Friday, April 13, 2012

The Jesus Trail

N.B., The following two posts are from the Rev. Pam Bakal, who remained in Palestine/Israel on sabbatical after her fellow pilgrims from the Diocese of Newark returned home.

Walking was an important aspect of Jesus’ ministry. According to biblical references he would have walked not only in Galilee and Jerusalem, but as far West as the Mediterranean, East into what is now Jordan, North into what is now Lebanon and Syria, and South into the desert. Of course Jesus was not the only one in the Bible who walked; Abraham journeyed all the way from Ur, near present day Iraq, and Moses and the Hebrew people left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

Walking is a component of religion whose purpose we have somehow forgotten.  Walking is a way to connect with God, to connect with the land, to connect with people. We already know that walking can bring us good health, but what more can walking teach us? As I searched the internet for clues about Jesus and walking I found a listing for the Jesus Trail™. Thinking that this might hold the answer to my quest I began to plan a sabbatical to further explore walking and its connection to religion, spirituality and health.

I don’t consider myself a walker. I have done some challenging hiking in my life in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but now living in New Jersey, I get in my car to go even 3 blocks away. Nor was I ever fascinated with attempting the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Rather than trudge the 500 miles of the Camino I would prefer a guided tour for its educational benefits and ease in getting around. The website for the Jesus Trail said you didn’t need to be particularly fit as long as you took all normal precautions. You could self-guide, and it was safe for women. It seemed to be a go, but not without some underlying trepidation to attempt it alone.

So what is the Jesus Trail? It is a 40 mile hiking trail in the Galilee region of Israel which connects important sites from the life of Jesus as well as other historical and religious sites. The Jesus Trail offers the hiker or pilgrim a way to experience the footsteps of Jesus in a way that is authentically engaged with the land and local people. It also offers the opportunity to hike through some of the most beautiful landscapes in Israel. It runs from Nazareth to Capernaum and can be extended to circle around the Sea of Galilee, up Mt. Tabor and loop back again to Nazareth.

The trail essentially starts at the Fauzi Azar Inn, a welcoming and youthful hostel where the volunteer staff hangs out with the guests, bakes treats throughout the day for hungry travelers, and offers advice where to eat, find a pharmacy, or how to take a shorter or less challenging route on the trail. Guests are encouraged to take an extra day in Nazareth to take an off-the-beaten-track walk through the city to meet the locals, the millers of coffee and spices, and a personal highlight of mine, the carpenters (Could any of them be related to Jesus’ father Joseph?). They tell us about peace projects that are taking place in Nazareth that bring together Muslims, Jews and Christians. We meet the local Imam who invites us to tour and observe a service at the White Mosque, an opportunity that is not always afforded to non-Muslims. The Fauzi Azar Inn is part of the peace project, bringing together the Arabic family that owned the property that houses the inn, the young Jewish entrepreneur, Maoz Inon, who made the Jesus trail happen, and the Christian volunteers and guests who are there to follow Jesus’ footsteps. Although you can hear in many parts of Israel the incongruence of the Muslim call to prayer and the tolling of church bells, somehow in Nazareth the bells of the Basilica of the Annunciation and the call to prayer are complimentary music throughout the day.   

I remained at the Fauzi Azar Inn for two nights, in part because I enjoyed what was happening at the inn and in Nazareth, and admittedly because I was apprehensive about starting the trail. A Swiss woman, Esther, had just returned from the trail and confided in me that she had been sleeping non-stop for two days. Israel has had more rain than usual this year and the cloying clay mud of the Galilee makes it next to impossible to slog through without stopping every 10 feet and trying to scrape your boots on a rock. She kept puffing out her cheeks telling me her back hurt from lifting her feet through so much mud. 
  
There was no one else leaving that day for the trail, and with Esther’s experience it was testing my resolve to go it alone. The next day the climate changed. The sun shined brightly and there were four of us who were starting out on the trail. Mark, one of the volunteers who knew the trail inside out walked us to the start of the great steps out of Nazareth. When he said, “This is as far as I will be taking you, just follow the steps up.” I had a moment of separation anxiety. This soon disappeared because of the exertion of huffing and puffing up the 406 steps.  Our party consisted of a woman from San Francisco, Maria, who had walked the Camino de Santiago, and a Dutch couple, Ludwig and Arja, who had hiked throughout the world. Ludwig was a fanatical photographer. There were many times we were grateful for his stopping to take pictures; it was a surreptitious way for us to take a breath.

