Pilgrimage means different things to different people.
For some, it’s a return to the stomping grounds of their childhood. Meeting up with friends for the homecoming football game or celebrating and reconnecting at a class reunion can bring back a flood of memories and create new ones.
For others, pilgrimage might mean visiting a place you’ve always yearned to go and see. For the art student, you might land in Paris or Florence to connect with the masters. For the musician, you might grab a seat in a European cathedral or dance on the lawn at a bluegrass music festival as your favorite artists take the stage.
For a group of us this week, pilgrimage finds us in the Holy Land filling up on sites and sounds where biblical heroes walked and three major religions continue to call this area home.
We’re six hours ahead of Cincinnati, so we’ve already wrapped up our first day with stops in Caesarea, Megiddo, and Nazareth. We strolled along the Mediterranean and saw ruins of the ancient theater and palace. Perched on Tel Megiddo, we stood atop thirty layers of cities that had been destroyed and reconstructed, one atop another.
Exploring the ruins of Jesus hometown, we celebrated the announcement from Gabriel to Mary and lingered over excavated first century homes and buildings.
Over and over, our tour guide has reminded us that we’re not here to look at rocks but to be enveloped by the stories and follow in the footsteps of Jesus and pilgrims throughout the centuries.
Join us this week as we tell stories and post images during our Holy Land pilgrimage. You can see photos from our second day on our Facebook page and other social media.This is a shared journey. Keep following along to share with us.
On the journey with you,
Pastor Lowell and John Johns