Why I keep on going back to Israel.

The first time I went to Israel and Palestine in 2011 I did not expect much, after all the divine is all around me all the time, why go through all the effort and travel to the other side of the world?

I’ve been back 4 times. It still surprises me every time.

It changed the way I look and read the Bible. I now have a sense of space. How far is Capernaum from the shores of Galilee? How big is the temple grounds? How steep is Mount of Olives (steeper than you think). What does the sun feel like in the desert? Could you walk from Bethlehem to Jerusalem in a day (and why does Bethlehem mean both House of Bread and House of Meat?). Walking on the same stones as the characters in the texts changes you.

It changed the way I look at religion, worship and spirituality. It may come as a surprise, and it will, but there is more than one way to approach God. Not everyone prays the way you do. And entering into the epicentre of the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and experiencing them at their most intense is jarring and liberating, infuriating and freeing, sad and beautiful.

When you come with me, I’ll help to make you aware of the different spaces we enter, to remember what Jerusalem smells like, what the water of the Dead Sea feels like on your skin. We’ll read the old texts and talk about what it means to follow Jesus today, and what do the different spaces teach us about who is included and excluded. What did Jesus’ teachings mean within the old boundaries and spaces, and what do they mean for us today?

One thing is certain, you will not return the same person.

pierre