Home Again!

Yossi - kibbutz raised, well educated

"Welcome Home!" says Yossi, our tour guide for a week. "I will prove to you that in many ways, this land is more your home than Canada or anywhere else in the world! Why? ... I have no doubt you know more rivers, hills, plains and historical sites here than in your own country, because you've read about them in the Bible for years!"  ... He's probably right! So yes - in many ways - from Yossi's reasoning to the deeper, physical memory rising within me: I'm home!

View from my balcony!

View from my deck!

Soon I'm sitting on the 7th floor of a luxurious hotel, overlooking swimming pools lined with palm trees, a stone's throw away from the blue Mediterranean sea. It's 35 Celsius and glorious! I left snow in Calgary, this very morning! Toronto, en route, was rainy. But the sun is shining to welcome me "home!"

Pastor Scott: his turn for sabbatical!

Well, not just me! I'm back in this part of the world for two short weeks, leading a tour from our church along with Pastor Scott, who is fulfilling a life-long dream in making this trip for the first time. Already he's beaming from ear to ear, at hearing the knowledge Yossi spouts in every sentence as we drive from the airport to the hotel.

Friends, ready for anything!

Tel-Aviv/Jaffa is the official name of our starting point, "Jaffa" being the same place as "Joppa" - where Jonah was swallowed and spit up by the whale. "Who else was called 'Jonah?'" asks Yossi. Pleased to stump us, he declares: "'Simon-bar-Jonas,' later known as Peter, the disciple! Peter had his vision of unclean meats being lowered from heaven right in this town!" We pass the church commemorating that event. Yossi's conclusion: "Thanks to that vision, most Jews today are non-Kosher!" Who knew?! They don't teach that outcome in Sunday School!

Holocaust Memorial Candle in the Lobby

But what a day to return! It's Memorial Day - the 24 hours when an insistent, blaring siren sounds at two set times throughout the country, and people immediately stop what they are doing to literally stand at attention - getting out of cars, ceasing to shop, eat, play or work, for two minutes while they remember WWII and the terrible loss of the Jews. Wonderfully, this mournful day will be followed immediately by Independence Day, 24 hours of laughter, fireworks and happy celebration of the day when Israel became a nation.  So the contrasts go in this colourful, confusing, historical world.

Seyi, spinning for joy!

Sundown

We take a walk in the cooler evening, after the memorial siren has sounded and the sun has set, glowing, over the water. The moon and her curtseying stars light our way; young lovers linger on sandy shores; we slip off sandals and dip and dance in the Mediterranean Sea - water containing such depths of history it can only murmur the tips of tales each time it comes in to the beach before washing out again, taking details we long to hear, with it.

St. Peter's Church by day

From the beach we wander up an old, cobble-stone road, heading in the direction of St. Peter's Church - honouring his non-kosher vision! Palestinian women, draped and enjoying the cool after a 35 degree day, pass us, their children in tow. Their young men sit on benches along the promenade, smoking sweet-smelling hookah pipes (sweet, until you learn that this kind of smoking is 200 times worse than cigarettes!)

As they pass, we realize we've crossed that invisible divide of Jewish and Muslim, Israeli and Palestinian territory, and have bumped straight into the muddled, marvellous reality of this land, aptly named "Isra-el" - "warring-God." The name comes from God's re-naming of Jacob after he wrestled with God and prevailed. But oh, the wrestling continues, millenia later!

Non-kosher dessert, anyone?

Delicious buffet - snack station!

How do we see it? Well we've just walked from the Jewish-run hotel with its two strict kitchens: kosher and non; where, after I assure him that our group is happy, the manager shakes my hand gravely at dinner, bows his head, and says, "But this is not a happy day for us." I tell him sincerely that we share in mourning the Jews' holocaust loss - and we do - standing at sad attention, as the siren wails at 8 pm. Now we pass smiling Muslim families on the beach promenade, while we make our way to a Christian church! Wrestling with and for God? I think so!

We pause our walk for a moment as the muzzein calls, ancient and loud, from a beachfront minaret that stands directly under the sway of multitudinous Israeli flags, hung for Independence day, while above, on the silent hilltop, Christian St. Peter's church waits for us.

It's all right here!

At the church we gather in golden light for a group photo, clustering on stone stairs worn smooth by pilgrims. Trees and bushes do their stalwart best to thrive even in this climate, making the way lovely; the stone road underfoot, with its slippery smoothness, begs us to keep walking; so on we go, arriving at Simon the Tanner's house before we know it!

Simon the Tanner's - with it's flat roof

On the simple flat rooftop, a grapevine grows, providing daytime shelter. We can just imagine Peter, described in Acts 10, resting there, receiving his vision of a sheet lowered from heaven, full of "unclean" animals, with an angel saying, "Rise, Peter, and eat!" If it wasn't for that humble spot, perhaps none of us would have been here on this night, or in faith. Quite apart from breaking kosher eating plans, that vision led to Peter's receiving Cornelius, the first Gentile to follow Christ. After the vision, Peter could no longer call Cornelius unclean, and the same goes for us: non-Jews welcomed home to Christ from every background.

Nooks of wonder!

We are a varied group: married, single, younger, older, travelled, new to travels; but every one of us can revel and marvel in this warm, wonder-filled night. We walk through shuttered stone-walled streets, with goods and antiques and art behind windows, every corner a photo-op. Dean and Sylvia, out of Canada for the first time to celebrate their 50th anniversary, exclaim assent as Nicole, frequent flyer, declares, "Even if we never saw another day here, this evening would have made it worthwhile!" ... The official tour hasn't even begun!! What a gift - and my cup overflowing with joy as I light the way, at least a little, with stories and  insights from my time in this land two years ago.


Midnight in the Mediterranean!

Shalom! It's great to be Home!

Our group on the first night ...