Open Mike

Bible Always Happens Where Somebody Lives: Holy Land Days 3-5

If there's one thing we're learning in the Holy Land, its that 'everything in the Bible happened in the PLACE that it did...for a reason.'  New vistas of understanding and connection are opening up for me and my fellow sojourners as we connect PLACE to the events and people of God's self-revelation through the Bible.  Here's what our experiential classroom looks like (in a hill fort ruin in the Negev called Arad):

Day 3: Camels in Petra, Snorkeling in the Red Sea

We visited the ancient desert city of Petra (in modern Jordan).  This lay along the route that Moses took the Israelites when they moved north from the desert to FINALLY enter the promised land through Jericho.  In Bible times, it was called Edom.  Petra is one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, a city carved into stone, hidden in remarkable inaccessible canyons. Here's the end of the mile long narrow entry canyon (the Siq) with a glimpse of the city:

The Nabateans made and inhabited this place 3rd century BC -300 AD (ish). After passing between various rulers, the city was lost to outside history for 500 years, hidden by bedouins from outside eyes, until the 1800's, and was recently popularized by the 3rd Indiana Jones movie.  Me, Angie and Karen Murdock toured this former city of 30,000 with a little help (the building is The Treasury, the most beautiful but not the largest in this canyon town):

When I see such marvelous cultural creations of mankind, I think of Psalm 8:5 "You have made humankind a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor."

We left Petra and crossed back into Israel (a harrowing ordeal - those dudes have reason to be serious about security - more than one of our group were strip-searched - this trip is not for weenies), and finished the day snorkeling a coral reef in the Red Sea:

Day 4: Tabernacle in Sinai and Sin in the Desert of Zin:

We are STILL in the desert, rehearsing the formation of the Israelite people and their identity as God's people in the desert for 40 years, before going into the Promised Land. Hiking in and out of some of our sites we've gotten hot, sweaty, a few overcome by heat for a little while, heat related exhaustion at night, etc.  We've had to constantly hydrate, and were specifically taught to check the color of our pee to see if we are ok or in a danger zone :)

We are learning that 'desert' and 'wilderness' and 'shade' and 'water' and 'thirst' and 'springs' and 'this way leads to death this way leads to life' and 'follow me and live' are not metaphorical images to make poetic points in the Bible.  They are concrete realities in which Israel was placed in order to experientially learn who God is and what it means to depend upon God for life.

We began the day at Timnah Park in the northern Sinai wilderness, sitting on a ridge we'd hiked up, watching morning blossom over the desert, while diving into serious Bible lessons for the first time (we ramped slowly into this, now we are taking notes multiple times daily).  One subject - typology in the Bible - certain events, names, places are repeated, come back again and again like waves on the shore throughout the Bible, in order for God to communicate certain themes to us with increasing subtlety and breadth, to prepare us to receive the fullness of truth, Jesus the Messiah.

We then toured a major early source of biblical typology, the Tabernacle.  In Sinai, Israel was a pilgrim people with their God now living among them, in a tent like theirs, except on a larger scale (God's tent has a table with bread, etc.).  God's presence with them moves from being episodic (Abraham up until the Exodus) to consistent.  A life-sized, one-to-one model has been constructed from the detailed architectural plans given by Moses in Exodus chapters 25-30. The guide walked us through the intricate symbolical details of each part - wow.  I hope I get to teach this sometime upon our return!  Here's the Tabernacle set in the Sinai desert, in a place precisely, or near, where Moses brought the children of Israel during their 40 years of wandering:

We then hiked through the only consistent water source in the just-north-from-Sinai desert of Zin.  This is the exact area where Moses disobeyed God, trusted in his own way, and was therefore forbidden by God to enter the Promised Land.  Self-sufficiency (I know how to do this my way, God's way doesn't make as much sense) and pride (if I do it my way the people will look to me more firmly as God's mediator, rather than just to God) were two of his motivations that I can identify with, perhaps you can too if you read the account in Numbers 20. 

