Passionate about the Passion Play

Hi everyone, Chris here again. We are a bit behind in our blogs, so we will try to blog about the important bits.

Last Friday, we arrived at Oberammagau in the morning and had some time to look around the town before the Passion Play started at 2.30 pm. We, along with 1,998 other members of the audience, piled into the Passion Play Theatre. We were excited about our seats being in the middle, with a perfect view to the stage - that was until the lady in front sat down and her head remained in my central view for the entire play (all 5 hours). But that aside, the play began...for some unknown reason I was slightly surprised when the performers in the Play started to speak in German (duh!) but we were given a text in Enligh to follow, which was very helpful.

The stage was decorated simply at first glance with a large structure in the middle to represent Jerusalem with the wall on either side. We were soon to find out that this stage could hold the entire cast of some many hundreds and the central structure would open and close to reveal "stills" beautifully colourful and represented a scene from the old testament eg Crossing the red sea. It was amazing as they managed to change scenes in a relatively short time to reveal a very elaborate scene each time.

Each scene was introduced by a narrator and choir. The choir and the music were something to behold. Even though you couldn't understand what they were saying the music spoke volumes. It was beautiful and voices filled the auditorium and were sublime - I was totally enthralled by the music (bought the CD!!)

Once the characters came on stage again I was enthralled by the dialogue between each of the characters. Jesus (although blonde) was very believable as were all the characters. The Gospel flowed forth and while I had to read the text and then look up (around a certain head) it was relatively easy to follow along. I loved having the Gospel unfold in front of me. In this particular Passion Play there was an emphasis was on Judas and the part he played in the Gospel story, and he was very convincing even to the hanging scene.

The Pilate character was brilliant and you could feel the contempt he felt for these "JEWS" and what a bother Jesus was to him. Herod came on stage at one point along with "two" very real camels and riding a horse. Stunning!

The most moving part of the play was the crucifixion scene, which I was fortunately able to see as is was on the side of the stage. It was rivetting as Jesus (beaten, bloodied and broken) came on stage carrying a very large cross. It was extremely well performed and I was totally in the moment - feeling the grief of sending my Lord to the cross (feeling teary as I write). The cross complete with Jesus (somehow) nailed, was raised to its full height. Stunning! (Meanwhile the weather had changed and was freezing cold and raining - the stage is not under cover!!) Jesus along with the two thieves were hanging there for many minutes as the dialogue continued below them. Then came the moment when they took Jesus down from the cross - it was so beautifully done and so moving as they climbed up ladders from either side of the cross and draped cloth over and around the now dead (fantastic acting!) Christ, and lowered him onto the shoulder of a man who climbed down the ladder with him. He then carried him over to the waiting arms of Mary, who cradled him in her arms. I wepted!! I weep!!!

What a beautiful experience (all 5 hours of it)! If you get the opportunity to go - GO!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all today, and there are no pictures (you'll have to wait for the book)!

Blessings and again thanks for reading the blog!! Love, Chris

The 3 Rs and the Passion

Chris here again! I've caught up on some sleep (mainly on the bus) and German TV leaves a "lot" to be desired so here I am bogging again! David has become a "BLOG HOG" so I have to assert my way back into the driver's seat!!

The 3 Rs are the Rhine, Rudesheim and Rothenberg. We arrived in Frankfurt from Israel on Tuesday and drove to Rudesheim which is and lovely little country village on the Rhine. We opened our bedroom window and looked out over a very big vineyard. This area of Germany is the largest white wine growing area and has been under vineyards for some hundreds of years. We went for a cruise on the Rhine the following day



The view of the vineyard from our bedroom window in Rudesheim.




Lunch on the Rhine river cruise - with some of our tour companions!



Vineyards on the side of the hills along the Rhine!

The Rhine is a very busy highway!!

and floated past vineyard after vineyard, most of them on the side of the hill. I believe in some cases the people harvesting the grapes need harnesses and ropes to let them selves down the side of the hill. Amazing! The cruise was extremely interesting on the way up to St Goar and of course I took photos of every castle along the 35 miles that we cruised down, but funnily enough I was totally over castles on the journey back and paid them NO never mind. How come there are some many castles in Germany - many of them on the Rhine????