The first day of walking the trail was grueling. I had made several mistakes. My pack was far too heavy, and so much of what I brought was unnecessary. Hostels in Israel provide all the things you need, warm beds made up with sheets and comforters, soap, towels and a good breakfast. The second mistake I made was multitasking. Not more than a half hour on the trail (only 29 ½ hours more to go) and I fall on my right wrist while walking and trying to put my camera away. The weight of the pack made it difficult to control the fall and I heard myself thinking, “Oh no, a sprained wrist and I only just began!” I was sure our small party was looking at me as a liability on this journey.

Following the trail was not always easy. The orange and white blaze of the Jesus trail was sometimes hidden by the lush growth Israel had experienced this year from so much rain. Sometimes local kids thought it was hilarious to turn the boulders with the blazes in different directions. Sometimes we were laughing and chatting so much we failed to see a turnoff. Backtracking was not a cheerful proposition when you were walking between five and seven hours a day. 

The trail out of Nazareth to Cana had its moments of beauty and some piles of garbage, the section that traversed the Zippori National Park being one of the highlights. (Zippori is the location of an ancient, wealthy city named Sepphoris, where Jesus and his father Joseph most likely worked.)  There were children who would taunt us with demands to “give dollar, give dollar,” and there were laughing children who would say to us over and over, “hello, hello, hello” and we would chirp back “hello, hello, hello”. We took our pictures with some of the children, who loved to giggle and hold up their two fingers in a V. Maria said, “Look, they are giving us the peace sign,” and I said, “I think they are donkey ears.”

We arrive at the Cana Wedding Guest House after enjoying a tall glass of pomegranate juice; the rewarding antioxidant melted away all the trials of the day. The proprietors of the guest house fixed us a typical Middle Eastern dinner; a variety of salads, dips, olives, hummus, tahini, shawarma, rice, cooked vegetables, pickled vegetables and flat bread. We finish dinner with mint tea, fresh from their garden.  

Day two: We visit the bustling Cana Wedding church where Jesus is purported to have performed his first sign, turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. It takes us a while to leave the tourist area where hawkers of Cana wine fill the streets and encourage tourists to buy from their shops. Today’s hike is from Cana to Ilaniya where we will stay at an organic goat farm. It is a far more beautiful walk once we leave the city of Cana. Wildflowers and Poppies are everywhere. The scent of the flowers are both soothing and stimulating; nature’s healing aromatherapy for the walk. We could smell licorice (fennel), cyclamen, and a ubiquitous plant with yellow flowers. Cows were grazing in the most unlikely places, accompanied by white egrets that would fly up in the air like silver streaks of light, and land a little further away from us. The bulls tended to be a little more wary of us. At one point Maria and I realized she was wearing a bright red shirt and we tried to calm ourselves by saying bulls don’t really charge matadors because they have red capes. She never wore that shirt for the rest of the trip.

It was a long day of walking and I started to fantasize that there would be organic goats milk ice cream at the farm. When we arrived we were crestfallen to learn that, “No, we do not serve dinner or breakfast, and we do not even have goat cheese as the goats are pregnant and do not give off milk.” We ate power bars and nuts and dried fruits, happy that our packs would be a few ounces lighter. We ask the woman at the goat farm how much she would charge us to bring some of the items in our pack to our next stop, Moshav Arbel. The price of 100 shekels or about $30 split between the two of us sounded perfect. No wonder Jesus told his disciples when he sent them out, “take no more than one tunic.” (Luke 9:3).

