A day for stretching ... Israel2013 Travelblog7

A Jewish boy holding a heavy Torah scroll had his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall.A tour group made up mostly of Baptists (along with three Catholic friends) wouldn't normally pray the Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, but the study tour group from Campbell University Divinity School tried our best on Thursday, May 23.

We began the day with an opportunity for prayer at the Western Wall, where several bar mitzvahs were taking place, and a climb (after a 45-minute wait in the security line) to the Temple Mount for a closer look at the Dome of the Rock and the general environs that once were home to the temple of Solomon (destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC) and the Second Temple, which Herod the Great transformed into a wonder of the ancient world before the Romans leveled it in 70 AD. The Dome of the Rock was built several hundred years later, and has stood now, in various configurations, for the past 1300 years.

Many participants found it meaningful to walk barefoot on the pavement Jesus may have trod, or to meditate there.St. Anne's church is always a welcome break from much walking, and an amazing place for singing and listening to others sing. The respite wasn't long, though, before we began the Via Dolorosa, where the only relatively quiet spot was the Lithostratos, a first century floor and street thought to have been part of the Antonia fortress that Herod built on a corner of the Temple Mount -- and possibly the place at which Jesus was held by the Roman soldiers and flogged before beginning his hard walk to Calvary.

Leading prayers and devotional thoughts in a busy city street is a challenge.Praying the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem isn't easy, for most of the stations are located on narrow and crowded streets or alleyways through the Old City, and Cameron Jorgenson, who led the service, often had to shout over passersby and construction equipment. The last five stations are located inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was way too crowded and noisy for any sort of reverent service, but Dr. Jorgenson gave it a valiant effort.

Much of the building over the traditional site of the Cave of Macpelah was built under Herod the Great in the late first century, BC.After a lunch of falafel pitas, some of us enjoyed brief jaunts into the Arabic market before a long walk back to the bus for a drive south to Kiriath Arba, a Jewish settlement across from the town of Hebron, in the West Bank. There we saw a Herodian building constructed over the traditional site of the Cave of Macpelah, and visited a synagogue containing symbolic tombs for Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah.

Guide Doron Heiliger speaks to the group about the Children's Memorial before we enter. The six torches in the background, symbolic of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, are a popular symbol for the Yad VeShem.Though physically and emotionally tired, we ended the day at the Yad VeShem, Israel's Holocaust Museum, where the Children's Memorial had a strong impact on many of us, and the museum itself offered both education and a very visceral experience.

With each day, we find ourselves worn to a nub, but intensely grateful to be in this special place that we call holy.

Blogs from other members of the group can be found at these links:

David Stratton: davidsdeliberations.blogspot.com

Josh Owens: joshuakowens.blogspot.com

Susan Sevier: sevierlybaptist.com

In and about Jerusalem - Israel2013 Travelblog6

Doron Heiliger describes the "Master Course."The "Western Wall Tunnels" aren't seen by a majority of travelers who come to Jerusalem, but our guide was able to secure us an 8:00 a.m. entry to the excavation, which runs the length of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Only there can visitors see Herodian stones such as the 60 ft., 450 ton "master course" - a single stone that was situated nearly halfway up the wall, which was around 150 feet tall at that point. Herod's engineers were able to do amazing things.

Karen Pruette leads a devotion at Dominus FlevitA short bus ride took us to the top of the Mount of Olives, where we posed for the requisite group photo with the Dome of the Rock and the Al 'Aqsa mosque in the background, then made our way down the Palm Sunday Road, where we stopped to view Jewish cemeteries dating back more than 2,000 years and to view a first century tomb containing ancient ossuaries, or bone boxes.

The Garden of GethsemaneThat was near Dominus Flevit, the traditional spot that reminds us of where Jesus wept for the people of Jerusalem, and Karen Pruette led us in a devotion before we headed down a steep hill to the Garden of Gethsemane, not far from the bottom of the Kidron Valley. Olive trees there date back as much as two millennia.

Bethlehem Bible College offered us an opportunity to visit courageous Palestinian Christians who remain in the land and do their part to be the presence of Christ in a variety of ways, including humanitarian aid. Alex Awad, author of Palestinian Memories, pastor of a church in East Jerusalem, and a teacher at the college, gave a perspective-changing lecture to help us understand Israeli-Palestinian issues from the Palestinian point of view.

Kelly and Cameron Jorgenson touch the 14-pointed star that represents the place some believe Christ was born.From the college we traveled to the Church of the Nativity, at the highest point in Bethlehem, the traditional site of Jesus' birth. The ecclesial complex is a hodgepodge of buildings comprising three churches that share the space and zealously guard their parts of it (Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Roman Catholic).

