May 21st, 2010

Dear Fellow Pilgrims,

I’ve been working to set the date for the June gathering. Many of you have sent me e-mail to let me know what your vacation calendar looks like for the summer, as requested at the last meeting and on the Blog. The results show that June is a very busy time for us! In fact, the week that interrupts the fewest plans is the very first week. So we will plan our get-together on Wednesday, June 2nd, at 5:30 PM. We had no volunteers to gather at a home this month so we will plan right now to meet in the 1st Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall. Kitchen facilities are available, but the cover dish plan has worked well so far. Let’s stick with that for June.

The second day of touring for us will focus on sites around the Sea of Galilee. We spent some time during our May discussion to talk about this area of Israel. On this day we will visit the hills overlooking the Sea where Jesus is thought to have given the beautiful Sermon on the Mount, and Tabgha, the site where he fed the multitudes with just a few loaves and fish. (see John, chapter 6) In the afternoon we will actually take a boat across the Sea to visit Capernaum, and go to the Jordan River where Jesus may have been baptized. One of our discussions at the gathering will be about the spiritual significance of baptism, and what a “renewal of baptismal vows” might mean to us while at the Jordan.

Please plan to come prepared to set a time for our July meeting. There are a couple of special considerations that we should keep in mind. One is the proposal made at our April meeting that we should plan a picnic during the summer. Several of our pilgrims have boats they have graciously offered to share. The other is that some of our travelers cannot join us for these meetings on weeknights but would like to get to know the folks planning to travel. A weekend gathering would give us more time for a nice picnic and give these persons a chance to meet with us and “catch up” on our plans and materials. I would therefore like to propose that we meet in July on Sunday afternoon, July 18th. Please consider this and come prepared to agree, or offer another time for us to meet. We’ll determine other specifics about the place and picnic arrangements as well. If you cannot join us for the June meeting then e-mail me your response about the July proposal.

One last thing, I’ve received several positive comments about the materials that we’ve shared at the meetings about the places we are visiting. You’ve also let me know that it helps to have digital copies of these available in our GoogleDocs folder on the Internet. Some have not been able to collect materials from the early gatherings. I am trying to get more copies of these materials so that I can make them available to you. I’ll let you know as I make progress.

Till next time...Rejoice Always

Notes from our May Gathering

Overview of May Gathering

On Tuesday, May 11th , we had a wonderful second gathering of Pilgrims at Mark and Carol Foster’s home. What a beautiful place to meet. I noticed many of the pilgrims taking a tour of the house to ‘ooh and aah” at the art and artifacts that Carol and Mark have collected through the years and arranged so creatively. Once again the cover dish was more a feast than a pickin with plenty for everyone. More good news! We welcomed several new friends to the meeting who have learned of our Pilgrimage and considering joining us. Thanks to all for making these get-togethers such a success.

Before starting with the overview of the tour we were to cover I took some time to review the list of people that have signed up, and those still expressing interest. The last registration count that I got from ACTS last Friday shows that 16 of us have sent in their registration forms. We’re over half way to our goal of having at least thirty to fill the tour bus. This is wonderful. And there are still 23 others on the list that are still interested but had not registered by the time ACTS sent me the list. So I’m very hopeful that our goal will be reached if not exceeded. Another component of this list is to see how room sharing options are coming along. Obviously couples are registering together for rooms. Others are planning to room together and registering with this in mind. Still, several have registered looking for a roommate. ACTS informs me of the “singletons” and we can begin now to try to make appropriate connections. Contact me if you are in the later group and we can begin this process.

The subjects of the tour discussion focused on the first day of our touring as we move from Tel-Aviv to the area around the Sea of Galilee. We began the discussion by projecting Google Earth on a big screen and showing the nation of Israel. We will be landing in Tel-Aviv and spending a night there to recover from jet-lag. The first stage of our journey will be from Tel-Aviv to the Sea of Galilee where we will stay 2 nights in the city of Tiberius. On the way to Tiberius we will visit the ruins of Jericho and the Mount of Temptation that we studied in April. And we will make stops at Nazareth, and Cana before we arrive at our destination. We followed this path on Google Earth. I am including a picture of the region on this posting so that you can see the North-East direction that we are traveling. If you have access to the Internet you will want to download and view the area on Google Earth. There are wonderful pictures that others have taken, and descriptions of the areas linked to a variety of websites. The program is free. You can find it at http://earth.google.com.

