Dinner in Nazareth

This morning we are going to worship back at the same Baptist Church in Nazareth that we went to last Sunday morning. Not the original Nazareth Baptist Church, the Baptist Church with the Pastor who is nearly 90 years of age, but the break away Baptist Church that meets in the Baptist School right next door. Bryson is preaching this morning and we want to support him. Last Sunday we were given head phones so that we could receive a translation from Arabic into English. We wonder if we will be given head phones again this Sunday so that we can receive a translation from Glaswegian into English?

But first, we go down to have breakfast at Villa Nazareth. It turns out that we were the only people staying here last night, despite the fact that there were lots of people in the roof top restaurant for dinner last night. Breakfast is laid out for us on one of the tables in the Breakfast Room … and we are offered omelettes if we would like them … and they turn out to be most delicious!

It is so nice to be able to leave our hotel and just walk down the road to church. When we get there, there are lots of Americans standing waiting in the school playground. They are a very nice group of people who are staying in Nazareth for a few days, and they have come to worship with us this morning. There are about 45 of them and they take up half the available space in the school hall where the church meets. These Arab Christians are so gracious, however. They just go with the flow, make room, and we all somehow manage to fit in to the hall. Azar leads the worship, so he can translate what he says into English as soon as he has said it. It is lovely to hear the hymns and songs sung in both Arabic and English at the same time as together we attempt to ‘make a joyful noise unto the Lord’.

Bryson does really well. The church is looking at 1 Peter on Sunday mornings, and Bryson has been given a great chunk of 1 Peter 3 to expound. I have a series of sermons on 1 Peter, and I am sure that I actually got at least three sermons out of the passage Bryson has to tackle. It is nice to actually have a whole chunk of Scripture actually read in a service for a change. After the service there is Arabic coffee and yummy cakes served … not too many of our new American friends stop for this … all the more for us then!

After church Julia wants to go for a wander before lunch. There are a few sites we haven’t seen yet here in Nazareth, including Saint Joseph’s Church, built over the alleged site of Joseph’s work shop in Nazareth. It is on the same site as the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation. We saw it before when we came in 2004 and we easily find it again, discovering some ruins of ancient Nazareth in the process. I like Saint Joseph’s and the alleged ruins of Joseph’s house in the crypt.

After we have visited this site we go for a long cold drink of fresh lemonade and then I suggest we walk back to Villa Nazareth through the market. There is method to my madness … all the market stalls are shut on a Sunday. Big mistake on my part. There is one stall open by the site of the ancient synagogue … and it sells cashmere scarves for just £4.50! Julia spots one that ‘she just must have’. Sacrificially she decides that she won’t buy it now but wait until Tuesday. She tells the nice Christian Arab shopkeeper, who is keen to sell her a scarf, that she will be back to buy it on Tuesday. But 100 yards further on she changes her mind, and we go back to buy it. ‘Is it Tuesday already?’ asks the nice Arab shopkeeper.

When we get back to Villa Nazareth we discover that our room has not been cleaned, our bed linen has not been changed, and we do not have fresh towels. There doesn’t appear to be anyone around, so we set to and soon have our room ship shape, our beds made, and our wet towels hung up to dry. One of the good things about being here is that the temperature is always around 33 degrees so washing dries quickly even indoors. We have a nice rest, and then get changed and go up to the hotel roof top restaurant for dinner. It is closed! We go to reception and the nice receptionist … who we have nicknamed ‘Awesome’ because every other word is ‘awesome’ (pronounced with an American accent) … tells us that the restaurant is closed because it is Sunday and everybody is off until Monday except her. We ask her where we can get some dinner, and she directs us to a restaurant in the square by the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation … indeed she walks down the road with us and points it out to us. It is actually the only restaurant that appears to be open?

We enjoy a wonderful meal … veal fillet steak and chips … and a couple of glasses of gorgeous red wine. It is yumacious! It costs an arm and a leg but at least it’s not chicken. We walk the short distance back to Villa Nazareth after dinner. ‘How was your meal?’ asks our nice receptionist. ‘Awesome!’ we reply.

Jim Binney

Messianic Jewish Worship

Today we are up bright and early after a really good night’s sleep at Villa Nazareth. After an excellent breakfast we take the short walk from Villa Nazareth to Mary’s Well to wait for the luxury 15 seater coach our group has been using to come and pick us up. Today we are going back to Mount Carmel to worship with the Messianic Jewish Congregation that meet there. We are really looking forward to this.

We have been told to be at May’s Well by 9.15 am. because the coach is picking us up first and then driving up to Saint Margaret’s to pick up the rest of our group. We have to leave in good time because we have been told there will be a large congregation and we want to get good seats. We sit on the wall by Mary’s Well in the blazing hot sunshine. Half an hour later we are still waiting? We hope the bus has gone up to Saint Margaret’s first. We wonder if they have forgotten us now that we are staying down at Villa Nazareth? Perhaps they are half way to Mount Carmel already?

