Ein Karem in Judea

ADVENT   Luke 1:5-25

Ein Karem, which means "Spring of the Vineyard" in Hebrew, is the birthplace of Saint John the Baptist.

There a a couple of sites here of interest to Christians, two of which are the summer and winter homes of Zachariah and Elizabeth, St. John's parents. The Chapel of St. John the Baptist is the site of their winter home.

The walk up to the entrance of the churchyard at the Chapel has many "distractions" on both the left and right! I was good going up, but coming back down I bought rosaries made of rosewood and scented with rosemary.

  

The vendors stop at the gate which opens up into a good-sized courtyard with the entrance to the church.

 

I really loved this church! As you can see it is covered in blue and white tile and is just lovely!

 

I am a blue-and-white girl myself (as anyone who has ever been in my kitchen knows!) so I was really enchanted with the inside decor of this chapel.

I could have spent some time there just sitting and taking it all in. It had a happy, cheerful feeling to it. I don't know if that is how everyone feels, or just me because the blue-and-white had such a comforting feel to it which appealed to me. Maybe it was because this was at the end of our trip and I was unconsciously identifying with the sense of home it gave me? 
 

But as you see in the photo, there was another pilgrim group there holding Mass, so we quietly skirted around the inside edges of the church trying to be inconspicuous and didn't stay inside the sanctuary long.

Under the "modern" church, which was built in 1674, is a grotto where the actual birthplace of St. John the Baptist is. It is in a cave below the altar of the upper church.

We were allowed to go beneath the altar and venerate the spot as Mom is doing in this photo by praying at the site.

I actually had to do some research when I returned home to keep this all straight in my mind. (I'm sure our very-informative guide Hill-el explained it, but there were many times when I either couldn't hear him, or in his defense, was running my mouth to Mom or wandering off taking pictures.)

So from what I understand, Zachariah was one of many Jewish priests spread throughout the area to serve the people. He served in his little home-town where he lived with his wife. Maybe he had lots of time to devote since they had no children? In any case, every now and then, the priests would be called to go serve the big, main temple in Jerusalem. They would go there and serve for a week or two...sounds like a good plan to me.

Of all the priests only one would be chosen to enter the Holy of Holies. The inner sanctuary in the Temple in Jerusalem was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and was called the Holy of Holies. As everyone who's ever seen an Indian Jones movie knows, The Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments, which were given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The priests "drew lots" for the honor of entering the inner sanctuary, as they felt like this was the way to let God choose who entered. This must have been HUGE to them! I can imagine that having priests coming from all around the nation for such a holy event and getting chosen from the group! Wow, I can see where this might have never happened in someone's lifetime!! How unbelievably blessed Zachariah must have felt!

So the moment has come - I can maybe identify a little with how he felt. I was so blessed to visit so many holy sites and touch and kiss them. The feeling immediately beforehand is almost indescribable. There is such a feeling of longing and anticipation for meeting the spiritual, it's wonderful and exciting and stressful and anxiety-causing all at the same time!

Zachariah carries the incense and slowly enters the revered sanctuary where God resided.  
 

We know from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 1:5-25) that an angel comes to him. It's the annunciation to Zachariah of St. John the Baptist's coming. Elizabeth is wife will bare him a son.

Fast forward 6 months. The Angel Gabriel appears to a virgin, Mary, and announces the coming of Jesus the Messiah. (Lk 1:26-38).

Zacharia says to Gabriel "How will I know this is so? For I am an old man and my wife is getting on in year." We all know that Zacharias didn't believe and was struck mute.

Mary says to Gabriel "How can this be since I am a virgin?" But Gabriel does not punish her, he just explains.

Hmmmmmm.

So I am thinking about this. I don't understand the difference. Why is Zachariah considered an unbeliever? It's confusing and really kinda scary!

These two people both receive confusing and miraculous news. And to me, they responded almost identically. So why the difference in response?

Mary follows her explanation with "Let it be done to me according to your will." Maybe Zachariah would have also come around with a similar statement if he could talk? Or maybe he has little faith. What is the deal here? There is obviously a difference.

What if God calls me? What if I don't respond correctly? I want to be like Mary, I want to please God with my reaction! I certainly don't want to be like Zachariah.