A rose in the court outside the Roman Catholic church in Bethlehem. A short trip to Shepherd's Field and a stop at the Three Arches gift shop finished the day.

The abbreviated end to this rambling is due to a combination of late nights, random Internet outages, and lost work ... but better to post something poor for the folks back home than nothing at all!

 Blogs from other members of the group can be found at these links:

David Stratton: davidsdeliberations.blogspot.com

Josh Owens: joshuakowens.blogspot.com

Susan Sevier: sevierlybaptist.com)

A summer day by the Dead Sea -- Israel2013 Travelblog5

Visitors can't resist taking pictures of the upper falls at En Gedi, as Patty McClure demonstrates. I walked today where David walked -- and didn't find him standing there, but I did drink from where he drank, and tried to imagine what it would be like to try surviving in the barren hills of Judea with nothing but the rare oasis standing between me and a quick dessication.

Susan Sevier at En Gedi, where she had to compete for attention with two hyrex (also called coneys) feeding in nearby trees, and passersby on the trail. The study tour from Campbell University Divinity School started the day at En Gedi, an amazing oasis on the west side of the Dead Sea, the place where David famously cut off a corner of Saul's garment but refused to harm the king, who had gone into a cave to relieve himself while on a mission (with 3,000 men) to find and kill David, whom he deemed to be a threat.

Susan Sevier, a student at Virginia Theological Seminary who is traveling with our group, led us in a devotion from 1 Samuel 24 while also teaching us a Hebrew song, which Israeli school children joined in with gusto as they passed by on their way to an outing.

While some of the group stopped at the lowest fall, others hiked the steep trail past several other cataracts to the highest fall, which spills from a crevice in the mountain as if gushing straight from the rock -- an amazing sight, especially for the thirsty.

Brown-winged blackbirds guard empty storage rooms at En Gedi, while visitors view the northern palace in the background.And we were more than thirsty at Masada, a mountain fortress complete with two palaces that Herod the Great built as a potential retreat from danger, but never used. Masada is most famous as the stronghold from which nearly 1,000 Jewish zealots held out for six months against Rome's famed 10th legion, ultimately committing mass suicide before surrendering to the Romans.

Masada offers some amazing sights ... The rugged fortress, atop an isolated mountain ridge, was equipped with nine massive water cisterns to preserve what little rain falls in the area; large storerooms for grain, dried fruit, and wine; a Roman bath house complete with a cleansing pool, cool room (frigidarium), warm room (tepidarium), and steam room (calderion); and living quarters for all who resided there at different times.

A synagogue with benches built around the walls is one of the oldest surviving synagogue structures in the world, and families still come there to celebrate bar and bat mitzvahs.

Lunch at Masada offered several options, including a McDonalds which featured the "Big America" burger, which one won't find in America.

Brothers: Thomas Farrow noted that Josh Owens had a chance to experience being a "person of color." So did many others.A trip to Israel isn't complete without an opportunity to float in the Dead Sea, which is the lowest spot on the face of the earth at 1300 feet below sea level, and 10 times saltier than ocean water. The water is so bouyant that "swimmers" can float in any sort of configuration, including vertically, and never worry about sinking. Our crew enjoyed both the sea and it's famous mud, which is claimed to work miracles for the skin.

The day was long and hot, and tomorrow begins with a 6:00 a.m. wake-up call, but when you've come this far, you want to see and do all you can -- including being thankful. Very thankful.

 

(You can find other blogs from our group at these links:

David Stratton: davidsdeliberations.blogspot.com

Josh Owens: joshuakowens.blogspot.com

Susan Sevier: sevierlybaptist.com)

A blog on a bus ... Israel2013 Travelblog5

Who would have thought I'd end up posting a blog from a wifi-equipped bus? But the hotel Internet is down, so we do the best we can.

The ancient boat (an older picture, when they were still studying it).The church of "Peter's Primacy," near Capernaum.The remains of a 2,000-year-old fishing boat carefully preserved helped the study tour group from Campbell University Divinity School launch into a fifth day of travel in Israel. After brief visits to the church at Tabgha, which commemorates the feeding of the 5,000 with a famous mosaic floor, and the neighboring Peter's Primacy, where a tradition holds that Jesus cooked breakfast for the disciples and confronted Peter after the resurrection, we bade the Sea of Galilee goodbye and headed south for Jericho.

The ancient tower at JerichoThe city of Jericho claims to be the oldest city in the world, as archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon found an ancient tower there that could date back as far as 8,500-10,500 years ago. The city is located in a desert region some 1,000 feet below sea level, and could only exist in ancient times because it is home to a strong spring that makes the city a green oasis amid a barren wilderness overlooking the Dead Sea (see the photo below)The traditional "Mount of Temptation," near Jericho.

