Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Home
after 30 hours of travel, i am home, and Primo's has never sounded so good.
I have 500 pictures and a ton of video to sort through. I'm making a documentary of sorts abotu the trip. I'll be sure and post it when I am done.
much love to everybody who checked the blog...i can't believe how many people kept up!
I have 500 pictures and a ton of video to sort through. I'm making a documentary of sorts abotu the trip. I'll be sure and post it when I am done.
much love to everybody who checked the blog...i can't believe how many people kept up!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Shabbat, Communion, Golgatha, Holocaust, Bethlehem....and more!
I tried to update the blog 2 days ago, and failed: here is why.
Shabbat.
Shabbat is the Hebrew word for Sabbath. On Shabbat here in Israel there is NO WORK. Our hotel prepared our meals for Shabbat the day before. The elevators all have "Shabbat Mode" - which is basically autopilot: they go straight to the top from the ground level and then stop at every single floor o nthe way down. See, pushing elevator buttons is considered work. Using the internet is considered work. Therefore, the hotel computer was off for the duration of Shabbat. Shabbat starts from sun down on friday night (about 7pm) and then lasts until an hour after sundown on Saturday (about 8pm). Everything re-opens at 8pm: the drugstores, internet, etc. So....that is why this series of posts are so delayed.
Communion
Yesterday we visited what is known as the Garden tomb. In Jerusalem there are 2 spots that are supposed to have been the place where Christ was crucified. We know from scripture the name is Golgatha - meaning skull place - but the location has been hazy since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem within 100 years of Christ being crucified. The garden tomb is place number one, and the Holy Seplica (spelling help?) is the other. The Seplica is the orthodox location that was comemorated by the building of a church above the rock where Christ was crucified, etc. The church was built by the mother of Constantine, who built 14 churches over holy sites to preerve them. These sites are now known as the Via Delarosa, and this is where we get the 14 stations of the cross.
Lost? There is more....
So the garden tomb is where EVERYBODY ELSE (non-greek, armenian, and roman orthdox christians) hold that the crucifiction took place. The hill with the skull shaped side is pretty interesting, although an Israeli bus depo now is at the base of it (weird...). The tomb was, well, empty, but it had a slot for the stone to be rolled in and it was in a garden. If you need to read the description of the tomb you will need to check out the gospels, but we know it was outside the city gates, we know it was near a garden, and we know it was an unused tomb (they recycled tombs then).
So my conculsion is that I don't know which location I think that the crucifiction happened...but here is a truth I cling too: I KNOW it did happen.
Gethsemane
This is a picture of me in THE Garden of Gethsemane. The olive tree behind me with the thick trunk is likely around 4,000 years old.
Gethsemane is Hebrew for 'olive press' - there are thousands of gethsemanes in Israel. The Garden of Gethsemane that the Bible describes as the location where Christ was betrayed and Peter chops off the temple guard's ear (which Christ heals...) is in a valley between the mount of olives and the east Jerusalem wall. It makes sense that the olive oil factory was a the bottom of the mount of olives: natural supply chain.
We had an awesome time of prayer and worship in the garden.
Golgatha - The Place Christ was Crucified
This is Golgatha at the Garden Tomb
When we went to the Garden tomb after we visited all of the places where Christ went in the process of being tried and convicted of blasphemy, we took communion as a group. Pastor Scott, as he had done so many times before, took the bread and broke it and started his usual, "on the night which our Savior was betrayed..." lines to present communion to us. But the unusual part was that as he spoke about the disciples having the last supper, he pointed to the location in Jeruslam where they believe that to have taken place, and as he spoke about the temple guards coming to arrest Jesus after the betrayal, he pointed to the direction of the garden....he made commuinion come to life. And then he spoke about how he was hung on the cross, and exclaimed "right over there!" with his arm pointing towards skull hill. What an intense communion service it was!
Bethlehem
We have also visited Bethlehem. Our tour guide was not allowed (because he is Jewish) to go into the town. There is a wall around the town because iti scontrolled by the Palestinians, and the wall reminds me of the fragments I have seen of the wall that split east and west Germany in Berlin. It wa sickening. But we went with a differen guide to the church up the hill from the ACTUAL Shepherd's fields where the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds to tell them this:
Here is a picture of me touching this star shaped stone that was cut on the place where Christ is held by tradition to be born. The feeding troph manger that he was layed in was wood, and removed, but replaced by a stone one on the other side of this small fireplace-looking thing that you see me kneeling in and touching.