Finally our luxury coach arrives … except it isn’t our luxury coach … it is the beat up old one we used to go to the West Bank? Everyone is pleased to see us and we are pleased to see everyone. We drive back to Mount Carmel and eventually find our way to the impressive suite of buildings that belong to the Messianic Jewish Congregation that meet on Mount Camel. The worship space is equally impressive and we are made very welcome. Julia and I have arranged to meet an old friend of ours, Jo Blower, who is studying for a Masters Degree at Haifa University. She was a member of our church in Birmingham when we were there but has been in Israel for 4 years now. She worships regularly with this Congregation but usually attends the Hebrew speaking service on a Saturday afternoon. We find seats in the front row. I ask Jo if it is o.k. to sit here. She laughs and warns me that sitting where we are there is a real danger that we might get pulled into the conga. I haven’t got a clue what she is on about until the worship starts.

The worship area is packed, and the worship is very lively with a good music group leading us in some lively worship songs. There are two very good female dancers who also take part making good use of tambourines and flags and capes. It is very charismatic and the joy is infectious. About 20 minutes into the worship the two dancers grab hold of all the children in the congregation … and some more adults … and off they go dancing round and across the platform area conga style. I now understand what Jo was on about. The kids absolutely love it and it is great fun to watch as well. We worship for an hour or so … mostly through the use of song but with some prayer inserted as well. There is quite bit of information sharing before the children go out to their groups, and there is some more singing before we get to the preaching. There are a lot of Russian Jews in this particular congregation so the sermon is in Russian, and a lady translates it into Hebrew, and it is also translated into English via headphones for us English speakers. The sermon lasts 45 minutes and is on the theme of ‘booths’ (since it is the end of the Feast of Tabernacles). It takes the preacher 20 minutes to actually get to any passage of scripture … and then he refers to virtually every reference to ‘booths’ in the Bible. It is a rather a complex sermon but at the end of it the preacher issues an altar call and quite a lot of people come forward for prayer. The whole service lasts two and a half hours.

After the service our group rush to our bus because they want to go to see Elijah’s cave … the cave we tried to see the other day but it was shut. Julia tries to tell them that there is no need to rush because it will be shut between 1.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. but nobody seems to hear what she is saying. We skip the visit to the cave and take Jo out for lunch instead. We haven’t see her for ages and we want to spend some time with her. We have always liked and admired her. As a young person she had something about her, a devotion, a dedication to Christ, that we found both attractive and challenging. It is still there, and it is good to spend time together over lunch at a nearby restaurant.

We rejoin our group after lunch when they come to meet us by the local market. They are pretty fed up. Elijah’s cave was shut when they got there and they had to sit around and wait for it to open until 3.00 p.m. We drive up to the Carmelite Monastery again because David and Margie weren’t with us last time we came. Our Arab bus driver hasn’t been too cooperative today, and May has found it quite difficult communicating with him. We want to drop Jo off near the university but May is not too sure how he will react. Fortunately Jo speaks good Hebrew and soon has our driver eating out of her hand.

When we get back to Nazareth we leave our group at Saint Margaret’s and May drops us off back at Villa Nazareth. We have a rest and then go up to the roof top restaurant for dinner. We are offered a choice … chicken or kebabs? ‘Kebabs!’ we both cry in joyful unison. And I have a glass of red wine as well to celebrate!

Jim Binney

Today is another Ministry Day with Bishara, the Arab Christian from the college and the new Pastor of Yaffa Baptist Church. But first we have to move back to Villa Nazareth, the new, small, plush hotel in the centre of town by the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. Well, someone has to! Another large party are coming in to Saint Margaret’s hostel and they need one of our rooms. May asked us if we would go and, despite the disruption and the breakup of our party, we are happy to oblige. We are in the same room as previously and the first thing Jim does it to have a coffee – good coffee is always available here. Jim then ducks out of the Ministry trip again, pleading some weak excuse and really just wanting to update his blogs and sort out his copious photos.

I wait for Bishara to pick me up in his minibus by Mary’s Well – built for the town after the church was built over the original one which blocked up this spring – before we pick up the rest of our party from the hostel. I get a few odd looks – I must look a bit funny on my own. We are off to Tel Aviv to give out free clothes and Christian literature to Sudanese refugees. First we go to Bishara’s office which is stacked full with Christian material, Bibles, DVDs and tracts in all sorts of different languages sent from America. We put these into boxes and load them into the minibus together with bags of clothes donated by local churches. We all just about get in the bus but are buried under assorted bags.

Tel Aviv is quite a long way away and it takes us about an hour and a half to get to Levinsky Park in the centre of the city. People gather here, stretched out on the grass chatting or just mooching about, not just Sudanese but other North Africa such as Eritreans as well. There are also Nepalese, Indian and Fillipinos and all sorts of other nationalities. They come to Israel to find work and if they do, it is always the most menial and lowest the Israelis don’t want to do – same as in London and numerous other places in the world. They are greatly in need. We start by walking all round the park praying. We then stand and pray together. I am glad I am not on my own here. Bishara has been doing this for years. We then set up the tables and unpack the literature and haul the bags of clothing over to try to arrange things are neatly as we can. We are then descended upon by hordes of men who scavenge through the clothes to find anything that might be useful. Within seconds the clothes are all over the place. We have fun with some of them and try to help them find what they need. One guy, after having found a warm coat, reckons all he needs is a hat to finish off the outfit. I find one for him and he puts it on in a jaunty fashion. All the guys around him are in fits of laughter.

