The Sea of Galilee

Wow! This was an incredible day! We got up early (yes, I made it up in time) and drove around the south end of the lake to Ein Gev, a large kibbutz on the south east shore. There we boarded a tourist cruise boat and sailed the whole length of the lake.



We saw many of the sights we had seen previously, like the Mount of the Beatitudes, Capernaum, and the Seven Springs, but this time from the lake view, which is how Peter might have seen them from his fishing boat.




We took a tour of the museum at Kibbutz Ginosar where the Jesus Boat is located. If you haven’t heard of the Jesus Boat, it is an archeological discovery found in 1986 during a drought when two men form the kibbutz found a piece of wood sticking out of the mud. On closer inspection, they discovered an entire boat of ancient design. The discovery caused a sensation and it was carefully dug up and preserved in the museum now on the kibbutz. They even brought in an American expert on ancient ships from Texas A & M University! It was amazing to see this actual piece of history, an ancient craft much like the one Peter might have owned and Jesus would have ridden in.



We ended the day with a tour of the kibbutz, which is a kind of communal farm started by Jews coming in to Israel in 1948 with nothing. If they lived on a kibbutz, at least they had a place to stay and food to eat. Now, two generations later, the farms have been quite successful, and the people well off since they have no taxes and free housing and schools. Many kibbutzim have expanded to light industry and tourism. At the gift shop I bought WAY too much stuff, including a shofar and a new Talith or prayer shawl, since I lost mine in the move from Missouri. Maybe next spring we can have a Seder dinner at Passover.


If you are interested in the trip from another perspective, one of the other pilgrims, Rev. Amy Dodson from Nashville, has a blog going as well. You can find her site here. I have made arrangements to share photos with Amy and a couple of others as well, so the trip will be well documented. Austin Seminary is also posting information, including, I understand, some video clips, at their sitehere.

Oy, What a morning!

Just to contrast with yesterday, I slept soundly through the night and Drew woke me up at 8:15. I guess my internal clock is not reset yet. At least I managed to catch the bus at 9:00.

This morning we went to the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. Many people have the misconception that he was on top of the mountain preaching when in reality, he was at the bottom, speaking up the hill like a theatre. The place where we went has a church and beautiful gardens, owned and managed by the Franciscians. There were LOTS of tourists and busses fromItaly, China and even India. It was curious to see folks you don’t normally think of as having a Christian heritage worshipping in one of the outdoor chapels on the grounds.



Then we went to the Church of Heptapegon, where Jesus fed the 5,000. It is called Tabgaa because the local people could not say the Roman name Heptapegon which is Greek for Seven Springs. In this dry and thirsty land, it gets very bad and here, where the springs are, the land is much better. That is why many people suspect that Jesus came here. It is a place where great crowds of people would come, and to listen to his teaching and to be fed. Some of the springs are small, but one comes gushing out of the rock and makes a waterfall!



The church is owned by the Benedictines, and it was discovered when they were digging a trench to divert water and found a mosaic floor. As they unearthed it, they found a beautiful image of two fish and a basket of bread. It was next to a large stone on which it is assumed Jesus set the extra baskets like a picnic table, for a good Jew would never set them on the ground. One interesting thing we learned about the mosaic is that it has two fish and only four loaves, whereas the Bible says five. Why? They believe the Byzantine church built here was making a statement that the loaves and fish in the mosaic are completed by the fifth loaf, which is the Living Bread on the altar above, the communion table. Neat, huh?



Tomorrow we go on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and see some sights on the other side of the lake. Should be a fun day. Hopefully not so hot. It was 41 today – c! That’s over 100 to you and me. You have to pay for internet access here at the hotel, so that is why I put up two days at a time. Guess I’m cheap. You can only buy an hour, and you have to use it all, you can’t split it up. So I am going to split my hour today with one of the other pastors, and we’ll see how that goes.

I’ll post again tomorrow, so God bless!

O, What a Morning!

