CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE WITH PURPOSE
THE WATER ISSUE SPRING 2022
Passages participants kick off their trip by enjoying a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee
PASSAGESISRAEL.ORG
Editor's Note
I recently joined Passages for my first-ever trip to Israel. During my time, I was surprised to find how enthralled I was with everything surrounding water. Baptism involves water. Ministry can involve water, and it certainly did in Jesus' case. Even the barren desert has life because of water!
IN THIS ISSUE 03 Baptism 04 In the Name 05 Jesus Wasn't the First 06 Ministry
As I continued to process my trip, I realized in the life of a Christian, we all in some form or another experience baptism, ministry, and deserts. Maybe that's because we have living water flowing from us, as Jesus said, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living
07 Ministry of Jesus... 08 ...and Jessica 09 Desert
water will flow from within them" (John 7:37b-38, NIV).
10 In the Dead of the Desert
Just as Jesus' ministry in the Holy Land two millennia
11 Water, Water Everywhere
ago was based around water, so is modern-day Israel. This is called "The Water Issue," but it means more than
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just a magazine issue. Water is still an issue in the Middle East, but Israel is making waves. The water that Jesus had was the same water we have today, and it is still amazing!
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Jessica Lippe SPRING 2022
m s i t p Ba JORDAN RIVER
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Mark 1:9-10, NIV
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IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT A trip to Israel is a memory of a lifetime for any Christian. However, there are other memorable days in a Christian's life of even more significance, such as the day they accepted Christ and the day they were baptized. At Yardenit, a special baptism site on the Jordan River, I had the opportunity to combine my first full day in Israel with the day I was baptized, a memory I will never forget! Jesus was baptized in the same area, making this site an incredibly popular place to be baptized. Over 2000 years later, I stepped foot in the same places Jesus walked and got baptized in the same river. Instead of being baptized by a desert man who ate locusts and honey, one of our three bus chaplains did the honors. The skies didn't open when I emerged from the water, but I was surrounded by the applause of my bus mates, who were all strangers the day before but were quickly becoming my friends. Not only was this the first sign of their incredible support, but it was also the first sign of my growing love of water in Israel. |
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JESUS WASN'T THE FIRST TO BE BAPTIZED. While baptism is today known as a Christian sacrament, its roots stem from Jewish practices. While celebrating Shabbat dinner with an Orthodox Jewish family in Jerusalem, the woman of the house explained the customary washing of hands that they did before blessing the challah bread. While it was based on the rites for spiritual cleansing by the priests in King Solomon's Temple, she described it as "baptizing our fingers." Another Jewish tradition with similarities to Christian baptism is the mikvah. On our Passages trip, we had the opportunity to see a historic mikvah in Magdala, pictured below. This ritual bath was used for purification purposes, particularly for women after menstruation or childbirth. One traditional requirement for a mikvah is that it contains living water, water connected to a natural source.
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y r t s i n i M SEA OF GALILEE
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 4:23, NIV
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The Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter, where Jesus made breakfast and reinstated Peter, Tabgha (right)
One of the many mosaics in the churches of Galilee, this one depicteing Jesus, calling his first disciples on the shores (below)
MINISTRY OF JESUS (AND JESSICA) I am a ministry worker by trade. I have worked
Today, many of Jesus' teachings and miracles
as a youth shelter houseparent, as an EMT, as
are commemorated by a church standing atop
a writer, and mainly as a camp programmer. I
where people believe that event occurred. I
have served in Europe, Latin America, and
especially loved the seaside church where Jesus
across the United States. People have
made breakfast for his disciples, which used
commented that my resume seems to cover
the intact rock as the foundation and altar. The
nearly everything in ministry, but it's just a
Mount of Beatitudes was another great seaside
drop in the bucket compared to the ministry
location. We read the Beatitudes and pondered
of Jesus... and he did it all around the Sea of
the rest of the Sermon of the Mount that Jesus
Galilee!
spoke beside Galilee, and of course, we visited the commemorative church. One location of
By staying three nights in a resort right next
Jesus' ministry that did not have a church
to the Sea of Galilee, my fellow travelers and I
erected on it is the Sea of Galilee itself. This is
had a lot of interaction with this body of
where Jesus walked on water. This is where
water, both for fun and for learning. We got to
Jesus calmed the storm. Jesus and I share a
explore many significant sites of the area.
passion for this little sea.
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Even the Bible does not contain all the
Because the Middle East is a giant desert,
service that Jesus did during his ministry
the existence of Galilee was once at risk, it
in Israel. Today, what started as his
being the primary freshwater in Israel.