Again it is only the men who talk to the men, and the women who talk to the women. We give out the tracts. We have some good conversations and I see Bishara opening the Scriptures up to one young man I had found some stuff for. Graham, from our group, talks and prays with another man. Many of the people who come to the stall want English Bibles. One chap having been given one also wants one for his wife who wants to divorce him and he is trying to impress her. Bishara has heard it all before. They want the English Bibles to sell. I try to give some tracks to some of the passing women but I don’t have a clue as to their language or nationality so just give them English ones. They just look at me blankly. A young Jewish guy hangs about with his little dog and wants to talk. He is sad at the way the park has become a haven of drugs and talks of a recent murder here.

After about two hours in this melee of mixed humanity, we pack up and leave. It is about 5:30 p.m. and we need to be back for dinner at 7.00 p.m. It is nearly dark and despite the powerful floodlighting, I’m pleased not to have to be here after dark. We leave the few left over clothes but reload the remaining boxes onto the bus and head out of Tel Aviv. The roads are surprisingly clear for a Friday evening but soon we are in the mother of all hold-ups. There are major roadworks and four lanes have to go into one lane – nightmare. Perhaps Jim was right not to come on this trip after all?

It is after 8:30 p.m. when we get back. Fortunately there no problem with dinner though. Despite being a 100% Arab – 90% Muslim and 10% Christian – Nazareth’s founders were Christians and Sunday is the day off. This is the start of the weekend and things are just beginning to liven up here at Villa Nazareth!

Julia Binney

Rosemary Nash with Lisa Loden

Today we are in college all day. We have morning and afternoon sessions with Lisa Loden, a prominent Messianic Jew, who is coming to share with us. This morning she is going to give us an overview of ‘The Messianic Movement in Israel’ and this afternoon she is going to talk to us about ‘Issues Relating to Messianic Believers’. We are all really looking forward to these sessions.

After breakfast some us walk down the steep hill to Mary’s Well, and then along to the steep climb up to the Seminary. Some of our group take a taxi each time we go to the Seminary but we are determined to walk as part of our fitness programme. It appears to be doing me good even though my legs ache sometimes and it can be pretty exhausting. I am leading devotions this morning – my theme is ‘loving kindness ‘ – God’s loving kindness towards us and the loving kindness he wants us to show to others. I base it on a verse in the Psalms where the Psalmist reminds us that ‘[God’s] loving kindness is better than life’ (Psalm 63:3). It seems to go down well and Lisa picks up on it when she takes over and shares with us.

Lisa is a remarkable woman. She radiates grace and peace. She is one of those people you immediately want to get to know and want to spend time with. She is originally an American Jew who emigrated to Israel a number of years ago. She had come to Christ in America, she tells us, through the witness of a Christian man her husband worked with. She is in her mid 60s and her husband, David is in his 70s. Encouragingly they are both looking forward to the next adventure God has for them. When they came to Israel they founded a Messianic congregation in Netanya where they still live. David is a musician and his vision was to develop a Hebrew hymnology. When they came to Israel there were only about 300 Messianic Jews in Israel but today there are approximately 12,000. Lisa is a prominent figure amongst Messianic Jews and travels the world speaking about these things.

She is a brilliant communicator. She listens carefully to all our questions and somehow manages to draw them into what she wants to communicate to us. It is fascinating stuff. Although a Messianic Jew herself, Lisa is very honest about the movement. When Azar shared with us the other day about Arab Christians, he tried to be as unbiased as possible given that he was an Arab himself. Lisa seeks to be just as unbiased in her assessment of Messianic Jews, even though she is a Messianic Jew. The morning session is essentially quite factual. We learn that most of the original leaders of the movement came from the USA, and that the various congregations are modelled on Brethren lines, with corporate, male, top-down leadership. They are Zionist in principle, a view under-girded by their dispensationalist, pre-millennial interpretation of what the Bible teaches about the Last Days. Many of the congregations are charismatic in their approach to worship and teaching, yet also theologically conservative as a result of the influence of the Dallas Theological Seminary who run the only Bible College for Messianic Jews in Israel. These Jewish believers prefer to be known as ‘Messianic Jews’ rather than ‘Christians’ and prefer to speak of ‘Congregations’ rather than ‘Churches’ largely because of the very negative associations Jewish people in Israel have with Christianity as a result of 2,000 years of persecution.

In the afternoon session, Lisa turns to various issues relating to Messianic Believers … and shares frankly with us some of her own concerns. The isolationism of Messianic Jews, the lack of real relationship with evangelical Arab Christians, the need for Messianic Jews to add their voice to the cry for justice and fairness for the Arabs in Israel (who are clearly discriminated against by the Jews), the need for better theological training for Messianic believers.

Lisa and her husband have recently separated from the congregation they planted many years ago and are pioneering a new venture based on a small home group that meets in their home. This group is more bottom-up than top-down in structure, and Lisa is anxious to explore a third way, rather than continue with the polarisation that seems to exist in Israel. How to achieve an honest settlement for two people groups who both have legitimate claims to this ancient land would appear impossible. There are rights and wrongs on all sides. We come away realising just how complicated everything is and that there are no simple answers. We also come away from these sessions with Lisa, grateful for her contribution, and inspired to pray and work all the harder for peace in Israel.