Day three: We are a little more cheerful this morning, lighter in packs and girth from no dinner or breakfast. At the end of the Jesus trail when I weighed myself I had lost 5 pounds in 5 days! (Jesus and his disciples must have been quite trim.) We meet Ludwig and Arja at Kibbutz Lavi, and head out for the Horns of Hattin, the place where Saladin defeated King Guy and the Frankish Army in the Second Crusade. This was a more rugged, rocky terrain with some good views of the whole area of the Jesus trail. We followed the blaze of the Jesus trail through wheat fields that were still green and I tell everyone the story of Jesus walking through the grain fields with his disciples who are starving (must have just come from Ilaniya) and how they begin to munch on the wheat. The Pharisees ask Jesus why he allows them to pluck grain on the Sabbath and Jesus replies that he desires mercy, not sacrifice. (Matthew 12:1-8). After 45 minutes of amusing myself with this story we suddenly realize that we are back in the same place we started at Kibbutz Lavi.  At this point I pull out my brother’s GPS and decide to follow the trail the good old 21st century way. From that time on, I wasn’t going to depend on maps or my direction challenged mind to figure out the trail. When we finally arrived at Moshav Arbel it housed an excellent restaurant. I had St. Peter’s fish, a tradition in the Galilee. Everyone says St. Peter’s fish is actually Tilapia and they do an excellent job of preparing it.

Day four: Maria leaves us. She is only in Israel for one week and wants to spend a couple of days in Jerusalem. She gets up early to go up the Arbel cliffs and then comes down with hugs and tears to say good-bye. She had become my newest, dearest friend. We have slept in the same dormitories together, shared what we had in our packs, laughed and read one another’s minds. Her leaving is a reminder that at some point all of us will have to return to life as usual.

Ludwig, Arja and I set out for the cliffs, Ludwig as always capturing every moment on camera, and picking up the rear of the procession to make sure we are both okay. It is an unusual day in the town. A young soldier died on Arbel cliffs during a training drill. There were pictures of him at the entrance to the park and a service was taking place for him at the top of the cliffs. In order to celebrate his life, the day was proclaimed a holiday where the local people were encouraged to hike the cliffs. Would that concept happen in America? A town might proclaim a day to celebrate a soldier’s death, but most probably it would be celebrated with food and drink and speeches. Something more we can learn from Israel.

In order to descend the Arbel cliffs the trail uses huge staples on the side of the mountain that you can either hold with your hands or step on with your feet. It makes going down tricky places a lot more secure. Arja did not like extreme heights so she and Ludwig followed another longer trail down. I continued on my own, armed with my GPS and somewhat looking forward to hiking solo. By now I was quite confident. My mind and body seemed to get stronger with each day. The view from the cliffs was spectacular. The cliffs looked down on Wadi Hamam, a Bedouin town, with more springs and wildflowers in the valley. There were hidden caves some of which surprisingly contained cows, and then the trail traveled through olive groves, one of the most common sights in Israel. The long trek was rewarded with  close-up views of the Sea of Galilee or Kinneret as they call it in Hebrew.

After plodding along, one foot in front of the other for several hours, I reach Karei Deshe, the hostel I was staying at throughout the Sabbath. Once you reach a location on a Friday afternoon there is no way to get anyplace else until the Sabbath is over. Buses and cabs stop running, sometimes as early as 1pm on Fridays and do not begin again until 7:00pm or later depending on the time of sunset on Saturday evening. My dormitory style room is shared with two young German girls. One of the girls volunteers to work with the Palestinians in the West Bank. She has the Sabbath off, and is using the time to explore various sites with her friend. Living in a hostel, dormitory style, is so much more affordable than a private room, $25-$35 versus $100 or more. It usually includes a sumptuous breakfast, and an opportunity to meet fellow travelers.
Day 5: The hardest part of the Jesus trail is over. I stroll along the Pilgrim Sidewalk to the churches commemorating Jesus’ ministry in the Galilee: Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes*, St. Peter’s Primacy**, Mt of Beatitudes***. I am feeling gratitude that I can be in the presence of Jesus’ greatest moments in ministry, and having walked to them; in some organic way they have become a part of my history too. I finish the trail in Capernaum, at the church over St. Peter’s house. I sit down to read and wait for Arja and Ludwig to arrive. When they walk into the church we are overjoyed. We are like family hugging one another, taking pictures of each other at the entrance gate, giving the thumbs up sign. Thumbs up is popular in the Middle East so it seemed appropriate to complete the trail with this sign.
 We wanted to get closer to Jesus by walking in his footsteps and we were rewarded by the people we met, the health we gained, the fears we faced, the laughter we shared and the experiences that transformed us in some small way. I celebrated this renewal of life with my final Jesus Trail act, immersing myself in the Sea of Galilee.

