Read Sandy Tolan's book The Lemon Tree

This will be my sixth tour to the Middle East. I am pleased to be able to introduce participants to the wonder of this holy but troubled land through encounter with the land and its people. In blog posts to come, I will share ways in which you can prepare for this tour. I begin by recommending a book: Sandy Tolan’s The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2006). It tells the story of the conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinians through the experiences of two people who lived in the same house. This book is one of the the best places to start for coming to understand the conflict in the region.

I invite you to browse the tour itinerary by CLICKING HERE.

Notice the many links to biblical sites, organizations, and accommodations. We will again be visiting Petra and Sinai, two exotic side-trips that are a highlight for me. We have a very fine Palestinian guide, whom we thoroughly enjoyed on our 2008 tour. We will be staying in a hotel on Manger Square, in the heart of Bethlehem, as well as in the Old City of Jerusalem. Most tour groups visit Bethlehem for half a day, and do not stay inside the Old City. This tour allows for 21 days on the ground, not including travel days. Most commercial tours are 12-14 days, including travel days. A longer tour offers us a more robust experience, allowing for more than a superficial encounter with the land and its people. Rather than running where Jesus walked, we’ll have time to meet the people of the land, to take a good number of nature hikes, and much more. We’ll have some free time in Bethlehem, and a full day in Jerusalem.

An Experience of a Lifetime: April 29-May 21, 2010

I invite you to join me on a journey through time to the land of Joshua and Jesus!




Click here to check details on the tour website.

Through this 21-day Study Tour to the Holy Land, we will:

• Walk into the world of the biblical texts.
• Visit the ancient stones, the important biblical/archaeological sites and pilgrimage locations in Israel & Palestine. Included this year is a visit to Petra (one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and the Sinai Peninsula.
  
• Meet the living stones, the many and varied people-groups living in present-day Israel/Palestine (Jews, Christians, and Muslims).
• Discover the complexity of conflict and the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and wrestle with the challenges facing Middle Eastern and Western Christians, Jews and Muslims over this issue.

As you make the connection between the ancient stones and the living stones, you will discover the wonder and the complexity of these two worlds, and see how they coexist side-by-side. Often the two worlds will press in on you at the same time—the world of the biblical text, and the world of contemporary issues and political agenda. When the tour is over, you will be able to say: “I will never read the Bible or the news the same way again.”