I had an absolutely glorious experience this morning! With such a difficult day yesterday and no sleep, I fully expected to crash and burn and sleep like a rock, but I guess my natural body clock is stronger than I exoected. I woke up around 2:00 am and could not go back to sleep, so around 3:30 I finally gave up and got up, took my book and went down to the lobby to read (I didn’t want to disturb my roomate).
About 5:30, the sun began to rise, so I went out to the hotel garden for prayer and watched the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. What an incredible start to the trip! I am sure that there are many things about the trip that I will eventually forget, but I don’t think that will be one of them!



Today’s agenda began with an over view of the lake at the cliffs of Arbel, a high point on the north end of the lake.In the First Century the Jews held off attacking Romans by hiding in the caves on the cliff face, but the Romans eventually won. The view was tremendous! You can see almost the entire lake from up there, but it was hazy, so we only saw about half of it. Our guide is Claudia who is an Arab Christian and took pains to point out that the original Christians who were not Jews were Arabs.

Next was Capernaum, site of Peter’s house and a Third Century basilica built on top of it. There is no modern city there, only an archeological site and a church built and managed by the Franciscans. Peter’s house (so determined by the early church built over it) shows by its size and its proximity to the synagogue that Peter was not the poor fisherman many people often think him to be. His house was large and he loved close to the sunagogue, which would demonstrate a person of influence. The picture that gives is one of Jesus coming and calling a person of wealth and influence to support his ministry. Capernaum was also on a major route to Jerusalem, so many people would have heard about Jesus and spread the word as they went. Even Herod had heard about him. The Romans would be able to see any large crowd of even a few hundred, much less 5,000 from their headquarters in Tiberias. It gives a much different perspective on things than I previously had. To actually stand on the shore and look across gives a sense of the scale, the very small scale, on which Jesus’ life and ministry was carried out. We had St. Peter’s fish for lunch which is a kind of fresh water talapia served with the head on like a trout, and french fries, which were dubbed St. Andrew’s fries, as they went so well with Peter’s fish.



Blessings to all!

We Made it!

Well, it was a short night. We landed in Frankfurt and I didn’t set my watch to Germany time, so its 2:00 am. But the sun is up and we have already eaten breakfast. No sleep on the plane. Ugh.

We have gotten past the security gate, and the security on the Tel-Aviv flight is the tightest so far. Go figure. We had to do all the regular stuff and we got scanned with a metal detecting wand after we went through the gate. The wand was so sensitive it ‘hit’ on a pack of medicine in the bubble pack with foil on the back about the size of a postage stamp!

Sitting here at the gate, we watched several Jewish men at their morning prayers with prayer shawls and phylacteries. No doubt this will become a much more common sight once we get to Jerusalem, but here it is still a novelty.

It made me think about my own spiritual practice. How important is it that we engage in our spiritual practice when we are out of our normal element? Do you go to chur4ch when you are on vacation? For that matter, how good are we at keeping our spiritual practice even when we are at home?

We arrived in Tel-Aviv about 3:00 pm, boarded our tour bus and rode two more hours to Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. En route, we passed Nazareth and Mt Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration. The first impression I have is much like Mark Twain; how small everything is. I’ll bet Mt Tabor (called a “high mountain” in the Gospels, and our guide told us it was the highest in lower Galilee) isn’t higher than the chapel on the hill at MO Ranch! I would guess its 1,000 or 1,500 ft. The Sea of Galilee is similar in its diminutive size. You can see all the way across it at pretty much every point. Not much wider than Lake Mexia, although I suspect it is much deeper. It is set in a bowl, and one of our number commented to me that it is no wonder that the crowds followed Jesus here, because you could see a good sized crowd from across the lake and be inclined to go see what was going on. We start our actual touring tomorrow, and I will try to take and load a few pictures. We have to pay for internet access here, so I will try and make it worthwhile. Now to bed to get some rest for tomorrow.

Morning Devotions

I am often amazed and fascinated at the connections God makes in our lives if we will only look for them. My daughter likes to say, “It’s a God thing.”

Today we have more orientation this morning and then pack up to leave. We catch the shuttle at 1:00pm and our flight leaves this evening at 5:45. O goody, more time in an airport!

As I opened my devotional book this morning (My Utmost for His Highest) I was amazed that the first word written was “Jerusalem.” Here is a devotional book that was written a hundred years ago, compiled 50 years ago, and today, on the day I leave, it quotes Luke 18:31, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.” Kinda creepy, huh?

