Final Resting Place of the Natal Star

Today we are off to Bethlehem via the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations, and Saint Pierre en Gallicante. I hope that we do not have as much walking to do as we did yesterday. My legs are still aching although I feel much fitter after the best part of a month here in Israel-Palestine. I appear to have lost some weight. Julia reckons it is to do with ‘lack of booze and all the exercise’. I get the feeling she has a ‘cunning plan’ to keep me on track when we get back to the UK at the weekend? I expect it will involve the exercise bike we bought before we came away? But first it is another of the splendid ‘Arabic Full English Breakfasts’ that our hotel provides … just to fortify me for the day ahead you understand?!

Our minibus arrives at 9.00 a.m. and we all climb aboard and take our usual seats. It doesn’t matter what bus we use we all always sit in the same seats … typical Brits you say! The minibus is a local bus but it has been organised from the Nazareth end by Azar … it belongs to a relation I think … it is the ‘Arab way’ of course. We drive up to the viewing point above the Mount of Olives where we enjoy first hand the marvellous view over the old city of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and the particularly prominent golden Dome of the Rock. We are directly opposite the Golden Gate of the city … the gate that some Jews and Christians believe the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through when he comes (or comes again of course). The Moslems have bricked it up and turned the ground in front of it into a cemetery, to prevent the Messiah entering? I find this very interesting because if they are so sure that they are right, and we are wrong, why be so afraid that you have to brick up the Golden Gate to prevent Messiah entering? You would have thought that they would have left it as it was in order to prove that they are right and we are wrong. We take lots of photographs and just drink in the splendour of the view before getting back on board our bus and descending to the Mount of Olives.

Our destination is the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations situated on the Mount of Olives. There is a beautifully preserved small garden right by the church featuring a number of olive trees that are at least 2,000 years old. No one can say for certain that Jesus and his disciples spent time at this particular spot but if it was not here then it would have been somewhere very much like here and near here. Despite the coach loads of tourists there is a tranquility about this place that I love. Julia and I have been here before, and we are glad to be back. We visit the Church of All Nations. It is quite pleasant. Mass is being celebrated. We sit for a while enjoying the atmosphere, but then go outside again to spend more time in prayerful reflection in this wonderful Garden where Jesus and his disciples also spent quality time.

From the Mount of Olives we drive around the city walls to the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu (as it is known in English). It is thought to be the site of the house of Caiphas the High Priest and the place where Jesus was held and tried before his crucifixion, and where Peter denied Christ three times (Luke 22:54-65). The church is quite modern but down in the basement there is an ancient deep pit thought to be the place where Jesus was held. We go down into the pit and I read the passage from Luke to the group. We then sing the first verse of the hymn, ‘Man of Sorrows, wondrous name’. It sounds terrific! For a small group we have what seems a full range of voices amongst us. If anything it is even better than our ‘performance’ in the Crusader Church of Saint Anne at Bethesda yesterday. There is another group following us who listen while we sing. When we have finished there is a moment of prayerful, pregnant silence. ‘Beautiful! Just beautiful!’ says one of this other group as we pass her on the way up from the pit!

Outside again we stand in the quadrangle that overlooks the old city right by the ancient steps that Jesus himself would have descended when we he was sent by Caiphas to Pilate. Last time Julia and I were here eight years ago we walked down these steps, but now they are roped off and all we can do is take photographs. There is a wonderful bronze statue here in the quadrangle depicting Jesus denying Christ. It is a very powerful piece of art and I spend some time simply sitting looking at it and allowing God to speak to me through it. We stop for coffee at the church restaurant and buy an olive wood rosary for a friend in the shop, and then pause at the viewing point with its amazing panoramic views over Jerusalem, before heading back to our minibus and continuing our journey to Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is in the West Bank so we drive to ‘the wall’ that the Jews have built to isolate the West Bank from Israel, and through the Israeli check point in the wall to Bethlehem. Bethlehem has a large Arab Christian populace (although the majority of Arabs there are Moslems these days) but it has suffered considerably as a direct result of the wall being built. There is considerably unemployment and the town is dependent on the tourist trade. We leave our minibus at the bus station and walk the short distance to Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. Julia and I have not been here before so we are really looking forward to our visit. The approach to the church is striking, and we enter through a very small door. It is an extremely old church but (like so many churches built over significant sites in the Holy Land) split on denominational lines. There is the Armenian bit, and the Greek Orthodox bit, and the Roman Catholic bit. The main bit is Greek Orthodox. It is built over a crypt said to be the site where the natal star fell, and Jesus was born. There is a huge queue waiting to go down to the crypt and, recalling the horrendous queue to see the Holy Sepulchre we endured yesterday, our hearts fall. But one of the guides, who speaks English, sidles up to us and says he can get us in to the crypt the back way … and he is as good as his word! In fact for a ‘small donation’ he gets us into all sorts of nooks and crannies which normally would be closed for lunch at this time.

The crypt with its site where the star fell, and the site where the manger stood, is disappointing. The cell where Saint Jerome (c.347-420) translated the Bible into Latin and thus produced the Vulgate version of the Bible is much more interesting. Famously he used the word ‘penance’ instead of ‘repentance’ but I guess maybe he saw being stuck down a dark hole for 35 years translating the Bible into Latin as some form of penance?! We sit in the cloisters of the Roman Catholic section of the Church of the Nativity and eat our picnic lunch, and then we are joined by Azar’s brother-in-law, Paul, who takes us in our minibus to a workshop that makes many of the olive wood Holy Land articles that you can buy in the various gift shops around Israel-Palestine. It is run by an Arab Christian family and we have a fascinating guided tour of the workshop … and then buy loads of stuff from him because his prices are so reasonable compared to the gift shops for tourists! It is a ‘win win’ situation for everyone!