What requests do I receive from God each day? How am I am responding?

If an angel showed up right this second, what would I do? How would I act? Am I ready for something like that? Would I have doubts? Would I be brave? Would I freak out?

Maybe Zachariah was expected to respond differently because he was a priest. He was, after all, inside the Holy of Holies. He was not caught off guard, he knew he was in the sanctuary where God was. Maybe God expected a more rapid and total belief from one who was suppose to be in the midst of deep prayer performing a very reverence act of faith as it was.

Mary was at her house. Maybe she was performing some mundane household chore. Going about her normal daily activities. Was her heart closer to God in her everyday life than a priest performing a hallowed deed?

The Bible says she was "perplexed". The Bible says Zachariah was "terrified and fear overwhelmed him". There is definitely a difference in those reactions.

Mary was young. Zachariah was old. Does our time living on this earth move us towards the skeptical as we age? Towards unbelief in the supernatural? Does the millions of interactions and experiences and worldly knowledge of our years cause us to lean towards doubt? Or was Mary's inexperience taken into consideration when she first questioned?

The saying "With greater power comes greater responsibility". I see examples of this in life all the time.

Zachariah was eventually give his voice back at the birth of his son. And when he could speak, he certainly did have marvelous and convicted words to say!

Oh Lord I pray that I will always answer with a resounding "YES" to you!  Let me please have the faith and fortitude to respond within your will.  I hope and pray in any event where you are speaking to me, I am not so shocked-amazed-confused-afraid that I react in a way that saddens you.  No matter if I am sitting in your holy presence in adoration of you or feeding the dog, Let me never disappoint you God!  Amen.

2012 Pilgrimage to Israel - Day 9 

How to Dress in Israel

Back to my travel story:  In Israel, there were many customs!  "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" is an old saying.  It's a good one too, if you wish to be a good guest in your host country!

Me, feeling pretty "cultural" wearing a scarf in Ceaserea

Before we left on our adventure, we had a pre-trip meeting and were all briefed on some of the customs by our tour guide.  (Well, actually, we were briefed by JP, a fellow pilgrim who took the initiative when none of us could get in contact with our tour guide, which was highly frustrating!  I believe JP threatened to withdrawal all our money if she didn't come through with some info!  Haha!)  JP awesomely took control and related to us the guidelines which were finally sent by Angela from the tour company.

Anyway, one of the things which was highly discussed was appropriate clothing to wear in Israel.

• No shorts, period.  
• No mini-skirts.  
• No cleavage (women only! Ha!)  
• No bare arms (again,directed towards women).  
• No bare shoulders either. 
• Some websites even suggested that we should not wear bright colors...??  Really?
• No flaunty jewelry.  Keep all necklaces, earrings and rings subtle.  
• Everyone would be expected to wear head coverings in the sites under the patronage of other-than-Catholics, such as the Orthodox, Muslims or Jews.  Men would wear yamakas, women needed scarves or hats.  If you didn't have one, it would be provided for you at the site (yuck!). 

It was a bit stressful to pack, as a lot of my clothes are considered "cap sleeves", which means they don't quite come down as far as a t-shirt sleeve and are colorful.  I did some quick shopping and found some pull-overs which were super-duper lightweight in dark colors, plus I bought a couple of scarves which I planned to throw over my head or shoulders as needed.

Mix and matching all my scarves

It turned out that the actuality of it was much less strict than our pre-tour instructions, so I wore the scarves around my neck much more than on my head!  Haha!

As it turned out, the thing I did noticed about the dress of the Israeli people was:  Anything Goes.

We saw all manner of styles and colors and headgear and clothing choices in both men and women!  I thought is was most interesting and strange to see very western-style clothing mixed with traditional clothing, like a small child wearing an Elmo shirt but her mom wearing a hijab (see "know your female  Islamic headdress").

And although black clothing did seem to dominate, I was surprised to see some colorful costumes!

 

On more than one occasion I was struck by the "old vs new" or "ancient vs modern" mixes I saw.  

Like for instance, a very orthodox-type dressed person on a cell phone.

