pilgrimagetoisrael

A Pilgrimage to IsraelA Sacred Story Journey

Connie Paul, January, 2010

Israel Now and Then

Our guide and driver were Palestinians and Israeli citizens

The Life of Jesus

Why does our story begin in Bethlehem?

Shepherd’s Field Remembers Two Events: First Ruth and Boaz

The monument

at the entrance to Shepherd’s

Field

This church commemorates the site of the angels & shepherds

Just down the road is Manger Square

The Church of the Nativity is one of the oldest in Israel.

The Persians didn’t destroy it in the 500’s as they did most others because of the icon of the Wise Men in Persian dress

This section is Greek Orthodox

Mosaic from the

floor of the church of the 500s

The ancient walls of the church

By Tradition the Place of Jesus’s Birth

To the right of the birthplace is the place of the manger

The manger may have looked like this one at Megiddo

Bethlehem today

Our story continues in Nazareth

It was Jesus’ hometown Jesus grew up

in Nazareth which was insignificant at the time

It is now the “Arab capital of Israel”

A village from Jesus’s time has been recreated

Nazareth today from the village

Jesus’s first miracle was

at Cana.This church

remembers it.

Some of the group re-enacted their marriage vows

To the Sea of Galilee

We hear the story of the calling of Peter and Andrew at

the seaside

The Sea is clear and lovely

The Site of the Sermon on the Mount

The Church of the Beatitudes

We heard the whole sermon here

The Church of Multiplication(Feeding the 5000)

Nearby is the church remembering Peter

“And thou art Peter and on this rock…”

Capernaum

Jesus really did walk here

The synagogue where Jesus taught

The church is built over the ruins

The floor of the church looks down on the ruins of Peter’s mother-in-laws house

An ancient olive press

The ancientmosaic

floor

Hearing Capernaum’s history

By tradition Zaccheus

climbed into this tree

Sailing on the Sea of GalileeWe saw the shore from a boat on the Sea

The Jordan, where Jesus was baptised, and one of our group

was, too.

The tomb of Lazarus in Bethany

The bottom of Lazarus’ tomb

The church of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus

Jerusalem the Golden

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

The pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem

On the path to Jerusalem

on Palm Sunday

The Garden of Gethsemene, an olive grove

Caiphus’s house where Peter denied Jesus at the

crowing of the cock

The Via Dolorosa, a place of pilgrimage

Station VII

The site of Golgotha in the Church of the Holy Sepulchure

Stone of Preparation*

*from Internet

Behind the window of the church is the

location of the crucifixion

The Garden Tomb

Other wonderful places we visited

The Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews

The wall of the temple closest to

the Holy of Holies

The model of the temple at the Israel

Museum showing the courtyard of the Gentiles

The Dome of the Rock

Climbing to the tel

The tel of Megiddo

The excavation is to King Ahab’s time

Horse

Megiddo looks down on the plains of Armegeddon

Qumran Where the Dead Sea

scrolls were found

The museum has recreated

how the scrolls looked

when they were found.

The Springs of En Gedi

Going to swim in the Dead Sea

Masada

The model of Herod’s Masada

Touring the top of the mountain

The baths retain some of their color

The room where the lots were cast

The pilgrims at Beit She’an