Seeing Creation During WIHL

Since I have been back from my Wheaton in the Holy Lands (WIHL) trip for a few weeks now I thought it would be good to do some reflecting.  Much of what has and will stick with me I have already blogged but a significant experience that I will not forget was seeing creation.  For me, like many of us, nature can be one of the clearest ways to see the glory and beauty of God.  And there was no shortage of this on my trip.  Here are some examples.  

(The Judean wilderness)

(The "Super Bowl" in the Negev)

(Looking towards the Dead Sea from Massada) 

(Mount Tabor from the Nazereth Ridge in Galilee) 

(The Sea of Galilee)

(A Headwater of the Jordan River)

(The Aegean Sea)

(Meteora in Greece)

(Sunset over Aegean Sea behind Temple of Poseidon) 

These pictures represent a glimpse of what I was able to see in these four countries.  They all speak to the power, majesty, and creativity of our God.  It always reminds me of Job 38.  He laid the earth on its foundations and marker of its deminsions; He gives orders to the morning and shows the dawn its place; He tells the waves where to halt; He brings fourth the constelations in their seasons.  He is amazing and He is God.  Amen. 

Gregory of Nazianzus

Gregory of Nazianzus, whom the Eastern Orthodox Church knows as 'The Theologian,' was one of the three famous Cappadocian Fathers.  He lived from 329 to 390 and was extremely influential on orthodox Trinitarian theology.  During a time when the Church was being lead astray by the Arian and Apollinarian heresies he was a strong voice for the correct doctrine of the Trinity.  He held that the Trinity was one God, or substance, in three persons that are equal in value, authority, eternity, and divinity.  In 379 he delivered his famous five theological orations in Constantinople espousing this doctrine and was made bishop of the city in 380.  While he was only the bishop for less than two years he was there for an extremely important part of church history because he presided over part of the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 that condemned Arianism and Apollinarianism as heresies.

He is probably my favorite theologian and I have been able to see some cool things relating to him on this trip.

This is a famous fresco of Gregory the Theologian in a church in Chora in Turkey.

This is an icon of Gregory at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George outside of Istanbul.  Also at that church are his relics.  While it was quite odd to see the bones of my favorite saint in a box, there was something powerful about it.  I do not believe that venerating those remains would have helped me become more godly, but I think there is something to our duty to honor those who have gone before us and have made it possible for us to have the faith we now have.

(Sorry for the bad picture.  His bones are in the box.  You can see them through the holes.)

This is one of my favorite quotes from him:

"Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us.  Let us become God’s for His sake, since He for ours became Man.  He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich; He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was tempted that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He died that He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying low in the Fall of sin.  Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us.  But one can give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He became for ours." Oration I.V.

Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque

Yesterday we went and visited the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.  Both were beautiful.  Take a look.

While I was struck by the beauty of both buildings one architectural detail caught my attention.  From the Narthex of the Hagia Sophia there were three different sized entrances into the sanctuary.  The largest was in the middle and was reserved only for the emperor.  The next size down was for nobles, and the smallest were for the common people.

This reminded me of something we saw in Sepphoris in Galilee.  This town was heavily influenced by Greco-Roman culture and was filled with outstanding mosaics.  There was one from a dining room that had a large white portion where the three sided table would have been placed.  It is on the left in the picture.

The host of the banquet would sit near the bottom center and then guests would sit in order of importance in a clockwise direction with the most important being next to the host.  In reference to this Jesus said, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. " (Luke 14:8-10).  He encouraged people not to take places of honor.  But the Hagia Sophia distinguished the honor of those who entered the church and by doing so became the same as the Greco-Roman culture Jesus spoke against.

May our churches never distinguish between people but see that we are all sinners before a Holy God.  May we never try to exalt ourselves but rather seek places of humility.  May we become less and He become more!  

Last Day in Israel

Since today is my last day in Israel (we fly to Turkey tomorrow) my thoughts have turned nostalgic.  It would be impossible to sum up everything I have learned since I have learned about the Bible and its context, geography, geology, politics, and from friends.  My guess is that years from now as I look back on Israel I will most remember a place and a person.

