Corinth, Greece

This is a significant week for justice in the world. As the United States and several if its allies consider a response to the chemical attacks of the Syrian regime on its own people, we are aware of significant events in the journey for human and civil rights in the United States. Monday, August 26th, marked a national day of voting rights for women. In 2020, the United States will celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage on August 26th. Many people may say, "so what?" But, do you know how precious this right is for American women AND FOR PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE WORLD WHO HAVE YET TO ACHIEVE IT? Do you know that Pastor Marta votes in every election after having done a report on women's suffrage for her 8th grade social studies class? Today also marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Our son, Joshua, was baptized 30 years ago today and our daughter, Jessica, was baptized 25 years ago today. The Christian gospel is about freedom for all people...not only religious freedom, but also justice, peace, and mercy for God's children around the world. Today, we give thanks to God that we were raised by Christian parents who loved us enough to point us to Jesus Christ, the true liberator of humanity.

Today, we drove about 80 kilometers to Corinth. (Picture us having the nerve to drive a manual transmission rental car through the streets of Athens where every traffic sign is in Greek letters and find our way south to Corinth...tomorrow we are going to do the same thing, driving north to Thessaloniki.) 

We visited Ancient Corinth where St. Paul set up shop with Priscilla and Aquila, a couple who were recent transplants to Corinth from Rome because of the persecution of Jews under the Roman Emperor Claudius (we consider them the first husband-and-wife clergy couple identified in the New Testament). We don' t know if they had already become Christians before arriving in Corinth, but it is obvious from scripture that Paul shared genuine affection with them. The three of them earned a living through tent making. 

When St. Paul first visited in 50/51 A.D., Corinth had become the capitol of the Roman province of Achaea. It was here, in Corinth, that Paul held discussions in the synagogue Sabbath by Sabbath, trying to convince Jews and Gentiles that Jesus was the Messiah. Interestingly, Crispus, the president of the local synagogue became a Christian (see Acts 18:2-11). Paul remained at Corinth for 18 months. At one point, he was brought before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia in the Bema (public square where important public business was conducted through speeches). Before Paul could speak in his own defense, Gallio dismissed the case as quarreling between Jews. You can read about the situation in Acts 18:12-18. We actually got to stand on the ruins of this Bema in the central market place of ancient Corinth. One of the pictures highlighted for this day shows the plaque commemorating the spot. Paul left Corinth by the port of Cenchreae, near the present-day village of Kechries. There he cut off his hair as an offering to God, in accordance with a Jewish custom. At Cenchreae, a Christian community grew up at an early date, with a woman named Phoebe as its minister (Romans 16:1-2).

Corinth was a major crossroads city. Imagine craftsmen, traders and sailors crossing through this area. They had money to spend...and they spent it visiting the temple prostitutes of Aphrodite. Yes, she had a major "temple" of worship here. It was a place of much drinking, loose living, and questionable morals. Probably a lot like Las Vegas. Interesting that Paul chose to start a church here. He hung here for 18 months the first time and came back two more times during his journeys. He wrote two letters to the Christians in Corinth that got into the New Testament. I guess if Paul could witness in Corinth, then what we are doing together in Vegas and Henderson is a piece of cake...especially as the Holy Spirit is behind it.

During the course of his third missionary journey, while he was at Ephesus in 55 A.D., Paul was informed that the church at Corinth was troubled by various problems and disputes. As a result, he sent with Timothy his First Epistle to the Corinthians. Also, while he was here in Corinth, he penned his Epistle to the Christians in Phillippi, another ancient site in northern Greece we hope to see before our pilgrimage ends. There is much more to share about Paul and Corinth, but this will have to do for now!

After visiting Ancient Corinth, we drove UP...and I do mean UP the mountain to Akrokorinthos, a fortified citadel of ancient and medieval cities. The site was occupied continuously from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. It was a challenge for the legs to climb it, but well worth the effort for the panoramic view of greater Corinth and the surrounding area of Greece.

