of that descent skip ahead four days to Thursday night to visit the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus retreated for impassioned prayer immediately before his arrest.
Wait there is more....
Next, go to the room where Jesus celebrated the Passover and transformed that ancient ritual meal into his Last Will and Testament. Jesus bequeathed to disciples in every age all he had to give away--that is his very body and blood. (He did this so that when we receive the Lord's Supper we get the forgiveness, life, and salvation he came to bestow.) Then--before lunch--walk the short distance to the home of High Priest Caiaphas where the arrested Jesus was brought for trial and imprisonment that same Thursday night.
That was our morning.
How does a person process all that in a few hours? One does not. A lifetime of learning and contemplating the majesty and mysteries of those events are not nearly enough time to digest what God was doing for us in those events.
Yet, being here to see and touch and listen does shed light on it all. Some call the land here 'the Fifth Gospel' because it opens our eyes to the places and ways that our Lord used to work out his saving work on earth. I would encourage those who know someone on this pilgrimage to ask her/him, "What came to light for you in the Holy Land?"
If you asked me that question right now, I would say, "God came to earth for you and me. I saw and touched where that happened. That did not change God, but it changed me and my comprehension of God's work for you and me."
We are very safe, but some of our group have been ill. Today six of the 44 on our bus did not leave the hotel because of illness. Please pray for health for all in the last few days of our time here and for our return travels.
Grace and peace!
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| A view of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives |
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| Dominus Flevit Chapel: Shaped as a tear drop representing Jesus weeping over Jerusalem |
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| The Upper Room |
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| St. Peter in Galicantu |
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| Steps on the outside of St. Peter of Galicantu where Jesus would have walked |
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Israel Pilgrimage Day 5: Via Dolorosa and Western Wall
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| Matthew and Jutta in front of Church of the Holy Sepulcher |
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| Matthew kneels at the site of Calvary |
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| Christine in front of the Western Wall |
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| Janet and Lee standing on the Teaching Steps |
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
--Romans 6:3-4
Today we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at 8:00am. God worked a miracle there this morning. That is, 37 of us were nearly alone as we climbed the steps up to the chapel perched on top of Calvary/Golgotha. It was relatively quiet and unhurried as below the altar we knelt to touch the rock that held the cross of Jesus. Then we descended the steps and, after a short wait, all were able to enter the tomb of Christ.
It has two chambers. Bending low we got into the chamber of the angels. Tradition says this is where the angel told the women on Easter morning that Jesus had risen from death (Mark 16:5-6). Then five of us at a time squeezed into the compact area believed to be where the body of Christ laid from Friday evening until Sunday morning.
To kneel and bow where everything changed for you and me and all humanity for eternity is a moving, humbling experience. Yesterday in Bethlehem we witnessed where heaven came down to earth. Today we witnessed the portal into heaven opened for us by our crucified, risen Lord
Jesus.
It was 8:57am. We walked less than a block to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. Before the bells stopped ringing the 37 of us were seated for the 9:00am All Saints' Sunday service of worship. In the prayers of the church we had an opportunity to speak the names of saints who have gone before us into the Church Triumphant.
So, this morning in Jerusalem, just down the street from where Jesus died and rose, the names of Jeffrey, Margaret, Randolph, Sue and Karen's niece, and many others were raised up. After that a meal was shared that united us with them and all the saints--past, present, and future. For us, it was a foretaste of the feast to come.
Do you see the connections? First, we walked and stood and knelt and touched where our Lord worked out our very salvation. Then, in worship, we remembered it, took hold of it, celebrated it, and longed for the joyous consummation of all the hopes our Lord has given us: Just like we do every Sunday in worship. These hopes will not be disappointed (Romans 5:1-5).
Thank you for your prayers. They are carrying us.
Shalom!
--Romans 6:3-4
Today we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at 8:00am. God worked a miracle there this morning. That is, 37 of us were nearly alone as we climbed the steps up to the chapel perched on top of Calvary/Golgotha. It was relatively quiet and unhurried as below the altar we knelt to touch the rock that held the cross of Jesus. Then we descended the steps and, after a short wait, all were able to enter the tomb of Christ.
It has two chambers. Bending low we got into the chamber of the angels. Tradition says this is where the angel told the women on Easter morning that Jesus had risen from death (Mark 16:5-6). Then five of us at a time squeezed into the compact area believed to be where the body of Christ laid from Friday evening until Sunday morning.
To kneel and bow where everything changed for you and me and all humanity for eternity is a moving, humbling experience. Yesterday in Bethlehem we witnessed where heaven came down to earth. Today we witnessed the portal into heaven opened for us by our crucified, risen Lord
Jesus.
It was 8:57am. We walked less than a block to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. Before the bells stopped ringing the 37 of us were seated for the 9:00am All Saints' Sunday service of worship. In the prayers of the church we had an opportunity to speak the names of saints who have gone before us into the Church Triumphant.
So, this morning in Jerusalem, just down the street from where Jesus died and rose, the names of Jeffrey, Margaret, Randolph, Sue and Karen's niece, and many others were raised up. After that a meal was shared that united us with them and all the saints--past, present, and future. For us, it was a foretaste of the feast to come.
Do you see the connections? First, we walked and stood and knelt and touched where our Lord worked out our very salvation. Then, in worship, we remembered it, took hold of it, celebrated it, and longed for the joyous consummation of all the hopes our Lord has given us: Just like we do every Sunday in worship. These hopes will not be disappointed (Romans 5:1-5).
Thank you for your prayers. They are carrying us.