March 20, 2012 – We begin the trail in Nazareth

Young Palestinian Christians outside of Cana

Where are we?

Trail through Arbel Cliffs

Bedouin cows in caves

Jesus Trail completed!
*Feeding of the 5000, (Mark 6:31-44).
**The post resurrection appearance of Jesus to his disciples. While fishing unsuccessfully, he tells them where to fill their nets to overflowing, and then has breakfast with his disciples on a rock that the church is built around. (John 21:17). It is also meant to commemorate Jesus telling Peter “On this rock I will build my church” (Matt 16:18), though that could have occurred near Caesarea Philippi.
***The Beatitudes are found in Matthew 5:1-12.  Blessed are the poor… the meek…those who mourn…etc.

The Rev. Pamela Bakal is on sabbatical from Grace Episcopal Church in Nutley, NJ

Keeping the Sabbath in Israel and at Home


Pilgrimages point to directions we want to continue to follow in our lives after the pilgrimage is over. In particular, my eyes were opened to the grace filled way that Israelis keep the Sabbath. A person of faith knows that on the Sabbath day, work should come to a halt, and the day should be devoted to praising G-d, and spending time in relationships.  This has become theory in the North East even though we all know that it is healthier to have a Sabbath day one day of the week. Through old friends, Hope and Ira Solomon, I spent Shabbos with Ira’s brother’s family, now Hasidic Jews living in Israel. 

Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that began in Eastern Europe in the 18th century.  It is charismatic and mystical. Its worship is joyful and vibrant with singing, dancing and uninhibited davening. It emphasizes holiness of living, strong faith and an emotional connection with G-d.

It was somewhat daunting to spend the weekend in a strict kosher home. I was afraid that I would use the wrong silverware, or say something inappropriate during a ritual. Before boarding a bus that would take me to the Moshav (a community that works together either for economic or spiritual reasons) I put on a long black skirt and a white scarf over my head out of respect for their modest tradition. 

The first thing you notice about the Solomon’s home is that G-d seems to always be on everyone’s lips.  The men pray three times a day in the synagogue, and the women exercise their spirituality in the care for their family, in cooking, and in their general networking amidst the community, but it is more intrinsic than these outward forms of religion. Every moment of the day is sanctified in some way; G-d or Hashem, is placed first in their lives. Even the casual conversation between people at the Moshav, or husband and wife mention Hashem in every encounter. 

The clothing takes on a G-d glorifying role too. When you wear modest clothing your ego becomes secondary to the purpose of your life which is to glorify G-d. To look at a Hasidic Jew, who often wear the large fur hats, and the women’s hair is completely covered, you might think they might be unaware of what is going on in the world – not so. Dina drinks “green juice” for breakfast, after her yoga workout. Her cooking could hardly be called bland, with copious amounts of garlic and exotic spices like Zaatar.  

As Friday sunset was approaching there was quite a bit of preparation to be completed. Dina had to prepare the food for each of the requisite three meals of Shabbos. She effortlessly made six loaves of bread, two for each meal, that are used for the Kiddush ceremony, the blessing before meals. (This represents the double portion of manna G-d gave the Hebrew people in the desert for the Sabbath.) She then had to make household preparations for the weekend so that no work would be done on the Sabbath. The automatic hot water dispenser, the food warmer, which lights would be on or off for the duration of Shabbos and anything else that was necessary for the weekend. 

There was great anticipation in the household about the sun setting and Shabbos beginning. When the time came, the men had already left for the synagogue and the women brought the Sabbath into the home by lighting candles, moving their hands over the flames to draw the light in. Dina then turned to me and said “Now everything is different, we are in God’s time and place.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
The women go to the synagogue a little later than the men. I asked Dina if she would tie a scarf around my head the correct way so that no hair showed. The look was a little extreme to me, but maybe that helped me transition to another space and time. Attending the service were a number of young people on their birthright trip. They were at the Moshav to experience what Moshav Modi’in is famous for, music and joyful worship. We sang and danced and clapped our hands, expressing the ecstasy, the elation, the bliss of being in G-d’s presence.  As is customary in Orthodox Judaism, we were separated from the men by the lacey curtain at the back of the synagogue giving the women the opportunity to schmooze and care for children and grandchildren. We could see in, but the men essentially had their backs to us. Women, as we know from the story of Eve, are too much of a distraction. 