But a geological detail makes all the difference in the world for understanding this passage, otherwise God seems to overreact.  Here's the interpretive key if you read it (which we learned in our canyon classroom): every shepherd in that area knew how to draw water from a rock by striking it with their rod (its a long story and has to do with seepage and different layers of rock), to do so was no miracle and did not involve trusting God.  I'll give the details in our evening lecture later this fall.  Here's LFC elder TJ Haycox climbing the path and ladders out of the wadi (gorge) that holds the springs of Zin where Moses zinned big-time:

We then visited the ruins of Arad in the Negev, which is a third geologically different band of wilderness on the way out of the desert toward Jerusalem.  We then drove FINALLY into Jerusalem that evening, and walked our luggage into the old town to stay four nights in Knights Palace, originally a Crusader Castle, then an Orthodox Christian Monastery, recently converted into a hotel with serious character (standing knight suits of armor in the halls, a continuously used chapel downstairs, vaulted stone ceilings, wow).

Day 5: We began by meeting the High Priest of the Samaritans and ended at the Wailing Wall

Our morning drive took us past Shiloh, where David placed the tabernacle after becoming king over all Israel.  As we drove we learned about the 12 tribes of Israel and their geographically-derived boundaries, how and why the 12 spies from Joshua misread the data and misled Israel to NOT take the promised land when they first arrived from Egypt, and much more.

Our second stop was Samaria, where we met and learned from today's High Priest of the Samaritans at a museum.  There are only 770 of them left in the world (the more familiar you are with the Bible, the more you may know about their origin). We then gathered on the top of Mt Gerizim, where the Samaritans worshipped (John 4) and learned about Joshua bringing Israel here (way before the Samaritans) when they first began to conquer the Promised Land to make their full covenant with God.  At the same time we could look down the mount and see the excavation of Shechem, where God made his covenant with Abraham - to bless him and his family, that he be a blessing to the nations.  By the time of the Moses/Joshua covenant, we learn (in Deuteronomy) the content of Israel's 'blessing to the nations' is that they attractively model for the gentiles who God is, the one true good God, so they can know God too.  So this mountain is the place of covenant. 

We also looked down from there and saw Jacob's Well, which he dug two generations after Abraham, and which has remained a definitively attested specific well ever since (the only ancient one in the area).  And guess what happened THERE in the New Testament (places, events and people come back around in the Bible like waves)?  Jesus met the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, recounted in John 4.  And declared HE is the Messiah, the one who will fulfill the Mosaic and Abrahamic covenants on behalf of God and man, giving man the blessings and taking on, as God, the cursings due us for covenant/relationship unfaithfulness toward God.  I wish I could tell you the entire content - it blew our hot, dehydrated, pita-filled minds.

Then we went down to Jacob's Well.  Its in a 1,000 year old Crusader chapel, now surrounded by a larger newer Greek Orthodox (beautiful) cathedral.  We all reverently touched the ledge around the well and took turns cranking the bucket 180 feet down, and drawing water back up.  We were each deeply moved to be in this precise place where our Savior sat. And drank water.  And told a woman supposedly outside the covenant, outside of relationship with God, where to find that living water.  And as a result (read John 4) a bunch of Samaritans became followers of Jesus.  But not yet today's Samaritan High Priest - he told us he is still waiting for the Messiah (the pictures are a sign outside the cathedral, bucket with the water Jesus drank, my hand worshipfully resting on the well):

(ran out of time for other well pics and for TJ Haycox in desert of Zin - next time!)

We then visited another amazing site that I won't take the space to describe, but wow.  Then for our first true sight in Jerusalem - back to the old city.  We arrived at the Wailing Wall as the sun went down on Friday - this is the beginning of the Jewish sabbath (measured sundown to sundown).  This wall is the only physical remainder of the last Jewish temple, visted often by Jesus, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.  Today, it is a site for prayer - women on one side, men on the other.  Most notable are the Orthodox Jewish men in their traditional black garb and hats, repeatedly reading from their Bible as a prayer in front of the wall. Second most notable is that Jews, Christians and other tourists from around the world come, pray, and write their prayers on slips of paper which they stuff into cracks in the wall.

