All I Ever Needed to Learn I Learned in Narnia

I wonder if it isn’t time to go back to Narnia.  I wonder if we are in one of those moments in our history when it would do us well to climb back into that wardrobe of furs and push our way through to the portal and reenter Aslan’s land.  Not to escape.  Not to lose ourselves in some fantasy.  Not to retreat from the cruel world.  But to discover again who we are and what it means to be real.

Things are real in Narnia.  They’re real at the level at which we want them most to be real.  In Narnia promises matter.  In Narnia telling the truth matters.  In Narnia how honest you are with yourself matters.  In Narnia there are consequences to how you treat someone, anyone.  In Narnia the structure of the story, the frame of each character, the very nature of existence, is held together by the mortar of these basic things. 

In Narnia we learn that really, really good candy is not worth it if it means selling your soul.  In Narnia the chivalry of a mouse is stronger than the coils of a sea serpent.  In Narnia it’s wise to trust the one you’ve normally trusted even when she asks you to do something crazy.  In Narnia evil has an enchanting spell.  In Narnia the one who wants control won’t always tell you the truth.  In Narnia sometimes sacrifices have to be made. In Narnia the oldest stories are the best stories.  In Narnia the whole thing got started with a song. In Narnia the most important thing to hold onto is each other. In Narnia the lion is not safe, but he’s good.

I wonder if it’s time to go back to Narnia. I wonder sometimes if in our complicated world we’ve lost touch with reality (at least I think I have).  I wonder if we are stacking the blocks but forgetting the mortar.  I wonder if in our effort to be safe we’ve forgotten to be good.

More and more I think that all I ever needed to learn I learned in Narnia. 

Greeting our Angels

Here is one of the more elegant reflections on the mysterious and exhilarating institution of marriage. 
Authored by Leon Wieseltier and included in David Brooks' book The Road to Character:

Brides and grooms are people who have discovered, by means of love, the local nature of happiness.  Love is a revolution in scale, a revision of magnitudes; it is private and it is particular; its object is the specificity of this man and that woman, the distinctiveness of this spirit and that flesh.  Love prefers deep to wide, and here to there; the grasp to the reach ... Love is, or should be, indifferent to history, immune to it -- a soft and sturdy haven from it: when the day is done, and the lights are out, and there is only this other heart, this other mind, this other face, to assist in repelling one's demons or in greeting one's angels, it does not  matter who the president is.  When one consents to marry, one consents to be truly known, which is an ominous prospect; and so one bets on love to correct for the ordinariness of the impression, and to call forth the forgiveness that is invariably required by an accurate perception of oneself.  Marriages are exposures. We may be heroes to our spouses but we may not be idols.

A unexpected visitor on Christmas Eve

I learned a long time ago that Christmas Eve is filled with surprises.  You never know what little unexpected thing will happen or what unannounced visit will take place. This year it happened early.  When I arrived at church in the mid-afternoon to prepare for our four candlelight services I was greeted at the door by a man with a TV news camera in one hand and a microphone in the other.  He was from the local ABC News affiliate.  He was there to ask me to comment on a local spiritual phenomenon.  Turns out that a man in town was making for himself a tie dye shirt and what should come out of the wash, but an image of the Virgin Mary!   At least that's what he was making it out to be, along with a bunch of other people.  Could it be?  Could the Holy Mother be taking the time to visit a Florida man on Christmas Eve?   The newsman wanted my opinion. 

It had to have been a slow news day.
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Truth be told, I had been tipped off by our administrative staff that this reporter would be waiting for me.  So I had a little time to think about what I might say.  What's a Presbyterian pastor to make of an appearance of the Blessed Virgin on a tie dye shirt?  I resisted the temptation to pass the buck to my colleagues across the street at the Catholic church and instead took a crack: "Who am I to invalidate the appearance?" I said.  "I learned long ago not to pass hasty judgment on anyone's spiritual experience."  Of course every ounce of me wanted to say the whole claim was hogwash.  Talk about a Rorschach moment gone bad! In my mind I scoffed just as I would have scoffed at Mary's story of the angel and the shepherds' story of the angel and Joseph's story of the angel.  Those things don't happen that way, my 21st century mind was eager to shout.  But, of course, that was exactly what I was preparing to tell 3000 people over the course of the next 8 hours -- that they do!!  Am I speaking out of both sides of my mouth?

Then came the epiphany.