Our final stop was en route back to Athens. A canal was dug at the end of the 19th century linking the Mediterranean Sea with the same sea, but shaving lots of miles off of sailing around the peninsula. (In Paul's day boats were moved across the short land mass dividing the sea by rolling them across logs.) This phenomenal engineering feat allows numerous ships and boats to avoid the long journey around the Peloppeniasn peninsula. It's a wonder to behold!

Athens Greece and the Apostle Paul

Athens, Greece...a city were people have lived for 7,000 years...crowded, old, quaint, and lots of hospitality.  Greek food is wonderful and people sit for hours in outdoor cafes drinking coffee, chatting and enjoying the day.   Today we spent several hours hiking up and down the Acropolis with its temple to Athena and the Parthenon. It's easy to see why the Acropolis became the center of life, especially between 600 BC and 100 AD.  It's on a hill that would have been easily defensible from all sides.  This was the place of philosophers and wisdom, boasting such greats as Socrates and Euripides.  From a Christian perspective, it features big in Paul's story..."Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market place every day with those who chanced to be there." (Acts 17:16-17 RSV)Athens was the capital of Attica, a region of Greece in ancient times. It was here that the apostle Paul found himself on one of his missionary journeys.Paul discovered that the city was quite idolatrous, but with a great altar to the "unknown God." He then set about to make known to the philosophical "thinkers" of the city the True God - with opposition, and some success."Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. And some said, "What would this babbler say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities" - because he preached Jesus and the resurrection." (Acts 17:18 RSV)  They apparently caught Paul on one of his better days. Paul had a rather intense personality, and would usually have risen to being called a "babbler" with a response that the name-caller would not have soon forgotten. This day however, he remained (no doubt with the help of God's Holy Spirit) calm and collected. "And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus [also known as Mars Hill ,  saying,

"May we know what this new teaching is which you present? For you bring some strange things to our ears; we wish to know therefore what these things mean." Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new." (Acts 17:19-21 RSV)  With quiet respect, Paul managed to get them to listen:  "So Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And He made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find him. Yet He is not far from each one of us, for 'In Him we live and move and have our being'" (Acts 17:22-28 RSV)  Paul then referred to some of their own writers who managed to realize that the Creator exists:  "as even some of your poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given assurance to all men by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:28-31 RSV)  His strategy of calm logic to present the truth of God began to sow the seeds of success:"Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We will hear you again about this." So Paul went out from among them. But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them." (Acts 17:32-34 RSV)

The market place and Mars hill are right at the bad of the Acropolis...and we were literally able to walk through the ruins of a complex city dating from this time.  There is an ancient church dedicated to the apostles near where Paul preached and Dionysius features big in the story of the Christians of Athens. We walked up St. Paul street to get to the Acropolis. Old town Athens, with its many narrow streets, surrounding the Acropolis, are filled with lots of quaint restaurants and gathering places. In this place, people live in apartments that literally blend the ancient with the newer...though nothing is as new as we have in Las Vegas and Henderson. We are continually reminded, as New song celebrates its 10th anniversary, that we need to be patient and see the ministry from the perspective of God's long haul.

Istanbul, Turkey

The Lord's Day - August 25

Today, we awoke to the Port of Istanbul in Turkey. Istanbul is the third largest city in Europe with a population of 15 million people. It is actually a city that lies on two continents, Europe and Asia, divided by the Bosphorus River. Since the total population of Turkey is 17 million people, this means that the vast majority of Turkey's people live in and around this metropolis. Constantinople became the eastern Capitol (instead of Ephesus) of the Roman Empire under Constantine. 

Today we took a tour which began with a visit to Chora Museum, which means "countryside" in Old Greek. It received its name because its location was originally outside the walls of the city. It is a church that was originally built on its site along with a monastery by Emperor Justinian I (527-565). Its mosaics and frescoes are known as a monument to Byzantine art. Throughout the narthex, there are a series of mosaics about the life of Mary the mother of Jesus. And another series about Jesus' life and miracles graces the outer narthex (see the miracle at the wedding of Cana picture below). There is also a spectacular fresco of Jesus breaking the gates of hell and rescuing Adam and Eve. Fortunately, archeologists have been able to uncover a substantial number of the mosaics, because of the plaster that was placed over them to hide them when Turkey became Muslim under the Ottoman Empire. After the bus trip to Chora, we traveled to the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul. It is adjacent to the famed Blue Mosque (pictured below). 

