An Adventure in Ministry

Our second stop of the day was the church that was built at the site where it was believed Caiaphus' house stood. It was here that Jesus was brought to on the night before his death and kept over night. It was also the place where it is believed Peter denied Christ three times.  The church was a beautiful sanctury in the madness of the city and the church was full of beautiful pastel paintings on the walls and brightly coloured stained glass. One of the paintings that spoke to me was one that showed Jesus in ropes, stood before a crowed who are shouting and jeering at him. Above him, a number of of angels hold a cross, whilst God looks on the scene with sorrow and torment on his face. It reminded me of this famous verse:  We went downstairs to the cellar where Jesus may have been kept. It was in this place Jesus would have waited feeling scared, exhausted and full of sorrow. We considered that Jesus did this, took our sin and died for each of us. As we stood in th...

Today we traveled to the Dead Sea area and we started at Kumaran. Here we saw the place where the Dead sea scrolls were found. The area was amazing, there was cliff after cliff and the whole land seemed barren. However in a pretty non-descript place these life changing scrolls were found.  Looking over the area, I marvelled at how God works. How the seemingly impossible, with him, becomes possible and how he works things together to make sure his plans come to pass. I decided, whenever I struggle to see God's plan, or whenever things seemed hopeless I would think of this place, because if he could ensure then 'needle in the haystack' was found, he can do the impossible things in my life. As Jeremiah 29:11 says:  Our second stop was an amazing mountain palace built by Herod in Masada. It was the place of a showdown between revolting Jews in the palace and the Romans on the hillside. It was an astounding place. It was amazing that it had even been made in such ...

In the afternoon we spent some time at the Southern wall of Jerusalem. Here we looked at some of the ruins left from the period of the second temple. We stood on the steps where Jesus would have definitely walked when he came to Jerusalem for festivals.  We sat and considered how the area may have looked when the temple was still standing and what it means for us. Helen set a picture of what the temple would have been like at feast days. The sights and sounds, the hustle and bustle, the mayhem of it all. She then said. "The temple doesn't sound or smell like the house of prayer we imagine today." This really challenged me. I expect a house of prayer to be calm and peaceful but that isn't always the case, God can also be in the hubub.  I also considered that the bible says we are the temple of the holy spirit. Sometimes in church we can discount people because we don't believe they can become our vision of the temple, calm, ordered and compliant bu...

We entered Jerusalem through the Lion gate. We then walked to the ancient pools of Bethesda. We sat in the gardens of the church and read from John Chapter 5. we considered how in verse 8 Jesus told the man to: "Get up, pick up and walk!" For me, however, I considered how the man had been looking for healing wherever it could be found. He couldn't even get into the pool but he was desperate to cure himself.  When Jesus saw him, his first words were, "Do you want to get well?" So often we look to other things to give us the healing only Jesus can give. We need to look ONLY to him and faith that we will Get up, pick up and walk! We went inside a beautifully simple church and sampled the acoustics singing 'Praise my soul, the king of heaven' it gave me goosebumps!  We then stood and looked over the ruins of the pool of Bethesda. At the side of the pool was a plaque that read: 'Jesus is all-powerful, omnipotent; He alwa...

Our final destination of the day was 'The Garden Tomb'. It was a little place of quietness and peace in the bustle of Jerusalem. We arrived and was greeted by a lovely English guide who took us through the three stages of the place.  We sat and overlooked the place believed to be Golgotha, as the guide explained the torment Jesus would have endured during the last moments of his life. He reminded us that through his death, we have life and forgiveness.  Looking at Golgotha, one thing that struck me, was the way that there was a Muslim cemetery that has been built on top of Golgotha. On the side of the wall, just above the place Jesus would have been crucified, was emblazoned, in Arabic, 'Allah is God' For a little while I got a bit angry, but on reflection, two things occurred to me One - that if the worst another faith can do is to put death next to the place that God conquered death, then what a mighty God I serve!  Two - It is inter...

We soon started our ascent to Jerusalem, and as we did the psalms of ascent that David wrote. The final Psalm of Ascent 134 rang in my head:  Soon I had my first glimpse of Jerusalem. My heart started beating fast...Wow!  We drove into the city and sat on the Mount of Olives. Surprisingly it was very quiet and we didn't need to push through crowds. As we sat overlooking Jerusalem, the presence of God was tangible. This is the place where Jesus ascended to heaven and this is the place he WILL come again! We sat and contemplated this and sang Amazing Grace. It was overwhelming and I wept. Wept with joy at his amazing grace, wept with thanks that I was here and wept with sorrow for Israel, for our world and for humanity.  We soon after descended the mount to the garden of Gethsemane. The trees stood in the garden were from the same roots of the ones that would have stood the night Jesus was arrested.  As we sat outside the church o...

This morning after a beautiful breakfast we left Tel Aviv and headed to Caesarea. Here we saw an ancient town including a Roman theater and a hippodrome where horses raced and eventually gladiators fought. As we sat in the seats of the amphitheater we read from acts 10. We considered Cornelius, the roman centurion, from Caesarea, who was the first gentile to become a Christian. We considered the legacy of this one man’s faith and I was challenged to ponder what legacy my faith will leave. Caesarea was stunningly beautiful. The sea so blue, the sun so hot and the remains so striking. In this place of such beauty we paused to consider the nature of Roman occupation and what that meant for the early Christians. We thought about the counter-cultural message of Jesus and the fact Jesus calls us to still be radical and counter-cultural with his message of love.   I was also fascinated by the archaeological evidence of the excavations found along our walk. ...

We have arrived! After a broken suitcase, no gluten free food on the plane, an hour delay on the tarmac and a huuuuge queue to get through passport control, we are finally in Israel!!  There is a group of 30 of us and it is a real mix of people of different ages, accents and outlooks. At our first group meeting, our leaders, Helen and Eric introduced us to the week ahead…it was a goosebumps moment! Eric also opened the scripture to us. He read John 12:21  “They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”” ‭‭This is most certainly my prayer this week. That in all the bustle and business, that despite the heat and tiredness, that regardless of any circumstances In it all I would like to see Jesus I want him to knock me off my feet. I want fresh revelation. I want to be changed this week from glory to glory! As I write, these words are playing over in my head. This week, t...