Day 6--Whaaat? We are on a Muslim Disco Party Boat?

ALTERNATIVE TITLE:  One of the best 'sermons' and most beautiful churches I have ever been in but did Father Kelly have to ask for a TripAdvisor review when we were leaving??

Now that I've got your attention, we will discuss where Jesus spent most of his three years of ministry and finish with the crazy boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

Another busy day.  We leave Jerusalem in the morning and head north to Galilee.  Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, close to Jerusalem, he grew up in and did his healing and teaching around the Sea of Galilee which is about 80 miles north of Jerusalem or a 3-5 day walk in those days.

To commemorate his ministry around the Sea of Galilee and to emphasize a small synagogue that ALL historians conclude he taught in, the Franciscans have curated and developed the Magdala Synagogue.  Indeed, a Prayer Stone was discovered recently which the rabbi would read the Torah.  Really an amazing piece of history to see.

Also, they built an amazing church next to the Magdala Synagogue right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

A beautiful two level Catholic Church, a few pictures.

Father Kelly, an Irish Priest, greeted us and actually gave us a little homily as we sat
in the church looking out over the Sea of Galilee.  Very inspiring.

The pulpit was in the form of a boat.  It sat on green marble, with an infinity
pool on the outside, beautiful.

In addition to the sanctuary, it had four smaller chapels.  This one is Jairus' daughter
being raised from the dead by Jesus.  Father Kelly could obviously see that Lacey
was pregnant so he had Lacey, Deb and Nick mimic the mosaic on the wall....
For a photo and a blessing!

On the lower floor was an incredible painting showing the moment the sickly women touched Jesus' hem of his
garment and was healed.  Very lifelike rendering.  In addition, the flooring was taken from a 1st century road in Magdala.

And yes, Father Kelly had an incredible sense of humor.  He thanked us for our visit, had me take a picture of his business card and insisted that we give him a thumbs up review on TripAdvisor, we will!



Now, back to the Muslim Disco Party Boat.  We arrived in Magdala at the appointed time for a leisurely, focused cruise of the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus was on or next to this lake for most of his ministry and spoke about it many times.

But, alas, the captain was Jewish, or so the story goes and had canceled our reservation.   But, there was an evening cruise and we thought this would be better in that it would be cooler.  After the incredible time we had at the Catholic Church with Father Kelly, this would be the 'cherry-on-top'.

Well,  first it was a huge boat, not just the eight of us, as promised for the morning cruise.  And, we quickly discovered that 98% of those on board wear Muslim!  I calculated the eight of us comprised the 2%.  Do the math.  So, as we situated ourselves on the vast, open deck on plastic lawn chairs, the music started and we saw the DJ in the bow.  This was party time!  The best way to describe Middle Eastern disco music is LOUD.  And the dancing and clapping began.

Mostly women, but as the bass started throbbing the guys joined in.  Line dancing, circle dancing, big dances, small dances, just about everyone was moving but us!  We also discovered that not all Muslim women wear a hijab, (head veil).  Some veils are black and cover a lot, others are smaller, dare I say sexy, and other women didn't wear the hijab at all.  Our eyes wear opening!

Note the DJ in the top center

Anyway, they were having the time of their live's while we kinda sat there, thinking we should really be listening to Christian Praise Music!  Anyway, turns out that Jonathan didn't read the fine print on the booking and it turned out that this was a charter cruise booked by a small Muslim town close to the lake.  Guess we should be glad they let us stay and enjoy watching them have a great time!

Girls just wanna have fun....in any culture.