Jim Binney

Jesus Mosaic

We wake up after a wonderful night’s sleep to discover that at the Ritz Hotel breakfast this morning is as good as dinner was last night. There is a wonderful selection of fruit salads and … as near as you can get to a ‘full English breakfast’ as I guess is possible in Israel-Palestine including sausages and scrambled egg! I am in my element! Even the arrival of the anticipated rejection email to Julia from the other church her name was sent to this month fails to dampen our exhilaration!

Today we are going to walk round Jerusalem with Phil as our guide. We like Phil. He is brilliant at this sort of thing – so knowledgeable about things, so patient with us, and always happy to throw in some great spiritual and biblical insights as he guides us around the various places he has taken us to during our month over here. We begin by walking round the city walls and enter the old city by the Lions’ Gate and the beginning of the Via Dolorosa. We don’t religiously follow the various Stations of the Cross as we walk down it through the Moslem Quarter but stop off at various points of interest. We begin with visiting the Pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed an invalid (John 5:1-15) and the ancient Crusader Church of St Anne. The Church has wonderful acoustics so our group spontaneously starts to sing a couple of verses of ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’. We sing it slowly so the sound resonates around the church. People stop and listen. Some start to record it, and afterwards applaud and come and thank us. If we had known that it was going to sound that good we could have had CDs produced and sold them like Daniel did on the boat on the Sea of Galilee the other week?! I jest of course.

We continue along the Via Dolorosa to the Struthion Pool, a large cuboid cistern housed below the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. It also houses an area of Roman pavement that could possibly be ‘the Stone Pavement’ or ‘Gabbatha’ (John 19:13) where Jesus was judged by Pilate. It is one of those special places and there is a lovely mural of Christ carrying his cross on the wall by this section of pavement. After leaving the Convent we go for coffee at a cafe by the Armenian Church of our Lady of the Spasm?! It is supposedly the place where Mary the mother of Jesus witnessed her son go by carrying his cross (John 19:26) … an event which seemingly caused her to have a spasm … perhaps it translates better in Armenian?! Over coffee I get into conversation with a group of Polish Jews who live in England and are over here for a week or so. They are very friendly and interested in why we are over here in Israel-Palestine. Things are going swimmingly until I suggest that it would be great if a ‘one state’ solution could eventually be arrived at in which Jews and Arabs could amicably share the land as one nation? They agree … as long as the ‘one state’ is Jewish!? Sadly I know that many Palestinians would also agree about the ‘one state’ solution … as long as the ‘one state’ was entirely Palestinian?! No one seems happy with ‘two state’ solution!?

After coffee we go to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, or perhaps ‘Unholy Sepulchre’ might be more appropriate? We enter through the site of the Coptic Church and Monastery on the roof, and work our way down to the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic sections. The division and intransigence between the various denominations is illustrated by an old ladder, high up on the front elevation of the church building. Umpteen years ago a window needed mending, but the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholics fell out over it and the work stopped mid-stream. It has never been started again and the ladder is still where it was left all those years ago?! The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is mayhem with loads of people jostling each other as various tour groups vie with each other to get to see the various ‘holy things’ contained within the building. There are numerous priests of the various denominations all herding the tourists around, and numerous tour guides bullying their various groups to go this way or that as quickly as possible.

Some of us want to get to see the Holy Sepulchre so we join the long queue. I opted out last time I was here, and regretted it afterwards, so I don’t want to miss out this time. Once we are in the queue there is no way back. I am glad that I am 6’4″ and weigh around 16 stone because it is like a Rugby scrum in the queue. I easily hold my own and keep ploughing forward as the opportunity arises, and the rest of our party follow in my wake. Even so it takes us an hour to get in to the actual Holy Sepulchre itself … and when we get there it is not really worth all the fuss to be honest. It has been made so ornate that it seems cheap and trashy? Some of us then go on to another section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the Cross of Christ is supposed to have been. There is a hole in the floor where you can reach in and touch the alleged place. We join the queue and soon find ourselves at the place. Just as we are about to place our hands in the sacred hole a very officious Jewish guide stands in front of us and attempts to usher his group in front of us. It is another awful example of Jewish ‘chutzpah’ or ‘getting in other people’s faces’ that some Jews think is creditable. I have had enough of this arrogance so display some ‘chutzpah’ of my own. I tell him in no uncertain terms that he can’t do this! He tells me he can. I tell him no he can’t … and since I am rather bigger than him, and have two nuns, and several very nice students backing me up … he gives way!

When we finally emerge from the holy hell that is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre we find the rest of our party and have some lunch before going on to visit the amazing Jewish Archaeological Park and the Western (or Wailing) Wall. We walk through the huge Souk or Market with its winding alleys and colourful stalls. The Jewish Archeological Park houses the remains of the Jewish Temple with piles of stones lying around in fulfilment of Jesus’ prophetic words concerning the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD, that ‘they will not leave one stone upon another’ (Luke 19:44). We also see the steps that led up to the entrance to the Temple. Steps that Jesus himself would have used. Steps where perhaps Peter preached from on that first Day of Pentecost in the Christian Era, just above the numerous Jewish ‘baptismal pools’ which the Jews used for their cleansing rituals before entering the Temple. Baptismal pools which the embryonic Christian Church would also have used to baptise the 3,000 new converts on that first Day of Pentecost who responded to Peter’s exhortation to ‘repent and be baptised’ (Acts 2:38). We sit quietly and reflectively on these steps for quite a while …it is another of these precious places.

