Coming to the end...

Well, here we are coming up on the end of our wonderful journey. As I'm writing this, people are packing up their bags and in a few hours we'll be back on the plane to the states (unless your names are Lisa and Gary Schone who will be staying a few extra days to take it all in)

After we left Nazareth a few days ago, it was off to Cana...the sight of Christ's first miracle, and the church there. We stayed only a few minutes because we had to drive to the shores of Galilee and the base of Mt. Arbel. We got a great chance to do a short hike into the fields below the mountain on a trail that Christ himself would have walked on from Nazareth to the Galilee many times. It was picture perfect. From there we headed north first to the Church of St. Peter's Primacy. This is an absolutely beautiful courtyard church right on the shores of the lake. It is the sight of Jesus appearing to the disciples after the resurrection on the shore, and the sight of his reinstating of Peter..."Peter do you love me more than these?"...we had a while to sit there and really soak in where we were. It was such a calm day on Galilee...and very hazy. Next we headed up the hill (but very close) to the Church of the Beatitudes, sight of the Sermon on the Mount. We had a wonderful time of worship together, ol' Pastor Keith gave a message, and then we took Communion. It was so stirring to do this thing we've done many times before and get a renewed sense of gratefullness that it really happened. Jesus really did walk this earth. How wonderful that we, two thousand years later, get to share in the gift of remembering his love and sacrifice. We had a wonderful lunch at the convent of Peter's Fish, served head and all. Tastes like a sea bass to me. After lunch, we headed to a boat ride on the sea. They played our national anthem as we headed out from shore and Maia got to raise our flag on the mast! Hilarious. It was a moving experience to sit silently out in the boat looking at all the churches I mentioned before from a different perspective. You could imagine the disciples out fishing and hearing some guy call to them from the shore and tell them to put their nets down again (after they had been blanked for the whole day and night) and when they do they catch more fish than they can handle. You can imagine Peter jumping out of the boat and swimming after Jesus. So powerful. We read some scripture and prayed before heading back to shore.

We drove south along the shores of Galilee through Tiberius, across the Jordan River and south down the Jordan Valley to the road (south of Jericho) where we ascended into Jerusalem by night. It was a wonderful sight to see Jerusalem at night...all lit up. We went immediately to our hotel in the Christian Quarter of the Old City.

The next morning we were up and running with a meeting at the Latin Patriarchate headquarters with the Patriarch himself (the Archbishop in charge of the Catholic Church in all of Israel, Jerusalem, West Bank and Jordan). What an honor! It was just our group and a group from Memphis in the meeting with him. We were in a beautiful hall, and all had to stand formally when he entered. He spoke to us for a few minutes about peace in the land and his heart for the city. It was surreal to be a protestant group, not knowing much about the Catholic organizational hierarchy, sitting there in dialogue with such a distinguished person. A great experience. From there we headed out for a tour of the Old City with stops along the way in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (site of the Crucifixion), Western Wall (Jewish Holy site at the base of the Temple Mount) and the Via Dolarosa. The Old City is under extreme security at the moment, and just a day ago Israel closed off the West Bank to all Palestinians for security reasons. It is a tense feeling every where you go, and there are police and soldiers at every turn. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful and ancient place.

This morning we headed out to see the Mt. of Olives, the Ascention spot, the Church of Dominus Flevit (where Jesus wept over Jerusalem on the mountain), the Church of all Nations at the Garden of Gethsemene (where they have thousands of years old olive trees...), and the Grotto of Gethsemene just below it (a Greek Orthodox site). It was a lot to take in (as most things on this trip have been) but very moving to be walking down the Mt. of Olives, knowing what all took place here. The whole way down we had a great view of the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock on top of it, as well as the rest of the Old City behind it. It gave us a good idea of the lay of the land.

After that, we headed to the church on top of the Upper Room site (traditional of course) and a Jewish Synagogue commemorating the Tomb of David. We then headed north of the Old City into a Muslim neighborhood to have the best Shawarma in the city! Our guide Issa was a very knowledgeable person, and we enjoyed our time hearing everything he had to say.

Please ask us for all the details when we get back, as we all had different perspectives and takes on our time in this land. It has been moving, hard, tiring, emotional, hot, cold, tense, heartbreaking, and joyful. We have truly been able to connect with all the "living stones" inhabiting this land today. We heard stories of real life and saw the real life happen before our eyes. Ultimately it is the people that make this place special. The people who embody Christ, as it was meant to be, and not the stones that make up traditional sites. We are very grateful for all the work HCEF and the people connected with them have put in on our behalf to make this trip so special. Special thanks to AMANI and ELIAS! You guys are wonderful, and we hope our friendship and partnership continues.

Thanks for all of you who have prayed and kept up with our journey. It has been special.

Please pray for smooth travelling as we have many long hours ahead of us and a few stops along the way before we reach home.

See you stateside!!