Wednesday, October 25

Today we toured around the Sea of Galilee. We began the day with a visit to Capernaum where we were able to see St. Peter's house and the magnificent ruins of the fourth century synagogue built atop the synagogue known to Jesus and the disciples. From there we went up to Korazin for a sense of a typical first century village, and to the Mount of Beatitudes.

Coming down from the hillsides overlooking the lake, we visited the lovely chapel of St. Peter's Primacy Church (where Jesus fed his disciples a breakfast of fish following his resurrection and instructed Peter to "feed my sheep"; see John 21). Then it was around to Nof Ginnosaur to see a fishing boat dating to the first century which has been excavated and restored. It has been in its new museum for less than a week.

We then set sail on a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee from Migdol back to Tiberias, where we are staying. Rev. Tim led a devotional about Jesus walking on the water as we set there drifting on the waves. He told of the need to stay with the "boat" of the church in dangerous times, and the need to continue to hold on to our faith.

After lunch at the hotel, we were off to Nazareth where we visited the Church of the Anunciation. Its beautiful mosaics of the Madonna from around the world were wonderfully accented by a Latin mass that was being sung in the sanctuary while we were there. We finished the day with a stop in Cana. We visited a Catholic church that has just reopened after several years of renovation and excavation of its Byzantine and Crusader predecessors. Rev. Tim led a service of reaffirmation of wedding vows in that church for six couples from Northwood and the group that is traveling with us on the bus.

Our trip has been without trouble, with no indication of what our Israeli-Arab guide has called "these hard times" other than the small groups at what would normally be crowded sites at this time of the year. Tomorrow we are off to the Mediterranean coast for a visit to Caesaria and return stops at Megiddo and Mount Tabor (the "Mount of the Transfiguration").

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Last modified: May 24, 2007