Journey to Jerusalem

 We entered through the Damascus gate shortly after 5 am, at that time in the morning, I thought the old city would be quite and peaceful.  I was wrong.  At the gate was three Israeli guards with guns of course trying to keep the younger Muslims from entering for morning prayer. The security officers have decided that since they are typically at the heart of conflict that they should eliminate them from worship, only escalating the situation. As we made our way to the beginning of the stations of the cross, we were met by Muslims on their way to pray and young Muslims praying outside the gates as they are not allowed in. Friday is there holy day.                                                              ** Photos by Susan/ Cooper Lindstrom At the first station, we heard some shouting f...

On Thursday we were back in Jerusalem. First was the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church containing the stone where Jesus went to pray before his arrest. Matthew 26: 36-46. As beautiful as the church is the very old Olive trees next to the church. This was a relatively modern church, built in the 20 th century with beautiful mosaics and the stone where Jesus prayed in the middle for us to pray on. We then walked down the street that Jesus entered the city on Palm Sunday, which was very steep and offered a great view of the city. They must have had strong Donkeys to carry a man that way. We saw the “Golden gate” from a far which is the gate where Jesus would have entered the city. This gate is talked about in the Old Testament as the gate in which the 1 st coming will enter. It is owned by the Muslims and the gate has been sealed and tombs placed in front of it. Dome of the Rock sticks out like a sore thumb from this view. All the other buildings in the area were made from local...

On Sunday after communion, on our way to Nazareth we stopped at the Mount of Temptation.   The place it is said Jesus was tempted by the devil.   To get to the top, where a monastery is located, we needed to first take a cable car and then walk up a very steep path, a path version of the W road by our house.    The monastery was beautiful and had an incredible view.   There are currently only 2 monks in this peaceful and beautiful location.   The monks normally only stay for a couple of years and then rotate. Like most of the Holy land, the highlight was a rock behind some glass. At Nazareth, the ongoing discussion is where the annunciation of Mary occurred.   St. Gabriel’s church, which claims Mary’s well and also has a painting of the Angel Gabriel and Mary showing Jesus in her womb. This was an orthodox church which had the well in the back of the church for all the visits. Then off to the Basilica of the Annunciation (just down the street) wh...

We had the opportunity to celebrate communion and renew our baptismal vows in the Holy Land.  This blog is to outline those experiences and why the locations were important to that practice.  Patrick, our priest at Christ Episcopal Church has reminded us that worship is a time of celebration and to rejoice and be thankful.  The first time we celebrated Eucharist was in the Judean Desert -  We did a silent retreat early in the morning on the day we were transferring from Jerusalem to Nazareth. We woke up and were not supposed to speak as we rode and arrived at the desert. Then we were given about 40 minutes to walk around and watch the sun rise in the holiest of lands. Below us is where the good Samaritan would have found and cared for the man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho in Luke 10. It was so peaceful spending 30 minutes in quiet walking around the desert and a good intermission from the bustle of Jerusalem as we traveled to Nazareth.  Following the sunri...

We flew into Jerusalem on the 4th from Greece. Only a two-hour flight so relatively easy and joined the group. The group are 29 people from my church, Christ Episcopal Church, which includes our two Priest, Justin and Patrick. We didn't really know the people that well except Justin's family and Patrick's family. Additionally, we've never done a "group tour" environment before, but for this experience, having someone plan the trip for you, makes everything a surprise.  On the first day we started with the sights -- Dome of the rock and Western Wall. A couple facts I didn't know about both: 1. Dome of the Rock has been closed (on the inside) to spectators other than Muslims since 2002. Tourist can enter the area around Dome of the Rock from 7:30 - 10:30 in the morning but cannot enter.  2. Christians believe that the Dome of the Rock is where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaic, and Muslims believe that Dome of the Rock is where Muhammad departed and returned o...

 Yassou from Greece! We arrived on the 31st of December, just in time to confirm that we were not going to make it to the new years on Greek or American time. We got to our air b n b in Plaka (right near the acropolis) - took a short stroll, ate dinner and went to bed.  At 12 we were awoken by loud noises coming from the Acropolis. They were fireworks coming from the ruins. We watched them for a few minutes and then went back to sleep. The next day was new year's and much of the city was closed. We walked around - napped and then hiked to the top of the tallest point in Athens for sunset. We saw a cannon when we hiked up it but didn't think much of it. When we got to the top, we realized that they were going to shoot the cannon 23 times for 2023. It was loud and I am not sure why the town isn't worried about the structural integrity of the ruins. Two days after we went to Corinth on a guided tour to see where Paul preached. Because it was the off season, we were able to see...