THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM
It must be something like 20
years since I first hoped to visit the Holy Land; Peter and I booked on three different
occasions and each time the trips were cancelled – two through conflict there
and the third because of my mobility at the time. But the longing to visit stayed with me.
In 2010 a course was being held
at Ammerdown, near Radstock. The title
somehow drew me – ‘The changing faces of Jesus – exploring the Jewishness of
Jesus’. The leader of the course was a
Roman Catholic Sister of Sion, Professor Maureena Fritz who was visiting the UK
from Jerusalem to lecture for one week at Ammerdown. This whole combination drew me, and without
realising it, I was off again on the
road to Jerusalem. The course led me
into a new style of study. The next year Maureena was back again for ‘’Life is the
Living Scripture’ and then in 2012 for
‘You are God’s word incarnate’.
So for three year’s I have followed this
strand of study, reading the New Testament in the light of our Jewish roots, exploring the Torah, the first five
books of the Old Testament, and finding new insights and revelation in doing
so.
The Bat Kol Institute (www.batkol.info) was founded
by Maureena and Sr Anne Anderson in 1983, first in Toronto and later, in 1992 it moved
to Jerusalem. Bat Kol, meaning ‘Daughter of a Voice’ exists for Christians to study the Bible within its Jewish
roots, using Jewish sources. The
Institute was born out of the Second Vatican Council and Nostra Aetate which states that God’s
covenant with the Jewish people has never been revoked, Jesus was, and always
remained, a Jew, and therefore Judaism and Christianity are ‘linked together at
the very level of their identity’.
Every July, Bat Kol hold an
intensive course drawing students from worldwide to study in Jerusalem. I have applied and been accepted to attend
this year’s course which is on ‘Holiness and Wilderness in Leviticus and the
Prophetic Readings’. This is a huge
opportunity to study and to experience the Holy Land, and although it comes
with a cost, I believe it will also bring great rewards. The cost is not just financial, it is also about stepping out on a new
journey, one which I am sure God is calling me to, and one which I am prepared
to make with ‘uncertain certainty’, knowing God is in it with me. The rewards will be in the knowledge and
experience I find, and in the new
treasures and insights which I
will bring back to you all.
I would be grateful for your
prayer support on several levels:
as I
seek the funding to attend the course (without it I can’t attend);
as I prepare by learning Hebrew and doing the
extensive prior reading;
as I make the journey in July.
On a practical note, please look out for news of an
event being planned to contribute to the funding and do your best to support
the event. If you can suggest any
sources of funding, hold an event yourself,
or make any sort of donation to
the fund, I should be immensely grateful. Praise the Lord, all our prayers have been answered, both grant funders and friends have 'caught the vision' and responded abundantly with funding, my Hebrew and written assignment has been well received and this week the journey from the UK starts and I still need your prayer support for travel and my time in Israel.
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