After Constantine I (306-337 A.D.) proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of Byzantium (eastern section of the Roman Empire) in 330, many churches began to be built. The first church built by Constantius II (337-361 AD) was inaugurated in 360 AD. It was known as "Great Church" or "Megalo Ecclesia." It stood for only 44 years and was burned in riots when the Empress Aelia Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Arcadius, attempted to have a statue of herself put in front of the church to the objections of John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople. A second church was completed at the age of Theodosius II (408-450 AD) and was inaugurated on October 10, 415. Beginning from the 5th century, the name "Hagia Sophia," meaning "holy wisdom" or "Holy Spirit," has been associated with this church. Under the rule of Emperor Justinian the Great (527-565), an intense feud erupted in the Hippodrome beside Hagia Sophia, resulting in a fire that spread out to the entire building and burned it down again! After the suppression of the rebellion, Emperor Justinian undertook the construction of the third church which was dedicated on December 27, 537. He had material brought from all over the Empire, including the Hellenistic columns from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Hagia Sophia suffered a series of misfortunes, both human-made and caused by natural disasters. During the era of the Emperor Andronicus II (1282-1328), it was restored. When the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror ordered the immediate clean-up of the church and Hagia Sophia was converted into a Mosque. It remained so until 1923 when Turkey became a republic after World War I. Since then, it has been preserved as a religious museum.

Our last stop was to the Spice Market in Istanbul! Wow...what a site and what a scene! We passed pet stores where you scoop the amount of chow you want from huge bins. There are many spice stores with large platters of fresh spices causing an amazing aroma to fill the area. It was fun to experiences the hospitality of the Turks who constantly offer you apple tea and other gestures of hospitality. Our guide was a soon-to-be retiring college professor of Turkish language history. She has been trying to retire for several years, but the university cannot find someone with her expertise to replace her! She told us that only 15 percent of the people of Turkey attend a public university, which makes it a great privilege to have a college education. Tomorrow, we disembark from the boat and fly to Athens to continue our sabbatical journey. More in a few days....

Mykonos, Greece

Today is Friday, the 23rd of August and we are on the Greek island of Mykonos. It is a beautiful desert island on which every dwelling is painted white. It is a vacation destination for many Europeans. Nothing overly religious in terms of its significance other than that many homes seem to have built their own separate chapel or shrine on their property. We spent the day at the beach reading, sunning, and blogging, all with a great bottle of Greek wine.

Ephesus part three

Ephesus is also where Mary, the mother of Jesus, lived out her last years. She and Jesus' youngest disciple, John came here. Mary's home has been rebuilt by Vatican archeologists. The original foundation is of much darker stone. It is a simple stone structure with a small bedroom and a central room, which now holds an altar and shrine. It is at the top of the hill to the left of Ephesus facing the port and is a major Catholic pilgrimage spot...in fact, the new pope is scheduled to visit here in the fall. A unique feature of the area is a natural spring, with "holy" water one can drink even today and a large wall near the water where people have tied thousands of prayers in every language over the years. We lit a candle and said a prayer for New Song and our family there. Now..to John. John was the only disciple who died a natural death...in Ephesus. The church of Saint John, which now is just ruins, was the third largest church in the world. It is said that John wrote his gospel from here about the year 90 AD. While scholars surmise a different John was imprisoned on the Greek island of Patmos, tradition claims this was the same John who wrote Revelation. It is an easy claim to make when you realize that the letters written to the churches, some of whom were lukewarm and others who were on fire or cold all exist within 15 to 20 miles from here. In fact, when Ephesus closed down, most of the Christians moved a few miles north to Smyrna, one of the seven cities mentioned in the book of Revelations. NEEDLESS TO SAY, Scripture comes alive when one makes such a pilgrimage...which is why we hope to lead a tour for interested New Songers next summer.