A nearby mountain is known as the "Mount of Temptation" due to a tradition that Jesus was tempted there after his baptism in the Jordan at a site nearby, at Bethany Beyond the Jordan. We royally failed temptation by eating a buffet lunch at the "Temptation Restaurant" before going to visit the baptism site.

The Israeli side of the baptism site is called Qasar el Yehudah. Although the water is muddy, shallow, and foul-looking at that point, a group of Russian Orthodox believers were baptized, then splashed each other with glee before emerging from the river.

Cave 4 at QumranThe sun was really bearing down as we drove a few miles further south to the site of Qumran, where a small village is thought by many to have been the headquarters of the Essene community, and where the "Dead Sea Scrolls" were found in nearby caves. The most important of these caves, known as Cave 4, is just across the deep wadi from Qumran, though difficult to access.

Jerusalem, from the Haas PromenadeA short jaunt up the old Jericho road allowed us a short look at St. George's Monastery, built into the side of the deep wadi Qelt, and from there we drove less then 20 miles, mostly uphill, into the city of Jerusalem, where we caught our first glimpse of the temple mount while singing "The Holy City," and stopped for a brief devotion at the Promenade overlook before heading to our hotel, where we will spend five nights before returning.

Do you find a journey like this intriguing? We plan to do it again in May of 2015. You might want to start planning now!

(You can find other blogs from our group at these links:

David Stratton: davidsdeliberations.blogspot.com

Josh Owens: joshuakowens.blogspot.com

Susan Sevier: sevierlybaptist.com)

Modern Jericho, from Tell Es-Sultan (the tel of the ancient city)

Around the sea and back again ... Israel2013 Travelblog4

Walking on the cardo of Scythopolis, with the Beth She'an tel in the background.Pentecost Sunday began, for the Campbell University Divinity School study tour group, with a drive down the western shore of the Sea of Galilee as we made our way to Beth She'an, where an ancient tel comprising 20 layers of Canaanite, Egyptian, and Philistine civilization towers over the impressive remains of Scythopolis, one of the ten cities of the Roman decapolis. Beth She'an is remembered in 2 Samuel as the place where the Philistines hung the bodies of King Saul and his sons on the wall of the city after defeating Israel and nearby Mount Gilboa.

Susan Sevier sings from the stage of the Roman theater in ScythopolisScythopolis (so named because it was populated mainly by Scythians) was a prosperous city with a beautiful colonnaded cardo, a huge temple to Dionysius, two bathhouses, a hippodrome, an amphitheater, and a theater. We visited the theater first, where contralto Susan Seveir, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., thrilled all present with a scintillating rendition of "The Holy City."

After visiting the lower city, about half the group climbed the 200 or so steps needed to reach the top of the tel, where we could take pictures of the lower city and pose beneath a tree prop left from the filming of Jesus Christ Superstar more than 30 years ago (Judas hung himself from it in the movie).

I got the privilege of demonstrating how to "lap like a dog." Photo by Susan Sevier. From Beth She'an we traveled to Harod Spring, also known as Gideon's Spring. Judges 7 tells the story of how God told Gideon to reduce the size of his army so any victory would be clearly attributed to God and not to the army. Gideon had 10,000 men drink from Harod Spring, choosing only those who "lapped like a dog" while remaining alert rather than sticking their faces in the water -- and winnowed his forces to 300 people, who were indeed victorious.

A scenic drive past fields of sunflowers, mangoes, and other crops took us near Mount Tabor on our way back to Tiberius, where we had an amazing lunch of St. Peter's fish at the Decks cafe, on the waterfront of the Sea of Galilee. We boarded a boat directly from the cafe and made our way north across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, where we viewed an ancient church built over the traditional site of Peter's home, and saw a fourth century synagogue built over the basalt foundations of the first century synagogue where Jesus would have attended and likely taught during the time he spent in and about Capernaum.

Thomas Farrow, pastor of one of two First Baptist Churches in Clinton, NC, leads the group in a devotion at Capernaum.Nathan Morton, pastor of Burgaw Baptist in Burgaw, N.C., speaks a confession before Dr. Cameron Jorgenson charges him to "remember your baptism." Morton then baptized two members of his congregation.One of the greatest surprises for some of our travelers has been the discovery that the "Sea of Galilee" (also known as Kinnereth and Lake Gennesaret) is not really a sea, but a big lake. A nice drive around the north and east sides of the lake brought us to the southern end, where 18 members of our group took the opportunity to remember their baptism in the waters of the Jordan River at a location called Jardenit.

It was a long and hot day, but filled with inspiring experiences that left many of us feeling, on this Pentecost Sunday, that the Spirit of God was indeed present in our midst.