Galilean ministry has spread around the
Then, Israel became a world leader in
world. Modern-day Israelis are also
desalination, a process that removes salt
working hard at serving their people and
from saltwater, making it drinkable. With
the world as well. As soon as I returned to
the understanding that water is a precious
California, I went straight back to work,
resource, Israelis have gone on to help
leading an outdoor education program at
other areas around the world that also
the Christian conference center where I
experience water crises, including my
live and work. One of my tasks was to
mission field of California. I hope that by
teach a class about environmental
teaching these middle school students
engineering, which includes having
about global water shortages and
students build a water filter to clean their
techniques used to clean water, they will
model lake. I thought about Galilee and
become the next generation of change-
how it used to be Israel's primary drinking
makers who honor God by being good
water source. I then added to the class
stewards of the resources the Lord has
curriculum, teaching about desalination.
entrusted to us.
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t r e s e D DEAD SEA
Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea.“‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’" Numbers 34:12, NIV
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YOU, GOD, ARE MY GOD, EARNESTLY I SEEK YOU; I THIRST FOR YOU, MY WHOLE BEING LONGS FOR YOU, IN A DRY AND PARCHED LAND WHERE THERE IS NO WATER. (PSALM 63:1, NIV)
FEELIN' SALTY
A DROP IN THE DEAD OF THE DESERT It seems out of place to be writing about the desert in a magazine issue about water. However, whether it's geographically or spiritually, we all go through a desert at some point in our lives. Things can seem dry, maybe even dead. Perhaps these deserts are needed to show how precious water (including Jesus' living water) really is.
I don't know if the mud treatment actually did anything other than stinging my skin as I showered off, but it sure was fun to join other tourists and locals on a Shabbat beach day. Perhaps the Dead Sea is a different kind of desert oasis after all.
MASADA
While Israeli scientists and engineers are globally recognized for their contribution The Dead Sea may seem like an to water conservation and distribution, they were not the oasis in a land of sand, but the high salinity makes it impossible first in their land to engineer for humans to drink, or even for wonders with water. The ruins of Masada, in the mountains above sea creatures to live. It has, the Dead Sea, Spearheaded by however, become a popular destination for its buoyancy and Herod the Great, By utilizing large cisterns, he was able to its beauty treatments. Our Passages bus group followed suit enjoy state-of-the-art pools that could rival any spa! As we by practicing our synchronized discovered on our visit, even swimming (er, floating) and though the cisterns are now slathering ourselves in the mineral-rich mud. While digging empty, they still serve a purpose of great acoustics, as our bus through that mud, we even group sang "Amazing Grace". found giant salt crystals!
DEAD SEA
CISTERN, CISTERN!
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BEFORE GOING TO ISRAEL, I FELT LIKE I WAS IN A DESERT. SURE, I LEAVE NEAR A DESERT, BUT THIS WAS ONE OF THOSE SPIRITUAL DESERTS. I THOUGHT A TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND WOULD HELP ME OUT OF THAT SLUMP, BUT IT DID NOT... AT FIRST. HOWEVER, I DID LEARN ON THIS TRIP THAT ONLY GOD CAN QUENCH THIS THIRST, REGARDLESS OF LOCATION. THAT'S HOW ISRAEL BUILT A BEAUTIFUL, FLOURISHING COUNTRY IN A DRY DESERT.
Walk i Heze ng throu gh kiah's Tunn el
was Jonahd him e r e wh allowe w Port, Jaffa re a fish s o f e b
Emerging from Hezekiah's Tunnel
Water, Water Everywhere!
Fountain I fo Church of t und on the walk to he Holy Sep ulcher
Philippi Caesarea
The wonders of water can be found everywhere around Israel, from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and beyond! It's also been found throughout time, including back when Hezekiah built his tunnels to distribute water through Jerusalem and recently when I won a Passages-branded water bottle at the closing ceremony to the cheers of my busmates. Water was our point of reference for the Israeli-Syrian border, and was necessary to keep hydrated each day and clean each evening. Thank you, Israel, for giving me a new appreciation for water!
Our Tel Aviv hotel overlooked the Mediterranean Sea
rranean the Medite r e v o t e s Sun
d Gaza rranean anw e it d e M e h ie T the same v
in
THEREFORE GO AND
make disciples OF ALL NATIONS baptizing them IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
- JESUS COMMISSIONING FROM GALILEE, ISRAEL MATTHEW 28:19, NIV This magazine was made by Jessica Lippe for her post-trip Passages Capstone as a way to fulfill this commission and spread this news among all nations. For more information on Passages, visit PassagesIsrael.org. |
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