Ephesus part two

Ephesus was amazing to behold! It's heyday was from about 2000 BC to about 600 AD and it features big in the story of the Apostles Paul and John. It has been under excavation for about 60 years and only about ten percent has been uncovered. Picture an important coast city on the west coast of Turkey. At the time of Jesus, under Roman occupation, it was a chief port of commerce and travel uniting Africa and the Middle East with Greece and Europe. Scripture tells us, Acts 19, Paul took the overland route through Turkey to get here. Using the names of present day countries, he traveled from Jerusalem, through Syria, into Turkey, all the way to the west coast on his second missionary journey. He stayed in Ephesus for three years. The Jewish synagogue and market place is where he preached from about 57 to 60 and it is right in the center of the city. At about 100, the synagogue was razed and a major library that held over 1200 scrolls and books was built. Ephesus was known for the temple and worship of Diana. Today, only one pillar remains of this huge complex...from 300, when Christianity became the religion of the empire, stones from pagan temples were used to build churches. You may recall Paul had a run in with a local merchant in the market place who sold silver shrines in honor of Diana. We could imagine Demetrius' store being set up in the stalls at the edge of the central market area. It seems Paul's preaching had become so effective, that sales of the shrines had plummeted. The vendor ultimately managed to force Paul to move on. But before that, he had helped 12 men experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us Paul was able to do amazing miracles here and that even pieces of his clothing brought healing. Tradition says Paul also wrote a number of his letters from here to churches he began on his first missionary trip. Back to the archeology...the ancient city lost its prominence and was pretty much abandoned as the port silted up and closed (the Mediterranean Sea is now about four miles away) and after a major earthquake. The city rivals Pompei in terms of what has been uncovered...with major streets, lots of residences, temples and bathhouses now revealed. We viewed a major dig of several patrician homes on a hillside with amazing mosaics and plumbing all from the first century. Ephesus was tucked between two low hills with the mouth opening to the harbor. It was a cosmopolitan crossroads at the center of the world at that time...NOW GO ONTO THE NEXT BLOG TO DISCOVER WHAT WAS A TOTALLY NEW LEARNING FOR US AS PASTORS WHO HAD READ ABOUT EPHESUS FOR YEARS...

Ephesus - Post 1 August 22

Today, we toured the historic community of Ephesus. In the time of Jesus, it was a thriving sea port between Asian traders in China, Afghanistan, and India and merchants in the rest of the world. Ephesus came to the apex of its power and influence between and second and third centuries (AD). However, several factors led to its demise. The Meandering River changed course leaving Ephesus without connection to the sea and a devastating earthquake rocked the city. When Constantine moved the eastern capitol of the Roman Empire from Ephesus to the city now known as Istanbul (Constantinople when named by his sons after his death), the fate of the city was doomed and sealed.

We decided to make several blog posts for today, because there is so much to share! First of all, we think the cats of the community add much ambiance to this region of Turkey. Many make their homes in the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus...lounging in the shaded areas between broken Roman columns surrounded and unbothered by the thousands of tourists who visit their world-famous home as if to say: "What's so special about these old stones?" There were two curled up together with one bathing the other immediately to the side of the primary road through the ruins of the ancient city! And of course, the pretty one near the port ships had the advantage of access to real fish which s/he proceeded to toss in the air over and over for fun! Yes, we are missing the furry members of our family...having to settle for the animals left on our bed every evening by our room stewards. This one is for you, Jess and Cade!

Cruise Post 2 - Jonah, Paul, Titus ans Crete

So, the taxi driver in Ashdod (a few days ago), thought we were crazy when we asked him to take us to the site for "Jonah and the whale." He said, "Why you not go to Jerusalem today?" When we explained that we had just spent several days there he understood. The Jonah site was underwhelming! It is the supposed site where Jonah was buried...just a sign and a statue of Jonah. Afterward, we walked to the Sea Mall in Ashdod to board the Holland America shuttle bus back to the boat...a 35 minute walk through steamy, but thriving Ashdod. There is a lot of construction going on in Ashdod with building cranes everywhere. It is also the closest Israeli city to the Gaza area, so the Israeli military frequently intercepts missiles being sent to harm Ashdod.