From the Archaeological Park we go back through the Israeli Security Check Point to the Western Wall. The men go to the larger section of the Wall, and the women to the smaller section. There are lots of Orthodox Jews praying there, and I join them to pray with them. Last time I was here I prayed especially for my son, David. I pray for him again this time, giving thanks that my prayers eight years ago for him have been largely answered, and I pray for the rest of my family as well. The cracks and crevices in the Western Wall of the Temple are full of bits of paper containing the prayers of those who have come to pray at the Wall.

We return to our hotel, in time for another excellent dinner, exhausted but exhilarated after a truly wonderful day. The streets are buzzing with life and activity as we walk back through them. There is an amazing vibrancy about Jerusalem and we look forward to discovering more about this amazing city over the next few days!

Jim Binney

Jim and Julia in the Dead Sea

We wake early. Today we are leaving Saint Margaret’s and Nazareth after three weeks. Our cases are packed. Our breakfast is eaten. Our prayers are said. We check our emails … and discover that one of the two churches Julia’s name was sent to this month has responded. Unfortunately it is yet another polite rejection email. I just wish that some of these churches would actually meet her before rejecting her … they might be pleasantly surprised! To be honest she is not holding out much hope for the other church either. We met with them before we settled at Elm Road in 2004 and things didn’t work out then, so it is doubtful that anything will work out this time? But hey … we have an exciting day ahead of us so we will worry about the next stage in our life journey when we get back to the UK.

We take our cases down to the courtyard where May has come to see us off. We are going to Jerusalem for the last few days of our month’s sabbatical. Our minibus arrives and we discover that we have a driver who doesn’t speak any English. He is in a bit of a mood and rushes around, ignoring May, trying to find out who is in charge. It is exhausting watching him. Finally Phil arrives. We pack all our luggage into the back of the bus and we are finally ready for the off. Phil is coming to Jerusalem with us to act as our guide. He is going to follow our minibus in his own car because the minibus is coming back to Nazareth tonight and Phil has to get back as well after he has seen us off to the airport on Saturday. Graham is promoted to sit next to our driver again. He did such a good job last Saturday that we are hoping for a reprise of his ‘Wee Jock’s Tours’ act

We are heading for Masada (the site of the Jewish rebels heroic last stand against the Romans c.73/74 AD), and the Dead Sea (where we are planning to go for a swim or should I say a ‘float’), before completing our journey to our new hotel in Jerusalem. But first we plan to stop at a more authentic baptismal site on their River Jordan at Kasr El Yahud. We drive through a check point into the West Bank. We don’t even have to stop but are just waved through by the Israeli soldiers. Just a few hundred yards down the road, however, we pass an Israeli soldier holding a Palestinian at gun point – kneeling down, hands behind his head – as the soldier waits for his colleagues to arrive. We eventually arrive at the road that leads to the baptismal site. It is down a narrow road with mine fields either side of the road. We pass through another military check point and technically we are in Jordan. The baptismal site is situated on the River Jordan where the river is very narrow and where you could almost literally wade across the river into Jordan proper in half a dozen strides. There are Israeli soldiers on our side of the river, and Jordanian soldiers on the other side of the river. There are quite a number of tour buses there but not a lot of baptisms going on. We take lots of photographs and then it is time to move on to Masada.

Julia and I have been to Masada before. It is very impressive. The countryside around is very stark and barren – proper desert – with the Dead Sea on one side and the mountains on the other. Phil, who has now joined us on the bus for this stage of the trip (having left his car at a place we stopped for coffee earlier) gives us a brilliant impromptu exposition of the 23 Psalm in the course of the journey. We arrive at Masada and, after eating our picnic lunches, we ascend to the top in the cable car. There is a bunch of Orthodox Jewish youth also waiting for the cable car. We know that they are Orthodox because they are all wearing the little skull caps that the Orthodox Jews wear. They are loud and abusive. They deliberately insult us and other tourists. Apparently they think this is a creditable way to behave … something to do with ‘chutzpah’ or ‘getting in people’s faces’ we are told. They are disgracefully behaved and even their teacher eventually gets fed up with them and makes them walk all the way up to the top. There have been a lot of developments since last we were here including making Herod’s northern palace accessible to visitors. We spend a fascinating couple of hours here, with Phil expertly enlightening us on the history of the place, before we descend via the cable car again.

From Masada we go to one of the bathing places along the Dead Sea where we stop off so that Rosemary, Graham, Julia and I can go for a ‘float’. Julia and I have done this before and it is an amazing experience just floating in this extremely dense salt water. We cover ourselves in the mud – that is supposed to rejuvenate our bodies – and then do some more floating to wash it all off again. An hour passes by before we know it. It would be impossible to baptise anyone by full immersion here … you would never get them under the water!?

We rejoin the rest of our group, who have been drinking coffee, while we were enjoying ourselves, and drive to Jerusalem, stopping on the way so that Phil can collect his car from where he had left it earlier. We are staying at the Ritz Hotel near the walls of the old city. The only problem is that our driver doesn’t know where it is? Phil knows where it is but he is following us … and our driver is getting more and more cantankerous. He takes a wrong turn and then keeps stopping in the most inconvenient places to ask directions. Cars and buses are hooting us, our driver is shouting out of the window at passers by asking for directions, he keeps getting the name of our hotel wrong, he refuses to make use of his SatNav …it is all getting pretty fraught! Eventually he stops long enough for Phil to give him directions and eventually we arrive at our hotel … and it is great! We have a lovely room, with a balcony, and a shower that doesn’t leak. The only downside is that we have twin beds instead of a double?

