Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 

1 Samuel 24:1

 

So interesting to see the terrain mentioned in the Bible.

It sure is a desert! 

But streams of beautiful, clear water gush out of the side of the mountains refreshing body and soul.

Presumably it's what refreshed David and his men as they hid from Saul

Christ Church Spring Fair

Each year Christ Church hosts a Spring Fair to raise funds for the poor in Jerusalem. It was last Saturday. What a bonus to be here for the Spring Fair.

CMJ began in England and so there is a distinctively English feel to the fair.

 

There was something for everyone:

 

Face painting and jumping castle for the littlies,

White elephant and bric-a-brac,

English Fish & Chips for lunch,

Second hand clothing in the dining room,

Coffee and cakes from Fran,

Lucky dip with Jane,

Boutique second hand (!!)

in the walled garden,

second hand books - SO many great books

and English folk tunes from John on the grand piano in the church. Fabulous!

Caroline and I were the bean counters and 'we' made well over 20,000 NIS (New Israeli Shekels) nearly AUS $7000. Pretty good effort!

Where was Jesus buried?

There is a tomb in Jerusalem where some say that Jesus was buried. This is The Garden Tomb.

This is a serene garden in the midst of the busy city where it is quite possible that Jesus was buried.

There are many reasons why this COULD be the burial place of Jesus, the garden does fit the details described in the gospel accounts, but there is no proof.

 It was really interesting to be able to walk right into the tomb, to get an idea of what the tombs looked like and where and how people were buried 2000 years ago in Jesus' time.

It was a great place to reflect on the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the women who came to annoint Him and the disciples who did not find Him in the tomb but were told by the angel: "'Don’t be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.'" Mark 16:6

 As the commentary we listened to at the garden said, it isn't so important exactly where Jesus was buried, but why and for whom. For us there is no dispute that: Jesus Christ was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead." Romans 1:4

And Jesus Himself said: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though He dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die." John 11:25,26

Communion in Jerusalem

On Sunday morning I attended the morning worship service at Christ Church in the old city of Jerusalem. 

The church was packed to overflowing with believers in Jesus from many nations speaking many languages.  

It was thrilling to be amongst a large congregation singing:

"Every tongue in heaven and earth, shall declare your glory
Every knee shall bow at your throne, in worship
You will be exalted Oh God, and your kingdom, shall not pass away,
Oh Ancient of Days"

Here we all were declaring God's glory, exalting Him, worshipping Him together IN JERUSALEM,

  and declaring:
"We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He's comin' back again, we believe"

Awesome!

And then communion at the altar rail was a sacred moment for me. After visiting the Garden of Gethsemane a few days earlier and thinking of the struggle Jesus had with His impending death, it was easy to picture these events and the choice He made for me . . . and for all mankind. Here I was thanking Jesus for shedding His blood for me, right in the city where He hung on a cross, gave His life, shed His blood, paid my ransom, bought my freedom. It was within walking distance of where I was right then. Added a whole new depth to the meaning of His sacrifice for me and for all.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to be in Jerusalem, to walk these streets where Jesus walked, where He chose to die and where He rose to life again.

The Garden of Gethsemane

"When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it." 

John 18:1

Last week Rosie and I crossed the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem  

 and visited that very same garden!

In Matthew 26:39 we are told that "He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'" 

And in Matthew 26:42 "He went away a second time and prayed, 'My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.'"

 

It was very moving to be on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing that Jesus had been here with His disciples, agonising with God, asking if it was possible for things to be different, but choosing to be obedient to His Father.

Thank you, Jesus.
I am forever thankful.

A Messianic celebration of Shabbat

We know it as the Sabbath, but in Hebrew the word is Shabbat 

Yesterday was Shabbat. It began at sundown on Friday night and ended at sundown last night.   All Israeli Jewish businesses and services stop on Shabbat, hence there is no public transport and the place is VERY quiet. We live on the train line (similar to our trams) that runs down the centre of the main street.

Shabbat is a day of rest, celebration and family and something the Jews look forward to with eager anticipation.

On Friday night we shared a Shabbat meal in Don & Caroline's home. We followed the traditional celebration, but because we are believers in Jesus a few of the words spoken were adjusted to reflect our faith in Jesus as Messiah.

