Danielle Shroyer - Where Jesus Prayed: Illuminating the Lords Prayer in the Holy Land

ILLUMINATING THE LORDS PRAYER IN THE HOLY LAND

Danielle Shroyer

Color photographs by Carter Rose

2015 First Printing

Where Jesus Prayed: Illuminating The Lords Prayer in the Holy Land

Copyright 2015 by Danielle Shroyer

ISBN 978-1-61261-661-2

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Paraclete Press name and logo (dove on cross) are trademarks of Paraclete Press, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shroyer, Danielle, 1976

Where Jesus prayed : illuminating the Lords Prayer in the Holy Land / Danielle Shroyer ; color photographs by Carter Rose.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-61261-661-2

1. Lords prayer. 2. Church buildingsPalestine. 3. Christian shrinesPalestine. 4. Christian antiquitiesPalestine. I. Title.

BV230.S427 2015

263.0425694dc23

2015020612

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permi

Published by Paraclete Press

Brewster, Massachusetts

www.paracletepress.com

Printed in the United States of America

This book is lovingly dedicated to my fellow pilgrims

Joe Clifford, Renee Hoke, Charlie Johnson, Charles Luke, George Mason, Fran Patterson, Tom Plumbley, Michael Riggs, Taylor Sandlin, Phil and Stephanie Shepherd, Scott Shirley, Susan Sytsma-Bratt, and Karl Travis;

And to our beloved tour guides

Nabil Hazboun and Thaer Kaloti.

Ive been back from the Holy Land for less than one day. A twenty-seven-hour flight home and Im seated in front of my computer, heart full, soul rested, inspiration replenished. Two weeks in the Holy Land, two weeks of walking where Jesus walked, traveling the roads of the earliest Christians and millions of Christians hence, two weeks of sojourning alongside other ministers I now count as dear friends. Two weeks of realizing that Jesus is more human, more real, more divine, and more beautiful than I have ever known before, and that there is no way for me to put in words the fullness of feeling his presence there, or anywhere. He is the one in whom we live and move and have our being.

I did not travel to the Holy Land with any intention of writing a book about it. In fact, one of my pilgrimage rules was to be, as much as possible, short on words. In my work as a pastor, words were so much a part of my life: writing sermons week after week, penning prayers, crafting liturgies, sharing thoughts with community members over coffee and dinner. In my life now as a writer and speaker, and as someone who reads theology for fun, I still find every last corner of my life crammed with wordsparticularly words about God. Much as I am fueled by the flurry of ideas, I also know that the perpetual flow of words keeps one in a continually occupied, noisy state of mind. I hoped the pilgrimage would afford me time to do less talking and more sensing, less thinking about ideas of God and more searching for the presence of God. Of course, my pilgrimage days were in many ways filled with deep conversations about theology and pastoral challenges and parenting difficulties and questions of faith and doubton the bus, over the many beautiful tables filled with food, by the fire in the lobby, at a pub in the heart of a bustling night in Jerusalem. I relished every conversation. But on the inside, my hope was to keep my mind open, to keep my head clear, to do far more listening to God than speaking to God. I wanted to enjoy God.

On our first full day in Tiberias, we hiked up to the top of the cliffs of Arbel, and we soon spread out, all fifteen of us finding our own rock or perching place to gaze upon the horizon of Galilee and consider the beginning of our pilgrimage. I had so many things I wanted to say to God, so many things I was thinking and pondering and wondering. Instead, I moved myself toward silence, in the hope of quieting my mind and grounding myself in the present. For a while, my prayer was only breath, rhythmic and slow. Then, after a while, it seemed only fitting to pray the Lords Prayernothing more, nothing less. Just Jesuss words of hope for this world and for these his children.

Our Father, who art in heaven....

Later that day when I found myself at the church in Capernaum, gazing into the house thought to have once been inhabited by Simon Peter, I anointed myself with water and found a pew. After a time of silence, again it seemed fitting to pray the Lords Prayer, and I was struck by the different tones and textures and thoughts that were brought to light in its praying.

... Hallowed be thy name....

The prayer felt different here than it did on the cliff at Arbel. Immersed in a sense of place, I noticed the prayer coming to life in ways distinct from what I felt at home, or at church. I decided, rather unconsciously, that I would pray this way in every church in which I found myself over the next two weeks. And so I began a rhythm of entering a sanctuary, anointing myself with holy water, finding a seat and some silence, and praying the words of Jesus, over and over and over again. I could not have known at the beginning what a powerful practice this would be....

Of course, this is why people of faith have practiced liturgy for thousands of years. In the repetition, we find fullness beyond measure. In allowing the same words to read us again and again, to form us and shape our understanding, we become, we hope, a people of deeper faith, people who can perhaps reflect a glimmer of the multivalence of God, whose song echoes without end.

And so, I write this as a love letter to the Holy Land and to all its pilgrims who travel there (in mind or in body) in hopes of seeing a deeper and truer glimpse of the One in whose steps we seek to follow. I write with the hope that these thoughts and reflections will in some small way enable you to enter into these places with a fuller sense of the unending person of Jesus, whose prayer of instruction to us, I believe, can bring meaning to all our days.

Whether you are reading as a fellow pilgrim to the Holy Land or as one who hopes to glimpse the Holy Land from wherever you are, I pray blessings upon your travels.

WHERE

JESUS

PRAYED

In lower Galilee, about six hundred feet above sea level, loom two towering cliffs: Mount Nitali to the northwest, and Mount Arbel to the southeast. A by-product of the Jordan Rift Valley, the two cliffs stand out prominently in Galilees terrain. Between the two lies the Valley of Doves, also called the Valley of Pigeons, which has served as a path between lower Galilee and the Sea of Galilee since ancient times. Most certainly, Jesus walked that path frequently while traveling through Galilee.