As we head back to Saint Margaret’s we see Azar with Lisa, ‘arm in arm’ proverbially rather than literally speaking. They are chatting away to each other like the friends they are. He is giving her a lift to the bus station so she can get her bus back to Netanya. Arab Christian and Messianic Jew, together … could this be a prophetic picture for the future?

Jim Binney

Israeli Checkpoint

I am sitting in the reception area of the hostel writing when Salim comes over (he has come to assume that I am the leader of our group for some reason) and introduces me to a complete stranger. The stranger doesn’t speak any English and my Arabic is limited to ‘good morning’ and ‘thank you’. Despite this we manage to have a conversation of sorts. It turns out that he is our bus driver for the day. We are going to the West Bank, primarily to Shechem (now known as Nablus) on Mount Gerazim in Samaria, and Azar is acting as our guide. Azar has not arrived yet and our bus driver wants to know why not. I just shrug and tell him it is the Arab way?! He laughs! I am learning.

When we go out to the Saint Margaret’s car park I wonder where our luxury 15 seater coach is. It has been replaced by a beat up, unmarked coach … obviously the one they use for going to the West Bank. Our driver asks me how many of us will there be? I tell him that there will be 10 of us in all. He looks relieved because his coach looks somewhat compact compared to our usual one. We are waiting outside when Azar pulls us in his car… he is late because he has been to pick up Phil, and Phil’s friend Paul, and Paul’s son Matt, and a nice Australian girl who has been helping out at NETS for the last couple of month, Allie. Our driver looks worried, but somehow we all manage to squeeze into the bus, even if it means Matt sitting over a wheel arch, and those on the back seat having to survive the dodgy air conditioning.

It is quite a long drive to Nablus and uneventful until we reach the Israeli check point before Nablus where we are stopped by Israeli soldiers, some with machine guns, at the crossing into the Palestinian West Bank. Julia is busy taking photographs of the sign that says ‘no photographs’ as the Israeli soldiers peer into our coach. They seem satisfied that we don’t present a problem and we are allowed to drive through. Almost immediately we notice how much poorer things are in the West Bank. We pass an illegal Jewish settlement on the way into Nablus, enclosed behind high walls and barbed wire fences.

Our first ‘port of call’ is the Samaritan Museum where we are shown round by an old guy (who turns out to be exactly my age) who tells us that he is ‘Priest Japheth’ (named after Noah’s third son). He hopes to one day become the High Priest of the Samaritans (as were his father and grandfather before him). It is a fascinating museum, and Priest Japheth gives us a guided tour showing us various exhibits and explaining to us all about the Samaritan religion, and why it is more genuine than the Judaism from which it springs, and why Mount Gerazim remains the right place to worship. I ask him if has read the story of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well (John 4), and if he has what does he think about it? He tells me he has, and that it is all about Jesus showing friendship for the Samaritans. Nothing about the Samaritan woman in the story, and her whole village for that matter, coming to faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah then?

From the Samaritan Museum we drive down to the supposed site of Jacob’s Well, the scene of Jesus’ encounter with the Woman of Samaria referred to earlier. The Greek Orthodox Church have built a rather grand church over the top of it. Azar leads us through the church and down some steps to the well itself. It is rather nice and one can actually imagine Jesus sitting there while the woman draws water from the well for him to drink, and he shares with her good news about the source of ‘living water’. Azar draws some water for us from the well. The well is very deep, and the water is cool and refreshing. We have been told that we are not supposed to take photographs down here, but we all do, and nobody seems to mind much. After we have spent some time here … some of us reading and reflecting on the bible story … we go into the lovely church gardens and have a picnic lunch.

Leaving the site of Jacob’s Well we take the short drive to the site where Joseph’s bones are said to be buried. After their exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites took the bones of Joseph with them and buried them at Shechem (Nablus) (Joshua 24:32). The site is locked and guarded by the Palestinian police but Azar ‘persuades’ them to let us in. We all go into the tomb and take lots of photos … just as the Palestinian policeman tells us that we are not allowed to take photographs … but by then it is too late because we have already taken them.

We still have plenty of time before we have to be back at the check point to get back into Israel. The check point closes at 6.00 p.m. and if we are not through it by then we will have to stay the night in the West Bank. Phil suggests that we go back via Sabystia, the ancient capital of Samaria. There are some fascinating ruins here and we all really enjoy wandering round them. Well, not all of us actually?! Phil, who suggested that we come here in the first place, has been denied his usual intake of mega loads of coffee, so he parks himself in the cafe. The site houses the basilica where Salome is said to have danced her famous dance of the seven veils before Herod before demanding the head of John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29). It also houses a ruined church said to be the site of John’s execution. It is very hot and, after our tour of the ruins, we enjoy a long, cold drink in the shade before boarding our bus and heading back to Nazareth.