Dead Sea Scrolls
The other cool thing we got to see and experience were the Dead Sea Scrolls. Did you know they have recovered a fragment of every book from the OT that predates the time of Jesus except for Esther? Wow! We were not supposed to take pictures, but I knew what I had to do for my loyal blog followers. Here ya go!
This is just a small part. They found all sorts of different types of paper and in 3 languages: aramaic, hebrew and greek. We visited the area of the cave where they were discovered, but that wasn't too cool.....but the artificats themselves are awesome. It looks like an old treasure map....
Holocaust Memorial
Here is a link if you are interested in learning more about the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem we visited. http://www.yadvashem.org.il/
This was a very sobering experience. Our guide told us a story that I want to pass on to you:
The children's memorial is incredible. It is this big dark room with 1 candle lit. Then there is thousands of mirrors all over the huge building that reflect the light and make it look like a million stars in the sky. There is a speaker somewhere in the dark, star-lit memorial that is listing the names, ages, and locations of every child to be slaughtered in the Holocaust.
Our tour guide tells a story of a women he had go through the memorial may years ago. She insisted on holding the hand of the tour guide and her husband for comfort because it was very hard for her to experience the memorial. Why was it extra difficult for this woman? She was a holocaust survivor, but her children were not.
You know where this is going.
As she was walking through the memorial, her children's names, ages, and location came reveling accross the PA system. She fell over faiting and had to be carried out of the room when she came to in complete and udder caious.
Unreal.
over 6 MILLION Jews lost their lives in the Holocaust.
Pray for Peace for the Israel Nation and the Jewish Heritage as a half-century later they are still recovering from this tradegy.
This is a picture outside the children's memorial at the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum
Shabbat.
Shabbat is the Hebrew word for Sabbath. On Shabbat here in Israel there is NO WORK. Our hotel prepared our meals for Shabbat the day before. The elevators all have "Shabbat Mode" - which is basically autopilot: they go straight to the top from the ground level and then stop at every single floor o nthe way down. See, pushing elevator buttons is considered work. Using the internet is considered work. Therefore, the hotel computer was off for the duration of Shabbat. Shabbat starts from sun down on friday night (about 7pm) and then lasts until an hour after sundown on Saturday (about 8pm). Everything re-opens at 8pm: the drugstores, internet, etc. So....that is why this series of posts are so delayed.
Communion
Yesterday we visited what is known as the Garden tomb. In Jerusalem there are 2 spots that are supposed to have been the place where Christ was crucified. We know from scripture the name is Golgatha - meaning skull place - but the location has been hazy since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem within 100 years of Christ being crucified. The garden tomb is place number one, and the Holy Seplica (spelling help?) is the other. The Seplica is the orthodox location that was comemorated by the building of a church above the rock where Christ was crucified, etc. The church was built by the mother of Constantine, who built 14 churches over holy sites to preerve them. These sites are now known as the Via Delarosa, and this is where we get the 14 stations of the cross.
Lost? There is more....
So the garden tomb is where EVERYBODY ELSE (non-greek, armenian, and roman orthdox christians) hold that the crucifiction took place. The hill with the skull shaped side is pretty interesting, although an Israeli bus depo now is at the base of it (weird...). The tomb was, well, empty, but it had a slot for the stone to be rolled in and it was in a garden. If you need to read the description of the tomb you will need to check out the gospels, but we know it was outside the city gates, we know it was near a garden, and we know it was an unused tomb (they recycled tombs then).
So my conculsion is that I don't know which location I think that the crucifiction happened...but here is a truth I cling too: I KNOW it did happen.
Gethsemane
This is a picture of me in THE Garden of Gethsemane. The olive tree behind me with the thick trunk is likely around 4,000 years old.
Gethsemane is Hebrew for 'olive press' - there are thousands of gethsemanes in Israel. The Garden of Gethsemane that the Bible describes as the location where Christ was betrayed and Peter chops off the temple guard's ear (which Christ heals...) is in a valley between the mount of olives and the east Jerusalem wall. It makes sense that the olive oil factory was a the bottom of the mount of olives: natural supply chain.
We had an awesome time of prayer and worship in the garden.