We go down to dinner and it is wonderful! A choice of different salads to start. A choice of four main meals. Sweets that are actual sweets as well as a great range of fruit. Not a chicken in sight tonight! Result!

Jim Binney

Our Sabbatical Group at NETS

I am woken up at 6.30 a.m. by Salim knocking on the doors of a new group that arrived to stay last night. The leader of this group insisted that everyone have a wake up call at 6.30 a.m. and since there are no phones in our rooms Salim has to literally go and knock on about 25 doors. Why can’t these new people set their alarms like the rest of us? Why wasn’t the leader of this new group more considerate of Salim and his staff who work so hard as it is?

I was talking to some members of this new group last night. One of them pointed to the clock. It said 6.50 p.m. although the actual time was 10.00 p.m. ‘Oh! That’s Arab time!’ I said, ‘You will get used to it once you have been here for a bit!?’ As we are sitting down to our own breakfast, about 8.00 a.m. the leader of the new group rushes in. Their Arab driver is siting in the corner, enjoying his breakfast and a second cup of coffee. ‘Come along! Come along!’ says the officious leader to the Arab driver. ‘Why are you still here? We are all on the bus waiting for you!’ I could have told him why? The driver is on Arab time! The driver reluctantly leaves his half finished breakfast and saunters to his bus …

This morning we are all going to NETS for a final debriefing and information sharing session. We are leaving Nazareth tomorrow and going to Jerusalem via another baptismal site on the River Jordan on the border between Israel and Jordan, Masada, and the Dead Sea. After breakfast Julia and I leave before the rest of our group. Julia wants to go back to the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation for a final look. We pass it whenever we walk from Saint Margaret’s up to the Seminary so it is easy to just stop off on the way. We have been here several times before but we notice new things yet again and are even able to peep behind some curtains and see frescoes we haven’t seen before. We see Alex in the restaurant we went to for dinner the other Sunday when we were staying at Villa Nazareth. He is drinking coffee and reading a theology book … typical Alex we think. We bump into Bishara as well as we are walking up to the college. We have a chat and promise to continue praying for him as he begins his new ministry as Pastor at Yaffa Baptist Church. Eventually we manage to get up to the Seminary …needless to say we are the last to arrive … I am exhausted and glad that I won’t have to do this walk and climb again, but a couple of glasses of ice cold water and a couple of cups of Arabic coffee and I am fully recovered.

Azar leads us in our devotions this morning. He talks about survival in the desert and ties this in with Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. It is very helpful and I love the way these Arab Christians talk intelligently and uncompromisingly about suffering as something we must both expect and accept as Christians, but something that with Christ’s help we can come through and grow spiritually and as human beings. May then enlightens us as to what will be happening of the next few days as Phil takes us on the Jerusalem leg of our time over here in Israel-Palestine. It all sounds very interesting and exciting. May also gets us all to complete a questionnaire providing feedback for NETS regarding our thoughts on the sabbatical – what was good about it and what was not so good. I hate filling in these sort of forms – I have loved all of it and say so. I refuse to become one of those sort of people that has to find something to moan about. The teaching sessions have been brilliant and I have learned so much. We have managed to see all that we wanted to see more or less. And even the fun and games of having to change hotels periodically, or put up with various noisy parties, have provided us with endless humour for me to blog about! When you consider the poverty of so many of the Arab people in Israel-Palestine we really have nothing to complain about. After we have completed our forms we enjoy the most wonderful barbecue. We have some amazing salad dishes, and all kinds of meat – everything except chicken!

We say our farewells to the staff. We will miss their friendship and fellowship. We take lots of photos of each other and a couple of group photos. Julia and I eventually leave them all to it and head down to Nazareth market for some last minute shopping. We want to buy some presents for the grandchildren and a couple of tee shirts for ourselves. We go back to the scarf shop opposite the Old Synagogue to see our friend Berg again. ‘Hello’ he says when he sees us, ‘is it Tuesday?’ We all laugh and tell him what we are after. We get everything we want from him … and a free cup of Arabic coffee! If you are ever in Nazareth do go to his shop and tell him Jim and Julia sent you … and he will give you a discount! Berg sends us to his friend Azar (not our Azar but another Azar) where we buy some Arabic coffee to take home, and we also buy an Arabic coffee pot, and some lovely small cups, so we can continue to make Arabic coffee back home. After a successful shop we slowly climb the hill back to Saint Margaret’s. There is the sound of thunder rolling around the hills surrounding Nazareth, and the heat is very oppressive, so we wonder if we are going to be in for a storm. The rain is needed here and should have come by now. After three weeks of wall-to-wall sunshine we can’t complain if it comes.

We arrive back at Saint Margaret’s to have a bit of a rest before starting our packing so that we can be away early tomorrow. We go down to dinner around 7.00 p.m. Salim has prepared a lovely last supper for us … and we have hamburgers and not chicken! I think he has discovered I am on Facebook and has been reading my blog?! The new group that arrived yesterday are also in the dining room. The officious leader demanded dinner at 6.30 p.m. prompt! Despite their demands they are served more or less at the same time as us … Arab time of course!

