iHOPE

Which Thanksgiving Will You Celebrate?

  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, though I have to admit, it doesn't feel like it. There is something about being out of the country for a couple weeks and then dropping back in a week before Thanksgiving that messes with your head! Everyone else is in full preparation mode and I'm still trying to adjust to Mountain Standard Time.

  At the same time, being away has given me a new outlook on Thanksgiving. As I have been catching up, it is clear that there are at least three very different versions of how to celebrate Thanksgiving:

A Grand Adventure

We're back from the Holy Land. What a grand adventure!

After two weeks, we arrived home yesterday afternoon. The flight home was long (about 24 hours, including wait times)- and that was after a full day (flight was at 11:30 pm), so we are a bit groggy today.

I found this pic taken overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Even though we have heard about it, there is something special about actually seeing it (let alone sailing on it, walking it and putting our feet in it!). It was a rich time and I doubt any of us will read the Bible the same way again.

That said, its VERY good to be home!

Special thanks to Bud & Vickie. They were the organizing force behind this trip-  the first of what I hope will be more grand adventures in New Hope's future.

Heading Home

It turns out I didn't have internet access in Egypt so things got a
little quiet here. Nothing quiet about Egypt, though. What an amazing
country! Cairo has 18 million people- 2nd only to Mexico City.
"Crowded" doesn't come close to describing it.
I'm writing this from J F K airport where we arrived a couple hours
ago. We all cleared Customs, switched terminals and are waiting for
the flight home- via Minneapolis.We shoulde be in Denver early this
afternoon. It was an amazing trip, but we are all glad to be "home".

Last Day in Jerusalem

Our last day in Jerusalem began with a visit to the Garden Tomb. It
fits the description of the tomb of Jesus in many aspects, but no one
really knows. Of course the important thing is not the exact location
where Jesus was buried, but the fact that he didn't stay there for
long. This is the unique site where the most important feature is what
isn't there.
Seven people are heading home tonight. The rest of us have an early
wake up call and head for Cairo.

Walls

A lot of today was spent around walls. We began at the old City of
David exploring the ancient walls and how they secured the water
supply within the walls (via Hezekiah's tunnel). Outside the walls of
old Jerusalem, they found what is believed to be the Pool of Siloam-
where Jesus healed the blind man. We visited the site where it is
believed was the Upper Room of Pentecost (where the walls of language
came down). We finished at the Western (Wailing) Wall which epitomizes
the walls of division that are very real today. We were able to offer
our own prayers and place them in the cracks in the wall. It is clear
to me that if there is to be peace, it will have to be from God.
Lord, hear our prayers.

God-Foresaken

We began the day at the traditional sight of the crucifixion an
finished at the Holocaust Museum. A moving day, to say the least. Bth
places were occasions for Psalm 22:
"My God, my God, why have you foresaken me?"
Both showed humanity at its worst. Both held hope for something
better. Yet it was the cross that proclaims that we have God who can
meet us in the God-foresaken places.
The Holocaust reminds us of the stakes involved when we forget that
and think our faith in Jesus is just about being religious.
Lord, have mercy.

Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Today was our first full day in Jerusalem and the group spent time on
the Mount of Olives and in a garden near Gethsemane.
Afterwards, it was off to Bethlehem to see the place of Jesus' birth
as well as the field where the shepherds heard the news from the
angels. The guide was from the lineage of shepherds who who would have
been there at the time! Other highlights included the cave (in
Bethlehem) where Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (known as the
Vulgate).
Tomorrow it is back to Jerusalem to see the Old City (isn't everything
here 'old'?).
Shalom

Masada to Jerusalem

Today began with a visit (some of us by foot!) to Masada, the winter
palace of Herod and site of Israel's last stand against the Romans in
73 AD. It is an heroic and tragic story of patriotism, passion and
brutality. Masada is viewed in Israel like the Alamo is viewed in
Texas- x's 10.
We bobbed in the Dead Sea (swimming is practically impossible!),
viewed the ruins of Qumran and finished the day viewing Jerusalem from
Mt. Scopus. In traditional manner, we offered a prayer for the peace
of Jerusalem. If ever a part of the world needed it...
The group is doing well, but exhausted. We have seen so much and it is
hard to take it all in.
Shalom

From the Dead Sea

We are at the southernmost point on our trip- and the lowest: 900 feet
below sea level.
Today took us through Jericho- the oldest city in the world. Ruins
date back 10,000 years.
We were reminded again of the tangled politics and problems here. We
started in Israel and then entered the West Bank which technically
belongs to Jordan but is occupied by Israel. It is now under the
authority of the Palestinian Authority under the supervision of the
UN. There is nothing simple about this place. I guess it has never
been. Tomorrow we go to Masada.

Sea of Galilee

The last four days have been spent around the Sea of Galilee. It is
still hard to believe that we are walking the same paths and seeing
the same lake that Jesus and his disciples walked and saw. Tonight (at
about the same time as the folks at the 10:45 service were doing the
same thing), we had a worship service with communion on the beach of
the Sea of Galilee. There is not much to say after that.
Tomorrow we head for the oldest city in the world (Jericho) and end up
at the Dead Sea.