The devotion’s point was that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, to be about fulfilling God’s will. He did so resolutely and with purpose. But we seldom do. In fact, we rarely have the sense of doing God’s will at all, if we can even discern what it might be. We somethines THINK we know, but God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts not our thoughts. What we more often do is to determine what we think God wants, go about doing it, and seek his approval. I love the image Oswald Chambers uses. He says, “The work we do is of no account, it is so much scaffolding compared with the big compelling of God.”

Our spiritual assignment for today I found both interesting and profitable. You should try it. We were to think about where there is scarcity in our lives and where there is abundance. We all have both. Then we were challenged to think about how both the scarcity and the abundance create difficulty and how they also create blessing. There are two sides to every coin. As we “turn our faces toward Jerusalem,” we are both emptied and filled. Emptied of unnecessary baggage and filled with the Spirit of God, who loves and cares for each of us.

Down Day - Sabbath

Not too much to report today. We have been at a hotel in Virginia near Washington DC meeting and eating all day. This morning we spent some time talking about pilgrimage and what that means, and getting to know our fellow pilgrims in small groups. Lunch was incredible! This is a very fancy place. Lansdowne resort Glad I don't have to pay for it. Kody and Kreig would love the golf here. Its amazing what you can grow where there is regular rain. This afternoon, orientation by the group's organizers from the Cousins Foundation, a philanthropic foundation that does faith-based work. This is the end of a 3 year grant that included 12 seminaries sending pastors to the Holy Land for retreat, pilgrimage, and spiritual refreshment. To date they have sent over 500 pastors! Also heard from the travel agent about what to do/not do, how to act, dress, and what to expect in Israel. Good advice. Tonight we worship together. Psalms, communion, and Taizé-style music. Very pretty.

More orientation tomorrow, and we leave for the airport around 1:00 pm. I'll try not to miss the plane this time!

The Adventure Begins

The adventure, indeed.

I guess you always begin any trip with the understanding that things can go wrong, but how wrong, you have no idea!

We arrived at the Waco airport this morning at 8:00am, in plenty of time to catch my flight that left at 9:30. My itinerary called for a flight to Dallas, change planes and on to Washington DC where I was scheduled for an early dinner and a day of orientation, time to meet the other pilgrims, etc.


There was evidently weather in Dallas, so flights were delayed. I was booked on a flight that was to come from Dallas, and then turn around and go back. By the time it got to Waco, got reloaded, and left, it was after 11:00. My connecting flight left Dallas at 11:20. I tried to catch the next flight to DC, but it was already full of other people who had missed their flights, so I got booked on the next available flight at 6:30 pm, a full 7 hours after my scheduled flight! Sheesh.

I am trying to spend the time profitably, so I am writing this blog entry. I am also relfecting on the spiritual discipline of solitude; being alone with God. It seems a strange subject to contemplate in a crowded airport, but I don’t know a soul here, so I am indeed alone. Also, consider how seldom we are alone. I know lots of people who get pets and leave the television on all the time so they don’t have to experience the lonliness of having no one around. But if we don’t spend some time alone (albeit at times against our will!) when will we ever be able to listen for/to the voice of God? That’s what I came for; to listen for and, hopefully, to hear the voice of God in the desert, in the Holy Land. Maybe this is just the warm-up. I shouldn’t complain. It took Moses 40 years in the wilderness watching sheep to hear God. 8 hours in an airport is the fast track!

Beldon Lane said, “To freely choose what one cannot change may be the highest exercise of the will, and its deepest freedom.”(p. 206)

I finally made it to the hotel in Washington about midnight. When I checked in, the desk clerk said, "Oh, there's a message for you. You are to meet your group at 5:30." oops. I had a good laugh.

My room mate for the duration is Drew Travis. Good guy. He is presently serving a church in Conway, AR. I have known Drew since Graham years when he was in Plainview. Some of you may be interested to know that he is Britton Varn's father and brother to Clay Travis of First Ft. Worth. Off to bed now. Up for worship tomorrow.

God is good...All the time!