Jim Binney

Julia Complying with the Regulations

I am woken up at 7.00 a.m. by Julia pulling our bedroom curtains open and exclaiming (as she has done every morning since we have been in Israel), ‘Guess what? It’s hot and sunny again!’ I groan and roll over and put my head under the pillow! The party that was going on in the courtyard right outside our window last night when we went to bed was still going on at 1.45 a.m. with the band playing loud, joyful dance music! Somehow I managed to drop off to sleep, only to be woken again at 3.00 a.m. By the sound of a coach load of new guests arriving! I somehow fell asleep again only to be woken again at 4.30 a.m. by the various Imams of Nazareth calling the faithful to worship! Somehow I managed to fall asleep again, only to be woken again by the sunlight streaming through the window! Needless to say not many of our group made it to breakfast on time this morning?! Salim … who probably didn’t get a wink of sleep at all last night … brought us all yumacious cake to compensate!

Our group are all doing different things today. Julia and I are going back to the Baptist Church that meets in the Baptist School again, to worship. We have enjoyed simply worshiping with these lovely Arab Christians week by week. After breakfast Julia and I walk down the steep hill from Saint Margaret’s to Mary’s Well, and then along the road to the Baptist School where the breakaway Baptist Congregation meets. Another party of American tourists are worshipping with us this week. Their leader brings a greeting. He makes no mention of them coming to Israel-Palestine ‘to see the living stones as well as the ancient stones’ which is a relief to the congregation. I gather that they get told this repeatedly by visiting groups. It was good the first time they heard it … but after the umpteenth time it’s gets a bit boring?! There is a good congregation, and the worship includes a lot of lively singing, but to be honest I am so tired from lack of sleep last night that I am struggling somewhat.

We all join in the singing with gusto. By now we are all trying to sing the Arabic words rather than the English … I am not sure what these lovely Arab Christians must make of our pronunciation?! I don’t know who the preacher is this week. He expounds the next section of 1 Peter – we are on chapter four this week. It is pretty straightforward stuff, but there is not much light and shade in the Arab style of preaching. It is ‘the Arab way’ I guess. The most interesting section for me is the introduction explaining who Peter was, and mentioning a number of the places we have already visited, so we picture these places in our minds as the preacher speaks. I am trying so hard to concentrate on the translation – eyes closed, hand holding head set to ear so I can hear better, head bowed – that I nearly fall asleep and fall of my chair?!

Talking of ‘the Arab Way’, I was speaking with the Arab guide of the French group that have been staying here at Saint Margaret’s. He is a Palestinian and he told me that there are elections coming up. He supports the old Communist Party but will not be voting for them. He will be voting instead for his father-in-law who is standing as a candidate, because he is family and it is ‘the Arab way’ to put family first!

After the service Julia, Graham, David, Margi and myself struggle back up the steep hill to Saint Margaret’s. We were hoping to find a coffee shop open on the way … we feel we need a strong coffee before attempting the climb. But being Sunday, everything is closed … except a solitary gift shop where Julia buys a solitary postcard, much to the owner’s disappointment. He had probably been told about Julia and was hoping to sell her at least two scarves and a handbag?! We walk slowly up the hill and then collapse at a table in the shade in the courtyard at Saint Margaret’s. when we have sufficiently recovered we have lunch together … I upload some photos on to my Facebook page … and then retire to our room where Julia is already fast asleep. Ear plugs in, eye mask on, and its snoozeville for me for the rest of the afternoon!

I wake just in time for dinner. It’s chicken again, but of course you already knew that would be the case didn’t you? The waiter brings out a huge plate of chips so I know that we are going to have the chicken in the shape of fish tonight … and of course I am right. It tastes very nice though … perhaps I am getting used to chicken. After dinner Margi brings me a coffee … and more of that delicious cake Salim gave us this morning to compensate for all the noise last night. Coffee and cake … brought to the table where I am sitting … might just have to take Margi home with us as well as Grandma!

Jim Binney

Julia on the Beach at Tabgha

We only have one more week together here in Israel. A week today we will be flying back to the UK. Today we are all going off on our own. We have hired a mini-bus and we are going back to the Galilee. We went towards the beginning of our stay in Nazareth but none of us felt that we had stayed there long enough. We have declared UDI and put Graham in charge … it is his own fault for being so insistent that we do this! Graham turns out to be a very good tour guide. I reckon that if he ever left the Ministry he could set up his own tour business – Wee Jock’s Tours?! Johny, who owns the bus firm we have been using all week, turns up himself to drive us. This is good, very good. Johny speaks good English, and also brings his best mini-bus … the one with really comfortable seats, air conditioning that works, and VIP on the doors!

We drive down to the Galilee, via Cana. The tourist busses are pulling up outside the shop that sells Cana Miracle Wine. I don’t know if it is actually on the alleged site of Jesus’ first miracle when he turned water into wine (John 2). I do know that the French group staying at Saint Margaret’s went there the other day and said that the wine in the shop,tasted awful. Apparently it gave a whole new meaning to the French word ‘degustation’!?

Our plan is to drive right round the Sea of Galilee, stopping off at various sites on the way and ending up at Ginosar where we are going to the beach for a swim and relax. I have to confess that I was reluctant when this trip was first suggested – I am tired and was looking forward to a quieter weekend – but it is actually an extremely pleasant drive and I am glad we have come after all. Our first stop is at Kursi on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is allegedly the site where the Gaderene demoniac was delivered by Jesus (Luke 8:26-39). The site was discovered by accident some years ago as a result of a new road being built along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. We like this site. There are no other tourist groups here, but us. We get cut price entry for some reason. And the site is what it is – an interesting ruined church built over the alleged site of the miracle, and a smaller chapel up a steep climb, by the alleged cave where the demoniac lived.

