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.