Day 4 (I think) The Galilee area

Oh, what a day today was. I pretty much cried throughout the entire day. We began riding a boat on the choppy Sea of Galilee-in the rain, but that was okay--the boat had a canopy andwe were sitting in the middle of the deck. As we moved away from Tiberias we jumped up, took pictures, sang "The wise man built his house upon a rock...and the rain came down..." as the rain indeed came down.

Then the boat stopped in the middle of the lake and we began a lovely worship service-ette. There's really something about getting your mind right when you're tossed about literally. That was truly special.

Then we landed at Kibbutz Ein Gin where we saw an ancient Roman boat, that was in operation during the time that Jesus lived, that had sunk in the Sea. If you want to know more about it, Google "Jesus Boat". It's really kinda cool. I had the best seriously freshly-squeezed orange juice ever there!

From the museum, we bussed to the Mount of Beatitudes--and the rain continued,with spurts of sunshine to tease you. It was there that my pilgrimage began in earnest. The Mount of Beatitudes Catholic Church sits atop a verdant hill overlooking the Galilee amidst equisite, blooming gardens and nestled under olive trees. Our group stood outside the chapel as we heard our group pastor read the Beatitudes from Matthew--it was a special moment. As we finished, I began to walk around to enter the chapel. As I walked, I passed other groups, each hearing the Beatitudes--sometimes in English, sometimes in Norweigan. I entered the chapel (I lit another candle!!) as a group from Japan began singing a hymn, their voices reverberating from the vaulted roof. As they finished, the priests came in to begin services (and we Protestants were shuffled out). (Google Mount of Beatitudes for more)

From there, we went to the Chapel of the Primacy of Peter sitting on the shore of the Galilee. There, in the driving rain, we raced down to the Sea to touch it (and, in many cases, bottle it for return to the states.) In the chapel, another one of our pastors read from Luke Jesus' question to Peter--"Who do people say that I am?" and his answer "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" and Jesus' response, "Simon, your name is Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." Before us was a rock jutting up under the relatively new altar and surrounded by Byzantine mosaics. On that rock, Jesus served a meal to his disciples. (Gpogle Church of the Primacy of Peter for more)

From there, the experience built--we arrived in Capernaum, a place that I had long anticipated experiencing. Capernaum is a beautifully preserved archaelogical dig. Our first stop was the foundations of a building surrounded by the foundations of two other buildings. This foundation was sheltered by a modern church whose center aisle is railed and glassed so that one might look down into the oldest core of the building. That protected building is called the Dominus Ecclias (or something like that). The outside rings were home churches--the oldest Christian church in the world. The inner square was the home of Simon Peter, his mother, his brother Andrew, and, for three years, Jesus Christ. I really fell apart there. God in human form lived in that most humble abode. Turning our back to that house (and that was really, really hard to do), we faced the synagogue that Jarius built and inwhich Jesus taught and studied. Folks, if seeing those two things don't reach the core of your faith, nothing much will. Those two sights are something I hold very, very dear, and make we weepy just thinking about them. (Google Capernaum--it's a great site)
From there we had lunch at another kibbutz and had "St. Peter's fish" a type of tilapia--it wasn't bad, but it also wasn't worth $17.

We completed the circle around the Galilee and ended at the Jordan where I was "reanointed" by sprinkling myself in the seriously cold Jordan River. I must quit b/c I'm running out of internet time.. Tomorrow--Bethlehem!!