Your Favorite Sacred Places

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What you said:
A ‘Mini-Lourdes’ in North Wales
A Spiritual Shack in the Woods
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
A Hill Near the Hand of God
The World as a Sacred Spot
Singing on the Sea of Galilee
Civil War Site is Weeping Ground
The US—a ‘Biblical Promise Land’
Gratitude in Cambodia

The World is Her Sacred Place
When I graduated from college in 1969, I was very fortunate in that my mother, a phenomenal woman and traveler, arranged for me and my sister Lynette to accompany her on a wonderful trip to Europe and the Middle East. The first country we journeyed to was Portugal; coming from New York City at the time, I marveled at the cleanliness of the City of Lisbon.

At 6 a.m., when we got up to travel to the Costa do Sol, people were already cleaning streets and washing windows. Residents saw it as a sacred place… a place to be cherished. In Madrid and Toledo, Spain we saw paintings by Spanish masters like Goya and Velazquez. In Rome, I felt the presence of the many that had died and lived defending their beliefs. When we reached Israel, again it was clear that I was in a sacred place where many of the people I had read about in Sunday school had actually lived—Moses and Abraham, Ruth and Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, John and Mary, Mathew, Mark, Luke the physician, and Jesus.

We traveled all over the country, first up north in Haifa, then Jaffa. We went to Golan Heights, part of Syria, to the mouth of the Jordan River. Like the spiritual, the cold river "chills the body, but not the soul." Mommy baptized herself in the Jordan because it's where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. In Jerusalem, my sister and I walked the streets, singing, “Where Jesus Walked.” And we visited many sacred spots there including the Dome of the Rock, the Wailing Wall, and the last standing wall of King Solomon’s Temple. I placed a prayer note there.

Finally, we went to Bethlehem and Nazareth, saw the Dead Sea, and then visited Tel Aviv, where I swam in the Mediterranean Sea and bought earrings made by a Yemenite woman.

–Sherry Tucker Brown

Singing on the Sea of Galilee
The day I got on a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee, there were many other visitors to Israel from all over the world. People began singing and it was such a familiar song that nearly everyone joined in no matter the language they spoke. It was a beautiful time of exciting bonding.

Then, as the English-speaking person, I was asked to read the portion of the Bible about Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. Each language took their turn; I read last. Just as I was finishing, what had been very calm, glassy water turned choppy and strong wind suddenly came up. It must have been unusual because our Israeli guide who had taken this journey many times became quite ill with motion sickness.

I personally tend to have a very light stomach, but it was like Jesus was on that boat with us and I was not only calm, but felt so blessed for this unique experience. We reached the other side, where Jesus fed the thousands with five loaves and two fishes. We sat on the hill watching the Sea of Galilee calm once again.

I had seen exactly what Jesus' disciples were so afraid of—the wind and choppy sea. Once it was calm, I could more clearly see Him walking on water.

–Marcia Crew

 

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