Those who went on St Mary's Pilgrimage to Israel agree that we will not be the same again.
Our time in the Holy Land (October 23-31) took us to religious sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Samaria and Galilee. At each place, as well as historic background given by an excellent guide, there was time for a relevant biblical reading and prayer.
Our group of 29 people had the chance to talk with and question some of Sandy Osborne's Jewish relatives, and to speak with Palestinian Christians. We encountered the worship of Christians of other ancient traditions: Greek Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopian and Armenian. We rubbed shoulders with pilgrims from all sorts of western nations. We went into mosques, and stood by Jews praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
But above all we let the sights and sounds, the places and the landscapes speak to us of the background, life and ministry of Jesus.
On our first day we were able to go to St George's Cathedral - which looks like a transplanted English parish church. But inside we shared in the liturgy in Arabic, with just the occasional English as a concession to visitors. It was memorable to join in worship with a Christian community whose roots go back much farther than the church in Britain.
Then on other days there was something very special about celebrating Communion together on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Dome of the Rock and the old city of Jerusalem. We shall long remember receiving the sacrament on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and having time afterwards to linger and reflect.
We journeyed on the Sea of Galilee on a "Jesus boat" - an enlarged replica of the 1st century boat which was discovered when the lake's water level dropped a few years ago.
We swam in the Sea of Galilee, floated on the Dead Sea, and paddled in the Mediterranean.
For most of the group this was the first visit to Israel. Participants have come back with hours of videos, reels of film and, in many cases, a desire to return.
As well as our individual souvenirs, we each brought back a stone from the Galilee lakeside, which we have brought into church - a symbol of our desire to share our experience as far as we can with the congregation as a whole.
We brought back gifts for our other clergy: a hand-carved crucifix for Marcus, a small pottery chalice and paten for Joan, which is painted with a copy of the ancient loaves and fishes mosaic from Galilee. And we have brought back a larger olive wood crucifix to be placed in St Mary's - a reminder of our pilgrimage, but also a sign that we can come face to face with Christ, not only in Israel, but in Moseley.
We shall never forget where we went and what we saw. But we shall also remember how God changed us as people by means of this wonderful experience.
| Based in Jerusalem | Day 1 | St George's Anglican Cathedral, the Mount of Olives, Mosque of the Ascension, the Church of Dominus Flevit, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Western Wall |
| Day 2 | St Peter in Gallicantu (Peter's betrayal), the Dome of the Rock, the Pool of Bethesda, the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Armenian Cathedral of St James, the Garden Tomb. | |
| Based in Tiberius | Day 3 | Bethlehem: the Shepherds' Fields, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem Arab Rehabilitation Centre, then free time in Jerusalem. |
| Day 4 | the Judean desert, Masada, the Dead Sea, Qumran, Jericho | |
| Day 5 | Samaria: Jacob's Well, Roman and Byzantine remains at Beth Shean, Mount Tabor, the mount of transfiguration. | |
| Day 6 | Gallee: Cana, Nazareth, Caesarea Philippi | |
| Day 7 | The Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, the Mount of Beaitudes, the place of the feeding of 5000 | |
| Day 8 | the Crusader town of Acre, Caesarea |
O God our Father,
we pray for this land and all its people;
we pray for ourselves and one another as pilgrims:
we pray for our brothers and sisters at home,
and for our common witness to Christ.
Bless all your children,
and grant that all who seek you may find you.
We thank you for this Holy Land,
for our time together on this journey,
and for the incomparable gift of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.