We spend 45 minutes watching Sabbath arrive, each experiencing it as we wished.  I first watched a group of Jews do a joyful/mournful dance while clapping and singing and holding hands in a circle. 

Then I sat and prayerfully watched the men praying at the wall.  I wrote a prayer of thanksgiving to God, and of petition on behalf of my sons, my wife, and our church.  And I prayed with my head against the wall.

Tears came gently for most of that time.  In gratitude for the fact that before the Incarnation of God becoming man, that God chose to in a sense incarnate himself among us in Israel through the events, people and places of the Old Testament. I wept for joy over the revelations of the goodness of God in this very place, Jerusalem, over those centuries.  As NT Wright has observed, I felt the memory of the stones and the city, and rejoiced with it.  I also wept a bit for longing - that all would know this good God who offers redemption for all through Jesus, including all in my sight at that moment.  And I shed a tear of determination - to be a willing, humble, obedient servant to fulfill my role in the fulfillment of the purpose of my own election/being chosen by God/graced with faith by God - to see God's blessing extend to all people and all nations, by telling and doing the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel.

 

Days 1& 2: Refuge in the Desert, Life-Giving Death

Monday Day 1: (I will send these Holy Land travelogues every 2-3 days, full of mostly pictures - right-click and select 'download pictures' if you'd like to see them; I'm not going to take time to reflect or pontificate much - just observe, until I return)

Qumran:God Preserves His Word:

We began at Qumran, the 1st century AD Jewish community that hid their Bible scrolls as the Romans attacked them. Known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, they were discovered in caves like this one behind us just 70 years ago. Most remarkably, until then the most ancient manuscript we had for the Old Testament was from 900 AD. The Qumran manuscripts of much of the Old Testament, written from 100BC-100AD, validated that our Bible had been transmitted and copied accurately for all those centuries in between and deepened our knowledge of the texts.

Ein Gedi: Refuge in the Desert:

Next was Ein Gedi, in the middle of the wilderness between the Dead Sea and the heights of Judea. Have I mentioned yet it was 107 degrees? We hiked a ways up a ravine that turned into a beautiful, hidden oasis of waterfalls and streams. Ein Gedi is the only flowing water for miles around, and is where David hid from King Saul when he was on the run (I Samuel 23:29, 24). Dr. Laniak tells us everything in the Bible taught about God is not philosophical, it is language that comes directly from people’s lived experience in real places. In this case, I Sam 23 names Ein Gedi as David’s “stronghold” and "refuge" from Saul. David apparently wrote one or two Psalms while camped there, meditatively turning the experience into Psalms 57 & 142, wherein he calls God his “stronghold”…

I Samuel 23:29, 24:1-3 "And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi. When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” ² Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks. ³ And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself..." (you can read the rest of the story for yourself!)

Psalm 57:1,2   "To the choirmaster: according to tune of Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.    Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge, in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,  till the storms of destruction pass by.I cry out to God Most High..."

Masada:  Stronghold Against Enemies: We also toured Masada on Day 1 – the site where the last 1,000 Jewish rebels held out against Rome’s might after Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. This event is not recounted in the Bible, but its fascinating history and teaches us much about Judaism and messianic expecations around the time of Jesus in Israel.

Dead Sea: We ended the day with a dip in the Dead Sea – the lowest point on earth (1,200 feet below sea level, part of the Great Rift that extends through Africa).  Because it has no outlet, its high in salt and mineral content.  Which is good for healing and skin care – people come here like going to a spa.  But its disgusting for normal ‘swimming.’ If the 'water' gets on your mouth or eyes it will burn terribly.

