From Jerusalem

 Looking from the Mount of Olives upon the Golden-domed mosque on the theTemple Mount in Jerusalem. 
In the background is the growing city of modern day Jerusalem. 

It seems like a long time ago that I was back in Scotland, but it has only been four days since the group I am with flew out of Edinburgh Airport. I am in Jeru-salem with a trip I started   planning last summer. The program that cap-tured my attention so strongly is the  'Clergy Introductory Pilgrimage' to the Holy Land. It seemed to take such a long time to reach  the departure date of Wednesday, the 15th of January, 2014. But time has rushed by and here I am now, sitting in Jerusalem, Israel.  

 We are seventeen Church of Scotland clergy and their spouses who come from all over Scotland. I think that my travel companions seem to be OK having a wild and crazy American among them. The trip/pilgrimage is financially subsidised by the Church of Scotland to give ministers an opportunity to tour the Holy Land, see Church of Scotland mission projects in the Holy Land, and to consider leading a tour to Israel in the future. For years I have dreamed about doing just that. So I jumped at the opportunity to see how I might be able to lead a tour to Israel. This is my fifth trip to the Holy Land. I did one six-week trip back in the 70s and then three trips of several weeks each in the 1990s. It is so good to be back here after an absence of fifteen years.

I especially love Jerusalem. There is no city like it in the entire world. Some see it as the center of the world. In many ways it is. When David founded Jerusalem over three thousand years ago, I doubt he had any idea the the City of David would become one of the greatest cities in all the world. The people and beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all find prominent expression through this city. I am not aware of any city in the world or throughout all time that has had so many people and nations fighting over it as Jerusalem has had. I can't help but see the city of Jerusalem as the center of the world.

Both Israel and Jerusalem seem to be 'thin places' where heaven and earth come close together. I have sensed that Iona and Holy Island, Lindisfarne, are such places that are also thin places where heaven and earth come close to each other. But I have never experienced it as strongly as I have here in Jerusalem. In the three days that I have been here, I have reflected on the tour and journaled far more than I have at any time in my life. Each night I have spent several hours writing from my notes I take during the day, reflecting on them, and then writing what I have reflected into my journal. Jesus' spirit is so strong here in Jerusalem that I can hardly keep it in.

I have taken three days to finally get my act together to do this blog posting. I hope I can do a second posting soon, and more in the days ahead.

Blessings to you and yours,