A Strange kind of Beautiful

Jan 11^th

Today was:

A massive amount of information

A day of meeting the locals

A day of sights great to behold

Our bus driver is a Muslim Arab.  His name is Siam.  His friends often call him Elvis because they think he favors him.  I am not of that persuasion.

We’ve been interacting with him since we left the Airport in Lod (outside Tel Aviv), but our guide forgot to formerly introduce him until today.  Siam is really nice and friendly.  He obviously has a great relationship with our tour guide, a seminary professor from South Carolina.

I was noting this today and realized that I had barely mentioned Dr. Luker: http://www.ltss.edu/current_community/faculty/lamontte_luker/

Readers meet our fearless leader.

This man is a great tour guide.  He is as fluid with the language, land, and history as if he were from the Holy Land himself.  He has an articulate and entertaining way of sharing information everywhere we go and a nice speaking voice (that carries well) to go with his knowledge.

Today was packed with so much “stuff” that I feel like I’ve been here for two weeks.

First, we went to the city of Efrat, a Jewish settlement on seven hilltops among Palestinian vineyards in the valleys. We met a resident there.  He showed us around the city, took us to his home, and shared drinks and snacks with us.  He talked with us about Israel, being a Jew, politics and more.  This was excellent!

Next we climbed the Herodian.   This was a fortified palace built by King Herod.  He was not popular, so he had to make his palaces into fortresses.  This site is a mountain in the middle of the Judean Wilderness.  This hike was nice and very windy.  The sky was a perfect blue. 

Then we went to Shepherd’s Field where we found a great shop, saw where the shepherds saw the star, and also found a fantastic rainbow to go with the light sprinkle that had begun.

Next we went to a Palestinian restaurant for lunch that was in a giant tent.  There was a cat inside that slyly found food remains.  Folks in our group indulged his desire.  This cat eats well. 

Then we met with a Palestinian Lutheran minister in his church.  He is over a church and school in Shepherd’s Field.  A former student came in and talked with us too.  She is a beautiful Palestinian Muslim.  They offered us coffee, drinks and snacks.  They told us about Palestine, being Palestinians, Christianity, Islam, politics and more.  This was fascinating!

Lastly, we went to Bethlehem.  Bethlehem is in Palestine territory as well.  We saw the Church of the Nativity, which has the actual manger below – YES FOLKS – where Mary swaddled the baby Jesus! 

This Church is connected to St. Catherine’s Western Roman Catholic Church.

As if the day had not been enough a Japanese tour group came through when we were in Jerome’s tomb .  (Jerome was the original translator of the Bible to Latin making the Word more accessible to the people. His tomb is right beside the place where he worked and also where the manger is; it's underneath St. Catherine’s.) All of us had just seen where Christ was born and where a faithful worker had changed that news into a language more could understand.  We were singing Joy to the World.  The Japanese joined us and we even sang an extra verse together.  It was amazing and moving beyond words - strangers in a foreign land, celebrating the Good News.  Together we venerated the site.  I felt like we were doing what God meant for us all along.

I can’t believe this day - Meeting the special people we met, seeing the love that exists in all corners of this strange land, touching places that have more history and importance than I can put into words.

This place is a strange kind of beautiful.

Sorry for the mush.

Love to you all!