This morning our travels took us to Burqin, which is the place Jesus passed through on his way from Nazareth to Jerusalem. We read in scripture that as Jesus passed through the city, he was approached by 10 lepers who were crying out from a quarantined cave for him to heal them. Guess what, we visited the church located on the site; the 4th oldest church in the world, named St. George's. The church has a cistern and a drop in hole where food would have been lowered down to those in quarantine.
Our next stop was Nablus (Sychar) where we visited St. Photini Greek Orthodox Church. This is the place where Jesus meet the woman at the well in John 4:4. The church is located over the place of Jacob's Well, and Denise Wallace, one of our friends on the trip, was chosen to draw water from the well for us to drink. Scripture was read, and a reflection and personal testimony was given by Fr. Richard Earl. Like most Christian churches, there are many icons throughout the church, which means Marcia has been in heaven these last few days. One of the icons, St. John the Baptist, was very special, as it appeared to be streaming myrrh; you can ask Marcia about it. 😎
Along our journey we also stopped for a speacial treat called a Kenafeh, which is a cheese pastry soaked in sweet sugar-based syrup. It's most popular in that region, unless you have a dairy allergy, and the shop owners invited us in to watch the process of how they'remade. The Palestinian people have been most welcoming to us, not only in this region, but everywhere we have gone. I'm not sure how many "cousins" Iyad Qumri has, but they all own some type of shop and we're almost out of shekels. LOL
We had lunch in Taybeh, which is the only city in the Palestine Authority that is 100% Christian. It was an amazing meal, and we were invited to a local brewery, Taybeh Beer, which is owned. and operated by a husbancd and wife from Boston. The wife explained that even though they have an American passport, they must still get permits to travel within Israel, as they are considered Palestinian in the eyes of Israel. Some of the stories of hardship and discrimination towards Palestinian Muslims and Christians are hard to hear, and it is also easy to see the other side as well. The politic of religion and state is prominate, tense, and even sparks anger to those living here, and solutions and resolutions seem very long in coming; if ever.
We returned to the St. George's Guest House for dinner, and then found the rooftop balcony overlooking Jerusalem. Sadly, 3 people in our group have still not receive their lost luggage from United Airlines. Tomorrow we visit the Church of the Resurrection/Holy Sepulchre located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Shalom / Salaam!
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