The Salvation Army Chatham

Returning from their recently reported holiday to Israel, Bev and Marjory Hudson spent a few days in Oberammergau.

Oberammergau

Bev writes as follows:

After landing at Munich Airport we journeyed to the very beautiful small town of Oberammergau, the location of The Passion Play which was eagerly anticipated.

This lovely little town is located in Bavaria [Southern Germany] and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Many of these are covered with very tall fir tree forests!  This area is ‘picture postcard’ and is in stark contrast to the dry arid pastures of Israel where temperatures can often be 40C+.  Temperatures in Bavaria were cooler than that and enabled us to undertake site seeing and shopping at our leisure.

I’m not quite sure how best to describe the Passion Play, the whole experience of being there and witnessing this magnificent spectacle.  The event itself was, yes, magnificent, and so powerful. People have often said, when you visit The Holy Land, you are never quite the same person, and I would also suggest the same  could be said of seeing the Passion Play, truly an amazing experience and a profoundly moving spiritual one as well.  This small town is to be congratulated for staging this marvellous spectacle.  It commenced in 1633 when the Oberammergau survivors of the plague swore an oath  that they would perform the ‘Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ’ every ten years to commemorate the many months of suffering and death experienced by it’s people as a result.  A magnificent gesture, the quality and commitment of which is awesome.

This was not just a holiday, it was a unique pilgrimage for those of us who undertook this journey, with indelible memories and thoughts imprinted in our minds perhaps for ever?