Israel/Jordan 2008 - GROUP PHOTO

Here we are in the Garden of Gethsemene...

Marilyn's Watercolours from Israel and Jordan

While I was writing my blog, Marilyn was getting the measure of Israel and Jordan with her watercolours. Here is some of her work.

Some final thoughts.....

Was the trip everything I thought it would be?

Absolutely!

When you travel to the Holy Lands with over 50 other Christians, including your own Pastor, the opportunities for teaching, discovery and learning under the umbrella of expanding your faith journey are tremendous. This was an opportunity I was ready for. What I didn’t know was how much I needed it.

I’ve got a marked up Bible – with names dates and places to remind me of what we saw and heard. When I open it, it shouts at me.

In case you haven’t picked up on this in the rest of the blog, Scripture and reading the Bible mean a lot to me and I’m trying to think of the multiplication factor this trip has given me in that pursuit. For example, when I read the Beatitudes again – having been in the place where Jesus gave them – is it 10X, 100X, 1000X? – right now I’m going with a million!

Also, the historicity of the Bible and its relevance in today’s secular world went up in my estimation. The homilies that Kim, Duke and Glen gave us, based on the places we were in, left me moved and thankful that they were able to drive home the Bible’s message in today’s world.

Would I go again? In a heartbeat. In the meantime, I’ve got so much to go over and study, especially in my morning quiet time. Life just got a whole lot busier. Bring it on.

Sunday June 1, 2008 – The trip home

With little sleep, we head for the bus for the last time. At the Tel Aviv airport, the security as we leave is thorough, lengthy and focused. On in our group – Joe – is pulled aside and asked more detailed questions, but he returns to us with no further follow on. Into the air, we head for a connecting flight in Rome.

Joy is carrying her “sticks” and makes it onto the plane with them at Tel Aviv. However, as we go through Rome airport security, they won’t let them through. You just have to shake your head, when world class security at Tel Aviv says OK and the Italians have a different view. Oh well, Joy takes it in stride.

Rome airport lives up to its reputation as just awful. This time, clearing security is better, but the waiting area has a new surprise – door alarms that go off for 30-45 minutes at a time with airport officials hopelessly inept. Marilyn fished out her ear plugs.

Finally we’re on the plane for the long trip home, catching some little sleep.

Arriving in Toronto, it’s great to be home!

Saturday May 31, 2008 – Returning from Jordan to Tel Aviv

We’re in a beautiful hotel in Jordan, right on the Dead Sea and we have some time in the morning to go down to the Dead Sea for a “swim”, which should be more accurately described as a “float”. We walk down around 5:30am while the sun is not punishing and the water is merely “very warm”. Wading in, you can feel the pressure of the 30% salt content water pushing up on your feet. I’m told that if you get beyond the point where your feet are not on the bottom, you are upright in the water like a cork. We opt to go in a bit, and lie on our back. And you do truly float. I should have brought the morning paper to read!

We enjoy some time in our beautiful room and Marilyn paints in the area outside our sliding door, overlooking the pool. I blog away. But it’s time to check out.

On the bus, Kim picks up on the “thankfulness” theme as we begin to wind down, and there’s so much to be thankful for after a trip like this. Duke cranks it up with his guitar on the way to the border.

Glen had to return early to a conference in Vancouver, but he’s left a letter which Kim reads and it’s packed with thanks and encouragement. He thanks our guide Tom, he thanks us for our gift and he asks us to remember Duke and Kim. He reminds us that our spiritual growth is most important and that we should lay aside whatever is keeping us from a full relationship with God. He asks us to take a quiet moment to invite Jesus into our life, again. Through Christ’s sacrifice, we start eternal life right now. And he closes with “Let’s have fun!”

The border crossing back into Israel was a lot smoother than coming into Jordan and we’re able to stay on the bus with our bags all the way to Israeli customs and security. Our Israeli guide Tom is there to meet us and we drive back through Jerusalem, lunching in Jaffa before getting to Tel Aviv for one last “night”, if you can call it that – we’ll be up at 1am to head for the airport and more security before we board a 5:30am flight.

Mount Nebo and Jesus’ Baptism at the Jordan River – Friday May 30, 2008

Leaving our hotel at Wadi Mousa, Kim leads us in Compline, an inspired choice given that this is usually a service done at the end of the day. Today, however, we’re going to Mt. Nebo where Moses saw the promised land and then died at 120 years of age. So we celebrate Compline in recognition of the end of Moses “day”. Kim points us to Deuteronomy 31:1-6 & 34 where Joshua will succeed Moses as Moses prepares to die in Moab. Kim highlights Verse 6 as one for the ages: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you and forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

We drive on the King’s highway to the Desert highway. There used to be trees, but they were all cut down during the Ottoman time after the railway was built between 1890 and 1900. The narrow gauge railway lines are still in use for freight only. At one time, passengers would go between Istanbul and Medina, Saudi Arabia.

