By Pastor Devlyn Brooks
Imagine yourself walking in the hallowed footstep of Jesus Christ throughout the holiest places in the Holy Land.
Imagine taking a guided tour on the Sea of Galilee, or seeing where the Apostle Paul was imprisoned, or taking a moment to pray in the Church of All Nations, which is built over the rock on which Jesus is believed to have prayed in agony the night before he was crucified.
Everyone who has ever visited the Holy Land that I’ve had the opportunity to talk with tells me the same thing: It is a life-changing and faith-enhancing experience which you’ll never forget.
And maybe we soon will be experiencing a similar unforgettable and spiritually enhancing adventure together.
Long story short -- one that I will share in more detail in coming weeks -- I was approached by a veteran and historied group travel company pitching the opportunity that as Faith Lutheran’s pastor I could lead a group from our congregation to the Holy Land next February.
There are a lot of details to share -- far too many to share in these few hundred words in the newsletter -- and we’ll be talking about this opportunity in depth in the coming weeks. But first, a little context.
The company organizing the trip is called Collette, a family-owned firm in business for more than 100 years. And they’ve organized countless trips all over the world, including faith-based trips such as the one we are proposing.
The good news is that for one all-inclusive price, the travel company will cover all the details, from the air travel, to hotel accommodations, to the itinerary, to the guides who will take us around the Holy Land.
In addition, I would be bestowed the honor of leading our congregation in the pre-trip planning and while we are on the ground in Israel. And I can’t imagine a greater honor for a pastor than being able to travel with his congregation to experience the land where Jesus walked together!
I shared the opportunity about this trip with our Faith Lutheran Council at our April meeting, and they felt that it was worthy to bring forward to the entire congregation. And so we are doing just that.
I will begin to share more of the details about the trip on Sunday, April 30, during service, and in subsequent Sundays when I preside. In addition, our trip advisor working for Collette is going to record a video that contains more details as well. We’ll also share that with the congregation. And finally, later in June or early July, our trip advisor will schedule an in-person meeting with our congregation to go through the entire trip from start to finish. This would give everyone a chance to ask their questions to a real, live person.
While the trip seems a bit far away in February, there is a time element involved. We would need commitments from all who are interested by August to ensure that we have all of our travel reservations secured.
This is just the beginning of the conversation, of course. There will be much more information to share, and I’m sure a good many questions asked about the trip in the coming weeks.
For now I just ask that you prayerfully consider the possibility of participating with your faith family in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to travel together to the land where Jesus was born, baptized, carried out his ministry and launched the church as we know it today.
Thank you Faith Family!
Blessings to you this May!
Comments