Galilee and Nazareth

Spiritual connection I suppose is quite subjective. It has been surprising what has moved Helen and I to feel God's prescence. In Jerusalem although we touched the Western Wall and prayed, no connection at all. It wasn't our place. The Garden Tomb was great but it was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that moved us. Today we drove 2.5 hours north of Jerusalem on some the the nicest motorways I've been on to Lake Galilee. Jerry had arranged for us to go on a boat on the lake like the one in photo 1. We were on board with a group of Americans. The video gives a short glimpse of our surroundings when the motor was off and the American pastor began a short devotion. What keeps surprising us are the short distances between significant events in Jesus' ministry.

The operator is a Messianic Jew who came to faith in Christ escorting Christians onto the lake in his boat and hearing about the faith. Daniel was quite dynamic and as part of of his input he sang Christian worship songs.

From the boat trip we drove 10 minutes to the Mount of Beatitudes that has a large Catholic Church and monastry on it. While the complex was nice the actual traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount was over a high fence and very overgrown. So we moved on.

Next stop, Capernaum, 15 minutes drive away. This was another Catholic site and very well done. They have excavated part of the old town. In Photo 2 Helen is standing in the remains of a Byzantine Church built over the site of the Synagogue Jesus taught in. They have built a large structure over other excavations of the village from Jesus' time with the traditional site of the house of Apostle Peter's mother on display. What really moved us was the boat trip and then spending over an hour on the beach at Capernaum (photo 3 of Helen in reflective mood). We were there as the lake changed from glassy calm to quite rough as the afternoon wind came in. We could have stayed at Galilee all day such was its impact on us. So close to where Jesus actually walked. Photo 4 is the view from Capernaum beach looking towards Nazareth on the flat topped hill in the distance. Cana of Galilee is about an hours walk from Nazareth down the hill towards us. With this particular shot we knew we were looking at excatly the same landscape that Jesus did.

We left Capernaum and drove down the lake to Tiberias then up through what was Canna of Galilee without stopping at the Church of the Wedding Feast and straight onto Nazareth. 20 years ago Nazareth was a predominantly Arab Christian town but is now predoninantly an Arab Muslim town. We visited two sites there. The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation that commemorates the angel announcing Mary's pregnancy to her. (Photos 5 & 6). This has to be the most impressive Church building I have seen in my life. It was stunning and very moving and none of my photos go near to capturing it. It was built in the 1990's so is modern and big like a cathedral. On the bottom level is a crypt where traditionally Mary received her visitation. Although it was an Orthodox Church and honoured Mary as the Mother of God (Theotokos), somehow the whole place grabbed us. Five minutes walk from there is a Catholic Church that in it's lowest level is supposed to have remains of the Nazareth Synagogue where Jesus attended and began his ministry.

The clash between Islam and Christianity is very evident in Nazareth. Being built against one of the walls of the Church of the Annunciation is a new Mosque and photo 7 is of one of three banners strategically placed to catch the attention of pilgrims to the Christian holy sites. In the 700's AD the Muslims detroyed every Church in what is now Israel except for one, and for a thousand years there was no Christian prescence in the Galilee and Nazareth areas. The Muslims invaders at the time were Persians (Iraq) and the only church they did not destroy was the church in Bethlehem because it had images of the Wise Men in it, and because they were Persian they let it be. Arab Christians began filtering back to the area in the early 1700's followed by Catholic and Orthdox representatives were searched for and dug up the remains of Byzantine era holy sites and restablished their prescence. They are very staunch in their faith and it is humbling to drive through a Muslim housing area to see Christian homes identified with various symbols. They are not scared despite the persecution, although what is happening across the border in Syria with ISIS has everyone on edge, especially knowing there are ISIS supporters in Nazareth.

We are going to have rest day tomorrow. The flu that has been chasing me for about 3 weeks now has finally caught me so its time to rest up a little.