Holy Land Pilgrimage: February 8th – 18th, 2010

Well, the trip is finally over. I could write and talk for days on all that we experienced. For now, the best way I know to summarize what this trip did to me is to say, “Before I came here, I read the Bible in black and white. Now I see it in color.”

This is a quick chronological listing of the places we visited each day of our trip.

Day 1: February 9^th 2010 (Tuesday)

Tel Aviv

Joppa/Joffa (Jonah 1)

· Simon the Tanner’s House (Acts 10)

Day 2: February 10^th, 2010 (Wednesday)

Caesarea Maritima

· Paul’s last days before being sent to Rome (Acts 25)

Aqueduct

Mt. Carmel

· Jezreal Valley

· Valley of Armageddon (Rev 16.16)

· Elijah and the Prophets of Ball (1 Kings 18)

Megiddo

Mt. Tabor

· Site of the Transfiguration (Matt 17, 2 Pet 1)

Checked in at kipputz (hotel in a commune community) on the Sea of Galilee

Day 3: February 11^th, 2010 (Thursday)

Boat ride on Sea of Galilee

· From Genessaret (Matt 14.34) to Capernaum

Site of demon-possessed man/pigs (Luke 8.26, ff)

Capernaum (Matt 4.12)

· Peter’s mother-in-law’s house

· Synagogue of Jesus’ day

Mount of Beatitudes (Matt 5-7)

· Site of sermon on the mount

Chorazin (Matt 11)

Tiberius

Baptism in the Jordan River (Luke 3.21, ff)

Site where Christ reinstated Peter (John 21)

Site of the Multiplication (Jesus feeds 5000; Matthew 14)

Day 4: February 12^th, 2010 (Friday)

Tree Planting

Cana

· Site of the First Miracle (John 2)

Nazareth

· Church of the Annunciation (Luke 1)

· Church of the Synagogue (Luke 4.16, ff)

Bet She’an (“House of Light;” “The Decapolis” in Matt 4.25)

Drove through West Bank toward Jerusalem

Arrived at Jerusalem

· Mt. of Olives

Day 5: February 13^th, 2010 (Saturday)

Mt. of Olives

· Church of the Ascension (Acts 1)

· Pater Nostre (where Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer; Luke 11)

Dominis Flavit (where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem)

Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26)

Walked through the Kidron Valley

· Tomb of Absalom (2 Sam 13)

· Tomb of Zecheriah

City of David

Site where Solomon is anointed

· Spring of Gihon

Pool of Silom

On top of Mt. Zion

· High Priest’s palace

· Dungeon where Jesus kept

· Place of Jesus’ late night “trial”

· Where Peter denies Christ (Mk 14)

Bethlehem (In the West Bank)

· Church of the Nativity

· Shepherd’s Field (where the angel announced to the shepherds; Luke 2)

· Shopping in Bethlehem

Day 6: February 14^th, 2010 (Sunday)

Church at St. George’s Episcopal Church

Church of the Holy Sepulcher (where Jesus was crucified and resurrected; John 20)

Shopping in the Old City of Jerusalem

Day 7: February 15^th, 2010 (Monday)

Wailing/Western/Retaining Wall

· Entered through the “Dung Gate”

Mount Moriah

· Temple Mount

· Site where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac (Gen 22)

· Dome of the Rock

Stephen’s Gate/Lion’s Gate (Acts 7)

Pool of Bethesda (John 5)

Via Delarosa

· The Stations of the Cross (the path Jesus took on Good Friday; John 19)

· Ended at Church of Holy Sepulcher (site of crucifixion and resurrection; John 19-20)

Mt. Zion

· Church of St. Anne (mother of Mary)

· The Upper Room (Matt 26, Acts 2)

· Tomb of King David

Israeli Museum

· Scale replica of Jerusalem during the 2^nd Temple Period

· Dead Sea Scrolls

Day 8: February 16^th, 2010 (Tuesday)

Masada

Qumran

Swimming in the Dead Sea

Day 9: February 17^th, 2010 (Wednesday)

Birthplace of John the Baptist

Israeli National Holocaust Museum

Garden Tomb

· We closed the touring portion of our trip with communion at the Garden Tomb

Israel, so far

As many of you know, I’m in Israel right now on a 10-day pilgrimage. I can’t begin to describe my excitement, nor will I ever be able to fully relay all that I’ve learned and experienced over here.

What this trip does for your faith—what it’s done for my faith--is indescribable.

We went to Joppa (Jonah 1; Acts 10) in Tel Aviv as soon as we landed. There we saw, “according to the tradition” (AttT; I’ll explain this at church as need arrives), the house of Simon the Tanner.

We spent the last two nights at Gennesaret (Matthew 14.34; cf. Dt 3). Yesterday started with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. That was an event I couldn’t have anticipated in my wildest dreams. Feeling the water splash up on my face as our group sang, “How Great Thou Art” brought tears to my eyes. It made Peter’s incident with Jesus outside the boat so much more vivid (Matt 14.22, ff)

We landed at Capernaum (Matt 4.13: Jesus’ home town) and spent the next two days touring the area of Galilee. Quick list of all that I can remember:

• 1st Century Capernaum synagogue; aka: Jesus’ church
• Golan Heights
• Tiberius
• Caesarea Maritima (Acts 10.1)
  
• Mt. Carmel (Elijah & the prophets of Baal)
• Valley of Armageddon (Rev 16.16)
  
• Megiddo
• Chorazin (Mt 11.somewhere...)
  
• Nazareth (John 1.46) :=)
  
• Cana (John 2; site of the first miracle)
• Mt. Tabor (Mark 9; site of the Transfiguration; AttT)
• Church of the Annunciation (1 of the first 4 Christian churches ever built)
• Site of the Multiplication (feeding the 5 thousand; AttT)
• Church/site of the Beatitudes/Sermon on the Mount (AttT)
• Drove through the West Bank on our way south to Jerusalem

Those are in no particular order, and I probably forgot half of what we’ve done so far. We go nonstop all day, so there is way too much to recall off the top of my head. I'm trying to type this as quickly as I can b/c I'm running out of prepaid internet time...

Not much more time to write right now, so I’ll update as I’m available. We go into the “Old City” (original Jerusalem) tomorrow.

-a happy pilgrim