Today, we went into Crete, the largest of the Greek islands. It is the center of the oldest recorded civilization in Europe, the Minoan civilization. It is also the island where Zeus was said to have been born. We took a tour bus around Irakklion, (Heraklion) the port city, but decided not to fight the tourist lines at the Knossos Palace. We followed the city map to where? A church, of course! Crete is home of the Holy Church of Titus, the Apostle. Here's your Bible history lesson from the brochure: 

"Titus, the Apostle, is the organizer and the first Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in Crete. He first appeared in history in about 49 A.D. as a fellow of Paul, the Apostle, and Varnavas (Barnabas) in the Apostles' Synod in Jerusalem. Titus accompanied Paul on his journeys in Asia and Europe. Paul refers to Titus in a way that reflects the very close bond between the two men.

Paul undertook the systematic preaching of Christ's Gospel in Crete on his second apostolic journey in about 62-63 A.D. His stay in Crete was short and he entrusted Titus with the difficult task of organizing the first Cretan Church (we can sympathize and relate to this task). He wrote to Titus: "The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you,' (Titus 1:5).

Titus' activity in Crete is not sufficiently known because there are no ancient official and verified records about the first period of the Cretan Church. In later times, there was founded in Crete a very rich biographical tradition about the first bishop and patron of the local Church. According to tradition, Titus was Cretan of a noble family descending directly from Minos, the mythical King of Knossus. Titus was a relative of Rustillus (or Rustulus), the Roman proconsul in Crete. He was well-educated and spent some time in Jerusalem where he became an eye-witness of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Later, as a bishop in Crete, he founded nine bishoprics in Knossus, Lerapytna, Kydonia, Chersonissus, Eleftherna, Lambe, Kissamus, Kandanus, and Gortys. According to the same tradition, Titus died at 94 years old in about 105 A.D.

In the early 6th century A.D., a grand basilica with a wooden roof was erected in Gortys which had been the political and religious center of the island. A local tradition had it that the holy relics of St. Titus were kept in that basilica. We have no information about the worship of St. Titus in the period of the conquest of Crete by the Arabs (824-961). After the liberation of Crete by the Byzantine General Nikephorus Phokas in 961 A.D.., the political and religious center of Crete was moved to Chandax (Heraklion) where another magnificent cathedral, dedicated to Titus, the Apostle, was built at the same site where it stands today. The Skull of the Saint was transferred to the new church." (Church brochure written by Theocharis Detorakis).

Tomorrow, August 22nd, we'll tour Kusadasi, otherwise known as Ephesus to Christians!

Cruise Post 1 - Sunday, Aug 18

Today, we are in port at Ashdod, Israel. We've enjoyed several days on board the Noordam, a ship of the Holland America cruise line. There must have been a drop in the number of tourists who signed up for this cruise, because our cabin was upgraded. No complaints from us about this change! We've been relaxing by exercising and reading. I just finished readIng a book Doreen Lee gave me at our Bon Voyage party. The title of the book is "Rooms." It was fabulous. I think I may offer a short book study on it for New Song women.  

According to the original itinerary, we should have been in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday. Obviously, the cruise line was forced to change the itinerary as civil unrest broke out in Egypt. Today, we'll journey into Ashdod to see if we can find the site where Jonah is said to have been spit out by the whale. We've already seen the rest of the sites in Jerusalem in our previous tour.

Back at home, today is Intern Pastor Kaitlyn's last Sunday. We know this will be a tearful day for many at New Song. We pray tremendous blessings on Kaitlyn as she heads back to seminary! More in a few days.

Marta

Golgotha two and Abraham's Tent

This was our last day with our tour group in Israel. We began with a visit to a second possible location for Golgotha and the garden tomb. It's on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, just outside the city gate. The walking distance from the Temple Mount is exactly the same as it is to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site venerated since the fourth century. This site has a small outcropping that does look like a skull. Golgotha means "the place of the skull." Our host, an retiree from Dallas, related the story. The claim is that the crucifixion took place at the base of this skull hill, which would have made it a very public event on a highly trafficked road. In the same area, is a family tomb that dates back to the time of Jesus. Scripture tells us Joseph of Arimathea made his newly built tomb available for Jesus' burial. This tomb has a track in front of it that would have allowed for a circular stone to be rolled at its entrance. We celebrated communion as a group in the lovely gardens that comprise this spot. 