As we proceeded through the meal, they shared some of the traditions of this life-giving celebration with us.

 

 Caroline lit the candles, as the mother usually does, to usher in the Shabbat.

 Don poured each of us a glass of wine, the fruit of the vine, and we shared Shabbat bread  to represent creation.

 We said some of the traditional prayers

and enjoyed our Shabbat meal together.

"Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe

who sanctifies us by the blood of Yeshua

and commands us to be a light to the nations"

I went to the Synagogue this morning

What a privilege it was to be present at the Bar Mitzvah of Noam, a beautiful young teenager with Cerebral Palsy. Noam, his mum and brothers are part of the Christ Church Anglican community in the old city of Jerusalem. They are Jewish believers in the Messiah and whilst being a committed believer, mother also recognizes that she is still Jewish and rightly considers that some customs are still important.
Christ Church is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East and part of the ministry where my friends Don & Caroline work. All of the church community was invited to join the family on this special occasion.

This was an unusual Bar Mitzvah celebration for children from a 'special' school. Communication devices, sign language and blessings written in communication symbols are some of the techniques used by children who, in their own way, are taking their rightful place in Jewish tradition.

 Noam is a delightful young man who was so excited about his special day. Two others were also celebrating this special life event today. I can't explain all the steps because everything was spoken in Jewish! But I can tell you that I was impacted by the sincerity of the people taking part, the kindness of the carers and the Rabbi and the involvement of the entire family in the proceedings. And always the wonderful sound of Jewish people singing their traditional songs.

So here are a few photos 

the delightful Noam enjoying it all,

 

the rabbi tying the Phylacteries to Noam's arm (and later his head)

  Noam giving the required responses,

the  Torah being read by the rabbi and then by Noam

and then everyone celebrating

and taking photos

  

and making presentations.

What a fabulous experience. One I had never expected but I'm thrilled that I did.

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Travelling again

I fly out at 6pm on Sunday 26th to Israel to spend two weeks with dear friends who live in Jerusalem. I'm looking forward to walking where Jesus walked, seeing where he called the fishermen, calmed the storm, fed the 5000 . . . .and spending time with Don & Caroline.

From Jerusalem I fly to Kigali, Rwanda on 10th May to catch up with the YFC team there. Will be so good to see them all after 4 years. Lots will have changed, lots won't.

On 19th May I head to my final destination - Uganda - where I will spend 12 weeks in Kampala working alongside the YFC team. So many people to meet and new and challenging things to experience and do.

All of these will be highlights and I hope to take you on some of the journey with me as I blog.

A very short stay in Zhongshan, China

I'm back home. 

This will be my last blog post until I travel again. 

I don't know when that will be, but God does. Perhaps it'll be sometime next year, but I'm happy to leave that in His hands.

Just before I came home I spent a couple of very enjoyable and busy days with Aussie friends in China.

 I love markets, not that I think you hadn't guessed that already! Thought you'd like to see these fish heads

and fresh red meats as well. Fewer flies here than we saw in Bangladesh, but then this is inside.

So here it was possible to have clothes made virtually on the spot,

shoes repaired while you wait,

 

and also to buy all sorts of Chinese favourites like chicken feet! You can even buy them as take-aways on skewers, like kebabs. Didn't try.

 This part of China also had some VERY old houses - reminded me a bit of Europe with buildings a couple of centuries old.

This is the church we went to on Sunday. Guess I hadn't expected churches in China to look just like ours in Australia, and people wearing gold and silver crosses as Christians might here in Australia.

After the Sunday morning service we went out for lunch with some of the young people from church . Tried a few 'new to me' Chinese dishes, like this lotus root. It's my new favourite.

And I enjoyed these 'new to me' long, skinny mushrooms that I hadn't seen before

and these thin curly black ones served here with tofu skins - really yummy too.

And after our really yummy lunch my Aussie friend had arranged for me to do a workshop for older people on 'encouraging young people'. I hadn't done anything like this before, but I think I'll be doing it more in the future. The participants were keen and engaged and we had a really good time. I have been invited to do something similar in Kyrgyzstan.

Let's wait and see what happens about that.