Tuesday Day 2:

Wadi Rum: We stayed last night in Aqaba, Jordan and began the day in the deserts of Wadi Rum.  This is one area near which Moses led the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the desert (called Ezion Geber in the Bible), and is similar to Sinai.
It Takes Blood to Atone for Sin:  We drove out to an arranged meeting with the members of a Bedouin tribe to spend the day.  First, we experienced a death.  In front of our eyes they killed the goats that would serve as our afternoon meal.  Our guides talked us through this - how the scriptures are clear that all sin requires blood for atonement and eternal life, just as much of our daily life sustenance is accomplished through the shedding of innocent blood.  And the Israelites were familiar with the blood sacrifice regularly of animals they had raised and named themselves.  However, we urban and suburban westerners are distanced from the gritty reality of what the shedding of blood is actually like (Dr. Laniak said it much prettier and deeper than that).  The hand killing of these goats, in the manner the Israelites would have sacrificed them at the temple, was quite sobering.  We paused to pray and worship about such mysteries, and so great a salvation that God sacrificed his only Son so that we are healed by his blood.

I know, its not a pleasant picture.

Wandering with Lawrence of Arabia:  We took a three hour jeep ride through the desert wilderness in Wadi Rum, known for its rock formations and colorful sands.  It was glorious.  Desert beauty is a different kind of beauty.  We climbed a bit (here's Angie from her perch).

Hiked up a giant red sand dune, and viewed the "Seven Wise Pillars," peaks in the background so named by Lawrence of Arabia who headquartered near here and titled his book the same name (here are some of our group's wise pillars, including Lake Forest'ers Sue and Doug Falcone, Velda and Sam Frowine and Andy Muhich).

We returned to camp and ate the goat feast that had been cooked while we were away, got up and learned some Bedouin dancing, and spent an hour learning about Bedouin life.  We then drove to a hotel in Petra, Jordan in preparation for going to the ancient wonder that is Petra tommorrow.

Thank you for being interested in our journey - I hope YOU can make this pilgrimage one day. Perhaps?

We are all grateful for this opportunity.  In closing, here is a picture of Moses with his feet in the Red Sea last night!  I tried really hard, but could not part the waves.  Guess there's no blood relation after all between me and that other Moses.

 

Sermon Applications that Expire in 6 Days: Ways to Prepare for Easter

At it's best Lent leads us to have hearts prepared to say YES to Jesus in fresh ways. It's about the YES so much more than it's about saying no to things like chocolate, Facebook, or Cadbury eggs (I don't know if there's anyone passionate enough about their faith to say no to those eggs for Lent - now that would be something!).  The end of my sermon on Palm Sunday two days ago was full of specific application or 'what do I do with this Bible teaching.'  Except I was clear - these applications are for this week only!

So I offer to you several ways of practicing the intent of Lent this week, in order to arrive at Easter - the highest worship celebration known to Christians - with a prepared heart.  Prepared to say YES to Jesus as Lord, King, Friend and Savior in new ways. 

Watch out - a couple of years ago, one couple in our church practiced Lent and Holy Week observance for the first time (including Good Friday worship and a pre-Easter fast).  They tell of the worship that Easter Sunday being the most powerful of their lives due to preparedness of heart (not awesomeness of worship team and preacher).  They heard a specific word from the Lord they had been seeking for a year - each of them separately - during that service. Their lives are totally different today, in a God-centered way.

I'm just sayin', its a powerful thing to show up for gathered Easter worship with a spirit tha'ts been focused purposefully ahead of time, by more than a Hail Mary (Catholic) or 'arrow prayer' (Protestant) in the car on the way to church.  So here is the end of my sermon text, cleaned up a bit for the blog.  See you Friday evening and Sunday if you're an LFC tribes-woman or man.

What can we do to prepare our hearts to HOPE in Jesus?  This week, the application of today’s sermon is for THIS WEEK ONLY.  Because I want us to know the kind of king who has come, to have hearts and hopes placed on the savior and king GOD GAVE us, not the kind of kingWE WANT him to be.  We’ve talked about Lent and learning from our liturgical brothers and sisters in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Here are some ways of practicing Lent just this week - its not too late:

1. Read a Gospel this week (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) – either the accounts of Jesus' final week, or an entire gospel, Simply hear the voice of Jesus.

