#dayfive
They say no man is an island. And yet with the majority of our group being Jewish and a few Christians, I'm the lone wolf here. No real knowledge of the Bible under my belt, though interestingly I was born in the Bible Belt. I did go to church camp a few times, but only to meet boys. 😈 Of course God showed up later for me, (thank you very much Seane Corn) but without the stories of the Bible, the Torah or the Quran as a point of entry. So when I saw on our itinerary that we were going to the Sea of Galilee, I knew nothing of what transpired there. And truth be told I don’t know if the stories of Jesus walking on water, the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes and the rest are real. I’d like to think so, just as I’d like to think all miracles are possible. What I know for sure is that there is a peacefulness at the Sea of Galilee that I’ve never experienced before. I described it as a symphony of tranquility that is carried in the air, rests on the land and that floats on the water.
We visited two Christian holy sites there, the Tabgha where they celebrate the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes and also the Capernaum, which holds an ancient synagogue (Jesus was a Jew remember?) and where He held much of his ministry.
Again… did it happen? I don’t know. What DID happen? A whole lotta vibin’ went down, for realz. Almost instinctively many of us navigated to a particular section of the synagogue. Some prayed, some meditated. Some took savasana 🙋🏻. But we all felt the call to soak it up and we all walked away in the knowing that there was something powerful there that stood the test of time. At the end of our time at the Sea of Galilee, Marianne led us to the water and delivered a sermon like no other. I could try to describe it, but words would fail. I’ll just leave it at that.
After a long bus ride south, we made it to Mitzpeh Ramon, which is a mountainous region in the desert. The sky was painted with every color and the wind carried not only a chill but also a harmony. And of course, the taste of the earth seeped into every pore. We had a brief lecture from a local spiritual teacher who asked us a simple question…
“What are you willing to do in the name of peace?’ Her answer.. Anything.
