[From Susan Zencka]....Karen has succeeded in shaming a couple of us into posting to the blog at long last. And I have to correct her -- not all of us are posting to our own blogs! I am blogless. But a have been spending a lot of my free time trying to keep my photos in order. And I have to admit that I have napped most afternoons...and the naps have been lovely.
But the mornings have been one gift after another. I find that for me, the time we spend in the natural surroundings is what really connects most with me. Two days ago, having a boat ride in the Sea of Galilee, and then wading in the Jordan River (even though it was surrounded by buildings, gift shop, the pay-a-sheckel toilet, etc. -- that was a wonderful day.
Today, we went to the Golan Heights, and we spent our time near the Banias Falls, which end up feeding the Jordan River -- snow melts on Mt. Hermonn and then flows into the falls, which are beautiful...and then the water continues toward the river. It was an amazing walk through the woods, with not only the falls, but rocky rapids just downstream from the falls as well. The path to the falls has steps, and many of the trees and shrubs are identified with small signage in both Hebrew and English. So we saw pistachio shrubs, a couple of varieties of oak, myrtle, and many others. The woods were so peaceful -- by the falls there was a sense of power and beauty (not uncommon with waterfalls), and it was darker than on the hilltop, and MUCH cooler.
After the falls, we went to the Temple of Pan at Caesarea Philippi -- and Jackie read the passage from Matthew 16:13-20 where Jesus asks "Who do people say that I am....and who do you say that I am?" And Peter responds "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God...." And the passage was so much more powerful realizing that this had happened in this place with altars to many different gods (we saw remains of altars to Zeus, Pan, Augustus, Nemesis and others)....it was a reminder of the kind of religious environment that the Roman Empire was.
And then some of us walked through the woods again -- I was by myself for most of that walk, and came to this place (in the picture) where I could just see a small waterfall in the distance throught the trees, and it was so beautiful and peaceful.
After leaving there, we hurtled into the present as we stopped to observe the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria, where there is a United Nations outpost -- there is also a row of wind turbines on a ridge overlooking the UN outpost, so that was encouraging. And we met a Druze man there who was selling spices, cherries, olive oil, and such.
We had a marvelous lunch at the place we had eaten one day earlier, and enjoyed falafel or schwarma (turkey, cabbage, etc on a pita) or schnitzel...a delicious lunch. And back to the Pilgerhaus where we relaxed, and several of us swam in the Sea of Galilee. It was such a lovely time -- we could see egrets, and yellow wagtails (yes, I bought a "Birds of Israel" book) along the shore, the hills surrounding the lake were lovely, it was 100 degrees, and the water felt so wonderful.
And now we will meet for afternoon prayers and share our reflections for the day -- these times are rich too. It's all a John 1:16 experience: "From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace...." Yes we have, and we still are.
Thanks to the CF Foundation, Trisha and David, and all the pilgrims who make this such a wonderful experience.
Shalom, salaam, peace.....
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