When we reach the check point at the border we are stopped and asked to get out of our bus. Our passports are collected … thank God we have all brought them with us … and our bags and rucksacks are searched. It is clearly much easier to get into the West Bank than it is to get out of it. It appears that the Israeli soldiers don’t care too much about who goes into the West Bank, but are very careful about who leaves the West Bank to come into Israel. We are questioned by a female soldier who looks about 12, and a male soldier who looks about 14 but he is carrying a machine gun so we are very respectful. I tower above them both. The girl looks me up and down and says something about me in Hebrew. I haven’t got a clue what she is saying but suggest to the group that it is something about me being very tall, handsome, and intelligent. Azar tells us that I am right about the being very tall bit?! The 14 year old Israeli soldier speaks some English and tells me he wishes he was as tall as me. He asks me if I play basketball. I tell him that I used to when I was younger. He says he wants to grow as tall as me so he can play basketball too. All our passports are handed back to us … apart from those belonging to Graham, Matt and Ally … the youngest amongst us. We don’t know why this is … but eventually they get theirs back too and we are allowed to go on our way. There are lots of cars and vans at the check point and everyone without an Israeli passport is being searched thoroughly. We appear to be getting off lightly compared to some. It is, for us, a penetrating insight into the tensions that exist here.

We return home to Saint Margaret’s after a long, tiring, day but one which has been very educational for us all in all sorts of ways … and there is always our chicken dinner to look forward to? What form will it take tonight we wonder? I am reminded of the old TV programme, ‘Stars in Your Eyes’. I hear the chicken dinner speaking to me, ‘Tonight, Matthew, I am going to be chicken in the form of …?’

Jim Binney

Arab Moslem Woman

According to our Programme, today is a ministry day – any plans though in Arab culture are never more than a suggestion. Bashira is an Arab Christian studying at the college and the plan is for us to go with him on a prayer walk around some nearby Muslim villages talking to people and giving out Christian literature. I am not too sure about this, and as Bishara can only take seven of us in his minibus, Jim and I are thinking of ducking out to avoid May having to organise another car. However, it appears that another member of our party has the same idea, so I decide I will go after all leaving Jim behind as he is very tired.

We drive to Yaffa which we are assured is a village but it appears to be just a suburb of Nazareth to us. Bishara has actually just been appointed as the pastor of Yaffa Baptist Church and this is where we go. Steve, another Arab Christian, opens up for us and shows us around. Bishara shares a little of his story with us, of his journey to faith and some of the amazing, inspiring and miraculous things have happened to him. He used to be a grocer but is now supported financially, and works full time in ministry. He has a passion for evangelism and social action, is very dynamic and has loads of vision and ideas for Yaffa Baptist Church. Steve who has been in the church for about 25 years and is very quietly spoken looks somewhat stunned.

After a time of prayer we are given bags of snazzy Christian leaflets and DVDs and off we go for a walkabout. We all have various encounters with shopkeepers and people on the street. The men talk only to men and the women only with the women. Everyone is very polite, some are vaguely interested and bags are given away. We stop at one house where various people have gathered and a lady comes out to greet us. It turns out that her mother has just died. She gives us all a date and a little very strong bitter coffee. This is another fascinating aspect of Arab culture. The bereaved open their homes and people drop by to offer their condolences and are given sweets or dates and coffee. She is clearly grieving but is delighted by our visit and I and the other women in the group hug her when we leave. It is a privilege to have shared with her.

The group start to talk to some school children. They are typical teenagers but there is one girl who is clearly interested and she wants to talk. In fact she asks to see some of the group with the Pastor on Saturday as she wants to talk further. I on the other hand have been collared by a rather seedy old man who sings ‘You are my long-haired lover from Liverpool’ à la Jimmy Osmond to me. He has lived in England and tells me of all the places he has lived and something of what he got up to, most of which is unrepeatable. He then invites me up to his place to see his ‘artwork’?! Bishara feels that our encounters have been answers to our prayers. I don’t see mine in quite the same light.

Our next stop is Nazareth Hospital founded 150 years ago by an amazing Armenian doctor, who studied medicine in Edinburgh and married a Scottish girl, with the Edinburgh Medical Mission. We meet Christine who shows us around and, given the level of detail we receive, is clearly fascinated by the long history. She works for Interserve and we sit in a wonderfully cool office drinking ice cold drinks as she explains all about the volunteer program. After this we walk to the Nazareth Village which is next door to the hospital. We must look pretty funny as we troop down the hill as we receive hoots and waves and shouted hellos from the passing cars. Nazareth Village is a mock-up of Nazareth in Jesus’ day. The land is owned by the hospital and it is run by Arab Christians.

A lovely young Arab Christian called Mafh shows us round. There are farmers and donkeys ploughing a field, chickens, vines, olive trees, a winepress, a watchtower, a working olive press, a carpenters workshop, a weavers house and a synagogue. All very fascinating and informative. There is also a very nice gift shop. I manage to resist wonderful bags made from the woven wool, interesting jewellery and colourful scarves. I do fancy some Lily of the Valley Holy Land perfume though. But it is 42 shekels (about £8) and there is only one left and it is only about two thirds full having obviously been used as a tester. I take it to the man behind the counter. His name is Ibrahim and I know him from the Baptist Church where we worshipped last Sunday. As there are no others left he says I can have it for 15 shekels … result! We have burgers for supper tonight instead of chicken … another result!

