Jerusalem = the perfect balance of people, history, archeology and faith

Jesus said, “For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don’t know where you’re going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light. – John 12: 35-36

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Wednesday of Holy Week: Well that, as they say in showbiz, is a wrap. Tuesday evening Rebekah and I finished up our five-week travel/Bible-study series, reporting back on our recent epic journey to Athens, Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

If you missed the class, then that is most definitely a shame. If you one of those people who said:

• “Please offer a slide-show of your trip…”
• “We’d love to attend a class that covered your adventure…”
• “Tuesday nights would work best for us…” or,
• “Make sure and let us know if you ever do a program with your photographs…”

…Then this was it. Maybe you can catch the re-run. It’s all she wrote. Done. Finis.

Rebekah teaching and sharing Tuesday evening

Rebekah and I featured 500-600 amazing photographs, shared interesting factoids in terms of geography, faith, geology, politics and history, laughed a lot, told personal anecdotes from our adventure, and offered a myriad of Bible-reference tie-ins throughout.

Attendance varied from a low of 60 to a high of 85, with – best guess – around 125 different people attending at least one presentation. (And, yes, I’d love to bring the program to your church or oganization. Let me know and we’ll talk.)

The busy streets of Old Jerusalem

HOLY CITY: But how cool is it that the Jerusalem stage of our adventure travelogue falls right in the middle of Holy Week? The Old City really hasn’t changed much since the time of Christ, and the ancient streets – loaded with history – provided the perfect backdrop for our ongoing discussion of Lent and our experience of reaching toward Easter.

Jerusalem is almost claustrophobic with its narrow streets, uneven steps, shops huddled together, merchandize spilling out all over the paths, and crowds of people. The weekend they crucified Jesus the population was swollen with tens of thousands of pilgrims, visiting for the passover.

Rebekah with the "keeper of the keys" of the Church of the Resurrection. You should have heard her story about Wajeeh Nuseibeh and his family's over 1,300 year tradition as door-keepers

Jesus walked these streets with confidence, he met the people where they were, he spoke to them with authority, and he spoke words of possibility and promise to those mired in a social and religious milieu that knew only the language of fear, of injustice, of religiosity, of impossibility and of defeat.

What words of Jesus do you hear today? If you’re not listening then try the words repeated here. Words of grace and of possibility.

Love and Blessings and  - “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” – DEREK

Jesus said, “For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don’t know where you’re going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light. – John 12: 35-36