I have always liked the old gospel hymn “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand”.

The lyrics were written by Baptist minister Samuel Stennett in England at the end of the 18th century. When it came to America, it was paired with the tune “Promised Land” by Miss M. Duram and converted to a major key in Rigdon M. McIntosh’s arrangement, which is the version we typically hear today. I don’t hear it very often… I have to search it out. I’m not really even sure where or when I first heard it.

The chorus has a welcoming simplicity and truth that draws me into it. In it is a message of hope, a call for unassuming evangelism, a longing to include our fellow travelers on this earth on the journey towards the eternal glory of God’s Kingdom.

I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land.
Oh, who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the promised land.

When I think of the promised land as described in the Bible, I find I am drawn also to it.

It is, after all, the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity. It is the land of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David and Solomon. It is where Jesus Christ walked and wept and turned water into wine and where he died.

It also has an incredibly rich history, being ruled by the Jews, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the Ottomans and the British.

Israel is unique. Charles Krauthammer said in 2011: “It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store.”

So I am lured by its romance, but am also repulsed by its modern reality of unending conflict. It is a land in constant civil war and because of that, I think, has developed a harshness in its society.

I thought it might be wise to talk to people who have visited there to see what their impressions were. I was surprised to find out how many people I talked to at 4Cs have been to Israel – this far-away land, whose name in Hebrew means “He who strives with God”. Following are a handful of excerpts.

Susan Scherrer

Sitting on those stairs where Jesus taught the disciples and walked himself, I felt a sense of connection to the man Jesus. I just closed my eyes and imagined the disciples and Jesus sitting there. When going back and re-reading the stories of him teaching, it took on a new meaning.

Dave Scherrer

It hasn’t changed that much in 2000 years by way of its climate and the distances, so you get a perspective of what it would be like to walk from Galilee to Jerusalem. You have a sense of the geography, of what they were up against, seeing the mountains that housed thieves. You see what it would take to walk from the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley back up the Temple area. There’s a place where he seemingly stood and looked out and said “Oh, Jerusalem…”

I think every believer would find the trip to be meaningful.

Karen Miller

I started going to Sunday school when I was seven. We had these funny old pictures we’d get with our Sunday school papers and I would think “I wonder what its like over there”. In my mind, it was almost like another planet – it was not real to me.

When I was there and looking down into the Kidron Valley, I thought “that’s where David slew Goliath”. It just brings everything in the scriptures to life and magnifies everything you’ve ever thought about.

The Sunday school I grew up in was through an organization called the American Sunday School Union but the main leaders in that Sunday School were Quaker by background and so we had little teaching on baptism or communion. The first time I ever experienced communion I was about 12 when I went to church camp. I was entranced with the whole process. I was baptized when I was about 18 or 19, but it meant nothing to me.

So the two main reasons I wanted to go to Israel was to to be baptized in the Jordan river and take communion in the garden. And I was able to do those two things.

Ruby Wyatt

I was impressed with the resolve of the Jews. We toured an underground bullet factory that was built before the war when the British were there. The Jews dug out a huge area of dirt and set up this bullet factory 25 feet underneath a laundry. The laundry was there to hide the noise and the British even brought their uniforms there to be cleaned. They needed a lot of copper to make the bullets and they were able to get it because told the British that they needed the copper to make lipstick cases. They made over 2 million bullets in that one factory in two years.

Sharon Hillyard

My trip was so different because I was with a Catholic group and we were there in early February. But it was still an interesting experience and I truly appreciate the opportunity to be there and see so much.

I think my favorite place was in the house of Caiaphas. We were standing in line, waiting our turn to go into the pit where Jesus was held. There was an American group ahead of us and when they got down into the prison cell they started singing “Were You There When They Crucified the Lord?” and our group joined in. It was very moving.

Joan Chandler

One of the wonderful things about it is when you read the scriptures, you identify with areas after seeing them. Whether walking along the shore in Capernaum, sailing in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, seeing where Mount Hermon is or driving along the Golan Heights and through the area that would have been Samaria.

When you think of a land flowing with milk and honey, you think of fields of flowers, but there are many parts not like that. As we were driving along the hills along the Sea of Galilee, I noticed the hillsides were covered in horrible thorns and I thought “I bet those are the kind of thorns that were used to make the crown of thorns they put on Christ”.

I was there for 17 days and walked all over. As I was walking along, I began thinking that the landscapes have not changed that much since Jesus walked the area. You were looking at hillsides that he looked at and walking along shorelines that he would have walked along, pausing in areas that the disciples frequented. I was in the area where David cut a piece off of Saul’s robe when he went into the cave in the En Gedi desert.

When you read the scriptures, you are transported to those places and it makes it all the more real.

Margaret Smith

Just knowing you were among so many Christians and that they had the same feeling about Israel that you do was moving. To know that we are all united by our faith in Jesus Christ was very special – not a bit like going to Flatiron Mall.

Like others, I did like the tomb. But my favorite part of the tomb was that it was empty.

I have not been to Israel, but listening to these discussions has stirred up an interest in me. It could be that each of us, as Christians, has a longing to walk where our Savior walked, to see what he saw, to touch what he touched. For some, it may speak to our desire for justice, to others for love, to others for history, to others for glory, and to others for compassion.