The cruise over, David caught up on some shut eye (exhausting stuff this travelling!) and I wondered the shops. Having been in a few German villages now - the shops are now all looking the same. Amazingly the same souvenirs can be bought in any of the shops (except perhaps Oberammergau - but more on this later).

Rothenburg - medieval town

David on the wall that surrounds the town
of Rothenburg.

So, moving on from Rudesheim to Rothenburg! Loved Rothenburg! What an amazing little "walled" city with an amazing history! It has been plagued, embattled, deserted, blown up and bombed. The buildings are magnificently restored and maintained and I am totally in love with it! The big thing here in Germany are the Christmas shops - acres of Christmas paraphernalia - some of it new and interesting - so of course of imbided. Of course, we now have collected enough stuff that we have to send some home by post.

This is an illegal photo taken in the Christmas
shop - before I knew I couldn't take
pictures! Oops!

From Rothenberg we travelled to the town of Oberammergau for the Passion Play. That's for tomorrow's blog. Time for sleeping now!

Thank you to those who have been following the blog, we really appreciate your interest in our travels. I love to read your comments too!

PS I was only able to follow the Grand Final this morning on the internet by "live" score updates and through Heather (Mellow) on Skype who was also giving me updates. Can you believe it - A DRAW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I have to wait another week! Agh!!!

I have a Collingwood supporter on the tour - so we have been niggling each other all week - now we have to do it for another week!

Blessings to all - missing you - sort of!!! Chris (and David.)

Wailing at the wall

Dear friends, the Israel part of our journey ended yesterday - sadly! Both of us have been deeply moved by this country, its wonderful people particulary the disaffected Palestinians in Bethlehem. We were saddened and angered by the wall (some 8 metres high) that now separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem and the fact that the Palestinians have to apply to visit their relatives in Jerusalem and "may" be given permission to visit for a few hours. If they are not back within the time given they can be thrown into jail and made to pay to be released. It was heart breaking to see these people suffering.







Going up the cable car to top of Massada-Herod's palace ruins all along top of this single mountain!
First photo looking down from top of cable car


In 42 degree heat we travelled south to Massada the site of the zealot revolt against Herod and the Romans. 960 Jewish zealots fled Jerusalem after the Romans destroyed the temple to Herod's palace (custom built in Massada - but never used - but well supplied including 8 million gallons of water brought up the mountain by slaves and put into  underground cisterns!) Herod sent a legion of soldiers to destroy them. There were 8 Roman camps around the beseiged mountain. The Jewish zealots lasted three years (5 year supply of food and water at Massada!) before the Romans built a huge earth ramp up the side of the mountain to attack them. The zealots would repell them with rocks rolled off the walls. When the Romans finally entered Massada, they found that most of the zealots (inc women & children) had suicided rather than surrender to slavery under the Romans. A monument to the pride & power of the Roman empire and the Zealots fight for freedom.

Next swimming (well actually floating) in the Dead Sea- very good for the skin-but not the mouth or eyes!


David can't sink! Jack Kuehne in foreground-floating as well!

We finished our time in Jerusalem with a visit to the Western Wall (known as the Wailing Wall). Men and women were separated and each went to either end of the wall - separated by a partition. At first I (Chris) thought it would be rude to touch the wall with the women around me (Jewish) wailing inconsolably! But then I felt moved to move foward toward the wall and then close enough to touch it - which I did - then the tears began to flow as I realised that Jesus had been at this very place - my Jesus. It was a very special moment for me!
I (David) went to the men's section and watched reverently-very powerful scene-the wall of Solomon's temple! I took photos (sensitively) to capture the moment for Yr 11 Religion & Society back home. Old men& young boys, rich&poor, fully garbed up &just street clothes, loud chanting &silent prayer, just hands on the wall & one man next to me, shabby dusty coat yammulke(?) with his cheek pressed hard against the ancient stones of Solomon's temple wall! I had all sorts of mixed feelings - a profound moment, rich in the history of this amazingly complex ancient "religious" city.