The gospel preached on Christmas Eve is not just a story of appearances, it's a story also of responses.  Every Christmas character has a response to the most unusual sightings. Mary ponders these things in her heart.  The shepherds return glorifying and praising God.  The wise men go home by another way.  Something strange has happened and you can see it in the behavior of the witnesses. Their lives look a little different as a result.  For my tie dye friend the validation won't come from what folks see in the design, but from what they see in the man.

It's the way it's always been.  Christmas takes on believability not from the familiar carol tunes and pretty crèches, but in the behavior of those who've been to the manger. 

The Gregorian calendar does us a great favor when in just a week after visiting Bethlehem we are launched into a new year.  It's the time to start down a different path.  It will be our response more than our claim that will help folks to see that Christmas is more than just coincidental tie dye.  

Christmas Without Taking the Credit

It seems that one of the new and growing traditions of December is the argument over what is the appropriate greeting and salutation we're supposed to be offering each other toward the end of the year. There seems to be a growing concern that "Merry Christmas" is going out of vogue and that the more encompassing "Happy Holidays" is taking over. Some of my fellow Christian brothers and sisters see this as one more attack in the culture wars. "Put Christ back into Christmas!" they exclaim -- as if this was up to somebody other than themselves. It seems strange that anyone would insist on everybody wishing everybody the same spiritual exercise regardless of the spiritual tradition. I can't imagine wishing my friends at the neighboring synagogue a Merry Christmas anymore than I can imagine them wishing me a Happy Hanukah. It would be as if we had missed the point. (Though this year we did have a fun Thanksgivukah service together the night before Thanksgiving on the first night of Hanukah.) However, if the reverse were to take place and my Jewish friend were to wish me a Merry Christmas and I were to wish him a Happy Hanukah then we would experience the real intent of the exchange -- a personal wish.

It's all personal, isn't it? We wish Happy Holidays to strangers and that's the way it should be. We're not personal with them. We don't know enough to know what spiritual wish to extend. But for those we know, we get personal. The same would go with a Christian friend who's just lost a loved one -- wishing a Merry Christmas may be a way of saying I don't know or I don't understand or I don't care. Instead my best wish might be to say, "I hope these days are not too difficult for you." Now that's personal.

The shepherds of Bethlehem came away from the manger with no expectation that anyone was going to wish them anything. How could anyone have known? It was too personal. That's what the revelation of God is. They were just minding their own business when the angel appeared and frightened them half to death. Why us? they ask. Who are we to get such news? But got it they did and I can't imagine any attempt on their part to explain it would have been met with anything more than suspicious looks. It was too personal. The revelation of God to anybody about anything -- love, grace, forgiveness, wisdom -- is not a badge of honor or a civil right. The shepherds' story reminds us that whatever we've discovered about God came to us quite apart from our deserving nature or keen intellect.

Rewind the tape of your own life and consider the primary causes for your discovery of what you've come to believe about God. Did it have something to do with your family? The culture you were born in? The kindness of a friend? The care of a mentor? The compelling argument of an author? The passion of a spouse? Were these your choices? Likely not. Somehow, someway the news got to you by hook or by crook. If you really thought about it -- you could find little or no reason to take any credit.

And I wonder if that isn't the best place to be at Christmas -- that place where we find no room for self-credit. The revelation has come and I had nothing to do with it. It just came, sometimes despite myself. The mystery and wonder of that is both overwhelming and humbling. It certainly gives me no reason to insist on anybody wishing me any particular kind of holiday. Those closest to me who understand my epiphanies will know what to say. And if by chance I've cared enough to know what to say back -- well then maybe that's my way of putting Christ back into the holidays.

A Day of Thanksgiving

We gathered at Westminster Abbey, a thousand of us, to remember and give thanks for C.S. Lewis on the 50th anniversary of his death -- an end of life date that he shares with JFK and Aldous Huxley.  Friends and scholars of Lewis months ago successfully advocated with the administration of the Abbey for the dedication of a memorial stone in Poets' Corner in honor of Lewis and his prolific and transformative writings.  They agreed that the 50th anniversary of his death would be an appropriate day to do this. So there we were, privately assembled in the cavernous hall to worship and give thanks for this man who brought the faith into the lives and hearts of thousands, perhaps millions, including our own.

Tears filled my eyes as his last ever student read from the Old Testament, his stepson read from The Last Battle and his "loyal to the end" literary secretary, Walter Hooper, laid flowers upon the marker.  All the people who knew Lewis most intimately were there and graced the celebration. 