Mike and Jim took some time to review the research that they had done on Nazareth, Cana, and Tiberius. All three are mostly found in scripture in the New Testament. This area is actually where Jesus spent most of his life. Mary and Joseph both lived in Nazareth. The angels that announced Jesus conception visited them there before they traveled to Bethlehem for the Roman census. They fled Bethlehem to Egypt to avoid Herod’s terrible wrath, an attempt to kill the baby Messiah. But they returned to Nazareth after a few years and Jesus grew up there. His first miracle, turning the water into wine at a wedding feast, was at Cana. Though there are some disagreements about the exact place that these events occurred most have a church or temple at a location that claims to be the spot. We will review the stories as we visit the sites.

Tiberius has always been a popular city. It was built on the Sea of Galilee and has attracted tourist, not all seeking vacation, for centuries. There is much history dating back to the early Roman Empire and earlier that is available here. We will be very happy to spend time at this wondrous city. Next month we will study more about the landmarks around the Sea of Galilee that it is built on. One that is very interesting is a story about an ancient boat that was found. It is exactly the type of boat that is thought Jesus would have been sleeping on when the mighty storm came upon the disciples. It is now known as “The Jesus Boat.” There is a great story on YouTube about it. Connect at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66BKA9bWjHI. This is part one of two. Other video and stories about the Jesus Boat are also on YouTube. Christianity Today had a good story on this as well. This article can be found at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/aprilweb-only/26-41.0.html. Perhaps we can visit the museum to learn more about this archeological wonder.

As usual there were handouts related to the places we are visiting. I have uploaded these documents to the SoBo Pilgrim Holy Land folder in Google Docs. You will be getting an invitation to view and download these documents soon after getting this message.

We did not reach consensus about where and when to have the next meeting for there is many vacations planned during June. Please e-mail to me your vacation schedule and I will look for the week that has the fewest conflicts. We may choose a Saturday in June and July to try to include some of our folks who work each weeknight. We anticipate that the July meeting will be held as a picnic at Buggs Island Lake. I would like to have your vacation schedule by the end of May so that we can make this decision as soon as possible!

Thanks again to the Fosters for hosting our gathering. Till next time!

May Gathering is next Tuesday night

May 7, 2010

Our second study group gathering will be next Tuesday, May 11th, at Carol and Mark Foster’s house in South Boston. Let me know if you need an address. There is a change in the plans. We will be meeting at 6:00 PM rather than 5:30. Plans for dinner this time are the same as last, cover dish. It worked out very well as all the bases were covered; salad, main course, desserts, etc, and everyone had plenty to eat! There is talk of a picnic at the lake for the June meeting so we will be having some variety in the future.

Last month we started our study of the places we are touring with a look at the ancient city of Jericho. We couldn’t complete a study of our first day’s tour because we had several travel issues to take care of. So this month we will continue the first day’s tour with a study of The Mount of Temptation, Nazareth, Cana of Galilee, and Tiberias. On the trip we will actually be staying in Tiberias for two nights as we visit the areas around the Sea of Galilee.

I’ve received information from ACTS (our travel tour group) that more of you have registered. That’s good! Betty Ann has written that she is excited for us that the study groups are going so well. Please be sure to send me any specific questions that you have about the travel arrangements. I will get in touch with her and try to have answers by Tuesday night. One big reminder to pass on, May 1st was only a deadline for an early registration discount. There is still plenty of time to register for the trip. We are excited for all of you that are going and talking with friends to get them to go with you. Don’t forget to send me their e-mail information so that I can add them to the contact list.

I’m looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday night! Remember that we have changed the time to 6:00 pm! Early thanks to Mark and Carol for hosting us!

Rejoice Always,