I guess it's silly for that to seem odd to me.  Maybe because I'm not from the big city and we don't have a lot of Eastern people where I live.  The only people I've seen dress "old-timey" are the Amish or Mennonites and they don't use technology.   But the Israeli people certainly do.

Well, regardless, I saw women in all kinds of dress from the completely covered with only their eyes showing to some skimpily dressed teenie-boppers.  And men ranged from orthodox men-in-black to sheks to blue jean clad boys.

One thing is for sure, whether Muslim or Jewish or Christian, Israel's people are certainly visually standing up for their beliefs and culture!

Lord, let me always stand up for my beliefs!!  Let my lifestyle reflect my devotion to you!!

How It Began

This is really kinda funny, because I am not a journaler, uh journalist...person who keeps a journal. Ever. Never. And I've tried to begin this project multiple times in multiple ways. I have several little notebooks which I've started over the past 3 months, plus this is my second attempt at a blog.

Backing up, I would have never guessed in a million years that I would go to Israel. Israel. Me.

My Mother is lucky enough to get to travel a lot. In the spring, there was a blurb in our church bulletin about our priest taking a group to The Holy Land. "I've always wanted to go to see Israel" she told me. When she was young, she was a nurse in the Air Force stationed in England. She used to take "hops", flying space available when the pilots were headed to Europe and she has lots of stories, pictures and souveniers of her weekends in France, Portugual, Spain, etc. Once she met my Dad, that sorta put a slow-down to her adventures in travel as she began adventures of another nature. It seems that she had planned a trip to Bethlehem over Christmas though, and Dad talked her into staying in England with him, which she was happy to do at the time. Now, 55 years later, she was thinking about finally taking that trip with the members of our church.

But she was worried. Probably for multiple reasons, but the question she kept asking me over the months is "Do you think it would be safe to travel there?" ("How dangerous do you think it really is in the Middle East?" "I wonder if that trip to Israel would be safe?" "Do you think it would be crazy for me to go on that trip?")

Finally I gave her my honest answer "If I had a chance to go to Israel, I wouldn't worry about anything, I would go in a New York Minute!"

That must have started her thinking because by the fall, about a week before my birthday, she asked me if I would go with her.

I could not believe it, couldn't wrap my brain around it! I was too afraid that if I got excited it wouldn't happen! Like if I made too much noise I would wake myself up and find out it was all a dream.

But it wasn't a dream. It was real. I really, really did go to Israel. To places I had heard about on the tv and in the news; in songs and in psalms; testament places both old and new; places where our Lord Jesus Christ lived.

And it was wonderful and unusual and mysterious and exotic. It was surprising and unexpected and heartbreaking and joyful. It was awesome and stressful and inspiring and scary.

And it's over. Oh it's over. : (

And I don't want it to be. It was too fast. I want to remember. I want to understand what happened. I want to dissect it, to explore my feelings, to search my heart and mind for meaning from it. I want to glean all the significance, I want to grasp all the importance, I want to hold on to the essence and savor it all until I've captured all the spirituality I can from the experience.

I knew that's what I wanted. I prayed about it before the trip, during the trip, after I got home. But how? How could I capture the experience?

Everyone said that I must do a journal. So, like I said in the first paragraph, I started writing. I think I started three different journals before I left. I even read articles on how to do a journal. I started a fourth one on the trip.

We returned from our pilgrimage only 12 days before the First Sunday of Advent. And I was still floundering with my attempts to write down my thoughts from the trip when I went to church that first Sunday and heard the Gospel that day. I remembered that place. I knew where they stood when they spoke those words. All the memories of the place I had been which related to those couple of verses from the Bible came flooding in. It was beautiful. It was amazing. I was overwhelmed with the wonder of it.

And realized that this would probably happen all year as I attended Mass! So why not write down those thoughts as they came to me? In the order that they came? Here was the answer to my prayer!! And this blog was born.

So here it is, my journey to Israel. My journal of Israel. Not day by day following our itinerary, but liturgically.

My prayers have been answered. I am happy and satisfied with the path I've been inspired (thank you Holy Spirit!!) to use to "journal" my trip and am finding great peace.

Dear God: You are Good, All the Time!  Please use my story for your glory! Amen.

My beautiful Mother Rosemary and I in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

2012 Pilgrimage to Israel