I am not sure I have ever been in a moment and space where more thanksgiving has been offered and felt. Each person there showed forth a deep sense of humility before the legacy of this great man and his work.  We were all there to say thanks.  But not just thanks, but a deeper gratitude as if to say, "You changed my life and you never knew it." 

No one would have been more surprised over what we were doing than Lewis himself.  The quiet reflective gaze I saw in Walter Hooper's face was what I imagine we would see in Lewis if he had been around for the festivities. 

I came away with the deep sense of "I am not worthy."  It is what I truly feel. I am not worthy of the joy and peace I found in reading and writing about so many of Lewis books, and I am not worthy to have attended such a profound event. 

Thanks be to God.

Lewis at the Abbey

At the beginning of the day I took the chance to visit the National Gallery.  What a joy to pause before the works of Pissaro, Monet, Degas and Van Gogh.  I was particularly struck by Van Gogh's "A Wheatfield with Cypresses" painted shortly before his death.
We spent most of the day attending the C.S. Lewis Symposium at St. Margaret's Church next to Westminster Abbey. Two Lewis scholars, Alistair McGrath and Malcolm Guite, presented talks on the legacy of Lewis. Very well done.  McGrath spoke of Lewis' work as an apologist for the faith and how he told the truth by showing the truth through story and symbol.  Guite focused on Lewis' ability to bring together reason and imagination using Lewis' poem "Reason" as a guide and illustration.
We broke for a Service of Choral Evensong in the Abbey and then returned to St. Margaret's for a panel discussion on the life and work of Lewis.
All in all, a great way to prepare for today's service to dedicate the memorial to Lewis in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.

A Day in Oxford

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to return to Oxford and to visit many of C.S. Lewis' favorite "places".  I put places in quotations because one of the great senses I experienced yesterday was how much Lewis was a person of "place".  Lewis inhabited his places to the fullest.  Many remark how "untraveled" Lewis was -- he never left the British Isles with the exception of a trip to the front lines of WWI early in life and a trip to Greece late in life.  With those exceptions he remained home.  He loved his places.  Once he got to Oxford as a student, he never really left.  He almost gave up a professorship at Cambridge out of fear of having to move from his home in Oxford.

Inside of Oxford he was happy to go to the same old places -- Eagle and Child, The White Horse, his home, etc. He was content to make the walk from his college rooms to the Kilns and remain in either place to do his reading and his letter writing.  The acreage around his home was as much as he needed for his time in nature except when he took his walking tours with friends.  He never learned to drive.  He was content with the space he had been given.  He never felt the need to go to the world; he was happy, through his books, for the world to come to him.

As we toured the Kilns yesterday our group remarked at how small his home was compared to the places where we live.  Each room was humble, warm and intimate.  Most bedrooms had room for little more than a single bed and a desk.  Part of that was the times, but what more does one need?  For Lewis-- a place to sit and read and a place to write -- this was as much a "place" as one needed.  Each room, each place, by his full habitation, became a sacred place. 

It led me to wonder -- how well do I inhabit the places of my world?  Am I content to fill out those few places within my daily life?  Or must I always be on the go, skimming just the surface of each place I glance upon?  I fear it is the latter.  I understand that part of it is personality -- some are wanderlusts and others are homebodies, but are we at risk of losing our sense of the sacred by running from pillar to post?

Where are the sacred places of your life?  Where does your soul take rest, either in solitude or with friends?  Where are the familiar and intimate places? 

Did God answer Jesus' prayer?

This is a question with which I have been struggling a long time.  When in Luke's Gospel we hear Jesus on the cross praying to the Father, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," do you think the Father granted the Son's request? Do you think it was in the will of the Father for the Son to ask the question, and do you think that the Father was more than eager to comply?  How you come out on those questions has, I think, profound implications for what we think about God and the mission of the Church. 

You see, I think it was in the will of the Father for the Son to ask that question. In fact I wonder if the whole mission of Christ was leading to that very moment and that very prayer.  It had to come to that -- the profound blindness and ignorance of humanity strapping the Redeemer to the executioner's posts, humanity's ultimate rejection of God -- and in that very moment, the second person of the Trinity pleading within the Godhead for the Creator to reconcile himself to the fallen creation.  There was nothing anybody could do about it -- because we didn't have it inside ourselves to do it.  "Father, forgive them for they have no idea what they are doing!  Father, forgive them because they are clueless!  Father, forgive them because they just can't see and they are never going to get around to asking for it themselves."  God wills them reconciled.  God says "Yes" even when we say "No".