A word about the tombs of Jesus' day: they were family tombs with several rooms or niches carved into the stone bedrock. There was a larger preparation room where the body was laid out and prepared. Then it was placed in a notch for one year. After a year, the family would open the tomb and place the bones and skull in a bone box and these would be placed in a space where they would accumulate over the years. This allowed for multiple generations of a family to buried in one tomb. The Bible tells us Joseph's tomb was brand new, meaning it had not yet been used.

From here we journeyed out of Jerusalem into the desert to a place called "Abrahams Tent." It is a creative tourist site which invites you back to the time Abraham and Sarah entered the promised land. The focus is on experiencing biblical hospitality. We rode camels down a hill, in costumes, to the tent. In the tent, tables were set low to the ground where we sat on mats and ate the kinds of food Abraham's visitors might have eaten. It was a true feast though our old bones found it hard to sit for such a long time with our legs crossed. All I can say is "thank God for the invention of chairs."

From here we went to visit the traditional site for the Upper Room. It was underwhelming, to say the least. It was just an empty space in part of a church on a second floor. If you didn't know what it was supposed to represent, you'd think it was nothing more than a large room. We closed out the day haggling with merchants in the old city where tons of shops cater to tourists with a lot of the same stuff found in many of the stores.

We are writing this blog at 3 am at the Tel Aviv airport, getting ready for our flight to Athens. We will embark from there for our cruise on the Mediterranean and other biblical sites like Ephesus and Constantinople. We've been told we may have difficulty accessing the Internet at sea, so our blogging may diminish over the next week. We will catch you up as we are able to do so!

The Temple Mount and Jesus' last hours

Today we focused on Jesus' last hours. We began our day by visiting the Temple Mount, built on Mount Mariah, which is where the Dome of the Rock is now located. This is the same place where Abraham is said to have been willing to sacrifice Isaac, his long-awaited child. It is also where Elijah ascended to heaven. The Muslims change the story a bit, claiming that Ishmael was the son Abraham was going to sacrifice.  According to their tradition, this is also where Mohammed received the revelation of the Koran. (This gives you a good feel for why there is such conflict over this site.) We passed through security and walked a narrow walkway that took us above the Wailing Wall where Jews pray and often place prayers on pieces of paper into the cracks of the wall. This is the western wall of the Temple Mount and remained standing when Jerusalem as sacked by the Romans in 70 AD. As we entered the area held by Muslims, we found groups of men and women studying the Koran (separately, of course). They were still cleaning up after Ramadan, when a quarter of a million people visited. The Dome of the Rock is built over where the Jewish Temple stood before it was destroyed by the Romans. It was first built by King Solomon 3,000 years ago, then destroyed by the Babylonians. Ezra and Nehemiah brought the people back from the Babylonian captivity and rebuilt the temple. Herod the Great expanded the temple area and added a garrison and quarters to the Temple Mount (called "the Antonia fortress"). This is the temple that existed at the time of Jesus. We saw a life-sized model of Jerusalem before the conquest of Rome in 70 AD at the Jerusalem Museum. It gives you a real feel for how things were at the time of Jesus. Recall that Jesus was arrested in the olive grove of Gethsemane. He was taken by the temple guard to the Herodian fortress that abutted the temple area to be tried. Then he was taken to Caiaphas, the high priest. We visited the ruins of what may have been the high priests' house in the Jewish quarter of the old city and saw a water cistern similar to where Jesus may have been kept as a prisoner while they were deliberating his fate. We then walked the Via Delarosa (the way of suffering) to the traditional location where Jesus was crucified. A couple of observations...the way is completely dominated by shops selling anything and everything. And, of course, a church has been built around the traditional site of his execution and burial. In the church, there is the slab where tradition says his disciples laid his body after his death. We watched many people kneel down and kiss the slab as part of their devotion. It was also interesting to watch a Korean tour group carrying a life-size cross down the way, giving different participants a chance each to bear the cross. There is also a large Lutheran church very near the traditional site of Golgotha. There is, however, debate as to the real site of Golgotha. Today we saw the site venerated by Catholics. Tomorrow we will study the site that has been identified by Protestants. We finished the day with a time for prayer and reflection at the western or Wailing Wall. Men pray in one area and women in a separate area. We explored the full expanse of the western wall through underground visits that took us to the level of the time of Jesus and to excavated parts outside...which shows us where the day of Pentecost happened when 3,000 people were baptized. We also saw the pool of Siloam where Peter said to the beggar, "silver and gold have I none, but what I have, I give you." The man was healed and immediately entered the temple ground, leaping and shouting and praising the Lord. At the end of our day, we viewed an exhibit of the Dead Sea scrolls, the discovery of which has shown that we have incredibly faithful translations of the Bible even today. In other words, the Old Testament scriptures we have today are incredibly accurate to the original texts. 