We then wandered the streets and lanes of Jersalem and found some great shops, had coffee and sweets and worked our way back to the hotel in preparation to leave Israel. Sadness mixed with excitement as we now move onto the next part of the journey. Special Christian farewells & blessings to our guide Naim & driver, Subhi.

Flight from Tel Aviv back to Frankfurt...arrived late in evening then coach trip to town of Rudesheim (on the Rhine). Today walked the streets of this quaint old German town....tidy (very!), lots of eating places, interesting shops, cobbled streets&lanes....then most of the day on a river cruise through the "Middle Rhine" region. Many 12th century castles along the way, vineyards high up the steep slopes (mainly riesling etc..) Beautiful weather sunny 25degrees on top viewing deck of the large ferry....5+ hours of relaxed sight seeing, photos, eating, talking, laughing, drinking ! and home for sleep. Then dinner and the blog! Pictures to add tomorrow...it's too late already! Chris has gone to pack for early leave tomorrrow... while I finish & publish...love that girl!
Shalom, David (& Chris)

Walking the Way of the Cross

Hi Folks...David here, finally! I've been reading what Chris has written & she's missing out stuff! We are realising that this is our adventure, our experience, and not everybody will be interested in all the details...but there are so many new & wonderful experiences. We have been speechless (yes me!), and we have wept quite a number of times already at the realisation of where we are & what we are doing.

Today, Sunday, we headed of for worship with the 47 or so folk we are travelling with (all Lutherans with Silesian, Prussian etc backgrounds...families first to Aust in early -mid 1800's We go on to Homelands Tour in Germany next week).

We gathered at one of the Lutheran Churches here in the Old City of Jerusalem- ie. within the ancient walled city of J, which is in turn within the huge sprawling city of J across many hills & valleys! What has been done here over the last 60 or so years (since 1948 & State of Israel set up) is both amazing & distressing. A city of vast contrasts...More on that later. We are here for 3 nights, in an old Hotel just inside the wall near the "Jaffa gate" (one of the 8 gates into the Old City).

Short walk this morning from our Hotel "Gloria" to the "LutheranChurch of The Redeeemer" (ELCA) for Lutheran Communion worship service in English (American Pastor Fred Strickett -knows the Lockwoods in Aust). Great sermon on epistle reading 1 Timothy 2:1-7 with intro story on USA Bumpersticker "Pray for Obama-Ps 109:8" Look this up! It had us laughing & thinking! This church has a special mission to the Palestinian poor & elderly. The church here has services in English, German and Arabic for Paletinians.

"Lutheran Church of the Redeemer"-inside Old City of Jerusalem

Pilgrims at Church of Holy Sepulchre (& alter built over spot where JC said to have been crucified)

Our group swelled the congregation to fill this small Crusader type chapel, which is next door to the "Church of the Holy Sepulchre" Very moving worship. Then to the Holy Sepulchre...this was less moving (interestingly)...very crowded & ornate over the "spots". Pilgrims from all over world in long lines, viewing Jesus' (likely) crucifixion and burial/resurrection sites. Lots of kissing of the spot etc...see above.

Naem, our Christian Arab Guide, pausing for some history on road down from Mt of Olives

We then had beautiful mediterranean lunch at a large kibbutz, then onto the Shrine of the Book, where the Dead Sea Scrolls and their amazing story are displayed. Our Tour Guide, Naem, was involved in the archeological digs and is seen in the photo displays there. He is a very knowledgeable (PhD) Christian Arab, living between his home on Mt of Olives/Bethphage & Switzerland, where he still does some lecturing.

