Easter Evening Meal at Tantur

On Easter evening one year ago we had a feast. Here are some pictures of that meal. The meat was roasted lamb. It was the best ever. The entire meal was fantastic! The chefs were superb!

Palm Procession Song

Here's a little Quicktime video of the beginning of the Palm Sunday parade. 

Notice that both palm and olive branches are used.

Palm Sunday Parade

We left Tantur about 1:00 p.m. and arrived near Bethphage where the procession began. It started about 2:30 p.m. with the palm procession liturgy. I think people sang the entire two hour walk! We ended up in Old Jerusalem. Along the way, songs could be heard in many languages. Some were playing instruments. There were thousands in the procession! Sometimes the road was wide and other times quite narrow. And lots of people were watching from their homes.

A Year Later

It's hard to believe but one year ago at this time I was in Israel observing Holy Week. In the next few days I hope to reflect on some of my sabbatical experience while there. And maybe include a few pictures.

Tantur Newsletter

Here is a link to a recent article that sums up much of my experience in Israel. It is titled Abu Gosh. The second article is from Sr Joseph who was a part of the same Easter Encounter experience. Enjoy!

http://tantur.org/assets/99587/newsletter_april_issue_25.pdf

Headed Home (sort of)

I left Tel Aviv without a hitch, but as happens occasionally, intended plans got modified. My connecting flight from Newark to Des Moines was cancelled because of the weather in Iowa. So I stayed at the airport overnight (or day-my body is still on Israeli time, which is eight hours ahead of Iowa) "resting" on a chair. I hung out in the international welcome center which had a little coffee shop. About 2:30 in the morning I was able to pass through security to get to my gate. The plane does't leave until 9:00am, so I still have a little wait here. So it goes.

Ein Karem

Our last full day was spent around Jerusalem. We stopped at the large hospital which felt like it was embedded in a shopping mall. There we also discovered a synagogue which has 12 stained glass windows made by the artist Chagall. Then to a section of town known as an artist village. There we visited two churches. One was called Church of Visitation. It's focus was on the women of the Bible. It was followed by Church of Nativity of John the Baptist. We ate lunch at The Tent in Beit Sahour before coming back to Tantur.