The place is the wilderness of Judea.  During one of our first days we spent a few hours in the hot midday sun of the desert on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  It became a theme of our studies that God is the God of the desert and not of the easy places.  He constantly brings His people here in order to teach and reveal Himself to them.  In Hosea 2 when Israel, who is portrayed a an adulterous wife, needs to be drawn back to God He promises to "now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her."  God reveals Himself in the desert.  God brings His people into the desert.  God speaks in the desert.  God is with us in the desert.  God is with you in your desert.

The person is Majdi (the man next to me in the photo).  He is the shopkeeper of a small schwarma place in East Jerusalem just outside of the Old City.  We met him pretty randomly one night as we were trying to find somewhere to hang out with locals.  A conversation began that lasted over several visits about Israel, Palestine, Jerusalem, Musliums, Christians, Jews, and America.  Once I asked him if there would be another uprising, or intifada, and he answered, "We hope!"  And I can only describe the look in his eyes as of true and deep hope.  The Palestinians have been put in a place where they lack basic human rights like freedom of movement and feel like the only way out is through violence.  Peaceful protests are happening, but since 1967 they have made no difference.  If you corner an animal it is bound to bite.  I feel so sad that both sides feel like victims and like they have to resort to violence in order for them to have security or freedom.  I do not know how, but the Church and I have to help.  God please bring peace in this apartheid state!

Random Photos and Thoughts Part 2

One day we woke up early and walked to the Mount of Olives (which is east of Jerusalem) to watch the sunrise on the city.  It was beautiful.  You can see the line of the sun and shadow of the Mount of Olives in the picture.  Watching it helped me understand the passion and love the Old Testament characters had for the city and the sorrow Jesus felt.  It is an amazing place.  While watching, I listened to the song "All the Poor and Powerless" on repeat (it was a tip from a professor about remembering a place by listening to a song over and over).  There is a bridge in the song about shouting it to the masses that He is God.  This is a city that needs to know that Christ is God.

This picture is the dome in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that is above the place were Jesus was buried and rose again.  I spent about three hours alone in this church (trying to ignore the tourists) praying and reading the four passion narratives.  You feel something very powerful when in this place.  Being there made me want to identify more with the death and resurrection of Jesus.  "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ in me."

You can see the signs of conflict all over the city and country.  Most signs are in three languages, Hebrew, Arabic, and English.  If you are in the right part of town (like the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem above) then the population often covers up the particular language they do not like.  Here someone has put a Hebrew sticker over the Arabic which reveals their desires for those who speak Arabic to leave.  Pray for peace here.  

Random Photos and Thoughts

These photos are all of the Negev wilderness on the border of Israel and the Sinai Peninsula.  The first two are overlooking the largest crater in the world that was made by erosion.  It is in places like this that Israel wondered for 40 years and David fled from Saul.  These places are hot, barren, and practically lifeless.  But God has a habit of bringing people here in order to teach them how to trust Him.  God brings His people to the desert so they have to learn to rely on Him.

This is a picture of the Holy of Holies in a temple at a fortress on the southern end of Israel in Arad.  The pillar in the front is for burning incense to God.  But there are two of them.  The larger was used for burning incense to the real God and the smaller to another god named Asherah.  This fortress was built by Solomon and destroyed by Josiah.  Let's be like Josiah and destroy idolatry and not build it like Solomon.

This is cave number four at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Thank God that people like this preserved His Scripture throughout the generations. 

 

 

Bethlehem Lutheran Christmas Church

This past Sunday we had a day free of class so we went down from Jerusalem to Bethlehem for church.  We attended the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church on a recommendation from a professor.  It was a complete joy to be there.  As someone who grew up Lutheran, there were many aspects of the service that were familiar to me, but the fact that the vast majority of it was in Arabic was quite unfamiliar.  Even through the church is Lutheran the service is in Arabic because that is the language of its people.  The church has about 200 members most of whom are Palestinians.  These people we living under Israeli occupation behind a 25 foot wall.  And they are Christians living among majority Muslims.  Nothing is easy for these Palestinian Christians.

