Holy Land – St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Where did Jesus walk? Why does it matter to us?

This past Wednesday we gathered together, enjoyed a meal together, and then engaged in a presentation that wove together Mother Barbara’s experiences and photographs of her Holy Land trip with scriptural references to the locations where Jesus traveled and all set within the cultural and political context of Jesus’ time. There was an opportunity to hear Mother Barbara’s spiritual insights from each of the locations as well as quiet time to reflect upon our own insights gleaned from the images and text.

We looked at the significance from a biblical and contextual perspective for the following locations where Jesus was cited to have been or traveled to, according to the gospels: Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth, the Jordan River, Capernaum, and the Sea of Galilee.

If you were unable to attend this evening’s spiritual formation event and would like to hear more about these sites or view Mother Barbara’s photographs, please see her to make arrangements to learn more.

We will offer Part II to this presentation which will focus on Jerusalem and the areas around the city (Garden of Gethsemane, Bethany and Bethpage, Pool of Bethsaida).

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher — Day ??

So yesterday, we continued in the disorientation mode. Exhausted from jet lag, our engaging guide cajoled us to walk into the Old City of Jerusalem. We were going to what certainly can be considered the “holy of holy” places ~ the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is where a part of the Calvary Cross upon which Jesus was crucified had been brought by Queen Helena, the structure upon which Jesus’ tomb laid, and the marble slab upon which Jesus’ body was anointed and prepared for burial. We arrived with excitement and expectation of entering into the presence of the holy in a brand new way.

Parts were beautiful, like the dome.

But by and large, none of us was very impressed. It was crowded, poorly tended to, and a bit “Disneyland” like. We left with doubts, questions, and a sense of uneasiness, that, had we really traveled all this way to be disappointed.

However, while I was there, I was immediately drawn to the anointing slab, and I did lay my hands upon it, and I did pray for all of you there, and I did anoint my Anglican prayer beads — and I did feel a sense of reverence others brought to the experience (especially noticing the Muslim style of “head-on-the-ground” prayer on the slab, which many were doing), and I felt a connection to something mysterious and holy.

One thing that was really impressive were the number of crosses which were carved into the wall while people we waiting to see the holy sites: thousands upon thousands. I bet it was a contemplative practice people engaged in to connect with the Christ they believed in while waiting to experience some artifact or location which was important in the death of Jesus.

We spent the evening unpacking our “disorientation”, dissecting what really bothered us, deconstructing the myths that we had held onto in our faith that suddenly seemed untrue ~ and it was all unsettling.

One question I am still pondering is my draw to the anointing place. One priest spoke to me about how the bread and the wine are sacraments of the living Christ in all of us and the oil is considered to be the healing presence of Christ. Makes sense to me, I think. And I wondered, is the anointing of Jesus’ body, preparing him for a death, which became life, what we enter into each time we are anointed? Or hands are laid upon us? Or we pray for healing for ourselves and others? Did the anointing of Jesus dramatically change how we are healed, into new or eternal life? Probably so.

As I collapsed into bed last night, I prayed God would begin to show me the orientation which would emerge out of this disorientation. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher seemed to be religious yet not spiritual. Where, I wondered, would I discover the spirit of Christ in Jerusalem?

And this was all about Jesus’ death. Where’s the resurrection story?

Disorientation … a path toward Reinorientation

I could easily describe my experience of the past 48 hours in one phrase: “twilight zone”. It was a disconcerting and frustrating time of waiting, delays, lines, and ultimately confusion and frustration. On Wednesday evening, our plane from Newark to Israel was delayed and ultimately cancelled.

From the very beginning, our pilgrimage has taken unexpected turns. Already I have found myself surrounded by people speaking a foreign language to each other and to me, with an expectation of my comprehension. I have been beyond exhaustion. Members of our group spent a night sleeping on the floor. Another has already lost something important. It seemed like an eternity since I handed over all my possessions (my suitcase) to strangers, with now limited expectation I’d ever see it again. We have made some decisions we may not have made in the past (such as hopping onto an airport hotel shuttle at 3 a.m. to go to a hotel with which we hadn’t yet obtained a reservation). We have heard others grumble loudly, and we have grumbled ourselves. We have also laughed and nearly been brought to tear by that laughter, and also by the absurdity of our thwarted plane trip to Tel Aviv. We have prayed. We have tended to each other, and at least most of the time, could muster at least a speck of generosity of spirit toward ourselves and others.

Disorientation is the pathway toward reorientation. I preached about this a lot this summer when we explored the psalms, since it’s Walter Brueggeman’s theory of orientation-disorientation-reorientation. I realized on the 10+ hour trip to Israel today (which finally happened) that we had just experienced our period of disorientation, so that our reorientation could emerge on the rest of our pilgrimage.

2016-10-28-09-03-55 — Outside Tel Aviv Airport

Do I wish there had been no delays and we had been walking the streets of the Old City Jerusalem, rather than the hallways of the Newark airport yesterday? Absolutely!

But I bet it is important that we have lived in the “twilight zone” a bit. I bet it matters that we are being disorientated, so we can be resurrected into something new during this trip. Disorientation must always proceed reorientation, it’s just so hard when we want everything to go the way we expect and want. And yet, so often leaning into that unexpectedness is exactly what brings us into a new place with God.

We did finally land in Tel Aviv this afternoon and our feet have touched Holy Land. Thanks be to God.

2016-10-28-10-01-24 — St. George’s Guest House

2016-10-28-10-01-27 — This is our home in Jerusalem.

Pilgrimage into the heart of Jesus

I am taking the chance of a lifetime and visiting the Holy Land from October 27th through November 7th. As I pour over the guidebooks, I find already a spiritual anticipation and shift beginning within. It’s exciting and scary and soul stretching to think that I’ll “walk in the path of Jesus”. Of course, that’s what we promise to do each week at church, to follow Jesus, so this will be a call to do this literally (walking the Via Dolorosa) as well as opening my heart to follow Jesus more fully with each step I take in my life.

I’ve been reading John Philip Newell’s book, The Rebirthing of God, in which one small sentence has captured my imagination and heart ~ “A pilgrimage is a return to our place of resurrection.” I’ve pondered this since if I go to the Holy Land only to see where Jesus was, but it doesn’t help me live more fully into Jesus’, and thus my resurrection, then I think I’ve missed the point. Resurrection implies transformation and new life. Here we go!

I ask that you hold me and my travel companions (Mother Betsy is one of them) in prayer as we gather to be brought deeper into the resurrection of Jesus by being in the land made holy by his presence.