Holy Land Tour! - Reverend Steve Hughes Reports
Baptising team members in the River Jordan, eating an aptly named 'St Peter's fish', finding his way through Bethlehem's crowded streets and visiting Herod's summer palace.....
Reverend Steve Hughes of the Ark Community, recently helped lead the 'Walking In The Footsteps of Jesus' Holy Land Tour, as part of the Bible Society and Evangelical Alliance's 'Biblefresh' campaign. Here Steve tells us about his amazing 'spirit filled' journey.
Steve writes.....In preparation for the ‘Biblefresh’ campaign to encourage people to have a fresh encounter with God through reading the Bible, I went to Israel and the West Bank in October as part of a team of pilgrimage leaders.
(PICTURES TOP TO BOTTOM: REVEREND STEVE HUGHES, YARDENIT, A ST PETER'S FISH AND JERUSALEM)
On Day One we arrived at Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee, a busy town, with blue 
skies and hot temperatures! I met the team and travelled briefly to Yardenit, the one place on the River Jordan which officially allows Christian baptism. Two of our team decided to get baptised and I was thrilled to be asked to baptise them. It was an intimate spiritual moment for the team at the beginning of our journey together, a time of peace and blessing enhanced by Dave Bilbrough (an international song writer and worship leader who's written songs like 'Abba father, I am a new creation') leading worship.
Having had a St Peter’s fish from the Sea of Galilee for lunch, we returned to 
Tiberius and went on the Sea of Galilee by boat. We had a short time of meditation and worship looking out on places which had not changed since Jesus’ time. It was a very peaceful moment. Next we visited the ‘Jesus boat’ (ruins of a first century boat found on the shores of the Sea of Galilee) and walked around the ruins of Capernaum as Jesus would have.
On the second day we visited Tabgha (believed to be the place of the feeding of the 5,000 by Jesus) and then the Church of Primacy of St Peter (when Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him - John Chapter 21). These are both on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee. Again these were peaceful moments, shared by other parties of pilgrims from all over the world, spending time in their groups reading the Bible together, praying or taking Communion.
Later we travelled south through Cana (place of Jesus’ first recorded miracle – water into wine at a wedding), and spent time at Nazareth the place where Jesus and his family grew up (visiting Mary’s well, ruins of Mary’s house and the Church of St Joseph).
The landscape was amazing as we travelled in our air conditioned van through the arid Jordan Valley, passed Jericho, then the lowest point below sea level on earth at the Dead Sea and began a steep rise to Jerusalem. As you draw near, suddenly there is a massive vista of buildings (old and new), huge traffic jams with sounds of car horns and crowds of people in modern and religious clothing. We made our way towards Bethlehem and after queuing to get through security barriers, we entered the West Bank via the oppressive ‘wall of separation’. The evening gave us the opportunity to meet and fellowship with Palestinian Christians.
On Day Three, we were skilfully guided around Jerusalem, stopping at the following
sites to read the Bible, pray, sing or quietly meditate: Mount of Olives (panoramic view of Jerusalem), Dominus Flevit (place where Jesus wept over city of Jerusalem), walk down Palm Sunday Path, Garden of Gethsemane (special moment singing ‘The Servant King’) and the Garden Tomb.
Prior to lunch the team had a private reception with the Bishop of Jerusalem, and learned more about the role of Christians within the area, and also some of social and political difficulties. Later, along with crowds of other people, we walked along the Via Dolorosa (the route Jesus walked on the way to His crucifixion).
Even in the midst of heat and noise, there were profound moments of the presence of God. This culminated in time spent at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the traditional place of the crucifixion and burial tomb).
On Day Four most of the team experienced the unplanned 4am minaret wake up call; however an early day was required anyway as we set off again for the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem.
We encountered other pilgrims and spent time at the Western Wall (part of the Second Temple), Dome of the Rock area, the ‘Upper room’ (established by Crusaders as the type of place Jesus would have had the Last Supper), and the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu (built over Caiphas’s House). This last visit was a profound spiritual moment for all of the team as we spent a brief time in the dungeon Jesus would have been lowered into after being flogged.
The afternoon was in sharp contrast as we spent time away from crowds in the serene place known as the Shepherd’s field in Bethlehem (where the angel’s appeared to the Shepherd’s at the birth of Christ) – singing carol’s will never be the same again! We then joined other pilgrims to visit the place of Jesus’ birth in the Church of the Nativity.
Day Five - Our final full day was slightly different as we drove into the scorching desert near the Dead Sea and visited Massada (historical site of Herod’s ‘summer’ palace and mass suicide to avoid Roman slavery of Jews post-AD70).
The views and remaining ruins are amazing. Later we visited Qumran (where the Dead Sea scrolls were found) and spent time ‘floating’ on the Dead Sea!
On our return to Jerusalem we went via Jericho to see the Sycamore tree climbed by Zacheus (who wanted to see Jesus) and saw where Jesus spent time in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil (you can get there by cable car now, but I don’t think this was available during Jesus time).
It has been exciting for me recounting this amazing journey, with all the special memories and spiritual moments I experienced.
Not only have I met new friends, but after all the years of reading the Bible, I can now imagine the places Jesus visited and more fully understand some of His teaching.
This adventure is available for others too, and may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the Holy Land.
One of the strands of the Biblefresh campaign is to have a Bible experience; if you would like to go on one of the pilgrimages in June or November 2011 then contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for a brochure
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