(The inside of the church.)

(The dome of the church.  The Arabic reads "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill to men.")

(A stained glass window depicting the flight to Egypt by Mary and Joseph.  All the stained glass tell the Christmas story.)

The English bulletin that was provided told us that the stain glass with the flight to Egypt has been particularly powerful for this congregation because 2/3 of them are refuges themselves.  In 1948 during the Israeli War of Independence (the Palestinians call it the Nakba which means "the catastrophe") Israel forced around 750,000 Palestinians from their home into the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.  The Christians I worshiped with on Sunday are a part of those refugees.  Sometimes American Christians feel the need to support the Israeli occupation of Palestinians because they believe Israel is fighting Islam, but they often forget that we have bothers and Christians who are living in this land and struggling.  They are refuges in a harsh place; we must pray for and support them.

The service ended with the hymn "Christ of All Nations."  Singing it with Christian Palestinian Refuges who are my brothers and sisters was more powerful than words.

"O God of every nation,

of every race and land,
redeem the whole creation
with your almighty hand;
where hate and fear divide us
and bitter threats are hurled,
in love and mercy guide us
and heal our strife-torn world.

From search for wealth and power
and scorn of truth and right,
from trust in bombs that shower
destruction through the night,
from pride of race and nation
and blindness to your way,
deliver every nation,
eternal God, we pray.

Keep bright in us the vision
of days when war shall cease,
when hatred and division 
give way to love and peace,
till dawns the morning glorious
when truth and justice reign
and Christ shall rule victorious
o'er all the world's domain."

Saint Ann's Church

EA few days ago we went to visit Saint Ann's church in the Muslim quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Tradition tells us that this is the place where Mary was born and where Jesus' grandmother (St. Ann) lived.  It is also next to the pool of Bethsaida where Jesus healed a blind man in Mark 8.  The church is a magnificent building made completely of stone with fantastic acoustics.  We took song time to sing Amazing Grace and Let Us Adore in the sanctuary.  But something surprising and interesting lurks in the church.

When you stand back at look at the whole, it is symmetrical, grand, and awe inspiring.  The previous pastor said that the church was designed to declare the majesty of God.  It certainly does.  But when you look closely some of the details do not add up.

(Notice the tops of the columns.  The front one is ribbed and the back is plain.)

(Notice again the difference between the tops of the columns.)

When you look at the details the building is not symmetrical.  The capitals of the columns are all different.  The height of the columns' feet are uneven.  Even the height where the arches meet the wall of each side are unequal.  The pastor said that this was designed to show the imperfection of people that make up the body of Christ.

I found this to be an amazing picture of God's gracious act to use sinners.  Praise God for His mercy.  Praise God that He uses broken sticks to draw straight lines.

The Wailing Wall

A few days ago we went to the western wall of the Temple Mount, known as the wailing wall.

This place is the holiest sight in Judaism because it is all that remains of the Temple that existed in the first century and was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.  The stones are huge and can be twenty feet long and weigh a half-million pounds (not an exaggeration).  The larger ones, on the bottom, can be dated back to the time of Jesus.

Jews are here 24/7 praying.  On Thursdays there are bar-mitzvahs after bar-mitzvahs.  Religious practices are constantly happening.  Men are singing Psalms in Hebrew and women are weeping.  The devotion people show at the Wall is incredible.

(A photo showing the notes with prayers that are shoved into the cracks of the Wall.)

Like any religious pilgrim when I arrived I put on a yamaka and prayed at the Wall.  It was incredible.  God is definitely uniquely present at this place.  I'm not sure if it is because is it the site of the Old Temple or if it is simply because their are many seeking Him here.  I would lean toward the latter.  But He is here.