We have a long ride to Mt. Nebo so this gives Fatih, our guide, lots of time to talk about Muslim marriage traditions and customs. There are three things in a marriage contract – a dowry, a settlement if the man divorces her and an arrangement for dividing the apartment and furniture in the event of a divorce. If a man wants a divorce, he says “I divorce you” - said three times over a period of time. A woman can ask for a divorce, but has to give a reason. A man can remarry but needs the approval of his first wife. If a woman commits adultery, the man is not obliged to pay the divorce settlement.

We stop at a spot on the Desert highway, buy a hat for granddaughter Eva and drink some amazing Turkish coffee. It’s black, inky and “chewy” with an inch of sediment left in the bottom. Yum! Peter needs to lay some of this on at his Easy Restaurant in Toronto.

Duke takes to the mike on the bus and leads us in a homily based on Genesis 19:30, which describes how the Moabites were “formed” by Lot and his daughters. Fast forwarding to the book of Ruth, Naomi and her daughter Ruth are Moabites who go to Israel because of famine. Ruth ends up marrying Boaz, and their family is the lineage to the house of David – and to Jesus – this line picked up in Matthew’s gospel. Duke’s key message is that no matter where you come from or what your circumstances are, redemption and forgiveness are always available.

Fatih, our guide, has listened to Duke’s reading about Lot and takes the mike. He diplomatically lets us know that Lot is a prophet according to the Koran a prophet can commit no sin – so the Biblical version of Lot and his daughters is problematic. Duke raises the “diplomacy” stakes by suggesting that the issue is between the two books, but not between he and Fatih.

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We come to Mount Nebo and get to see the view Moses would have seen, looking over to Jericho and the entire Jordan Valley down to the Dead Sea. We can even see the hills of Jerusalem in the far distance. This was the Promised Land. In the heat at the top of Mt. Nebo, Duke picks up on the “Promised Land” theme: What is your promised land? What does it look like? God has a shape for that home or settled place in your life. Moses was denied entry to the Promised Land because he showed arrogance after God told him where to find water. The blessings of water come from God, the Jordan comes from water out of a rock – how are we investing our life so that the people who come after us will be blessed through us?

Looking through the rest of the site, there are 6^th century archeological mosaics from a Greek Church that were on display. Paul John Paul II visited the site in 2000.

After lunch in Madaba, we drive down about 1,200 meters to the Jordan River site of Jesus’ Baptism. All four Gospels tell the story: Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-12, Luke 3:21-27 and John 1:29-34. As we arrive there, we see the hill where Elijah was taken up to Heaven.

At the Jordan, Kim reads the Luke 3 account of Jesus’ Baptism. John the Baptist is described as confronting people – why are you here and picking up on that, Kim asks us what we need to confront in our life? – attitudes, being less cynical of others, changing attitudes with family members, people in the workplace. Realizing that our pilgrimage is ending soon, Kim challenges us to understand what God is saying to us about what has to change. As pilgrims, we should leave this place as changed people.

Here the border between Jordan and Israel is just the river and in the 40C heat we touch our fingers in a baptismal font and reach down into the Jordan. Some fill water bottles to take home.

We drive on to the five star Marriott Jordan Valley, right on the Dead Sea.

Petra - Thursday May 28, 2008

From our hotel in Wadi Mousa we get on the bus and head for a day at Petra. It’s not a long drive, so Kim has to be economical with time and leads us by reading Matthew 6:31-34, an encouragement for all of us for every day. He highlights Verse 33 as a good one to memorize and take to our heart: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The site of Petra is classified as the second wonder of the world, after the Pyramids. It was part of the Indiana Jones movie and that sparked more tourism interest. Discovered in 1812 by “modern” Europeans, we now we will see it in the daylight. On the way down to the Treasury building, we pass many tombs, some plain, some with decoration. In Nabatean times, tombs were left open and the dead were celebrated. Some of the tombs had obelisks, showing Egyptian influence. Apparently the Nabateans believed in an afterlife and these tombs were part of that preparation.

Parts of the canyon were chiseled out by hand to make a passage – called a “siq” (Editor’s note: there’s a good Scrabble word, if you can get away with it). In the passage, the Nabateans made water channels to carry it to cisterns. As well, they laid clay tiles to carry water to where it was needed. At the main entrance, an arch used to go across, but it collapsed in 1886. As we look up we can see the chisel marks from 2,000 years ago. There are recessed areas to honour the gods of their day and some of the places would have been quite elaborate with inscriptions and marble facades.

The “Treasury” is actually a tomb for one of the Nabatean kings. The Bedouins, who controlled the area for a long time prior to European interest thought there must be gold or treasure hidden and they made a bit of a mess looking for things. Nonetheless, you can’t help but be amazed at these “structures”, carved and chiseled out of red sandstone. The area is vast.

Other parts of Petra include many impressive tombs, an amphitheater and the place where up to 40,000 people may have lived.

The pool back at the hotel was refreshing indeed after a long dusty walk into Petra and out again in high temperature and hot sun.