We walk back to the house and gather for the first meal of Shabbos. The table is set with candles, wine, and two covered Challah bread. Ben Zion Solomon chants a blessing over a Kiddush cup filled with wine until it overflows and some of the liquid spills onto a plate beneath the cup. After the wine, we ritually wash our hands (five splashes on each hand) before eating the bread.  Ben Zion takes the Challah bread, slices them, says another blessing, and then everyone eats a piece of Challah dipped in salt. We then proceed to eat a five course meal.

The next morning I wake up fully rested. There is no urgency about the day, after all we are not permitted to do anything but pray and eat and be with friends and family. The main rooms have the light fixtures turned on for the whole night – otherwise, you cannot turn on a light, pedal the wheels of your bicycle, wring out your clothes or anything else that could be perceived as work. You can however walk – and walk is what people do in Israel, especially on Shabbos. 

Saturday morning I went to the kitchen to make myself coffee from the heated water. I pondered for a few moments which spoon from which side of the sink I am supposed to use to make my coffee. I finally decide it needs to be the spoons we used last night for the Shabbos meal. I start to reach into the coffee jar and Ben Zion says, “Where did you get that spoon, from the meat or dairy side?” Oops, I knew I was going to commit a faux pas.

We attend synagogue for the Saturday morning service with more clapping, singing and dancing, and then it is time for our second Shabbos meal. I am getting familiar with how to ritually wash my hands (splash water on each hand five times) but I forgot about keeping silent until everyone has been handed the ritual bread dipped in salt. I am not sure what inane thing I was talking about but I finally realized their daughter-in-law Elly Sheva was saying “shh, shh.”  Oops, second faux pas, and those were only the ones I was aware of. 

At the end of the day we have our third meal. This meal also has family or friends present to share. This meal contains much less food, but there is still the singing between the courses and the final grace said at the end of each meal. Shabbos does not just fizzle out when the sun sets. There is a transition service that is performed usually in the presence of the community. It is called Havdalah. They say Shabbos has ended and it is time for Havdalah when three stars appear in the night sky. Just as candles are lit to welcome Shabbos on Friday evenings, Havdalah (Hebrew for “separation”) marks the end of Shabbos and separates it from the regular weekdays. There is again the overflowing Kiddush cup of wine, a box of spices, and a candle. According to Jewish legend, we each receive an extra soul that makes us especially attuned to the spiritual world during Shabbos. This soul leaves when Shabbos is over and the smell of spices is meant to revive us as it departs; smelling salts to bring us back into this world. 

May we learn to keep the Sabbath at home; instead of using it as a catch up day for all the things we didn’t do during the week.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Day 11 & Day 12 photos

Here are the last few photos from the trip. I'll be adding some audio and video in the next several days. Also, if you want to enlarge any photo, just click on it.
Cynthia
 Church of St. Elizabeth
  Church of St. Elizabeth
 Bananagrams, anyone?
  Church of St. Elizabeth-- just a few of the many stairs we climbed
  Church of St. Elizabeth
 One of us came home with leprosy
 Font at Church of St John the Baptist
 We formed a close community
Ok, I understand why you'd want to be quiet and not have guns at a holy site. But just why is it that you aren't supposed to wear underwear?
 Stigmata from the Dead Sea
 Colleen negotiating with a cloth merchant
 Farewell dinner
  Farewell dinner
 Another beer commercial. Love the Taybeh Beer!
  Farewell dinner with Orion, our fearless leader.
Mark, thanking Orion at the farewell dinner

Monday, March 12, 2012

By the numbers


While I can't vouch for the accuracy of this data, my Fitbit tells me that in 12 days we took approximately 174,997 steps and climbed the equivalent of approximately 1050 flights of stairs. We walked roughly 77.62 miles, averaging approximately 6.46 miles per day. We covered a fraction of what Jesus would have covered during his ministry.   
Cynthia

Friday, March 9, 2012

Water and stone

We arrived in Tel Aviv ten days ago, jet-lagged and weary. We drove to Caesarea Martime. And walked into wind, sun, stone ruins of Herod the Great's palace, and the wind-whipped Meditterenean. Waves washing around rocks and ruins. Carved stone. Cut stone. Cisterns and channels for fresh water, and magnificent ways to delight in the sea.

