Into Israel

After a taxing but fulfilling hike yesterday, we awoke from a deep sleep for breakfast—a sore, yet bittersweet meal. Bahgat, our Egyptian tour guide, greeted us with his traditional greeting “Habibi” (friends) and lamented that it was the last time we would share that together. We then continued eating and reflected on all that we experienced in Egypt. I, especially, was reflecting on seeing the Burning Bush and sacred icons at Saint Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. It was truly a humbling moment to breathe in and observe centuries of history and rock formations that thousands of people have experienced, too. Such experiences remind you of the interconnected nature of our world and that as Christians we are truly part of a “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).

Once we left the hotel, we arrived at the Saint Catherine’s checkpoint twenty minutes later and awaited other buses to leave in a caravan for the Taba Border crossing to Israel. We eventually met up with our tour guide, Samir, by 3:30 p.m. He directed us to the bus, introduced us to our driver, and handed out maps of Israel. On the way to lunch, we were given a brief overview of the geography of the 22,000 square kilometer country and oriented ourselves towards our first stop, Jericho. The Mountains of Edom, which eventually became the Mountains of Moab, followed us as a reminder of the journey the Israelites took through the former to get to Canaan. Samir peppered the remainder of the three-hour journey with facts about the minerals gleaned from the Dead Sea, the cracks in the salt mountains often referred to as Lot’s wife, and how the name Jericho means “city of the moon.” Our long day of travel came to a close at the Oasis Hotel with dinner and a long awaited sleep!

Such vast, relatively empty landscapes on our journey north reminded me of Richard Rohr’s daily meditation for today. It talked about holy transitions and liminal spaces that push us towards “authentic spirituality and human development.” He notes that the word liminal comes from the Latin limen meaning “threshold.” Many of us definitely reached our thresholds yesterday on the hike, but during this time of transition today we had the opportunity to reset our focus. When we feel like we have reached our limit and are running on empty, these are moments where we might consider turning to God and leaning on our friends for the days ahead of us. May we remember that even in such seemingly empty internal spaces, like the external empty spaces, trees and bushes still grow and life continues to thrive against all odds. Amen.

–Christian Hansen,
MACE/MAPT