Local pastor travels through Holy Land

by Marlys Kruger

During the Christmas season, many of us attend church services or holiday concerts that celebrate the true meaning of the holiday. Last month, local pastor Bob Schoenknecht of Colfax Rural Lutheran Parish which includes Holden, Norton and North Running Valley churches, had the opportunity to visit the land where Jesus was born as well as many other Holy sites.

Pastor Bob and his wife Mary have traveled to many countries around Europe, but have dreamed about traveling to places where Jesus traveled for many years.

“Last year, Pastor Kurt Jacobson of Trinity Lutheran Church in Eau Claire announced he wanted to take a group to the Holy Land as his last trip before he retired,” Pastor Bob said. “ We had been on other trips with him before and he had been to the Holy Land before so we thought this was the perfect chance to fulfill a dream. We were excited to see in person all the places we had only read about in the Bible. There were 29 of us from the Eau Claire-Menomonie area following in the footsteps of Jesus and visiting the holy sites was a very spiritual experience for us.”

During the two week trip, the group traveled to many places and began the same journey Jesus made including sailing around the Sea of Galilee. They spent time at the Church of the Multiplication where Bob had the honor of serving communion to members of the group at the site of the feeding of the five thousand. They saw where the Sermon on the Mount was given and visited the Church of the Beatitudes. They moved on to Capernaum where Peter lived and they put their feet  in the Jordan River where John baptized Jesus.

They moved on to Nazareth to see the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, the Basilica of the Annunciation, St. Joseph’s Church and Nazareth Village. From there they traveled to Bethlehem, to see the site of the stable where Jesus was born.

“Along the way, I tried to visualize Mary and Joseph making that long journey from Nazareth over the hills and valleys of central Israel,” Bob said. “The actual site of Jesus’ birth is located under the alter of the Church of the Nativity. In order to see the location marked by a 14 pointed star, you had to walk down a set of narrow stairs and enter a grotto like structure. I was able to touch that star that represented the fourteen generations between King David and Jesus.”

One of the highlights of Bethlehem for Bob and Mary was being able to worship at Christmas Lutheran Church which is located in the heart of the city,

“The worship service was conducted in Arabic but the pastor summarized it for us in English and we sang the hymns right along with everyone else,” Bob said. “Bethlehem is a very hilly city so it wasn’t hard for me to imagine the shepherds on the hillside when they were visited by the angels who came to announce the birth of Jesus,” he added.

The group traveled from there to Jerusalem where they saw the Garden of Gethsemane, climbed to the top of the Mount of Olives and walked the same path Jesus walked on Palm Sunday. They also saw the tomb of King David and the room where the Last Supper took place, prayed at the Wailing Wall with devout Jews and walked the Via Dolorosa ending at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Christ was laid to rest three days before he rose from the dead.

It was in Jerusalem where Bob met up with someone with a familiar last name to members of his three churches. Colin Grangaard, the son of Blake Grangaard who was the pastor in the mid 1980s for Holden, Norton and North Running Valley was in the city as a Director of Young Adults and Global Missions and they all had a nice visit with him..

For those of you who listen to daily world news reports, you may wonder if it is safe to travel through the area Pastor Bob was in. The answer to that is yes and no. Before they left on the trip the group was assured all the places they would see would be safe and were well-guarded. But there were areas not far away where incidents of violence have taken place.

“Things were really put in to perspective for me when we were at the Wailing Wall,” Bob said. “While we were praying, the Jewish people were wearing their yarmulkes and long prayer shawls and I happened to notice one of the men who was a guard had an assault rifle under his shawl. It made me realize even in what should be the most peaceful part of the world, there is conflict and violence there.”

The group finished off at the Three Mile Canyon which has a temple carved out of the rock of the cliff and is also where part of the Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade movie was filmed. The journey ended in Aman, Jordan where they caught their flight to begin the long trip home.

“This was a very spiritual journey for myself and Mary,” Bob said. “Mary especially liked the peaceful setting of the Sea of Galilee. We had perfect weather (temperatures were in the 70-80 degree range) and on our boat ride, we could almost visualize Jesus and his disciples sailing from one town to the next. I was fascinated by the southern areas along the Dead Sea. Seeing the caves of Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found and standing on the top of Masada where the Jews made their last stand against the Roman army was a special experience for me. It was the trip of a lifetime for us and we are so thankful we had the opportunity to take it,” he concluded.