God is not captive to our human whim!  God is not beholden to our capriciousness.  God is not kept in the waiting room until we make up our minds!  To think so is to empty the cross of its power and love!  To think that God binds himself to the random events and experiences of human life that can turn us in our ignorance away from God, is to end up with a rather impotent God who has put human beings in control. 

I think it's the point that Paul gets around to when he writes, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."   The decisive victory has been won and what remains is announcing the good news.  Whether people believe it or not, does not affect the outcome.  Christ is risen and there is nothing any of us can do about it.  We are forgiven whether we like it or not. 

Karl Barth put it this way:  "I fear that much of the weakness of our Christian witness comes from this fact that we dare not frankly confess the grandeur of God, the victory of Christ, the superiority of the Spirit." 

Wow -- this is some news!  Something to believe in!  Something that gives you a reason to live!  Because if God did not grant the Son's request -- then I  .... well, I just don't want to go there. 

Promises to Keep

I had the chance to lose myself in the collected letters of C.S. Lewis.  It's easy to do.  It's a three-volume collection amounting to around 3500 pages.  3500 pages of letters!   Hundreds and hundreds of people wrote to Lewis, most of whom he never laid eyes on, and pretty much each person received a note back in reponse.   Today I read through a collection of 26 letters Lewis wrote over the course of nine years to a young school girl from Sarasota  who had regular questions about the Narnia Chronicles and a host of other issues around writing and stories.  What an example of fidelity!!!  It's almost like a promise Lewis made to himself: if you cared enough to write to him, he would care enough to write to you.   What a wonderful illustration of covenant. 

Perhaps our Christian witness is most profound in the promises we keep.  Sure, there is much to say, and many acts to perform, but I wonder if we are most like Christ in the loyalty we have to the people Christ puts along our path. 

It's not a bad inventory to take -- to whom have I made promises, and how am I doing keeping them? 

A simple resolution for the New Year

I recently left a conversation with someone who said she was resolving in the New Year to lose weight.  In the same breath she told me that this was the tenth New Year she’s made the resolution.  She’s made good on all of them, but somewhere in between each one she has grown, as she said it, “less resolved”. 

We all understand what “less resolved” is all about.  It comes about when we place our best intentions against all the other priorities of life.  Something has to give, and usually it’s the latest good idea. 

But would it look any different if instead of resolving to a thing, we resolved to a person? That is, if this New Year’s instead of making a resolution to do something, we resolved instead to follow someone.  To create a new loyalty.  To start a new conversation with someone whose words might redirect our lives into a new and healthy pattern?

Could we resolve to follow Jesus? 

To do so would put us on the path toward trusting him.  You won’t follow someone you don’t trust.  So what if we said tomorrow we are going to start trusting Jesus more?  Accepting that what he says might really be the better way to live. 

Think of the Beatitudes, Jesus opening words in the Sermon on the Mount:  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek … blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted.  So many of these ways of life are counterintuitive.  We couldn’t imagine doing them on our own accord.  We need to trust someone that they are actually the right thing to do.

C.S. Lewis in his great essay On Obstinacy in Belief gets to the heart of this when he writes:

In Christianity such faith is demanded of us; but there are situations in which we demand it of others. There are times when we can do all that a fellow creature needs if only he will trust us. In getting a dog out of a trap, in extracting a thorn from a child’s finger, in teaching a boy to swim or rescuing one who can’t, in getting a frightened beginner over a nasty place on a mountain, the one fatal obstacle may be their distrust. We are asking them to trust us in the teeth of their senses, their imagination, and their intelligence. We ask them to believe that what is painful will relieve their pain and that what looks dangerous is their only safety. We ask them to accept apparent impossibilities: that moving the paw farther back into the trap is the way to get it out—that hurting the finger very much more will stop the finger hurting—that holding on to the only support within reach is not the way to avoid sinking—that to go higher and on to a more exposed ledge is the way not to fall. To support all these incredibilia we can rely only on the other party’s confidence in us—a confidence certainly not based on demonstration, admittedly shot through with emotion, and perhaps, if we are strangers, resting on nothing but such assurance as the look of our face and the tone of our voice can supply, or even, for the dog, on our smell.

