This morning I was thinking about my trip to Israel in February 2006. It was a spiritual pilgrimage and an opportunity to see the sights of the Bible from a religious perspective. We were 20 mid-career pastors who traveled with two professors from Columbia Seminary and an Israeli guide.

It was marvelous to worship with those friends every day in holy places. But I learned then that the places became holy not because Jesus walked there, but because I was worshiping with a group who had become my friends. I miss that and like the holy places we have here. Northminster has become a holy place for me, because it is a place where I worship with my friends and family.