Ancient Olives trees in Gethsemane

We then walked down the Palm Sunday road from Mt of Olives, pausing to view the city (as Jesus did when He wept for it) down through Garden of Gethsemane (& several 2000yo Olive trees!) to the Eastern wall. Then entered Herod's Gate & walked the Via Dolorosa catching some of the Stations of the Cross, whilst others were hidden/lost by the crowded bazaars.
Hard to imagine Jesus walking through this (although it would have been beneath this level of the current Old City ie. an earlier version)



Via Dolorosa -Station V is where Jesus tires & Simon is brought in to help with the cross...plus David coming up the ViaD! (Woman in foreground -pink-is Cheryl Kuehne)

Huge variety ofculture here with Christian, Jew & Muslim living in this city!

And all this followed on from Friday & Saturday, when we visited the Beatitudes Church & monastary (& I met Sister Victoria who has given me a message for her brother in Melb whom she hasn't seen for30+years!), then Bethlehem, & Nativity church with its "cave manger", & the amazing work the Lutherans are doing at the International Centre of Bethlehem (ICB) amongst the Muslims as well as Christian Arabs. This is where Dr Mitri Rahib is based. Some exciting educational possibilities being developed!

Sister Victoria at Monastary of the Beatitudes

Too much to tell...sorry! Chris is asleep, its late, the activity in the tiny lane beneath our balcony has lulled as this ancient city sleeps....
Tomorrow we head off for Jericho, then Masada & Qumran and swimming in the Dead Sea. This is an amazing part of the world with a people & history that is incredible....but very real!
Enough for my first "blog"........Shalom, David (very important name here!)

This was our last morning at Tiberias and we decided that we HAD to go for a swim in the Sea of Galilee before we left. This is about 6.30 am (for those who know me well, know that 6.30 is not in my vocabularly!!!) and the water was very warm. It is very hot over here (I'm really glad I packed all my thermals and down jacket!!) about 33-34 degrees. Then we went on one of these boats across the Sea of Galilee which both of us found very moving. This is where Jesus walked on the water and told the disciples to drop their net over the other side of the boat. (Colin Y thought of you today - 153 fish!!) The crew know how to pluck the heart strings - first they play the national anthem and raise the Australian flag on the front of the boat - then they play Christian music liek Shout to the Lord and Blessed be the name (and Elvis singing Amazing Grace) I found myself singing along and then the tears came with the reality of what happened here!

This photo was taken at Capernaum which is an ancient fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It is home to a Byzantine-era synagogue as well as the house where Jesus healed a paralytic and St. Peter's mother-in-law. It is an amazing thing to be walking around such historical sites.

As we travelled into the West Bank, the country side changed dramatically, with the stark desolate hills dotted with Behouin camp sites. It was quite alarming to see the devasation of this land. Then we travelled through jerusalem (stunning!) to Bethlehem (we were speechless - too hard to describe! and pictures really can't tell the story), Then there's the wall between Israel and Palestine - TOTAL INSANITY!

History 101!

Man, there's so much history here in Israel (like thousands and thousands of years!) and my little brain knows an infinitesimal amount of history anyway and today was like WOW! It is really, really hard to remember what I have heard - so I take pictures and work it out later!! Lots of photos (two batteries - dead as a doorknob by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. David had to step in with his iPhone. Anyway I'll post a few pics and very little commentary.

Caesaria (amazing!!) st Paul was inprisoned here and then sent to Rome from here! Amazing! We saw the ampitheatre, the aquaduct.

We went onto Mt Carmel, awesome!

To Nazareth, awesome! Went to the Church of the Annunciation (Catholic - as all the churches in Narareth are Churches of Annunciation - I didn't know that!!) and saw one of the cave houses that people lived in back in Jesus time, and I now know what the stable that Jesus was born in looks like - all my sunday school images of the stable have gone out the window! These images are on david's phone - my batteries were dead at this time. (Note to self - don't take a picture of anything and everything in Israel!!!)

Gotta go - of for a swim in Galilee. Whoo hoo!!

We're here! And loving it!

Hi boys and girls, you are very lucky indeed that I am able to blog tonight (8.30 pm standard Israel time) - let me explain!!