Golgatha - The Place Christ was Crucified
This is Golgatha at the Garden Tomb
When we went to the Garden tomb after we visited all of the places where Christ went in the process of being tried and convicted of blasphemy, we took communion as a group. Pastor Scott, as he had done so many times before, took the bread and broke it and started his usual, "on the night which our Savior was betrayed..." lines to present communion to us. But the unusual part was that as he spoke about the disciples having the last supper, he pointed to the location in Jeruslam where they believe that to have taken place, and as he spoke about the temple guards coming to arrest Jesus after the betrayal, he pointed to the direction of the garden....he made commuinion come to life. And then he spoke about how he was hung on the cross, and exclaimed "right over there!" with his arm pointing towards skull hill. What an intense communion service it was!
Bethlehem
We have also visited Bethlehem. Our tour guide was not allowed (because he is Jewish) to go into the town. There is a wall around the town because iti scontrolled by the Palestinians, and the wall reminds me of the fragments I have seen of the wall that split east and west Germany in Berlin. It wa sickening. But we went with a differen guide to the church up the hill from the ACTUAL Shepherd's fields where the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds to tell them this:
Here is a picture of me touching this star shaped stone that was cut on the place where Christ is held by tradition to be born. The feeding troph manger that he was layed in was wood, and removed, but replaced by a stone one on the other side of this small fireplace-looking thing that you see me kneeling in and touching.
Dead Sea Scrolls
The other cool thing we got to see and experience were the Dead Sea Scrolls. Did you know they have recovered a fragment of every book from the OT that predates the time of Jesus except for Esther? Wow! We were not supposed to take pictures, but I knew what I had to do for my loyal blog followers. Here ya go!
This is just a small part. They found all sorts of different types of paper and in 3 languages: aramaic, hebrew and greek. We visited the area of the cave where they were discovered, but that wasn't too cool.....but the artificats themselves are awesome. It looks like an old treasure map....
Holocaust Memorial
Here is a link if you are interested in learning more about the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem we visited. http://www.yadvashem.org.il/
This was a very sobering experience. Our guide told us a story that I want to pass on to you:
The children's memorial is incredible. It is this big dark room with 1 candle lit. Then there is thousands of mirrors all over the huge building that reflect the light and make it look like a million stars in the sky. There is a speaker somewhere in the dark, star-lit memorial that is listing the names, ages, and locations of every child to be slaughtered in the Holocaust.
Our tour guide tells a story of a women he had go through the memorial may years ago. She insisted on holding the hand of the tour guide and her husband for comfort because it was very hard for her to experience the memorial. Why was it extra difficult for this woman? She was a holocaust survivor, but her children were not.
You know where this is going.
As she was walking through the memorial, her children's names, ages, and location came reveling accross the PA system. She fell over faiting and had to be carried out of the room when she came to in complete and udder caious.
Unreal.
over 6 MILLION Jews lost their lives in the Holocaust.
Pray for Peace for the Israel Nation and the Jewish Heritage as a half-century later they are still recovering from this tradegy.
This is a picture outside the children's memorial at the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Here We Go
Finally a chance to update the blog! The last hotel we were at (Dead Sea, now in Jerusalem)....despite a ton of down time, I was unable to get on the internet.
The Dead Sea was un-real.
You know how when you lay flat in water and suck in a deep breath, you are sort of floating? Well the second you let any air out of your lungs you sink. In the Dead Sea you can do this (the end part):
The part where Baloo floats down the river....that was me. Laying on my back. You could "stand" in 20 feet of water no problem because you couldn't sink.....unbelievable. I have no pictures because I was in the water, but I could have brought a newspaper and read it without getting it wet. Crazy....
This is the view from our Hotel on the Dead Sea. The resort hotel was a spa with a 5 star restaurant and an incredible view! This is the view from my hotel room! We had a blast here: lots of time to relax and enjoy the the facilities. But we only had 1 night here. After this, it was off towards Jerusalem.....
On the way to Jerusalem we stopped in the Hills where Abraham's tribe used to shack up. We went to an "experience" called Abraham's Tent - it is an awesome deal where they have a servant who is sent by Abraham 3800 years into the future to find guests for a party. We are the guests the servant finds. He takes us on Camels to Abrahams Tent back in 1800 B.C. and we meet Abraham. Then we made our own pita bread and had the feast of a life time - a Byzantine Snack is what it was called; but think fattened lamb and the prodigal son. It was awesome!