Shalom!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Israel Pilgrimage: Bet She'an and Bethlehem
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| Roman Ruins at Bet She'an |
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| Pastor Scott and Bonnie Jane are surprised to see Pastor Rolf Svanoe and his daughter, Siri from South Dakota while at Bet She'an |
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| 14 point star in Church of the Nativity representing Jesus' birth in Bethlehem |
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| Sue Doubleday and her sister Karen Rushman at Church of the Nativity |
While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guest room. --Luke 2:6 -7
In 320AD Roman Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan which basically served to make Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire. Shortly after that he sent his mother, Helena, to the Holy Land to find the places where the foundational events of Christianity took place. So Helena came to what now is Israel and began doing her research.
In Bethlehem she built the Church of the Nativity over the location she determined was the place of Jesus' birth. That is where we were today.
It took over an hour in line to have the privilege to kneel at a small altar and touch the place where Helena's research said was the birth place of Jesus.
Think of that. Think of that some more.
God came to earth arriving as a helpless infant. God chose to become one of us. Remember this is the same God who created the heavens and the earth. The God who created sub-atomic particles and the DNA helix and the human brain and the solar system and distant galaxies and black holes, etc. etc. This God beyond our small imaginations and limited minds decided to show up as a babe. Amazing!
As we exited from the Greek Orthodox managed site identified by Helena as where heaven came down to earth, we walked through the Armenian chapel into a lovely, relatively modern Roman Catholic church. We had to be quiet because we were barging into a Baptism already in progress.
A beautiful baby girl dressed in a stunning silk Baptismal gown became a child of God as the water washed over her "In the name of the Father, and of the Son (the One who showed up as a babe), and of the Holy Spirit." What a wonderful reminder that our Lord who arrived as a babe keeps announcing His promises to children of all ages.
As we exited we witnessed something else that is rare here--rain came down upon us. In this dry, dry land, every drop is a blessing. And, that water washed and renewed and reminded us of the unfailing promises our Lord has made to you and me in Baptism.
Shalom
Friday, November 4, 2011
Israel Pilgrimage Day 3
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| Karen Ulbricht sitting in Herod's Theater |
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| Entertainment in the Theater of Caesarea |
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| Remnants of Herod's Caesarea |
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Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
Israel: Day in Galilee
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| Sea of Galilee: view from boat ride |
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| Bill's St. Peter fish at Ein Gev Kibbutz |
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| Israel Pilgrims at the Jordan River |
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| Lois standing beside the Jordan River |
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. --Mark 1:1
BEGINNINGS: Gospel writer Mark certainly had in mind Genesis
1 (In the beginning the Lord created the
heavens and the earth.) as he opened his gospel. Like Genesis, Mark’s gospel begins packed with action. No
nativity scenes here; Mark jumps in with the prophecy of Isaiah pointing ahead
to John the Baptist (1:2-4).
By verse 9, Jesus is baptized. Verse 14: Jesus begins preaching in Galilee. The first
disciples—four fishermen: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John—are quickly
called and immediately follow Jesus (vs. 16-20). Then Jesus entered the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a
man with an unclean spirit. After
that Jesus went with his disciples to Simon Peter’s house and healed his
mother-in-law and many others. All
that and we are not even through the first chapter of Mark.
TODAY WE SAW ALL THOSE BEGINNING PLACES and more. We dipped our hands and in water of the
Jordan River, walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus called
those first disciples, saw Simon Peter’s house where Jesus did all that
healing. Not only that, we visited
the location believed to be where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5-7), and the site traditionally identified as the place Jesus
miraculously fed over 5,000 with just five loaves and two fish (Mark
6:30-44). What a beginning
to our time in the Holy Land!
AN ENDING TOO: We also saw the mensa Christi (table of Christ) located where it is believed the
risen Jesus fed breakfast to disciples after He guided them to haul in 153
large fish with just one drop of their fishing net. That is my favorite fishing story in the Bible and brings to
an end to the fourth gospel (John 21).
I picked up seashells and stones from the beach there to bring home to
show you.
Wish you could be here with us. Yet, you do not need to be here to know that Jesus is with
us from the beginning, calls us to follow Him just as He called the first
disciples, comes into our homes to bring healing, faithfully feeds us, and as
our risen Lord sends us out to feed His sheep.
Shalom!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Israel Pilgrims Land in Tel Aviv
November 2, 2011
I lift up my eyes to the hills--from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, whom made
heaven and earth. Psalm 121
LIFTED UP: Our pilgrim band was lifted up three times. Most of us lifted off from
Huntsville, Atlanta, and finally (all 14 of us) from New York City. We landed in Tel Aviv at 2:00pm. There we were joined with others who
will be touring with us. They
swelled the group to over 40. We
met our guide, Hillel Kessler, and got on the bus to Tiberius.
TO THE HILLS: I am writing from the Royal Plaza hotel
perched on a hillside above the Sea of Galilee. On the way here Hillel pointed out the hill named Mt. Carmel
where Elijah and the prophets of Baal dueled (I Kings 18). And, with darkness falling he pointed
to the lights of the city crowning a hilltop which likely prompted Jesus to
say, “You are the light of the world.
A city built on a hill cannot be hid.” Tomorrow morning we begin on the Mount of the Beatitudes:
the traditional site of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
OUR HELP COMES FROM THE LORD: That certainly is evident in the safe travels, the stories
that ooze from this land, and the kind people who have brought us thus far on
our journey.
Our guide Hillel opened his Bible for the first time to read
and said, “I like to read this Psalm as groups of pilgrims arrive in the Holy
Land because I think it is a fitting way to begin.” Then he read Psalm 121. This moved me deeply because at my father’s funeral on
Monday the Bible passage written on the memorial folder and read in the service
of worship was Psalm 121. Indeed, in life and in death our help comes
from the Lord.
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