A January Morning in En Gedi

Early today, twenty-seven seminarians, two professors, and I set out from Jerusalem for the Rift Valley along the Dead Sea. Our destinations were En Gedi and Masada.

En Gedi means "the spring of the kid" or "the mountain goat." The reserve is the gift of water in this otherwise desolate place. Little wonder, our ancestors here experienced water and remembered God with gratitude.

The reserve is alive with ibex, hyrax (the coney), and the red-winged blackbird. As we walk toward the spring in the mountainside, the air is cool and refreshing but already with the promise of an unseasonably warm January day.

En Gedi, located on this stretch of Dead Sea shoreline, is one example of the contrasts found in this remarkable land of the Bible. This land is a microcosm of the world we live in and calls out for us to embrace, enjoy, and protect all God's creation.