While there may be a lot of Jesus we don’t understand, there is much more of Jesus that we want to trust.  Instinctively we know that his way is the way, his truth is the truth, his life is the life.  Yet some of the things he asks of us seem to go against what, in the short term, is against our interest.  The only thing left to do is trust.

So let’s make it simple this year.  Let our resolutions be not do anything, but to trust someone.  Trust him for how to live and find the blessedness he’s always had for us. 

Miracle and Mystery

I can’t seem to get through an Advent season without sneaking over to my set of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics and letting the great Reformed theologian assist me in reflecting upon the great thing God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  In all that our world does to siphon away any miracle and mystery this story has for us, Barth remains the voice of dialectical sanity: “The man Jesus of Nazareth is not the true Son of God because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  On the contrary, because He is the true Son of God and because this is an inconceivable mystery intended to be acknowledged as such, therefore He is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  And because He is thus conceived and born, He has to be recognized and acknowledged as the One He is and in the mystery in which He is the One He is.  The mystery does not rest upon the miracle.  The miracle rests upon the mystery.  The miracle bears witness to the mystery, and the mystery is attested by the miracle.”

Miracle and mystery. 

“Behold!” was what the angel said to the shepherds.  It’s King James’ language, and it says so much.  Behold the miracle and the mystery.  Don’t try to explain it.  Don’t try to simplify it.  Don’t try to reduce it to a pithy poem.  Just “behold”.  It is both miracle and mystery.  It requires no additional commentary. Just fall on your knees and behold. And in your beholding maybe the Holy Spirit will have his way with you as he did with the Virgin.  Maybe out if it you will conceive something, or someone, too.

Pray for the Middle East

For those of us who just returned from 8 days in Israel the escalating violence of the last few days reminds us of how much the "Holy Land" is a study in contrast.  As peace-filled and inspiring as our pilgrimage was, we were aware in the last couple of days that rockets were launching across the borders of Israel and Palestinian territory.  It now grows worse. 

The answers are not easy.  We learned while there that the region is a complex web of passion, rage, belief and yearnings for peace.  It brings to mind the words from Phillips Brooks' great Christmas Carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem: The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. 

So as we descended a few days ago down the Mount of Olives and prayed, like Jesus, for the peace of Jerusalem, so we continue in that prayer.  And as Jesus the miracle worker long ago changed the course of history in that land, so we pray for miracles again to occur by God's grace, and through peace see history change again. 

Shalom.


         

Israel: Day 8
We awakened to a brilliant blue sky this morning, perfect for our last day in Israel.  With 36 hours of touring and traveling ahead of us we lingered a bit at breakfast and pushed off at 9:00.  Our first stop was the Garden Tomb.  This is an alternative site for Christians to remember and celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection.  The Golgotha-like hill and first century tomb and beautiful gardens put our hearts in a place of reflection and gratitude. We celebrated communion together and heard the testimony of many of how the risen Christ had appeared to them.

From the Garden Tomb we made our way back to the Old City where we visited the Pool of Bethzatha written about in John 5.  Here Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years.  Next to the Pool stands St. Anne's Church, a Crusader church from the 12th century that features lovely acoustics.  We sang Amazing Grace and the Doxology, pausing to hear the sound of our voices reverberate through the sanctuary.

Then it was off to lunch near the American Consulate and a tour of a diamond manufacturer's museum.  The gift shop below proved too great of a temptation for a few folks. 

We traveled then to Emmaus and to the Crusader church that stands to commemorate the walk to Emmaus by two of Jesus' followers Easter afternoon.  We were greeted by serene gardens, restored frescoes within and a welcoming brother of the monastery who held out hope for us that the world shall someday know peace through the gift of gracious hospitality.  His words were a benediction upon our eight days.  It was a perfect way to end our pilgrimage.

On the way to our farewell dinner we stopped for a moment for some to see the excavations of the 1000 B.C. City of David.

At dinner we laughed and talked and gave thanks for an incredible journey.  The coveted Baby Camel Awards (you'll have to ask one of the pilgrims what that means) were handed out to folks who uniquely distinguished themselves during the trip.  Best of all, we gave loving gifts and ovations to the two men without whom we could not have gone the first mile -- Andre our guide and Wallid our driver.  If any two men ever embodied the gifts of knowledge, navigation and graciousness these men do.  We shall remember them forever.

