So, hit the pause button and slow the pace an mph or two. Set the church, denominational, and cultural stuff to the side for a few minutes and just plain fughedaboudit! It's time for a commercial. Harriet and I are taking a group to the Holy Land next May. It will be our fourth trip and we're anticipating a homecoming of sorts. And, we'd love to share it with some friends. So, take time out to hear, maybe read is a better word, our little info-mercial.
See, you may have traveled all over the world, visited every exotic port, strolled the Champs de Elysee, toured Buckingham Palace, and even enjoyed a meal in Pumpkintown. But, you have never been anywhere that will mark your life like ten days in the Holy Land. Harriet and I remember our first trip, way back in 1996, like it was yesterday, and the sense of arrival that overwhelmed us when the El Al 747 stopped on the runway of Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, southeast of Tel Aviv. Big old tears streamed down Harriet's face and when I inquired, she said, "I feel like I've come home." Yes, it is a kind of familiarity that registers deep in the soul.
OK, we're both English-Irish with Scot and German ancestry mixed in there somewhere. There's no Jewish blood in either of our family trees. Well, of course, not in a physiological sense. We've been grafted into a long-rooted vine of Hebrew descendants. Our spiritual brother Jesus was a Jewish carpenter. So, there's something to this homecoming thing. Being in Israel---Jerusalem, Capernaum, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Megiddo, Tiberius, Beth Shean, the Jordan River, Jericho---all are familiar places because we've read about them our entire lives, and because our faith unfolded in this special land. Seeing the shepherd's fields, walking the valley of the shadow of death, following the Via Dolorosa, taking communion in the Garden Tomb, standing on Mt. of Olives, all magnify our understanding of the Biblical texts and the geographical setting of our Lord's earthly ministry.
We're beginning to prepare for our fifth trip. Our next information meeting will be on Sunday, October 17, 2010, at 5:00 p.m. We'll share some travel information, talk some of the details, maybe review some of the locales. Addditionally, Harriet and I will answer questions anyone may have about making such a pilgrimage and then announce plans for meetings to prepare our group for travel.
Maybe a trip to the Holy Land is on your bucket list. Don't delay too long. And, think about this as the day approaches: wouldn't it be great for Jesus to come while we're in Jerusalem?
Can you say, "wow"!
Comments