Julia Binney

Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary

Today we are at the Seminary all day for lectures. Julia and I are really looking forward to it. In the morning session Azar is talking to us about the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and the afternoon session Alex Miller is giving us an Introduction to Islam. This is primarily why we have come back to Israel this time – why we have come for an extended month’s stay – because we want to get under the surface and learn about what is really happening here.

After breakfast some of our group get a taxi to the Seminary but others of us decide to walk. We know the way now having walked to church yesterday, and the Seminary is not far from the Baptist Church. It is downhill most of the way with just a short climb up to the Seminary itself. My knees are holding up well after having them both cleaned out in the last year or so, nevertheless the weather is very hot and sunny and I am feeling pretty tired by the time we arrive. A couple of glasses of ice cold water … and a couple of cups of Arabic coffee and I am raring to go again, however!

David leads us very helpfully in a short devotional time … we really do have a great little group of people on this trip … and then Azar gives us an extremely helpful and unbiased (he is after all an Arab himself) survey of the events that have shaped this land and brought it to where it is today. He covers such things as: the rise of Zionism; the early solidification of Palestinian identity; the British, the Jews, and the Palestinians; the British Mandate in Palestine; the birth of the State of Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war; the Palestinian refugee problem; the early years of Israeli independence; the post-1948 formative years of the Palestinian community; the 6 day war; the rise of Palestinian resistance; the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the years of the peace process. It is fascinating stuff and we learn so much that we did not know or understand before.

We have a decent break for lunch … and more Arabic coffee of course … and then we are introduced to another member of staff, Alex Miller. Alex is a young American who lectures in church history at the Seminary and who is also the Academic Dean. By all accounts he is a brilliant scholar and communicator who is destined for great things in the academic world. Phil speaks very highly of him, and Phil is no slouch academically himself. Alex has almost finished a PhD with Edinburgh University to do with the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. He is an expert in Islam, speaks Arabic fluently, and knows the Qur’an almost as well as the Bible. His subject for this afternoon is ‘Islam and Christianity: Narrative and Meta-narrative’.

Alex lives up to his reputation. He is brilliant, and he is only 32 years of age! It makes you sick! I comfort myself in the fact that, for a few months at least, I am academically more highly qualified than he is?! Alex gives us a superb overview of the journey that both Christianity and Islam have taken right up to the present day. He reveals a tremendous spread of knowledge on all kinds of related subjects and it is such a joy to hear someone talking so intelligently about these things from an evangelical Christian point of view in a sensible and comprehensive way. You can read his stuff on his blog – duanemiller.wordpress.com if you wish.

The discussion about Christianity and Islam goes on for so long that we are late leaving the Seminary. Some of our group get a lift back, some walk, but Rosemary, Julia and I decide to catch the number 15 bus. Julia now knows the Nazareth bus system perfectly so she marches us off to the relevant bus stop. Forty-five minutes later we are still there and there is no sign of a number 15 bus. We are just about to give up and walk when we see one coming in the opposite direction. Knowing that it is a circular route we run across the road and just catch the bus in time. The journey takes for ever. We are caught up in the Nazareth rush hour … or perhaps it is just always like this? We promise ourselves that we will definitely walk back next time, even if it is uphill.

This time the bus driver doesn’t take the unofficial route and drop us off right outside Saint Margaret’s like yesterday. We have a bit of a walk to the hostel but we discover a really nice fruit shop on the way back and buy lots of nice fruit … including some of the largest, sweetest, most flavoursome dates you have ever tasted. We arrive back just in time for dinner. The rest of the group are just about to send a search party out after us. We don’t even have time to change for dinner. We go down just we are. And guess what we are having for dinner tonight? Yes, you’re right … it’s chicken again!

Jim Binney

Baptismal Candidates at Baptist Church in Nazareth

We are being taken to church today. We are all going to the Baptist Church in Nazareth. We are not going to the Baptist Church that meets on the ground floor of the Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary. We are not going to Nazareth Baptist Church, the original Baptist Church planted by the Southern Baptists many years ago but now independent of them. The Pastor of Nazareth Baptist Church is nearly 90 years of age. He is a good man we are told, but although he is ‘going to retire’ soon, he has been saying this for at least 15 years and somehow can’t actually bring himself to do so. I can understand that – I am only 68 but still have a passion for sharing the Gospel with others! Any way we are not going to Nazareth Baptist Church. We are not going to the Baptist Church that meets just down the road from where we are staying – the Baptist Church that was planted by the Pastor who came to Nazareth to take over from the nearly 90 year old Pastor at the original Baptist Church a few years ago, but who never quite managed to do so. We are going to the Baptist Church that meets in the Baptist School, right next doors to the original Baptist church with the nearly 90 year old Pastor! Confused? So are we … but we decide to go with the flow anyway!

After breakfast some us decide to walk down to the church. It is about a 15 minute walk downhill all the way. It is rather steep but we find our way o.k. Julia and I resolve that we will catch the bus after the service rather than walk uphill all the way back. It is strange walking through the streets of Nazareth with nearly all the shops shut and not too much traffic on the roads. Everyone (even the Moslems) observe Sunday as a day of rest.  The Service at the Baptist Church we are going to starts at 10 a.m. today with a half hour Communion Service, followed by the main Morning Service at 10.30 a.m. We have to walk right by Nazareth Baptist Church in order to get into the Baptist School for our church service. The nearly 90 year old Pastor is unlocking the doors as we arrive. He gives us a friendly wave, realising that we are on our way into the ‘other Baptist Church’.