Little did I know how the motifs of stone and water would shape my journey. I picked up rocks from almost every place we visited. I have as yet unidentified pictures of hills and mountains and valleys, the big rocks. And the Mediterranean, the Sea of Galilee, the springs and cisterns and wells and channels and dried streambeds and mud and waterfalls and the Dead Sea.
These formed people's across time. Stones for housing and streets, palaces and shrines, terraces and memorials. . . For stoning and battering and keeping people apart.  Water for survival, for ritual baths, for delight. . . And floods and storms and pitched battles over access to water.
Visible geological strata, showing how earthquakes and glaciers and volcanos shaped the foundations of many layers of civilization.  Pockets of green on brown earth, suggesting a spring.  I pick up sandstone in Caesarea Martime,  volcanic rock at Chorazin, pebbles and tiny shells from the Sea of Gaillee's beaches, a pale rock with red lines from Megiddo,  a red rock from Masada, salt from the Dead Sea, limestone from the streets of Jerusalem.

I've been marking myself with holy water more than I ever have before. Of course, I have rarely been in so many churches in so few days, but isn't usually my practice.  I'm seeking renewal, and transformation, and I understand the gift of water in the desert more profoundly than ever. The Spirit of God moves across the waters.  The church of the Visitation, in Ein Karem, the Judean countryside, had mosaics of seahorses and jellyfish and sea stars! Fish are all over too.

The Via Dolorosa with stone steps worn smooth led to carved stone churches and, in the Holy Sepulcher, caves that ended for me with dirt of the floor, the disintegration of stone, obliteration, death. . . And began again with holy water, sun in the church courtyard, a water bottle, prayer and a song.  Then a visit to the well at Samaria--Jacob's and Rachel's and the woman who told her village all that Jesus had done.

All of creation groans in travail--I see centuries of interaction between stones and water and humans and plants and animals to create, with God, weal and woe. And the marks of  civilization for thousands of years are layered in the dirt, and present day peoples pay more attention to how to conserve water and talk around water coolers and live into the water of eternal life, gushing and sustaining and renewing the face of the earth.
Allison

Thursday, March 8, 2012

At the well

Reflecting upon the visit to Jacob's well on Thursday, I was so moved to stand on the same spot as our Lord had been when he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. The granddaughter of our host for the day was the one to lower the bucket into the working well and pull up a full container of crystal clear water from the stream running underneath. 

We read the gospel story aloud and then had the chance to touch or taste the water- I did both. Tasting the water made me feel at one with Jesus, and "experiencing" Jesus has been a major part of this pilgrimage to the Holy Land for me. I pray that I may bring others to "taste and see" through the invitation to share in experiencing Jesus through our common life and worship.

There are questions too- "Who's well is it- Jacob's? The Samaritan woman's? Jesus'? The modern day Palestinians who live there now? My guess, supported in faith, is that it is for all. Sometimes, like the water we tasted today, it's that clear.
Tom

Christ reaches beyond the chaos

Some of us went to the Church of  the Holy Sepulchre at dawn this morning. All of us went later on in the morning as we finished walking the Via Dolorosa (the stations of the cross).  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was  built in the fourth century, and is literally built over the place where Jesus was crucified  -  and where he was laid in a tomb.  It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries.

It is a chaotic place.  The architecture is a mishmash; the flood of pilgrims who come in and out from all over the world makes for a very noisy environment - but the biggest contributor to the chaos is the fact that the sacred space is managed by six different denominations - Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Coptic (which is the Orthodox Church in Egypt), Syrian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox.  Protestant Churches did not yet exist when the church was divided up.

There is a "status quo" for the management of the church.  But the relationships between denominations is chaotic at best, and hostile at worst.  Turf battles break out all the time.

After I was able to work through my "why can't they get along" musing, I began to realize that this singular holy space is simply a microcosm of the world.  Every time I have gone into the church - and I go in as often as I can, I come away with the deeper appreciation that The loving Christ is bigger than all the confusion -  and that his loving reach extends beyond any protocol or status quo or ecclesiastical resistance we can put up against him.
Mark