I got to visit the Wailing Wall. I prayed like everybody else does: for my youth group in Antioch (Woot Woot!), for Justin (who asked me to...) and Nick C. (who I am discipling), and then a couple of general prayers....but oddly it felt like I was almost praying to a false Idol. Let me explain.
The Wailing Wall is a Jewish thing: the wall surrounds the Temple in the Old City (Jerusalem's 3000 year old part). The temple now is controlled by Muslims, and the picture I will post of the building with the Gold roof is basically right aroudn where the Holy of Holys was kept back in the days of David and Solomon, etc, right up through the time of Jesus. Jesus said clearly in the Gospels that the Temple would be destroyed and 3 days later he would rebuild it. What this means is to US Christians is that the Temple is US. We do not need to pray as close to the Holy of Holys as we can (like the Jews) because we believe the Holy of Holys is IN US: we call it the Holy Spirit. If you have any questions, let me know....but that is the short version.
We spent the rest of our time parading around the Temple learning about the various gates into the Old City and all of those things. We walked inbetween the "Golden Gate" and the Mt of Olives - which is where Jesus rode his donkey into the Temple Courts on Palm Sunday.....
This picture is of a place called Ein Geddy (spell check doesn't do Hebrew...). This is the place described in Judges 6 and 7 where Gideon does the whole test with a fleece (end of 6). Then in Chapter 7, he is to go out and fight the Midianites. God tells him he has too many people. So he lets 22,000 leave (left with 10,000). God says he still has too many. God tells him to take the men down to the water and let them drink. Those who lap up the water like dogs (stick their faces in it basically) are to be not taken to battle, but those who lift the water up to their mouths are to be taken to battle. Only 300 men lift the water to their mouths, and it is with those 300 men Gideon defeats the Midianite army. The water you see me lifting to my mouth as one of the 300 likely did is the exact same place where Gideon did it with his men. The natural spring at Ein Geddy has not moved for 3,000 years since the time of Gideon! How cool!
This is a picture I took with a friend I made: an israeli armed guard at the wailing wall! Did you know that if you take a youth group or church group or something similar ANYWAHERE recreational in Jerusalem you MUST have an ARMED GUARD with you at all times? There are people walking around with one hand holding a 6th graders hand, and the other holding a M-16 Semi-Automatice Machine Gun! We have it so good in Cali.....
Here is a picture of me jumping into a water fall spring in the area where David wrote the "as the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee," psalm....
I have pictures of me on a camel and also a picture of father Abraham, but I'm out of internet time.....so I'll upload them later!
Shalom!
The Dead Sea was un-real.
You know how when you lay flat in water and suck in a deep breath, you are sort of floating? Well the second you let any air out of your lungs you sink. In the Dead Sea you can do this (the end part):
The part where Baloo floats down the river....that was me. Laying on my back. You could "stand" in 20 feet of water no problem because you couldn't sink.....unbelievable. I have no pictures because I was in the water, but I could have brought a newspaper and read it without getting it wet. Crazy....
This is the view from our Hotel on the Dead Sea. The resort hotel was a spa with a 5 star restaurant and an incredible view! This is the view from my hotel room! We had a blast here: lots of time to relax and enjoy the the facilities. But we only had 1 night here. After this, it was off towards Jerusalem.....
On the way to Jerusalem we stopped in the Hills where Abraham's tribe used to shack up. We went to an "experience" called Abraham's Tent - it is an awesome deal where they have a servant who is sent by Abraham 3800 years into the future to find guests for a party. We are the guests the servant finds. He takes us on Camels to Abrahams Tent back in 1800 B.C. and we meet Abraham. Then we made our own pita bread and had the feast of a life time - a Byzantine Snack is what it was called; but think fattened lamb and the prodigal son. It was awesome!
I got to visit the Wailing Wall. I prayed like everybody else does: for my youth group in Antioch (Woot Woot!), for Justin (who asked me to...) and Nick C. (who I am discipling), and then a couple of general prayers....but oddly it felt like I was almost praying to a false Idol. Let me explain.
The Wailing Wall is a Jewish thing: the wall surrounds the Temple in the Old City (Jerusalem's 3000 year old part). The temple now is controlled by Muslims, and the picture I will post of the building with the Gold roof is basically right aroudn where the Holy of Holys was kept back in the days of David and Solomon, etc, right up through the time of Jesus. Jesus said clearly in the Gospels that the Temple would be destroyed and 3 days later he would rebuild it. What this means is to US Christians is that the Temple is US. We do not need to pray as close to the Holy of Holys as we can (like the Jews) because we believe the Holy of Holys is IN US: we call it the Holy Spirit. If you have any questions, let me know....but that is the short version.
