by Greg | Feb 13, 2013 | Blog Posts
Today we begin the forty day journey of Lent. It is a journey that will lead us – followers and stragglers of Jesus – to the cross. The cross was at one time a symbol of terror and domination. Its purpose was to strike fear and imperial suppression against anyone who dared to threaten Rome. One man did, and suffered beneath the cross. Through the centuries since the crucifixion of Jesus the cross has been elevated from a symbol of torture and defeat, to the marking of disciples. The cross has been adorned, decorated, beautified, trivialized, but also has served to indentify and set apart believers. During Lent I will be sharing different shapes the cross has taken, along with some of its symbolic meanings. Regardless of how we see and picture the cross, we have been invited to bear the cross and follow Jesus. It is the only way to Easter. On Ash Wednesday young and old are invited to come forward and by marked with the cross in ashes. We share the words, “…you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19) We are surrounded by silly symbols of our anxieties that oftentimes are manifested in over-consumption and violence. Yet we are all, in the end, destined to be no more than a can of ashes on this earth. Ash Wednesday and Lent call on us to ignore the anxious voices that cannot believe in anything but the self, and listen to the voice of the One, who out of dust, breathed in each the breath of life. There will come a day when our...
by Greg | Feb 8, 2013 | Blog Posts
How do you picture forgiveness? Are you in need of forgiveness? Do you struggle to forgiven another? Why do we need to forgive? For Lent (and two weeks prior to Lent) I am focusing for my Wednesday evening Bible Study as series on “Faces of Forgiveness.” Below are my notes for the last two weeks. Please overlook grammatical and spelling errors. We know about it and we hear about it and sometimes we see it, but do we believe it? In 2006 the Amish community in Pennsylvania had a school shooting that killed five children. They went very public with their need to forgive. Or… Do you recall when the now infamous runaway bride of Duluth returned home, talk radio pundits and the call in public took their shots and jabs, but the fiancé spoke of forgiveness. And the media and public alike ridiculed him, as if such an act was a sign of stupidity. Forgiveness? Does it really exist? Or maybe it would be better to say is it really possible? I am convinced that at the root of any poisoned or broken relationship is the failure to forgive. Please understand this: for the Christian believer, forgiveness is not an option, it is rarely easy, it does not come natural, and it will be hard work. What did Jesus say about Forgiveness? Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors… 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 18:...
by Greg | Jan 23, 2013 | Blog Posts
There and Back Again” is the subtitle to J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of hobbits, goblins and wizards in The Hobbit. There and back again has been my theme after ten days of travel through the Holy Land, seeing where the Bible comes alive over the rolling waters of the Sea of Galilee and the bustling streets of Jerusalem. Our group had wandered far and now we have wandered home. One of the things I like about traveling is enjoying local foods. In Texas I appreciate beef barbeque (no substitute for pork, but it will do). In India I could not get my fill of curry. I do not need to even comment on the sheer volume of raw oysters I consume when vacationing near Apalachicola. I have never had goulash like I ate in Hungary. Readers of my blog know that while wandering through the Holy Land I did not tire of pita bread, falafel, hummus and other tahini laced dishes. No matter where I wander off to, however, it is always good to wander back home. Give me biscuits and country-fried steak and I know that I am at home. Wherever you find yourself wandering, I say wander with a purpose. God has created a wonderful world for us to see and experience. The psalmist sings: “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (24.1) You do not have to touch the Jordan River or pray at the Western Wall to be closer to God. You just need to look up, look around, and look forward for God is before you...
by Greg | Jan 17, 2013 | Blog Posts
Today was our “free” day which meant to guided tours (or tour buses) and only breakfast and suppers was scheduled. In spite of having good intentions to sleep in, I was up and at it after six hours rest. Apparently everyone else was too because our folks were all having breakfast by 7:30. I cannot speak for the others but I spent the day primarily wandering the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem. Most others were doing the same because I ran into folks I knew throughout the day. This was also a time to catch up on buying last minute knick-knacks. One merchant wanted to sell me an item that started out at $120. By the time I left his shop he sold it to me for $25. In another store a merchant wanted $35 for an item and even though he blocked the doorway from me exiting I walked out and he chased me down the street to sell it to me for the $5 I originally set. By the time we all returned (or most of us anyway!) for supper, everyone was chattering excitedly about their adventures. Tonight we packed up and prepared for our flight home. This will be my last blog entry for our Holy Land Wanderings. Thank you all for reading and sharing in our great pilgrimage. this has been extraordinarily special to share this place and journey with so many from our church. I am blessed...
by Greg | Jan 16, 2013 | Blog Posts
I have noticed that I have been posting the wrong date corresponding with the actual event – sorry about the confusion. This article is about yesterday’s travels on the 15th (of course who knows what day my body thinks it is. The sermon this Sunday should be interesting to say the least!) This is the day that everyone realizes that touring the Holy Land is hard work even if it is on an airconditioned Coach and not a camel. Nevertheless we were determined to make our last day of pilgrimage (tomorrow is a free day) and good one. It turned out to be a great one. We traveled to Masada, the site of the fortress built by Herod the Great. A century later Jewish zealots, the Sicarii, occupied it during their revolt against the Romans. The fortress occupies the top of an impressive, free-standing rock some 1300 feet above and two-and-a-half miles on the western side of the Dead Sea. Masada is not mentioned in the Bible, but is famous in Jewish history. In 73 AD, 960 Sicarii occupied the fortress and chose to die by their own hands, rather than allow capture by the Romans. According to Jewish historian Josephus, they “chose death rather than slavery…” and carried out their resolve “neither to serve the Romans nor anyone else except God.” The morning after the mass suicide the Romans broke through the fortress and, instead of facing a battle, were met by silence. It has become a national shrine for Israelis, who commemorate their sacrifice. Beginning with Herod the Great it remained occupied until the fifth or sixth...
by Greg | Jan 15, 2013 | Blog Posts
Either I am staying too late or these nights are getting too short or I am just getting too tired. Nevertheless breakfast, no matter how early, calls my name and I obey its call everyday. Most days in Jerusalem that is at 6:30AM. Our group is holding up very well. Yesterday began with a quick bus ride to Yad Vashem, The name means “a name and a place,” and it is taken from Isaiah 56:5 – I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Yad Vashem is an archive, research institute, museum, and most importantly, a memorial of the more than six million who died in the Nazi Holocaust. It was a somber way to start the day, but the visit was an important one. Throughout the museum we deal with history and the pathos of humanity. We are also given the chance to reflect and hopefully look ahead. In fact the exit of the museum opens out onto a large sweeping porch that overlooks the city of Jerusalem. It was a marked contrast to leave the reflective morning of the museum to enter once again into the marketplace. In this case we visited an antiquities dealer whose family helped preserve the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. The Kando family has a display of one of the clay jars whose contents included the scroll of Isaiah. We made our way to a Kibbutz and enjoyed a meal together. As I have written in the past,...
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