I Love to Tell the Story: Walking in the Footsteps of the Holy
2023 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
November 8-19, 2023
Join the Rt. Rev. Deon Johnson, XI Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This trip will take us to the places where Jesus walked, taught, and preached.
We'll visit the Church of the Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel announced the coming of the savior. Journey to one of the oldest churches in Christendom in Bethlehem, and the pace of Jesus' birth. See the many sites around and on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus spent most of his three years of ministry. We will go to the site of his Baptism at the River Jordan and renew our own Baptismal Covenant. And finally, we'll journey up to Jerusalem and walk the via Delarosa as we make our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Christianity's holiest church, where the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ took place.
You are invited to join us on pilgrimage to not only see the places where it all began, but you'll also see the "facts on the ground" -- what it means to be a Christian in Israel and Palestine today. Bring your head and your heart, but put your feet on the ground of the Holy Land.
This pilgrimage is being organized by the Rev. Todd McDowell through Lightline Pilgrimages. Prices and registration will be available soon.
Holy Land Pilgrimage
The itinerary will include:
- Travel from St. Louis-Lambert International Airport to Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Sea of Galilee
- The Mount of Beatitudes; ruins of Capernaum; Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes; Chruch of Peter's Primacy; first-century synagague at Magdala (birthplace of Mary Magdalene)
- Basilica on the summit of Mount Tabor (site of the Transfiguration); Nazareth - Basilica of the Annunciation and the Synagogue Church; village of Cana; ruins of the city of Sepphoris
- Journey through the West Bank to Palestinian city of Nablus; St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital; Jacob's Well; Jordan River; Town of Bethany (home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus); Jerusalem
- City of Hebron - Tombs of the Patriarchs; Bethlehem - Church of the Nativity, Shepherds Fields; St. Vincent Creche/Orphanage
- Garden Tomb; Princes Basma Center; walk the Palm Sunday route down the Mount of Olives (Behphage to the Garden of Gethsemane; Chapel of the Ascension; churches of Pater Noster and Dominus Flevit; Church of All Nations
- Drive to the Dead Sea basin along shoreline to Mount Masada; ascend the summit by cable car to visit Herod's stepped palace complex, ancient water cisterns, remains of a Byzantine church; bathe in the Dead Sea; See where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered
- Ascend the Temple Mount; Church of St. Anne by the Pools of Bethesda; walk the Way of the Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; drive to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum and Garden; visit the Western Wall plaza, travel through the underground tunnels through the hear of the Old City
- Drive to site associated with biblical Emmaus; Orthodox Monastery of the Cross; return to Jerusalem; travel to Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast; on to Tel Aviv airport to begin journey home.
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