From Kursi we drive on to Bethsaida, the site of many of Jesus’ miracles. Originally we did not intend going there, but since we got a good deal at Kursi we chance our arm and get an even better deal at Bethsaida. It is a fascinating little site and we are struck by all the blatant references to Jesus’ works and words (given that this is a Jewish National Park) all over the site, such as his famous comment, ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes’ (Matthew 11:20).

We continue driving round the Sea of Galilee. We are heading for the beach at Tabgha – the place where it is suggested Jesus and his disciples often escaped to when they needed some peace and quiet. It is also the alleged place where Jesus re-commissioned Peter (John 21). I have always loved this place but both times I have been before we have never been able to spend any length of time here. Today we get the chance to spend an hour or so just sitting at the far end of the beach, ignoring the tourists and trying to ignore the loud music coming from the motor cruisers belonging to rich Israelis celebrating a secular Sabbath in the next bay along the coast. We eat our picnic lunch, read the bible story from John 21, and then just wander or sit quietly and prayerfully. The contrast between the sacredness of the place and the secularisation of our noisy neighbours leaves me with a real sense that when Julia and I return to the UK we will be returning to the ministry that God has long planned for us … a ministry that seeks to make the sacred real and relevant in the midst of a loud and noisy and needy secular society.

We reluctantly drag ourselves away from Tabgha and drive on to Ginosar (Gennesaret) where several of us spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach while others wander round the gift shop. May has secured a good deal for us enabling us to make use of the private beach belonging to the hotel Julia and I stayed in eight years ago when we first came to Israel. We find a nice shady spot under the huge sun shades the hotel has erected by the Sea of Galilee. We both go swimming and it is so nice to cool off in the Sea of Galilee. The temperature is hitting 38 degrees.

We are sitting near a Jewish family who are very friendly and interested in us and who share some of their food with us. Lots of Jewish families come to places like this on the Sabbath to celebrate it in a secular manner. This family is very nice. There are lots of children and they have brought grandma with them as well. Grandma has made these wonderful chocolate cakes. I like them so much I suggest that I take grandma back to the UK with us?! They all think this is very funny … grandma seems to like the idea!

After a long and tiring day, but a day that has turned out to be great day, we drive back to Saint Margaret’s. We eat outside in the courtyard. All the tables are laid, every table but ours has bottles of wine, whiskey and some lethal aniseed concoction on it. There is clearly going to be another party tonight. This is confirmed when the band turns up. It looks like we are in for another long and noisy night! Still we do have chicken for dinner yet again to look forward to?!

Jim Binney

Makram Mesherky

I am woken early again by the French couple in the room next to ours. This morning they are clattering around and we guess they must be off early somewhere. My guess is the Sea of Galilee. We don’t have to be at the Seminary until 10.00 a.m so it would have been nice to have had a bit of a lay in this morning? C’est la vie!

Graham, Rosemary, Julia and myself walk down the hill from Saint Margaret’s and then up the hill to the Seminary. Chris is leading our devotions today so he has gone up early to make sure everything is ready. We like Chris, and his wife Margaret. Chris is a Deacon at a Baptist Church in the Southampton area and, until fairly recently, he was the Church Secretary. He strikes us as the kind of person we would liked to have had as our Church Secretary in some of the churches we have served.

Chris leads our devotions in a very helpful way reminding us both of things we have seen and learned so far, and the fact that we are to ‘pass on that which we have received from the Lord’ (1 Corinthians 11:23). There is a good time of prayer in which we pray for NETS and all the people associated with it that we have met. After our devotions we are introduced to Makram Mesherky, an Arab Christian, who is going to speak to us about ‘Jesus in the Eyes of Jews and Moslems’. Makram is an interesting character. He is a member of the Closed Brethren, a premillennialist, and very sympathetic to the Messianic Jews. He is also an extremely well informed and clever man who is very near to completing his PhD. He has written a number of books, most of which he distributes free of charge to Arabs because they are largely very poor. He is also a most gracious, charming and lovely Christian man. His mother died just over a week ago and since then over 2,000 people – Moslems as well as Arab Christians – have called on him to pay their respects, such is the high standing this man is held in.

He has two lectures to give us, one concerning the Jewish attitude to Jesus, and the other concerning the Moslem attitude to Jesus. Makram’s first lecture is about Judaism and he masterfully unpacks the relationship between the Old Testament, the Mishnah and the Talmudic books in Judaism, and explains how the Jews understand the various references to Jesus in the Talmud. We have a break after this first lecture because it is David’s birthday and we have all signed a birthday card for him. We have a yumacious cake … with candles! And then we return for Makram’s second lecture on Islam, where he skilfully explains how Islam views Jesus. Once again it is all explained clearly and helpfully, and we understand the development of Islam from the the earlier Meccan period to the later Medinean period – the former containing all that is good about Islamic teaching, and the latter all that is bad about Islamic teaching. Sadly, today, it is the latter that overrules the former in Islam. Islam considers itself to be both a religion and a state and is dedicated to bringing the whole world under Islamic rule by fair means or foul.