2. Experience solitude by praying the LFC Prayer Trail & Garden once.  Experience some solitude this week.  Even if its fifteen minutes.  Walk our prayer garden pathway (enter from the sign on the Gilead Rd sidewalk). I've prayed it several times now, and its more meaningful to me each time.  Pick up a cross, and let the instructions guide you.  It’s a way to interact with and enter the story of this holy week because the theme of the trail is the final week of Jesus.  Apply the prayers and scriptures to your own life.  Say no to your cell phone, facebook updates, others during that time.  Once this week 15-30 minutes.  Perhaps you feel God has been silent lately.  Listen, God hasn’t forgotten you, keep your hope in him.  And sometimes it is in the your own purposeful silence in His direction, the solitude and you are just there, that God can heal you in ways he can’t in the whirlwind that is your life.  Sometimes in the silence you weep, sometimes in the silence you pray, sometimes in the silence you just remember.  Remember that he is the king, that he is God, that he is your savior, and you need a savior. Perhaps you may choose to do this Saturday morning - our Men's Ministry is offering to lead men through the trail then. (Thanks to the Motley Crew Community Group, led by Angela Fletcher, and Jeff and Mandie Hathcock in particular, for the creation, construction and maintenance of this spiritual asset of our church!)

3. Fill your heart with worship songs all week.  If you can, fill your heart constantly with worship songs about Jesus this week.  I am replacing all of my normal music this week with worship music (it's led me to search for EDM worship music online - I'm sampling a lot on Sound Cloud).

4.Invite someone to Easter worship, someone who has ‘given up on church but not on God.’ This time next year some folks at LFC will be naming this Easter as the time they began their journey toward grace, toward knowing and following Jesus - and they will name you as the one who helped them show up to their starting line for faith.  (And hey, it would be GREAT if lots of you at LFC-H can worship at the 8am service, and as many as possible park across the street and leisurely walk over, especially if you are staying for two services to serve at one)

5. Attend LFC’s Good Friday service @ 6:30 pm.  Its quiet, and if you’ve never done it, you’ll be surprised at how it prepares you for Easter. It will include mostly scripture reading, song, and communion.

6. Fast from the end of the Good Friday worship service until Easter morning, to remember and identify with the sacrifice Jesus made.  Remember that its not about what you’re saying no to, its focused on saying yes to Jesus.  Perhaps while you are fasting would be the time for you to read a Gospel, in order to feed on the Word of God and Jesus, in place of physical food.  That's a way to emphasize that fasting is more about saying YES to God and God's Word than it is about saying no to food.  You could do a vegetables only fast, or a juice and water only fast.

Why I DO Go to Church

Donald Miller (who has spoken twice at our church) recently wrote a now famous/infamous piece titled "Why I Don't Go to Church Much."  Don is a good guy whom I like, and I assure you is privately authentic to what he teaches, in his life and relationships. I pretty much agree with every complaint and reason he has for not going to church. But I completely disagree with his action of not going to church (much).  Rather than arguing with Don...

Let me tell you Why I Go to Church.  I could give so many reasons (we have in our current sermon series "5 Reasons to Quit Church," and others more eloquent than I have given biblical, historical and sacramental reasons why Don's post was so surprisingly, for him, shallow), but I will give just one today.  Because I follow Jesus and want to be like Jesus in both his worldview AND his way of life.

Because Jesus saw fit to worship weekly with other people, in the synagogue, 'as was his custom.' Even though he of all people was aware of the jacked-up-ness of the group and the individuals and the 'system.' I want to be like Jesus.  So I don't over spiritualize or metaphoricalize the biblical teaching of Sabbath rest, God-centered community and worship to the point of it being meaningless and actionless (for the Bible scholars out there, that would be called gnostic or docetic-leaning Christianity, which surprised me in this instance to be so uncritically embraced by the Don). 

