This is the third in a series of 3 posts about a trip to the Holy Land. In my first post, I wrote: “My strongest initial impressions from this trip might be summarised with the words ordinary, familiar and radical.” The ordinariness and familiarity of the land serve to highlight all the more the utterly…
Jaffa is a small ancient port town at the southern end of the modern city of Tel-Aviv. The name of the town is well-known because of the variety of orange that was grown and exported from there in the 19th century, which were used to flavour ‘Jaffa Cakes’ that McVitie’s developed in 1927 and now…
This is the second in a series of 3 posts about a trip to the Holy Land. In my first post, I wrote: “My strongest initial impressions from this trip might be summarised with the words ordinary, familiar and radical.” I was surprised by how small the land is. Places whose names are familiar from…
I was privileged to spend two weeks in the Holy Land with my wife and sons in March 2023. We were guided by Brian and Peri Zahnd (pastors of Word of Life Church in St Joseph, Missouri) and Jack Sara (Palestinian native of Jerusalem and president of Bethlehem Bible College). Over 8 days they took…
The “Holy Land” is home to more than 12 million people and a significant place for at least the half of humanity that is Jewish, Christian or Muslim. It is a beautiful and conflicted land treasured by so many. I am mindful that I am neither a native nor a resident of the land, nor…
Psalm 105 praises God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham, which he reaffirmed to his son Isaac and grandson Jacob and thus to his descendants – the people of Israel. This covenant is summarised in verse 11: “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.” So does the land of…
Teaser before leading CHOW session today for Business Connect on Israel. At the turn of the year, St James’ Church in Piccadilly hosted a 2 week festival called Bethlehem Unwrapped to “celebrate the culture and stories of those living [in Bethlehem today] and their work for peace.” The Vicar of the church, Rev Lucy Winkett, said it was…