I began to pray my favorite Psalm, the 27th.  Verse four became more real to me than it ever has been before since I was paying it at the Wall.  "One thing I have asked of The Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of The Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of The Lord, and to inquire in His Temple."  When David wrote those words he was speaking about the place at which I was praying (or as near as makes no difference).  And for me being there made the longing for His presence a greater reality in me.  May you and I always long to be in the presence of our God, to dwell in His house forever.

Jerusalem Day 1

Yesterday was my first day in Jerusalem and it was incredible. We took an overview tour of the Old City, the heart of Jerusalem, and were introduced to the city's beauty and complexity. Even though it was only the first day I would say that I had five amazing experiences: the tour and seeing the Holy sites (Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, and Al-Aqsa), meeting the owner of a 386 year old shop, talking with a solider, being sung to by a random old Jewish man, and eating ice cream at a shop playing Gangnam Style.  

(The military commissioning in front of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock)

In the evening a few of us went into the Old City to wander and hang out. When we made it to the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, we found that there was a military commissioning ceremony happening right in front of the wall.  As we watched we began to talk to a female solider named Y'el (I think that is how it is spelled). In the least threatening way I could, and pretending to be totally ignorant of the situation, I asked her about the Palestinian situation.  Her response was incredible.  She began by saying that she does not want them in her country.  She does not want to give them money or to work with or for them. She is annoyed that they have other Arab Muslim countries to go to while the Jews only have the one country of Israel.  She believes that while the Jews have been divided, the Palestinians have been united on destroying Israel.  And since 1948 they have not been working on building their own country, but on destroying Israel.  She thinks that the Israeli army is simply doing what they need to do to protect their people. 

Much could be said in response to her claims (and I refrained during the conversations, maybe I'll push buttons later). It is clear that she has been exposed to the diversity of Jewish thought on the issue but not on the diversity of Palestinian thought, because Palestinians are far from being united in their attempts to destroy Israel. Also, the Palestinians have been unable to to build their own country because they are living under an apartheid occupation in which they cannot move freely due to checkpoints and walls, cannot drive around certain places because of Jewish only roads, cannot establish a real government because Israel has claimed its sovereignty through occupation, and cannot feel safe in their own houses due to frequent home demolitions.

This city is amazing and beautiful, but extraordinarily sad. So much oppression and violence has been birthed here because two people groups are living in fear of the other. This place desperately needs the reconciling work of Christ.  As I walk through this city and land I will be praying for peace. I will be praying that the presence of God will move people toward forgiveness and compassion.  I will pray that people will make friends across social boarders and learn that peace is possible.  Please join me and "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Ps 122:6). 

Orvieto, Italy

Yesterday and today marked the beginning of my six week trip through the Holy Lands.  It started with a twelve hour layover in Rome and, in order to make the most of it, we went to the town of Orvieto, about an hour and a half north of Rome.  It is an absolutely beautiful town located on the top of a hill and surrounded by steep cliffs.  We took a trolley up to the top, walked to a small restaurant and ate delicious homemade, Italian pasta and grilled chicken.  After eating and feeling exhausted from our ten hour flight we walked around the city and found something amazing.

The cathedral in Orvieto is a stunning building.  As you walk through the narrow Italian streets you can begin to see its towers over the roofs and are shocked that something so large is there.  The front is cover with fantastic, detailed mosaics of Jesus, Mary, and the saints.  Inside (they would not let us take pictures) is a single huge room with extraordinarily tall ceilings and thick pillars.  It is impossible to walk in and not feel small in comparison to the largeness of God to which the cathedral testifies.  The architects of this place successfully communicated the glory of God through their work.

After walking through the church we found an overlook from which we could see the valley below.  Beautiful does not begin to describe it.  Like the cathedral, the rolling Italian landscape exemplifies the glory of our great God.

But the sad thing is that in a land full of cathedrals and landscapes that powerfully communicate the wonder of God lives a group of people who are so far from Him.  Italy is less than 1% evangelical and nominal Catholicism runs wild.  Pray for this country.  Pray that people's eyes will be opened to the many ways God is showing Himself.  Pray that Italy will come to see the goodness and beauty of Christ.