1. Got to the airport - no worries (told David a much earlier time!! which meant we got there in plenty of time! Although he was still packing in the car to the airport - and in the airport queue! Gotta love him!) See the pic of us in Melbourne Duty Free - of which we did not imbibe!!!
2. Melbourne to Singapore - 9 hrs with Qantas - no worries! Good seats - he was given a seat where he could stretch out, and this meant that the seat next to me was vacant for the whole trip - good for me good for him! I got on famously with the lady next to David's empty seat - Dutch lady from Frankston going to Amsterdam to visit relies! Each passenger had a TV screen to themselves and the choice of movies, tv  whatever. It was fantastic, except they didn't get the message about gluten free - and they kept serving me gluten which I cvouldn't eat, so I was a little hungry, but I didn't mind cos I had my own TV screen.
3. Singapore to Frankfurt with Lufthansa 12hrs! Aghhhhhhhh! My wordy lordy wordy - I was so squashed in the middle of the four middle seats between David and another gentleman who did not speak to me for the whole 12 hours - which is some mean feat!! I was squished I was squashed I was claustrophobic I had wriggly legs, hot feet, I was miserable and this was in the first hour! Plus on Lufthansa (the cheaper German airline) did not have screens for each passenger, rather screens for the whole 20 rows - one on the left and one on the right! Not happy Jan. At one point I had contorted myself into a pretzel and had one leg over David and the other one folded underneath me! All the while being very careful not encroach into the seat next door! It was interminable!

4. Finally the punishment came to an end and we were in Frankfurt. Here we had three hours to kill and here I am in the Frankfurt airport catching up with some much needed sleep!
5. By now we had lost 9 hours, slept 4 - 5 tops in 24 hours! and we were facing another 4 hours in a Lufthansa aeroplane! Aghhhhhhh! Yert ngain no individual TV screens - these were available for those in Business Class! Pooh! But this leg of the trip was the most enjoyable. Frankfurt to Tel Aviv - we were sitting next to a CHristian German girl going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles - this I believe is a meeting of cultures somehow celebrating the Lord and his gifts/love etc. Many people from various cultures are attending worship in Jersulaem for this event. And the other seat was "filled" by a very loud Jewish - American - non-American. Jonathon was a non-practising Jew with all sorts of advice about anything and everything and offered suggestions about what was wrong with Americans but that's okay cos he wasn't one anyway but he intends to live there for ever. Go figure! But he was lotsw of fun and kept us (and everyone else) entertained for the whole trip!

6. Israel - we still can't quite believe that we are actually here in the HOLY LAND! But we are and it has been fascinating from the get go! We left Ben Gaurion Airport and drove through Joppa and Tel Aviv to Tiberias. Exhausted by now after 25 hours in the air, we got to our room at the Ron Beach Hotel and looked out the window (had to use our imagination as it was dark!!) and there is the Sea of  Galilee - yep the one and only Sea of Galilee. Can't wait till the morning to take a real look! What a privilege what a blessing what a joy! We are here and "loving it........" The photo above is the two of us in the back seat of thetour coach! (We are one of the youngest couples on the trip!)
7. So why are you indeed lucky that I can blog tonight??? The website is in Hebrew and I haven't found a way to translate the page - so I had to guess where to login and where my password went (all back to front literally)! But I worked it out! Aren't I clever?
8. Time for bed - I'm pooped. David is snoring in bed as I write! It's been a big, big, big 48 hours!
Love to all. Thinking of you back home doing your thing! Be blessed! Love Chris

The Luggage has finally arrived...we can go now!

We finally have some luggage! Which is a good thing! (Jo don't worry about the suitcase - I found these half price today!) I don't know what I'll put in them yet...how many pairs of shoes will I need? So much to do - so little time! By the way for those people on Skype, my Skype name is Christine.Paech.

Getting ready!

THIS IS WHAT MY DESK LOOKS LIKE! SCARY!

Getting ready for the big trip

Well the count down is on! Only 8 more sleeps before we head off  for our LSL for the rest of 2010 and some of January 2011. So why am "wasting" my precious time setting up a blog?? Well, good question! I think I'm distracting myself, because looking around my office it is too scary what I need to get done through this week. So, I'll sign off this test BLOG and get on with the business at hand.