We return from our brilliant but tiring day to learn that there is to be a Moslem wedding celebration in the large Saint Margaret’s car park … and we are all invited to the feast. It starts about 6.30 p.m. with a religious service attended only by the men … the women are all on the lower courtyard stuffing themselves with all kinds of food! The service is relayed over huge loudspeakers to seemingly the whole of Nazareth … it is deafening. About 7.30 p.m. our food is served. It is a lamb and rice dish, not a chicken in sight, with sweet Arab pastries and fruit to follow. The religious service somehow transforms into a dance and we all go to watch. There are men seated on one side of the car park and women on the other. Only the men are dancing and it is fascinating to watch. We get into conversation with the bride’s parents who both speak very good English. We are told that the wedding has been going on all week and that the bride is actually at home tonight but will go to her new husband’s home tomorrow. We are still none the wiser despite their explanation. The bride’s father wants me to join in the dance with him? Fortunately my knees won’t stand up to the punishment so I am let off! It is real ‘dad dancing’ Moslem Arab style … I think I probably would be very good at it!

Jim Binney

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Oh! Look! More Scarves!

I am woken up at 4.00 a.m. by the sound of loud snoring coming through the wall from the next door room. A large group of French people moved in while Julia and I were staying at Villa Nazareth and a couple have been allocated the room next to ours. Eventually I manage to get back to sleep again only to be woken again at 6.00 a.m. by the French couple next door having a loud discussion in French. Sacre bleu!

Today May is taking us all to Mount Tabor – one of two sites alleged to have been the scene of the Transfiguration of Jesus (the other being Mount Hermon) – and then we are going on to Beit She’an – reputed to be one of the best preserved archeological sites in Israel. Julia and I have been to Mount Tabor before. We remember it well, not least because there was some kind of cartel operating which meant that our driver could only take us so far up the mountain. We had to go the rest of the way in a fleet of huge Mercedes taxis built more like tanks than cars. It is much the same this time although the taxis have been replaced by a fleet of mini-buses. It costs us $6 a head to go up to the top but, thankfully NETS pay the bill. We have to wait for our turn because there are so many people waiting to get up to the top. There is nothing else to do while we wait for the mini-buses except look round the gift shops or go to the food stall. They are all frightfully expensive. The gift shop sells scarves … the same scarves that Julia bought for around £4 each in the market at Nazareth … except these scarves cost $20 each?! Even Julia passes up the opportunity to buy another scarf … although I suspect that another trip to Nazareth market is probably still on the cards.

We survive the hectic drive up the narrow road to the top of Mount Tabor. Our driver scares the living daylights out of us – driving far too fast, talking on his hand-held mobile phone the whole way, taking his other hand off the wheel periodically to wave to his fellow drivers coming the other way. There is a big sign in his minibus over a large box asking us to leave him a tip … fat chance! We are dumped unceremoniously in the turning area at the top of Mount Tabor, and walk the short distance to the church and the viewing platform. We like the church. It is bright and airy with lovely wall paintings. There are lots of people and Mass is being said in the lower sanctuary. We sit and listen for a while and then join the crowds on the viewing platform. There are lovely gardens here and we spend an hour or so just taking in the sights and sounds. Julia and I find a quiet place and Julia reads the biblical story of Jesus’ Transfiguration (Matthew 17). We sit and reflect prayerfully for a while before getting back on one of the minibuses and descending down the mountain to our own little coach.

We drive on to Beit She’an and discover the most amazing archeological site consisting of a Roman theatre, streets, bath house and so much more. There is a Fortress Mound or Tel, with hundreds of steps leading right up to the top. Julia and I climb right to the top and are rewarded with an amazing view over the whole historic site, and another amazing view on the other side right over the Jordan Valley and Jordan itself. We manage to find a bit of shade where we sit and have our lunch. After a thorough explore of the whole site, in blazing hot sunshine, we stagger up to the restaurant area and have an ice cream each … blow the expense!

We drive back to Saint Margaret’s in time for a good rest before dinner. It’s chicken of course … but it is the chicken dish disguised to look like a piece of fish … and we get chips as well! After dinner Julia goes to our room to write her journal and I stay in the reception area, writing our blog and uploading some photos from our cameras. I am sitting at one of the tables, chatting to the Arab guide for the French group, when the Vicar of Dibley bursts in! Well, it is not actually Dawn French but it is a rather large female Anglican Priest, dog collar the lot! ‘Hello!’ she gushes loudly heading straight for me. ‘We have arrived! We are here! I hope our rooms are ready?’ The Arab guide looks at me, and I look at him. ‘I don’t think they are expected?’ whispers the Arab guide. We find Salim, and he knows nothing about any party arriving? ‘This is Saint Gabriel’s?’ says the Vicar of Dibley. ‘No!’ we all say in unison, ‘This is Saint Margaret’s!’ ‘Oh dear!’ says the Vicar of Dibley, ‘My group will be so disappointed. They really like the look of this place!’ And off she goes to round up the members of her group who are all standing around in the courtyard looking so pleased to have arrived after such a long journey. She marches them all out of the gate. I hope that their coach is still waiting for them?

Jim Binney

The Rev Js Relaxing

We are late down to breakfast this morning. We are going back to Saint Margaret’s today and we had to pack our suitcases because May is picking us up from Villa Nazareth in her car. When we get to the Breakfast Room all the German group are sitting around in the sunshine in the courtyard outside drinking coffee. We go into the Breakfast Room to discover all the food has already gone … the Germans have eaten it all. If the hotel had a swimming pool all the sun loungers would be covered with German towels I guess! The Belgians left at the crack of dawn … perhaps they managed to get some breakfast before they left?! Fortunately we get on really well with the staff at Villa Nazareth. They seem to like us, and they go and get some more food for us.

May picks us up in her nice car and drives us up to the Seminary. Julia is leading our devotions this morning. I wonder how they will take to her. There simply isn’t a place for women Pastors in either the Arab Christian Churches or the Messianic Jewish Congregations. I wonder if any of our party, or those who will possibly be present, share these views? I know how good Julia is, but I also know that some people really struggle theologically (although I think there problem is actually cultural) with a woman preaching or teaching. I needn’t have worried though. Julia is her usual brilliant self, and leads us sensitively and movingly in our devotional time, centring our thoughts around the story of the Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4). Everyone is very quiet when she has finished. We then share together in a lovely time of prayer before Phil takes over and talks to us about ‘Issues for the Church in Israel’. Essentially it is a historical overview of how the evangelical church came to be established in Israel-Palestine including where things stand today. It is quite brilliant, appears to be off the cuff, but clearly has a lot of prayerful thought behind it. We are learning so much during these extended days in Nazareth. I am really impressed not only by the academic standard of the staff here at NETS but also by the humble way they share their knowledge and insights with us. I have spent a lot of time mixing with academics over the last 25 years, and have found the arrogance and ‘one-up-man-ship’ too often displayed rather disturbing and disappointing. These guys have been very different, however.

After the morning lecture May drives us up to her and Bryson’s apartment via the Shopping Mall. We could be in any Shopping Mall in the UK if it were not for the fact that everything is in Hebrew and Arabic as well as English and we have to go through a security check-point to actually get in to the Shopping Mall. We are going to May and Bryson’s apartment so that we can wash our dirty clothes in their washing machine, and so that Julia can bake some more bread. Bryson is there working on an academic paper so we are able to have a chat, while we eat our packed lunch, and learn more about NETS itself. May drives us back to Saint Margaret’s where we are reunited with the other members of our group, and return to our old room. It is good to be back. We think we like Saint Margaret’s after all … especially after our recent experiences at Villa Nazareth. We are just in time for dinner … and what do you know … we get hamburgers instead of chicken!

Jim Binney

Julia and the Hidden Chicken

Today we are at the Seminary until lunch time for lectures with Bryson on the subject of ‘Theological Issues in the Holy Land’ and then we have the rest of the day to ourselves for quiet reflection. But first there is breakfast. A party of Germans came in yesterday and we want to make sure that we are in the hotel breakfast room before all the food is gone?! A nice Belgian man (who turns out to be English but married to a Belgian) comes over to talk to us. He is with the Belgian group and is concerned that we appear to be all on our own. It is very nice of him, but we assure him that we are o.k. and explain that we are also part of a group but that we have had to come and stay at Villa Nazareth for a few nights for logistical reasons.

We enjoy the shorter walk up to the Seminary … we must be getting fitter … to find Graham preparing to lead our devotional time before Bryson’s first lecture. We like Graham. He is another of these fine young Scottish Ministers that the evangelical wing of the Church of Scotland keep producing. We feel sure that we will hear more of him in the future. Graham leads our devotions sensitively and helpfully … and then hands over to Bryson. We cover a lot of subjects with Bryson. He has a paper to read, but makes the mistake of inviting us to ask questions … so right from the beginning we ply him with all the questions that have been gradually filling our heads as we have gathered various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is a picture of Israel-Palestine today. Manfully Bryson manages to somehow get across the point he is wanting to make – although it needs both his lectures to achieve this – that the heart problem of Israel-Palestine is an inadequate doctrine of God. Both the Jews and the Moslems subscribe to a monarchical understanding of the nature of God. Both systems are hierarchical (as their subjugation of women, for example, reveal), and both systems think they are right and everyone else is wrong. Bryson goes on to suggest that, sadly, despite our belief in the Trinity, the Christian Church is also guilty of the same kind of monarchicalism (as evidenced by our western concept of the Trinity portrayed in much of our art). It is all further food for thought as we continue to ponder the true situation here in Israel-Palestine, how to resolve the situation, and what part we can play in this as Christians.

After a yumacious farewell lunch for Allie Jane, a lovely, bright Australian girl who has been helping out at NETS for a couple of months and whom we have all become friendly with, we disperse for a period of quiet reflection. Julia does her ‘quiet reflection’ in the market, and I tag along to make sure she doesn’t buy up Nazareth market lock, stock and barrel! We visit various bag stalls … but (thankfully) Julia cannot find one to her liking. We go back to the scarf stall by the old synagogue where Julia bought a lovely cashmere scarf for only £4.50 last Sunday. The nice Arab man running the stall recognises us. ‘You said you would come back on Tuesday’ he says, ‘and its Tuesday! Come and have a coffee!’ He and I sit in his shop drinking Arabic coffee and chatting – about why we are here in Nazareth, about our families, about football – while Julia looks at endless scarves. Eventually she buys two more – one for her and one for a friend. We have all got on so well together, and kept our promise to come back to his shop, that he gives us a good discount?!

After our market shopping we go back to Villa Nazareth for a a rest before going across the road from out hotel to the posh restaurant, with the basic menu for plebs like us, for dinner. The Belgian group are already there. The staff at the posh restaurant appear to have made more of an effort tonight … we even have romantic candles on our tables. The waiter shows Julia and myself to an intimate table for two, and lights the candle on our table. He goes across to the tables the Belgians are sitting at. He looks at the candles on their tables. He looks at at the Belgians sitting at the tables. There are lots of nuns. He decides that it is not worth lighting the romantic candles that the staff have artfully arranged on the tables, after all, and walks off. We have the various dishes of various salads to begin, and then our waiter brings us the main dish. Tonight we have something we have not had before? It is chicken … and lots of other things as well … hidden in a bowl of rice!?

Jim Binney