ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Betsy Fisher Rhodes
Betsy Fisher Rhodes took part in The Jesus Trail - a 40-mile hiking route in the Galilee region of Israel that connects sites from the life of Jesus.
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What's Hiking Got To Do With Worship?
Betsy Fisher Rhodes
The Bible is full of journeys - journeys of the heart and journeys of the feet. Betsy Fisher Rhodes discovered that when you're hiking the paths that appear in the Bible, you can get two for the price of one.
“A voice cries, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD’” (Isaiah 40.3).
My husband and I hear this call and take our hiking sandals in hand and begin. We are hiking the Jesus Trail, following the very footsteps of Jesus. From Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus, to Capernaum, Peter’s home and Jesus’ ministry base on the Sea of Galilee, the Jesus Trail winds through the hills and valleys Jesus would have traveled during his life and ministry. We look up and see the same rocks from the same hills Jesus knew. We hear birds whose songs were familiar to Jesus and his disciples as they hiked this dry land. A spring in the wilderness breaths new life into the Psalmist’s longing for God like water to a weary shepherd and his flock. As the trail’s dust covers our feet, worship fills our hearts.
Worship and hiking both lead us somewhere larger than we expect upon commencement. The hiker follows a map hoping to arrive somewhere in the end, but along the way she meets unexpected natural beauties, fellow hikers, local people, obstacles and hospitality. Upon beginning, the hiker expects to travel but does not know the ways in which she will be changed. She can never be the same person she was on the morning she sets out to adventure.
we, as worshipers and trail blazers, cannot know of all the wonder we will find along our way with God; we can only prepare a way for God to do great things
In the same way, the worshiper picks up his guitar, takes his pen in hand, reads the ancient promises in Scripture, closes his eyes to meditate for a reason: he is on an adventure of change. The worshiper will take up his props hoping to arrive somewhere, to meet with God, but God surprises every time. In the adventure of worship, he who begins the journey will never complete the trek and be the same person he was upon beginning. A voice cries, ‘Prepare the way of the LORD!’ because we, as worshipers and trail blazers, cannot know of all the wonder we will find along our way with God; we can only prepare a way for God to do great things.
Hiking the Galilee region--and, in particular the Jesus Trail--has taken me on an adventure of clarity and unexpected twists. Living in North America most of my life, I had certain preconceptions about what David, Jesus, Moses, Peter, and Paul were saying when they talked about water in a dry and weary land, lilies of the field, the solid rock, light on a hill, and other phrases that Christians throw around so suavely and confidently. As I walked the four days of trail between Nazareth and Capernaum, I began to sense a change taking place in my understanding of Scriptural truths; I found new ways to worship and understand Biblical stories.
I stood at night on the top of a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. As I peered out into the vast darkness, I saw a city blazing with lights far across the valley where Mary Magdalene lived. I realized how difficult it would be to extinguish this bright blaze seen for miles around. Was this the hill Jesus himself stood on as he taught his disciples that they must be like a city on a hill? (Matthew 5.14)
After hiking through dusty valleys for some time, my husband and I rounded a gentle curve in the rocky trail and came upon a bright green splash in the middle of brown hills. I'm reminded that these are the surroundings that produced one of the greatest song writers of all time, King David. Thousands of years ago he sang of just such an experience: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want…He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul” (Psalm 23.1-2). Like David and like Jesus trekking with his disciples, we experienced the dry land but also the soul's rejoicing at the sight of fresh water bubbling from the dry ground, the refreshment of our hot dirty feet splashed with cool water in the wilderness.
While in some ways much has changed since the times of David and of Jesus, some cultural values have remained the same in this land. At the end of a day of hiking, we rest with a cool glass of lemonade offered to us by a friendly guesthouse owner along the trail. In the Arab and Jewish cultures through which we're hiking, hospitality is as vital to a community as it was when Jesus charged his disciples to "take nothing for their journey except a staff” (Mark 6.8). The way is peppered with people ready to tell us stories of lives lived in this ancient place...as they offer us a bottle of cold water out of their truck window; as they feed us a local feast; as they point us in the right direction. Words from the book of Hebrews teach us to show hospitality to strangers because they may turn out to be angels in disguise (13.2). Along the Jesus Trail, angels may turn out to be those offering hospitality.
While visiting ancient sites, the Jesus Trail hiker has time to contemplate the stories and history of the Bible in living color and movement. Walking through towns in the Galilee, hikers learn about the modern day cultures in Jesus’ homeland and finally arrive at magnificent cliffs overlooking the Sea of Galilee region where most of his ministry took place. The Jesus Trail invites you to “prepare a way for the Lord” by enlivening your worship of the God who became a man so we can walk as he walks!
The Jesus Trail is a 40-mile hiking route in the Galilee region of Israel that connects sites from the life of Jesus. Information for walking this marked hiking route is available at www.jesustrail.com. A detailed guidebook is available for sale as well as a free map download.
