Trip to Galilee

Yesterday Margaret and I went with the Serve Nazareth team on a day trip to Galilee. what a delightful time we had together. The trip was organized by our team leader, Christine Farah, and we had in our company her supervisor, two Americans, a Brit, and a Romanian. We all piled into a VW min-bus, whose driver was Arab. We first drove to Cana, where Jesus turned the water into wine. We entered a little church there where some excavations displayed first century ruins. There was also a huge vat on display. Exiting that building we swung by a souvenir shop where the proprietor was very gracious. Breakfast was zatar on bread that was wonderfully delicious. Our next major stop was Arbel National Park. We climbed down a steep descent down a cliff, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Pictures don't capture the image as well as seeing it in real! Besides the trail, there was a castle/fortress to explore, a cool stream to wade, and ripe cactus fruit to taste! We then visited a number of churches. They all commemorated an event in Jesus ministry. The Mount of Beatitudes, the feeding of the five thousand, the place where Peter was asked 'do you love me', the ruin's of Peter's house, in the ruins of Capernaum, where Jesus did most of His ministry, and the place where Jesus called the disciples. Before returning to Nazareth, our driver took us to Tiberias, and we boarded a wooden boat for a 40 minute ride on the Sea of Galilee. This was followed by a delicious supper at the Heritage, a rather fancy restaurant in Tiberias. It was the icing on the cake of an unforgettable delightful day, all planned by Christine. We all retired for the night, tired but happy, thinking of all the sights we had seen, most of which was great scenery, which probably had not changed much in 2000 years. The other great assurance of the day was that the Bible and the stories of Jesus, are rooted in space and time. The Bible is not a just a collection of myths, but occurred in real time.

On top of Mount Arbel before our hair raising climb down!

Ruins at Capernaum

Climbing down Mount Arbel. Thankful for ropes to hang onto!

Looking out of a cave on Mount Arbel.

The beautiful Sea of Galilee.

Working at Nazareth Hospital

The normal routine is developing that on Wednesdays and Thursdays we are at Nazareth Hospital doing our duties. I have been visiting patients and having to learn names like Nehi, Husam, Mahmoud, Thabit, Xair, Delal, Belal, Hani, Yosef, Tarek, Suheil, Simon, Rose, etc., I generally need someone to translate for me, which is very awkward. There are some English speaking patients, and with them I get on quite well. I hear quite the stories. Today I met a man that said he was in the army in Gaza five years ago, and he felt the Lord telling him he had to leave, He spoke to his commanding officer who let him leave the army and Gaza. Three days later, his close army connections were all dead. This man felt that God had preserved his life, and is living near Nazareth, with his wife and children. No more war for him as he wants peace, and to serve his Lord. There are chapel services to attend, it is all in Arabic, with some translating into English, They use chorus books which you open from the back. All tunes unfamiliar to me! They sing with conviction and passion, and tell of God's goodness and their conversion to Christ. Truly my brothers and sisters in Christ! Everyone I meet is friendly, hospitable,and very helpful. We have had a couple of unusual visitors. One afternoon as Margaret and I approached the door to our flat, a grey lizard, about 10 inches long scurried away, and headed into the underbrush. Today, in chapel a six inch lizard appeared on the horizontal beam of the cross and disappeared behind the vertical one! I found it quite amusing, and was going to point at it, but no one else seemed to notice, so I just let them carry on! Margaret worked the last two days in the maternity ward. She had to bathe, change and dress the babies. She quite enjoyed herself, though it was quite busy with about 10 newborns with lots of black hair!

The chapel at Nazareth Hospital

First Days Volunteering at Nazareth Village

Last week, after some days of orientation, Margaret and I put in a couple of days on the job. We had been given some costumes and roles to play, and so starting at nine in the morning, we were at it. On the first day I was the watchman in the tower, and I was dubbed Abraham. Overlooking the vineyard, the community set up a three hour watch schedule to deter either thieves who might try to steal, or animals that might damage the ripening fruit. This was so common that the word 'watch' was used as a measurement of time. Matt. 14:25, Luke 12:38. On the second day, I became the farmer in Jesus' parables who discovered a tree that was unfruitful. Willing to give another chance, the farmer dug around the base of the tree and cultivated it, so that the tree was again producing fruit. Margaret was dubbed Deborah, and she carried water from the well, and had a 'gazillion' pictures taken of her sitting by the first century, re-constructed olive press. The olives will be ripening in two or three weeks, and we will be helping to gather and preserve the olives, as well as pressing them to extract the oil. It is really quite marvelous how the property where Nazareth Village is located has been found, and developed. Excavations of the property, about 500 meters from the center of downtown Nazareth, revealed it was used as a vineyard. They found an original wine press and vat, the ruins of three first century watchtowers. They have built a first century replica of a cistern, a tomb, and has the only full-sized replicated synagog, where you can imagine Jesus when He was asked to read the Scripture, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has appointed me to bring Good News to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim the captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favour has come". Many tour groups go through each day, and hear Christ's parables, in an area He probably played and worked in. This recreated first century village with its farmers, shepherds, weavers, carpenters, men, women, children and animals, has an amazing effect. Some are moved to tears thinking about how God lived His life among us, so ordinary, yet so divine, using the world around Him to portray spiritual truth. Revolutionary!

Us in our Nazareth Village roles