that existed in the 100 years of the time before Jesus...which makes a strong case for the truth of scripture.

The Lord's Day - Day 4 Revised

Shalom, Shabbat, NEW SONG! It is Sunday morning at the Dead Sea in Israel. Jewish friends concluded their Sabbat last night at sundown. Many shops were closed for business from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. We started our day floating on the Dead Sea! Our tour had a late start this morning to allow us time to rest and "swim" in the Dead Sea. However, you can only float, not swim. The Dead Sea is 10 times saltier than the ocean and is over 30 percent made of salt. We took pictures with our camera, so are unable to attach them to this blog. Suffice it to say that this is a "must do" experience in the Holy Land.

At 10:30 am, we boarded the bus to Masada. Allow us to tell you a bit a out this amazing place. This mountaintop fortress was first built by King Herod (who reigned from 37 BC to 4 AD) as a winter palace. After the death of Herod in 4 AD and the annexation of Judea to the Roman Empire in 6 AD, the Romans stationed a garrison of soldiers at Masada. When the Jews revolted against the Romans in 66 AD, a group of Jews called the "Sicarii," took over Masada. Eleazar Ben Yair fled from Jerusalem to Masada and became the commander of the group. Various groups of refugees found their way to Masada when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. According to Josephus, a Jewish military commander who had been captured by the Romans and then worked for them, Masada was the last rebel stronghold in Judea. In 73 or 74 AD, the Roman Tenth Legion, led by Flavius Silva, laid seige to the mountain. The legion consisting of 8000 troops among which were auxiliary forces, built eight camps around the base, a siege wall, and a ramp made of earth and wooden supports on a natural support to the west. Captive Jews brought water to the troops from En Gedi (an oasis about 10 miles away),as well as food.

After a siege that lasted a few months, the Romans brought a tower with a battering ram up the ramp they had made. When the Romans retreated for the night to prepare for the invasion, Eleazar Ben Yair gave two speeches in which he convinced the leaders of the 960 members of the community that it would be better to take their own lives and those of their wives and children than to live in shame and humiliation as Roman slaves. The community committed suicide and ten men drew lots to take each others lives until there was no one left. According to Josephus,two women and five children who had been hiding in cisterns on the mountaintop told the Romans what had happened that night, on the 15th of Nissan, the first day of Passover.

From Masada, we did a quick tour of En Gedi (see above) and then travelled to Qumran. In 1947, a Beduin shepherd boy went searching for a lost sheep and discovered some jars filled with old parchment scrolls in a cave. They were sold to the Israeli Antiquities for about $90. These scolls ended up being the most significant archeological find of the Hebrew Scriptures in all of history! Known as the "Dead Sea Scrolls," the parchment fragments contain the equivalent of two complete scrolls of the Book of Isaiah and other important Old Testament texts. One of the most fascinating things about the Isaiah scrolls is that they contain word for word the Book of Isaiah as we know and  read the texts today. The Qumran community were called the Essenes. They were a kind of Jewish monastic community that lived in the desert. The on-site film showed the community it's as exclusively male. However, there is speculation that the community included women and children, as well. They sought a kind of purified life away from the trappings of larger, less religiously stringent communities. There may be a strong connection between John the Baptist and the Essenes. Some have even speculated that Jesus himself was an Essene.

