Headed to the Holy Land

So I can now announce that my church community and I are recipients of a 2019 Lilly Endowment Grant (Link is here to the official press release.)   I'll leave sometime around the 21st of May and return the 1st of September for a dream sabbatical, and my community will journey with me via reading, study and prayer.

My plan is to do a pilgrimage, walking in the steps of Jesus, Paul, the early church, the Reformation (both Evangelical and Reformed) and the pilgrims, to experience more deeply the context of the scriptures I love and the church I also love.   I will spend a lot of time walking where Jesus walked, including walking the 40 mile Jesus Trail from Nazareth to Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus did most of his ministry.   I will, literally, walk where Jesus walked, as I follow first century Roman Roads on this endeavor.

While I will do a report, do talks to everyone when I get back, and keep a journal, this blog will be the primary place where I share, as it is happening, what is going on: the planning, the experience, day by day, and my initial reactions.   So if you want to follow me, this is the place to follow.

In the next couple of days I will share my feelings on the grant and on starting my journey.  Between now and May I will try to blog at least weekly, while on the journey I will do my best to blog daily.

Join me here for my journey of a lifetime!

Julie

Photo Credit: Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash