Pilgrims visiting Bi’ram in 2019

After three long years we’re back on the road on a Living Stones Pilgrimage! Nine of us will meet on Friday September 30th at our hotel in Bethlehem to travel together through October 11th. We are from Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. We all travel for different reasons including curiosity, love of travel, a longing for connection to the biblical geography, a desire to hear from peace makers, interest in history, and a wish to learn what the reality is on the ground for those living in this part of the world a third of humanity calls the Holy Land. We are “spiritual beings on a human journey” as The Camino de Santiago travel guide writer John Brierley puts it when he describes the modern pilgrims on The Way in Spain. I think that is also so true for our pilgrimage and why the living stones, those living here today, are so important!

We invite you to read our daily reflections as we journey on a listening tour to visit not only the holy sites but visit with Pilgrims of Ibillin’s Peace Partners in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ibillin, and Zababdeh. Through our reflections experience the incredible Palestinian hospitality when we stay with a host family. With our pictures you may ride with us as we take a boat tour on the Sea of Galilee with Mar Elias students. Through our meditations you can listen with us to Bedouins living in the desert as they describe their challenges. Sit and listen with Abuna Chacour as he tells us more about the wonderfully successful Mar Elias Educational Institution that he founded and Pilgrims of Ibillin helps support and about why he’s dedicated his life to education and peace.

We hope to listen to and learn first hand from people who are working to promote justice and foster a peaceful co-existence among the diverse cultural and religious groups here in Israel and Palestine.

Join us! We will be posting daily starting October 1st!

Brenda Mehos
Pilgrimage Coordinator
October 2022