a trip to the Holy Land

I am now in the last Semester of my Masters of Divinity program at United Theological Seminary. Praise the Lord and pass the hot sauce, lol! My thanks to Hyde Park’s Masters scholarship committee and to all those who have sponsored, prayed for, and encouraged me along the way. As part of our graduation requirement, we were to choose an immersion learning experience. The three options offered were a church in Cuba that is experiencing pentecostal revival, a southern Civil Rights tour for those who are still apprehensive about overseas travel, and a trip to the Holy Land. I chose Israel. We were given the option to have a companion with us, so Sherman accompanied me, which was a great blessing. The Immersion Experience was part of our Methods of Inter-religious Encounter class. Therefore, the trip was not solely Christcentered, but was also meant to expose us to the plurality of beliefs and cultural experiences in Israel and Palestine. The desire both in the class and in the immersion was for us as clergy to learn about, and even engage in some of the practices of other faith traditions so we would have a breadth of understanding. Though the Israeli state is only about the size of New Jersey, as you probably know, it is wrought with political conflict and holds a variety of cultural, religious, and ethnic expressions. The local inhabitants and those traveling to Israel from around the world for tourism and spiritual encounter, were an eclectic assembly. We traveled via El Al airlines to Tel Aviv, and visited various sites in cities like Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tiberias, Nazareth, and Capernaum. It was an awesomen experience to go to the places in Scripture: where Jesus was born and grew up, where He and His disciples lived and ministered, and where He was crucified, died, buried and rose again. It brings such great perspective to what we preach and live out every day and why. We worshipped in song together on the Sea of Galilee. We walked up the Via Dolorosa, and Golgotha’s Hill. We reflected at the Garden of Gethsemane at the bottom of the Mount of Olives. One of my classmates was allowed to baptize his 15-year-old son in the Jordan River. It was a beautiful experience, though the water was much more muddy than I expected. Some floated in the dense Dead Sea and were able to benefit from the spa-like medicinal effects of its mud.

One of the most poignant stops was Yad Vashem, Israel’s holocaust museum. Those of us who are African-American could identify with the horrific racism, ghettoizing, and genocide experienced by the Jewish people, and with the misuse of Christianity toward those purposes. One of our guides, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield and some of his Jewish friends and family, adeptly led us through their history and perspectives on a number of issues and how they navigate their independence and the warfare and conflicts they’re faced with every day.

We also visited the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic shrine in Jerusalem built in the late 7th century. It is known by Muslims as the al-

Haram-al Sharif. We did not go inside, but it was fascinating that all of these holy structures: The Dome of the Rock, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, The Jewish Temple and the Western Wall where inserted written prayers, were all located in the same place, with adherents of each religious belief visiting from across the world. We listened to the sounds of prayers, weepings, and groaning to God and songs in every language, over loud-speakers and in choruses in the cathedrals. We saw, Christians, Jews, and Muslims of all ethnic groups: Africans, Asians, Europeans, Latinos, and folks from the Americas. Young, middle-aged, and old, they traversed the streets, viewing historical sites that were almost all being contested over the accuracy of their historicity depending on your political and cultural persuasion. Each religious persuasion and even Christian denominations (e.g. Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian Christians, etc.) all wanted to have a piece, own a stake of the Holy Land. We heard many languages, ate different foods. Our hotel served kosher food. The most interesting thing to me was that you could not have dairy and meat at the same time, so I could not butter my bread…the travesty!

If you’d like to see and hear more, Sherman and I have begun to post pictures of our trip and videos sharing our experience on The Warehouse Online Community, YouTube and our personal Facebook pages. Shorter clips are going on Instagram. You can subscribe to our social media at @warehouseotr. It was a great honor for us to visit Israel. It was a wonderful almost culminating experience on the way to graduation in May. Thank you for your prayers through these last months at United, and for your continued support of The Warehouse Church, OTR.

MARCH 25, 2023

8:00am-2:30pm