Today has been another full day. Despite the temperature rising to 42 degrees at lunch time it really has been a superb day in which parts of the Gospel have been brought to life.
The morning started well at 5:45 with a few of us watching the sun rise before a delightful swim in the Sea of Galilee, which was still warm! Morning Prayer followed with a number of us missing the shade of the Tantur garden, although the view was stunning sitting on the terrace looking over the lake (‘cause it isn’t really a sea! – boring, I like it being the sea!). Following an excellent breakfast (Certainly on a par with Tantur), we headed out on our travels.
The first stop was Tabgha – and the Church with remembers the Feeding of the Multitude (Mt13:1-9). This was a simple modern church built on the site of a much more ancient one. The floor was covered with the most beautiful, playful mosaics of animals, birds and plants. The most famous one is that of the loaves and fishes, although my particular favourites were the ones of the goose (so gooselike! And the bird and the rock badger – purely because we saw loads of them in the Wadi Qelt).
Next stop was the church of the Primacy of Saint Peter. This church commemorates the last appearance of Jesus to the disciples before his ascension. Here we heard the reading of this appearance from John 21:1-23. It is a story means a great deal to me, speaking of the love and forgiveness of Jesus to his friend who has let him down so badly. That love which sees deep into our hearts, knows our weaknesses and uncertainties, experiences the pain that our failures bring, yet offers forgiveness and continued love has in many ways and at many times been the thread that has kept me connected to my God, even when many other threads have seemed to be cut. Having spent some time in quiet, with an enormous sense of being held and cherished, I went out to walk on the beach where (maybe) Jesus cooked fish for his friend’s breakfast. To stand in the warm water and look onto the beach it was so possible to imagine seeing Jesus standing there, but much harder to imagine what each of his friends might have felt at seeing him! Yet he met them where they were, offering them reassurance, forgiveness and love.
From this special place we moved on to Capernaum. This town is known from the Gospels as the centre of Jesus’ preaching and teaching work. A great deal of excavation has revealed a large synagogue with two main layers, the most recent from the forth century, but beneath that an earlier one dating back to the first century. As well as this, streets, a waterfront and houses have be discovered including one place which seems to have had three incarnations – a octagonal 5th century house, a 4th century sacred house with graffiti written by pilgrims praising God, beneath this seems to have been a 1st century house which is strongly thought to be Peter’s house, where Jesus spent time and may have even lived. This house is protected by a fantastic modern Church (the cynic in me thought of flying saucers! Oops sorry – v. irreverent!!) . Inside however it is beautifully proportioned, open and light, making the most of modern architecture, the links to Christian history and identity and the beauty of the local environment to make a joyful worshiping space.
As is the nature of this type of day (lots to see in a limited time) it wasn’t long before we had to move on. This account does make it seem more rushed than it was. At each stop we read relevant pieces of scripture, we were given time to pray together and to spend time in silence reflecting. Looking around time is not extensive but was a lot less pressured than many groups seem to get, where the order of the day feels more like ticking boxes rather than appreciating a little of the significance and relevance of each sight.
Our next stop was at the church which commemorates the Sermon on the Mount. This was one that many of our group found very moving. Maybe it was the heat, which was rising fast, the crowds or hurrying pilgrims (as above) or that when I finally found somewhere to sit quietly the ants found me and filled my shoes (brave creatures!) but I struggled to really appreciate this one. Ah well – another time maybe!
From here we moved on to a real treat – a trip across the Sea of Galilee on a lovely wooden boat, which was encouragingly was called ‘Noah’!! As the only passengers our group were free to wander from side to side, and pose for a group photo. Mid way we stopped and I read the account of the Stilling of the Storm – Mark 4:35 to the end. (“Would you like to use the microphone to make yourself heard” - Well what do you think?!) Even on a calm summers day cool air can be drawn onto the water from the surrounding hills causing a storm to rise up. Fortunately today was not one of those days and we reached the other side safely. From here the boating theme continued as we went to see a 1st century boat which was discovered and painstakingly rescued from the mud in the sea. The process took many years, amazing skill, a few hungry fish to eat out the worms and bacteria before huge quantities of chemicals insured its preservation. An enormous job but well worth it. It was quiet incredible to see the type of boat which Jesus and his disciples would have been in. Personally in their shoes I would have been right there with the disciples, panicking hard – it was a very little boat to hold 13 grown men and whether a storm!
This blog has gone on far too long and by that stage it was beginning to feel like our morning had too. Fortunately for us the next stop was a restaurant where we were fed Peter’s fish (as of the ones which occasionally have coins in their mouths – Matthew 17:24-27!). We found no coins but the fish was very good indeed.
After lunch a trip right around the lake / Sea in our lovely cool coach followed. One brief stop to look at the excavations at Kursi, one possible side of the healing of the Gerasene demoniac. Once again the extreme heat got the better of me and my only thought on the matter (not based on any Biblical or historical truth) is that if it was a hot as today, the pigs would have been a whole lot happier in the water!!
This was very much in my mind as we headed back to the hotel and within 10 minutes of arriving I was happily swimming. Having been told that it was about 8 miles across I began to try and work out how many laps of our little cordoned of bit of the Sea I would have to swim to do the equivalent distance. This calculation took a great deal of thought, so long that I ended up swimming and 1000 metres which doing it!! Shame that at this rate I would have to do the same for the next eleven days! Even with a proposed general strike which may close the airport (don’t panic – popular opinion is that it is all about brinkmanship and very unlikely to happen) I don’t think that I will swim quiet that far. I am however planning to get up early and swim in the morning to that’s all for tonight.
Hope you haven’t gone to sleep reading this! J
Helen xxx
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