The Garden of Gethsemane

The Mount of Olives is East of the Temple Mount. Picture two hills with a very narrow valley between them. At the time of Jesus the whole hill was covered with olive trees. In fact it was not a "garden" of Gethsemane, but a grove. In fact "Gethsemane" means "Mount of the Olive Press." Today it is mostly a Jewish graveyard and some buildings. The Catholic Church has set aside a garden with very old olive trees at the traditional site of where Jesus prayed that the cup would be taken from him as his disciples slept. In the church we witnessed pilgrims sharing mass together and were able to take some incredible pictures of paintings from his time in the garden. Recall, after the last supper Jesus and his disciples went to the grove to pray. It was a place Jesus went to often with his disciples, because it looked directly at the east gate of the temple complex. On Palm Sunday he rode down from this area and entered the temple through the east gate where he then turned the tables on the money changers. The location would have provided Jesus a great view of the whole temple complex as he prayed and wept over Jerusalem. From the garden of gethsemane to the temple we are talking about a quarter of a mile walk downhill and the uphill through the eastern gate. This is where Judas brought the temple guard for his arrest.

Jerusalem and Bethlehem - Day 5

Today we woke up in Jerusalem and began to explore the holy city. Our first stop was near the Western, or "wailing wall." We will examine it more closely tomorrow, but from a distance we could see many devout Jews praying. They recite a liturgy as they bow frequently toward the wall. The wall is part of the only remaining site after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD. On one side it is Jewish, the other side which faces the Dome of the Rock is Muslim. We were able to take a tour down into excavations that take us back to the time of Jesus. Herod the Great expanded the temple complex significantly about 60 years before Jesus. Since then, levels of civilization have built up with neighborhoods covering much of the ancient city of Jerusalem. From there, we traveled by foot to the area where Jesus healed the paralytic who couldn't get into the water when it stirred. It was built near or attached to a temple dedicated to the Greek God of healing, who was depicted as a snake. The medical field still uses the snake a symbol for healing. When Jesus healed the man by the power of his words, he was saying Jahweh was more powerful than the pagan gods who heal only through actions. Jesus only had to speak to male healing happen. Recall the man went immediately the short distance to the temple. Jewish law forbad handicapped people to enter the temple...so this would've been the first time he would have be enable the visit the temple in at least 38 years. Imagine his joy!

From there, we traveled by bus to Bethlehem, the place of Jesus' birth. Bethlehem is in the Palestinian territory which is 80% Muslim and 20% Christian. We visited the Church of the Nativity, which is the oldest church in Christendom. It was built by Constantine's mother in the 300's. We waited in line to go into the cave below the altar where tradition says the manger and birth took place, but they closed it down for a catholic worship service, so we had to pass. Got lots of great pictures of the place though. An interesting side note: the entrance to the church was sealed up so that one has to bow low to enter. Why? To keep Muslim horseback riding soldiers from entering the holy space in ancient days!

We visited a woodcarving shop. As you know, we have the Bethlehem Wood Carvers come to New Song twice a year to sell these olive wood products. This is the primary way Palestinian Christians make their living. They are not able to be employed in other ways, which is why so many are immigrating to other countries. Christians in the Holy Land are only allowed to work in tourism-related industries. So, every time Amjad and Suzan Jerasyth bring displays to church, your purchases help keep Christians in Bethlehem...thereby protecting Christian holy sights like the Church of the Nativity. We saw many of the same kinds of olive wood statues the Jarayth's bring to church and much more! One of the shop keepers tried to talk Pr. Dave into purchasing for the church a Hand-carved three-foot high nativity Set. It was "only $14,000, shipping included." He talked to the wrong Pastor! I could have negotiated a much lower Price! Also, Where would we put something this big in our current Building? We'll have to wait for the permanent sanctuary Building of the Future.