Off to Ben Gurion airport we fled arriving three hours before our flight.  It took just about every bit of it to get everyone through security and onto the plane.  At 11:22 pm we winged above the lights of the Promised and Holy Land rejoicing that the good Lord had kept us safe and blessed us with encounters that will alter our lives forever. 

Shalom.

Israel: Day 7
Our overnight prayers were not enough to keep the rain clouds away, but a little precipitation could not deter us from a full, full day. 

We began with the traditional pilgrim walk down the Via Dolorosa.  Starting at the site of the Antonio Fortress, where Pontius Pilate held court, we paused in the Chapel of Condemnation and reflected on the journey of Jesus to the cross, the Lamb of God slain forth sins of the world.  We commenced our walk through the Old City with brief stops along the Stations of the Cross.  We ended on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and then descended into the church where we took in the sites where Jesus was both crucified and buried.  The church seemed full of people from every nation, causing us to rejoice that the gospel has truly gone to the four corners of the world. 

From the Holy Sepulcher we paused for an early lunch at a small cafe.  After this brief respite, and with bodies fortified, we made our way back to the Temple Mount and waited for the gates to open so we could walk the   grand courtyard where the Temple once stood.  It is now the site of the Dome of the Rock, the most recognized of all Muslim mosques.  While we waited entry we had a front row view of the procession of four or five Bar Mitzvah parades complete with drums, shofars, tambourines, singing and dancing.  A few of our ladies even got recruited for a circle dance celebrating one young man's sacred passage.

After our tour of the Temple Mount, from which we viewed with awe the Mount of Olives, we returned to the bus for a short ride to Mt. Zion. 

At Mt. Zion we climbed the steps to the Upper Room and reflected upon the sacred meal of Jesus that celebrated the Passover and prepared the disciples one last time for the mission ahead of them.

From the Upper Room we walked a short distance to the House of Caiaphas, the High Priest in Jesus' day.  We viewed there a model of sixth century Jerusalem.  Afterward we toured the beautiful church that covers the site of the first century house and the dungeon below where Jesus spent his last night before dying on the cross. We heard a devotion encouraging us to remember that the same grace that was sufficient for Peter, who denied Jesus three times in the high Priest's courtyard, is sufficient for us.  We sang Amazing Grace in response to this good news.

Before we knew it the sun was setting and we were ready for our warm hotel rooms and dinner and one last night in the holiest of all cities.

Tomorrow we commune at the Garden Tomb and reflect upon the resurrection as we prepare for our final dinner together and a late, late departure from Ben Gurion Airport to home. 

Shalom.

Israel: Day 6 
We title today: Two Rainbows Over Jerusalem.  Of course to have rainbows you have to have rain.  And we had rain.  Fortunately though it occurred in the afternoon after we had already descended the Mount of Olives and visited the "Wailing" Wall. 

The day began with standing atop the Mount of Olives and receiving a lesson from Andre on Jerusalem geography.  Once we got our bearings we pondered the great Pilgrim Psalm, Psalm 122 and prayed for the peace of Jerusalem.  We descended to the place where Jesus paused in his triumphant entry to pray and weep over Jerusalem.  Our devotion encouraged us to consider our own journeys and what Christ was calling us to do as he says, "Follow me."

We proceeded down to the bottom of the Mount to the Garden of Gethsemane.  We paused before the ancient olive trees in the garden and imagined where Jesus may have knelt and prayed for the cup to pass and for God's will to be done. Our devotion challenged us in our own prayer lives and how we might trust God for the strength and guidance we need. 

Then it was on to the Old City of Jerusalem where we visited what some call the Wailing Wall, but what the people of Israel call simply The Wall. Perhaps the holiest of all Jewish sites. Each took their turn before the 2000 year old stones and prayed.  From there we toured the foundations of the original first century Temple through the Western Wall tunnel and saw cut stones 50 million tons big. King Herod knew how to build!!!

As the rain began that was our cue for lunch.  But  on our way we looked behind us to see a rainbow rising in the sky, arching over the Temple Mount reminding us again that God never gives up on us. 

We spread ourselves around the Jewish Quarter for some sandwiches. After lunch and on our way to the bus we saw another rainbow higher in the sky -- as if to say, "Don't forget!"  We loaded up and traveled to the Israel Museum and viewed the Shrine of the Book which contains exhibits of the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls. Original fragments are on display.

