God is still speaking

Despite my efforts to guilt my fellow travellers, I am still the only one blogging.... well, maybe tomorrow....

One of the places we visited today was the Church of the Annunciation - it is the home of Mary, the place where God sent Gabriel to meet Mary and to extend to her an invitation or a call that would forever change her life. Our guide, Claudia, shared with us a tremendous amount of information today about the everyday life of people living and worshipping during the time of Jesus. Mary's house was not like I imagined, but it was a cave, with rooms carved into the rock. Animals lived along side them inside the caves, and the entrance way became their sleeping area. From the information I learned today, I have a whole new perspective on the stories I have read over and over. There is a church built around the particular cave that belonged to Mary. We know it is her home because of some graffiti found - (gives a whole new perspective to urban art). There were so many people and so much going on - mass was being held right next to her home, people were videotaping and taking photographs of the beautiful murals and mosaics, tour guides were giving out information in a variety of languages, and throughout, in corners in and around the church, people were finding places to gather to worship and to praise God. Finally, near the end of my time there, I put down my camera and began to look around - this time seeing more than just the murals and mosaics on the walls. I became aware that this holy site, this place visited by God, continues to be holy. Not just because of what happened over 2000 years ago, but because of what was happening at that moment. People from all over the world were coming to worship. And just as God spoke to a young girl so long ago about bearing the privilege and scandal, the joy and the pain, the love and the loss that sometimes comes with following God, God was speaking again today to those who had come to worship and to those who would be still enough to listen. It is a holy place, and God continues to speak, continues to call, continues to invite us to be part of God's plan.