We spent the rest of our time parading around the Temple learning about the various gates into the Old City and all of those things. We walked inbetween the "Golden Gate" and the Mt of Olives - which is where Jesus rode his donkey into the Temple Courts on Palm Sunday.....
This picture is of a place called Ein Geddy (spell check doesn't do Hebrew...). This is the place described in Judges 6 and 7 where Gideon does the whole test with a fleece (end of 6). Then in Chapter 7, he is to go out and fight the Midianites. God tells him he has too many people. So he lets 22,000 leave (left with 10,000). God says he still has too many. God tells him to take the men down to the water and let them drink. Those who lap up the water like dogs (stick their faces in it basically) are to be not taken to battle, but those who lift the water up to their mouths are to be taken to battle. Only 300 men lift the water to their mouths, and it is with those 300 men Gideon defeats the Midianite army. The water you see me lifting to my mouth as one of the 300 likely did is the exact same place where Gideon did it with his men. The natural spring at Ein Geddy has not moved for 3,000 years since the time of Gideon! How cool!
This is a picture I took with a friend I made: an israeli armed guard at the wailing wall! Did you know that if you take a youth group or church group or something similar ANYWAHERE recreational in Jerusalem you MUST have an ARMED GUARD with you at all times? There are people walking around with one hand holding a 6th graders hand, and the other holding a M-16 Semi-Automatice Machine Gun! We have it so good in Cali.....
Here is a picture of me jumping into a water fall spring in the area where David wrote the "as the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee," psalm....
I have pictures of me on a camel and also a picture of father Abraham, but I'm out of internet time.....so I'll upload them later!
Shalom!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
in secret...
I snuck into the office of the (new) hotel we are staying at and am using an office computer really quickly to update the blog. No time for stories or pictures unfortunatly. We are staying on the Dead Sea - which I will blog in detail about as soo nas I can.
Our pilgrimage is now moving to Jerusalem for the last leg of the Israel section of the trip. I'll update when I can.
Our pilgrimage is now moving to Jerusalem for the last leg of the Israel section of the trip. I'll update when I can.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Day 5: Caesarea Philippi
the cave is considered the Gates of Hades, and the rock mountain above it bears much significance. Read down!
Besides Caesera Philippi, we visited a bunker built into a mountain on the Syria-Israel border. It was intense! This me coming out of the door!
I had a lamb shwarma wrap for lunch today - in a massive pita. It was incredible, and the size of my head.
-----Day 5-----
Peter's Confession of Christ
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,the Son of the living God." 17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[d] will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Hello Everybody!
Today, the highlight of the day was visiting Caesarea Philippi - the place described in the passage above and visited by Jesus with the disciples. For more on the location see this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Philippi.
I learned today that the passage you just read is very very real. See, if you look at my picture in the next post with the cave - this cave was held by the people of this village as the GATES OF HADES (or the gates of hell!). The cave has a fresh water spring inside of it, and is the place where they would sacrifice goats, etc. It was a lavish resort-type place in the days of Jesus, and a sin-hole for sure. Jesus brought his disciples here as a test of sorts. And what he told them is revoltuoinary.
He told them that "on this rock I will build my Church." Well, if you look above the hill you basically see a mountain of rock! THIS is what Jesus was talking about. Often times we hear pastors jump from this passage to the good 'ole parable of the person who built his house on sand, rock, etc; and then they preach about building on the rock. That's not theologically bad or anything - but the meaning Jesus gave to the rock was much more tangible. Basically he was saying that at the gates of Hell, in a world of sin, he would build his church and NOTHING would defeat it.
That's us folks. That is OUR charge.
Pray on that and rejoice in the truth that the Church is built on the Rock, and it will never be destroyed!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Pictures From Day 4
We took a boat ride out on the Sea of Galilee. The water was glass and I deperatly wanted to wake board on the water. Then my father told me that I should actually give barefooting (Jesus?) a try if I was going to do anything...."when in Rom" I guess...
my feet standing in the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunatly, I am not Jesus and cannot walk on water....
I just studied the Franciscan Monks and Nuns in my seminary course. This is an actual Franciscan Nun.
this is the Synagogue from Capernaum where Jesus taught. The actual one. Like, seriously, the actual one!
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