Some of the members of the church and congregation are busy setting up in the big school hall when we arrive. We are warmly welcomed, directed to special seats ‘where the teachers usually sit’. They look just like all the other seats – metal fold up seats – but we are given special cushions to go on our seats. We get a set of head phones as well so that we can follow an English translation of the Service. They have an excellent data projector set up, a great little band, and by the time we start the Communion Service the hall is about half full. It is a nice little Service, quite informal, with people gradually joining the congregation as they arrive. By the time we are ready to seamlessly move into the main Service the hall is packed. There must be somewhere between 100 and 200 people here at least – all ages with an impressive number of young people and children. The Service is led by one of the Elders. They don’t have a Pastor here but they do have an impressive number of highly qualified lay people including the Principal of the Baptist School (one of the best schools in Israel apparently) and most of the staff from NETS. All the songs are projected on to the screen in Arabic and English so we can join in. The Service is informal with a lot of participation from the congregation particularly in prayer. We are introduced to eight young people who are going to be baptised next Saturday. We pray for them, and then we have an interesting sermon from 1 Peter 3 from a visiting Pastor about the need for mutual submission between husbands and wives – especially interesting given the male chauvinism of the Arab society in general. After the Service we have Arabic coffee and cake, and lots of people come and say hello to us.

Despite our initial feelings of concern over the seemingly numerous splits amongst the Baptist Christians in Nazareth (and elsewhere in Israel also we are led to believe), we are impressed by the spiritual vitality of these people. In some way the inability of the nearly 90 year old Pastor to relinquish his office has been a godsend – it has led to to the planting of several other vibrant congregations!

After the Service Julia and I wander off to catch the bus back to Saint Margaret’s. The other members of our group are all doing different things today. David an Margi are going to Akko with Bryson and May, because they missed the trip the other day. Graham and Rosemary are going back to Tiberius for a swim in the Sea of Galilee. Julia and I are planning to spend the afternoon sleeping! We want to be fresh for tomorrow’s lectures. We wait at the bus stop for the number 15 bus. It is a circular route (like the Circle Line on the London Underground) so we could catch a bus going either way. The number 15 comes every 30 minutes we are reliably told. We see a number 15 go by in the other direction as we wait at the bus stop. An hour later there has still been no bus. We have a sudden revelation that perhaps the number 15 is only going one way round the circuit today? We see another number 15 coming on the other side of the road and quickly run across the road to the other bus stop. The nice bus driver waits for us, and drops us off right outside the main gate to Saint Margaret’s, even though it means taking a road that is not usually on his route?! We have a picnic lunch in our room made up of food we purloined from breakfast and then collapse into bed exhausted from our busy first week. We manage to get up for dinner … it is chicken again, of course … but they have managed to make it look like fish this time … and it tastes like veal!? It is yumacious!

Jim Binney

The Mona Lisa of the Galilee

We are up bright and early. It is another gorgeous day and we are all going to Zippori National Park, an important historical site located in western lower Galilee. It contains some fascinating Roman ruins, some wonderful mosaic floors, a Roman theater, a fortress and church from the Crusader period, and was once a centre for rabbinical studies. Julia and I have been to Zippori before. We came in 2004, when our Jewish guide told us that this was where Jesus went to university to train as a Rabbi! None of this stuff about him coming from a poor home and working in a carpenter’s shop, then?

While we are waiting for the others to arrive Julia and I stand in the large parking area in front of Saint Margaret’s where we have a wonderful panoramic view over Nazareth. We watch a family building another storey on top of one of the houses below. When the son of an Arab family marries, he brings his new wife home and the family simply add another storey to the existing house for them to live in. There must be a wedding in the offing for everyone is working very hard to get this new floor to the house completed.

We enjoy the drive to Zippori – we are beginning to recognise the various roads around Nazareth. Israel is quite a small country really (about the size of Wales) and everywhere is closer to each other than you realise. When we get to Zippori, May tells us that we have two and a half hours to wander round the site. We have a map and an information guide and there is a route we can easily follow that allows us to see all that we want to see. The majority of the party head off to explore the site … Julia and I head for the coffee shop. We have been here before and we know that we will need an intake of caffeine to get us round the site with energy to spare!

It is a truly remarkable place. The ancient roads with the grooves made by the cart wheels still visible, the amazing mosaic floors, the Roman theatre, the Crusader Fortress with its great view from the roof … and so much more. It is very hot, but there are various water stations around the site where we can fill our water bottle with cold water. Next to the remains of the Crusader Fortress there is Dionysus House. It is air conditioned and provides a welcome break from the heat of the sun. It houses an amazing mosaic floor depicting the life of Dionysus, the god of wine, and his worship, and my favourite mosaic – a woman of rare beauty who has been dubbed ‘the Mona Lisa of the Galilee’.