We ended the day with a sobering visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial and Museum.  The exhibits are nearly overwhelming with the suffering of so many at the hands of the Nazi's.  Man's inhumanity to man.  The final exhibit was the Children's Memorial, a darkened room with endless points of light.  Each point a reflection from one light.  I couldn't help think of God pointing Abraham to the star filled  sky and assuring him of the countless descendants he would someday have. 1.5 million children of the Holocaust - all points of light and sons and daughters of Abraham. 

Wet and tired we made our way back to the hotel with the abiding sense that the only light that can dispel the darkness is the light of Christ.  And our only hope - the God who made his promise to us in the rainbow. 

Shalom.

Israel: Day 5
A beautiful day greeted us again this morning at the Dead Sea.  We experienced a little of Israeli Sabbath last night and today with Shabbat elevators (no pushing buttons), and limited food services due to Sabbath restrictions.  We managed fine and were on our way at 8am to Masada.  We took a cable car up the mountain and spent a good portion of time learning about King Herod the Great and his penchant for palaces and security.  We pondered the story of the Jewish Zealots who retreated to this fortress in the face of the 66 A.D. Roman invasion.  The Romans laid siege to the the fortress for three years and finally built a ramp to ascend the heights and ram the walls.  All their effort, however, was met with the remains of the mass suicide of the Zealots who preferred death over captivity.

From Masada we journeyed north a few miles to En Gedi -  the lovely oasis in the midst of the Judean wilderness.  We were met with the bad news that a rock slide had closed the park to entry.  Preparing to return to the bus, we nevertheless stopped to listen to a wonderful devotion on Psalm 23. Immediately at the conclusion of the devotion they announced the reopening of the park!

Most of us hiked back into the cleft of the mountains to see the remarkable springs and waterfalls.  We paused and listened to the story of David sparing Saul in En Gedi and wondered to whom each of us owed mercy.

From En Gedi we journeyed north and west, leaving behind the wilderness and making our way to the big city.  With a swing through Jerusalem we passed through the Wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem (West Bank from Israel).  We stopped and had lunch at a sandwich shop and then proceeded to a large gift store to satisfy the shopping addiction of many. 

With shopping bags stuffed into our seats, we proceeded to the Church of the Nativity.  Andre explained  the three Christian traditions that maintain claims on the church - Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox.  We ended up visiting the cave where Jesus was born beneath the Roman Catholic Chapel.

From the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square we took a short ride to the Shepherd's Fields outside Bethlehem and explored some caves where likely the Bethlehem shepherds kept watch over their flocks by night.  We heard a lovely devotion from two of our group about the witness and worship of the shepherds.

We got to our hotel in Jerusalem after nightfall.  A busy and fulfilling day, to be sure!

Tomorrow: the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Old City. 

Shalom.

Israel: Day 4
We saw a shower of rain outside the window of our dining hall this morning.  It's badly needed for the region.  However, by the time we got to the bus the skies cleared and we were on our way south to the Dead Sea with many stops along the way.

Our first stop was at the Crusader Fort Belvoir.  Belvoir means "good view", and we were not disappointed. The view over the Jordan Valley was breathtaking.  The ruins of this incredible structure revealed a seemingly impenetrable fortress complete with a moat and a double walled interior.  We couldn't imagine any enemy with a chance of being able to storm such ramparts.

From Belvoir we proceeded down the Jordan Valley to the ancient city of Jericho.  We toured the excavation sight of the Canaanite city that Joshua and the Israelites conquered as they entered the Promised Land.  Remnants of the crumbled walls made the Biblical story come alive.  We also recalled how Jesus broke down the walls surrounding a man named Zacchaeus and reclaimed him as a son of Abraham.

Just a few mile east is the site of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River.  We listened to one of our own share a devotional reading there and then we reaffirmed our baptism by reciting together the Apostles' Creed and wading in the waters of the Jordan.  An unforgettable moment.

Then it was off to lunch and some shopping for Dead Sea products.

Andre, our guide, took us on a most informative tour of Qumran - the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery.  Over 900 scrolls were found here in 1947.  They date back to the time of Jesus and confirm the accuracy of many of our Old Testament texts. 

Then we drove further south to our hotel along the shores of the Dead Sea.  Most quickly checked into their rooms and made their way to swim, er float, in the buoyant salty waters.  Others enjoyed the pool and spa.  We gathered for a delicious dinner in the dining hall and celebrated with thanksgiving and laughter what a great trip we've enjoyed so far.