It was a concrete creational and salvation-history rhythm revealed by God at the beginning, delivered to Israel for the good of humankind and glory of God, and normative for Jesus - six days work and stuff, on the seventh day worship.  Gathered with a concrete communty of others (i.e. not three friends who happen to be hanging out at a firepit or bar and mention Jesus).  Repeat the rest of your life.

In this sense, Jesus was actually religious in a good way. "As was his custom, Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day." -Luke 4:16.  For all his radical rebooting of the worship of God, he humbly sumbitted himself to spiritual formation by worshipping in a specific place with an organized group of people who had imperfect leaders and a congregation full of people who disagreed with one another on many political, moral, and relational issues.  To honor God in song and prayer, to hear from God's eternal Word in the scriptures. Every week.  And thus it has remained the custom of followers of Jesus since the birth of the church.  Initially they continued weekly worship in synagogues, then when they were kicked out they immediately held their own weekly worship gatherings.

Like Jesus, they didn't all attend just because they kept 'getting something out of it every week' - which is in essence Don's primary reason for not going to church much, a disappointingly shallow reason that is not worth arguing with - the commenters on his blog have said more than enough.

This is the primary reason I go to weekly worship - because Jesus did.  NOT because I'm a pastor.  I became a pastor BECAUSE in studying the New Testament I fell in love with the church as the locus of God's mission, God's affection, and God's people in this world.  I repented of my low view of 'the church' up until the age of 27, and have loved every single local church I've been part of since, with its beauties and its disappointments.

The scriptures pretty much only know of 'the church' as a locally identified concrete group of people, for whom the center of their committed life together in Christ is a weekly gathering 'on the Lord's day.'  Whether small or large, in a house or a big honking building. 

One more note.  In my sermon last week I spent a bit of time on the way the book of Acts equates 'disciples' plural with one or more 'churches,' most clearly in Acts 14. This is to correct some today who say following Jesus is only about organically making disciples, not about forming churches - the Apostles showed those tasks are one and the same.  I will close todays post with that passage (friends I am going on vacation next week - when I return my next post will be on homosexuality).

“They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, ²² strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. ²³ Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”   Acts 14:21-23

Teaching not Preaching, in Synagogue and Church

The next two weeks I am teaching more than preaching.  Next week in a synagogue, this week in a Lake Forest classroom.

"Evil...Human or Divine?" is a lecture I've been invited to give at the Jewish Temple Beth El in Charlotte next Tuesday at 7pm.  Its an installment in the middle of their 2014 weekly comparative religion series, and I've been invited to give the Evangelical, or classical Christian view. I'm deeply honored by the invitation and have friends who worship there. I haven't written my talk yet (45 minutes of presentation, 45 minutes of question and answer).  But I know it will include my reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's lyrical account of creation and evil in the opening chapters of "The Silmarillion," St. Augustine's speculative account of the fall of the angels, and quotes from a Gordon-Conwell Seminary professor.  The lecture is open to anyone of any faith (others in this series have presented the Jewish, Unitarian, and Muslim perspective on the question).  Here is a link to the series info http://www.beth-el.com/comparativereligion.html

Tonight I begin the first of six weekly lectures (skipping next Tuesday because of my committment at Temple Beth El) on Church History at LFC at 7pm.  It's a challenge to telescope 2,000 years into six talks, but I'm excited to pass along this important subject.  What's awesome about this is I get to pay ZERO attention to presentation and 100% attention to content (my version of teaching).  In my preparation I've indulged the academic in me and have sub points to the sub points of my sub points.  And prolegommena (a word only a professor can love, or even know...it means 'what comes before' and is all the preliminary stuff you want to say before you get to the actual subject at hand.. the equivalent to Star Wars' 'A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...' typing at the beginning of each movie).  I know of a community group that is attending this class together, and a homeschool family as one of their classes.  Cool.  Its a great refresher for me.