The Crusader Fortress houses a fascinating exhibition to do with the Torah (the Law) and the Mishnah (the interpretation of the Law). At the beginning of the third century AD Rabbi Judah Hanasi moved to Zippori and brought the Jewish Sanhedrin with him. he lived in Zippori for 17 years until his death, and it was in Zippori that he redacted the Mishnah. The exhibits are interesting in that the Mishnah is much larger than the Torah. Even today, I am given to understand, many Jews are more familiar with the rules about how the Law should be applied than with the Law itself. It reminds me of how the belief system and lifestyle of many Christians is often determined by the various Christian ‘rules and regulations’ that are passed down to us – our equivalent of the Mishnah if you like – rather than the Bible itself!?

The time seems to fly by. There is so much to see. I am sure that there are all kinds of fabulous things here that we just did not get to see last time we were here. We visit the site of the old synagogue – another building with air conditioning that provides a welcome break from the heat of the sun – and sit quietly enjoying the mosaic floors depicting spiritual scenes rather than the more decadent mosaic floors of the other Roman buildings.

We return to Saint Margaret’s after a brilliant day in time to have a rest before dinner – it is chicken again of course – and then we are off to spend the evening with Bryson and May in their gorgeous apartment. Julia goes earlier so that she can bake some bread and use May’s washing machine to wash some of our dirty clothes. May has put on an excellent spread and the Downton Abbey addicts amongst us sit down to watch a recording of the latest episode that we have all missed by coming to Israel! Well, you have to get your priorities right, don’t you!

Jim Binney

We are awake early. It was not just the rubbish collectors making their usual racket right outside our window but the need to pack our luggage for our return to Saint Margaret’s Hostel this evening. We wonder if they will have implemented any of the changes that Julia suggested to Salim before we left for our two night sojourn at Villa Nazareth, the luxurious new hostel just off the spacious square by the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation.

After another excellent breakfast we take our luggage down to Mary’s Well where our 15 seater luxury coach is waiting for us, along with the driver and Phil who is acting as our guide again today. We are going to the old city of Akko (better known to us as Acre) with its amazing history and beautiful coastal setting. Akko is a former Crusader city, the headquarters of the Hospitallers from 1191 to 1291. I have a fascination about such things and have read a lot about it, so I am really looking forward to our visit.

After breakfast we say goodbye to the staff at Villa Nazareth and thank them for a wonderful couple of days. We load our cases into the back of our luxury coach and enjoy the pleasant drive to Akko. They have amazing roads in Israel – they could teach us something about building good roads fast – designed to transport troops quickly to any part of the country of course. When we arrive at Akko Phil leads us to his favourite coffee shop – Phil is addicted to coffee – where we stop for coffee before tackling Akko. The coffee shop is right by the central mosque who own all the surrounding buildings and rent them out to local traders, including a Christian bookshop selling evangelical literature would you believe! After coffee we explore Akko including the underground Crusader Tunnels and the amazing city walls and fortifications. We have a delightful walk round the harbour and come across ‘Jonah’s Whale’ – a big stone statue of a whale with a hole in the middle. The statue is there because the founder of the Order of Dervishes, Sheikh Ali Nur el-Din claimed that the Prophet Johah appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to travel to Akko to spread his religious doctrine. Perhaps this is a warning to me not to drink too much of this wonderful Arabic coffee … it obviously makes you dream strange dreams?! Nevertheless, with the Biblical story in mind, I waste no time in climbing into the hole so I can be photographed as though I was Jonah on the way to Nineveh to preach God’s good news!

After a delightful lunch back at Phil’s favourite coffee shop we board our luxury coach and head for the university town of Haifa. We are going to see the Bahai Temple and gardens. The Bahai Sect is an interesting group, a mishmash of various world religions, dedicated to uniting the various religions and bringing about world peace. We can’t get into the Temple but the gardens are amazing. They are maintained by volunteers who come from all over the world, at their own expense to work in the gardens for two weeks each. We stop to take lots of photos and then continue our journey to see the site of the cave where Elijah heard God speak to him ‘in a still small voice’ (1 Kings 19:12). We think that the site must be run by the French because when we get there it is closed for lunch and won’t be open again until 3.00 p.m. It is a good job that we are here for a month … at least we will be able to return some time, as long as we arrive before 1.00 p.m. or after 3.00 p.m. that is!

We continue our drive around Mount Carmel – which is actually a mountain range – until we get to the Carmelite Monastery which is the probable site of Elijah’s battle with the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). As we arrive Phil spots a group of Christian friends from the Christian Hospital in Nazareth who are having a picnic in the gardens. They are having coffee so Phil rushes over and drags us all with him. Soon we are all drinking the wonderful Arabic coffee they have just made … it is a good job that they have made a lot of it! It is so nice to meet new Christian friends and we enjoy some great fellowship before looking at the church and then climbing up to the roof-platform area where there are stunning views of the whole area. We all take lots of photographs and then we read the story of Elijah’s epic victory over the Prophets of Baal from the Bible.

We return to Saint Margaret’s after a tiring but exhilarating day. We are probably all wishing that we could have stayed on at Villa Nazareth, but we are pleasantly surprised by the improvements when we return. Every member of our group has now been allocated a decent room and, following another conversation between Julia and Salim, the food also suddenly improves considerably and we even get free coffee after dinner as well. In hindsight Saint Margaret’s is pretty good really. The courtyard is great and it is much quieter than Villa Nazareth. It is a bit tatty to be sure … but then so am I?,

Jim Binney