Tomorrow we are on our way to Masada, En Gedi, Bethlehem and Jerusalem!!!

Shalom.

Israel: Day 3
Another beautiful morning greeted us today.  After a hearty breakfast we made our way to the top of the Arbel Cliff overlooking the Gennesaret Valley and the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.  We took in a spectacular view of the region where Jesus performed most of his ministry.  From there we traveled north to the ancient ruins of the Canaanite city of Hazor.  This was one of the towns the Israelites conquered in their effort to occupy the Promised Land. 

From Hazor we made our way toward the Lebanese border to Tel Dan - a beautiful nature preserve.  Most of us made the hike through the luscious woods along the raging headwaters of the Jordan River.  At the end of the trail we came upon the remains of the altar and high place (Shechem) of the northern tribes of Israel instituted and constructed by the renegade King Jeroboam. 

From there it was on to lunch at a roadside cafe.

The afternoon brought a visit to Caesarea Philippi where Jesus took inventory of the disciples with his question, "Who do you say that I am?". It gave Peter the opportunity to answer with the first profession of faith of the disciples, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God."

On our way back toward the shores of Galilee we traveled along the Golan Heights, the region captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 War.  We stopped for some pictures of the border, the U.N. Station and the general region where, just last week, Syrian tanks happened into.

Then it was to the edge of the Sea of Galilee where we visited the Church of the Loaves and Fishes wherein is found beautiful mosaic floors including the famous basket of four loaves and two fish (the undepicted fifth loaf is said to be the bread of life, the Body of Christ that is consecrated on the altar above).

We completed our day at St. Peter's Primacy - right on the shore of the Sea.  We read that great story from John 21 and remembered together Jesus asking Peter, "Do you love me more than these?"  Supposing Jesus' question was an attempt to call Peter away from the old life of fishing to the new life of tending Christ's sheep,  we each took time alone to wonder what new life Christ was calling us to. 

From those quiet moments it was back to the active city of Tiberias and dinner.  Hard to believe one day can top another, but they keep seeming to! 

Shalom.

Israel: Day 2
We are back to our home at the Gai Beach Hotel in Tiberias after a very full day of pilgrimage.  We began in Nazareth with a visit to the beautiful Church of the Annunciation.  We toured the grotto upon which the church is built, which tradition names as the site where Mary received the announcement from the Angel Gabriel that she would bear the Son of God.

From Nazareth we went a short distance to the ancient city of Sepphoris, a Roman city in the time of Jesus that one can imagine that he and his father visited for the purposes of their carpentry trade.

We enjoyed lunch in the town of Magda (from which Mary Magdalene came). Many tried the Galilee fish - Tilapia.  From lunch we sailed upon the Sea of Galilee and pondered the story of Jesus calming the storm on the sea.  Upon our return we ascended the Mount of Beatitudes and reflected upon Jesus' teachings amidst the beautiful grounds there. 

We ended the day with a visit to the ancient town of Capernaum which Jesus used as the home base of his ministry.  The walls of the disciple Peter's house remain there, as well as the foundation of the synagogue where Jesus taught and healed.  We read from Mark 1 and imagined the story coming alive. 

An amazing day full of close encounters with the living and powerful God!

Tomorrow we travel north to Caesarea Philippi and the Golan Heights.

Blessings and Shalom.

Israel: Day 1
We completed the first great day of  our pilgrimage through the Holy Land.  After safely arriving from our overnight transatlantic flight, we slept on the shores of the Mediterranean in Tel Aviv.  A lovely hotel and great food!

Today we stopped at the beautiful seaport of Joppa, south of Tel Aviv.  We meditated upon the story of Peter's vision of the sheet and animals that prompted him to begin spreading the good news to the Gentiles, and the story of Jonah and his effort to flee God's call by boarding a ship at Joppa. 
We then journeyed to Caesarea Maritime and saw the ruins of the great Roman city built by Herod the Great.  This is also where Peter shared the gospel with the Gentile Cornelius.

After lunch we ascended Mount Carmel and reflected upon the story of Elijah and his contest with  the prophets of Baal.  Lastly, we toured the amazing ruins of Tel Meggido and considered the 25 layers of civilization that have dwelt there over the last 7000 years.

Now we take our dinner and rest alongside the Sea of Galilee and prepare to walk the steps of Jesus tomorrow.

Pray for us!