Idle and Blessed

There's an absolutely perfect and stunningly beautiful courtyard tucked away over by Freeman Hall that is impossible for humans to access because there is no door. There is NO DOOR. I suppose we are supposed to be content to see it through the windows. Maybe the biggest tragedy about Belmont. I am going to be homeless in August because I can't seem to work out an apartment situation. I have absolutely no idea what God is saying to me about this summer, about Russia. I want to go and yet feel hesitant and I am clueless about what to do. Sometimes life is kind of like being in Freeman Hall and looking out the window and seeing the perfect courtyard you can't get to.

С пасхой! Happy Easter! I was wondering this morning, when I was sitting outside listening to the birds sing their symphonies, why the Lord chose to die in the Spring. I mean, I know there are reasons like Passover is in the Spring and Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover and stuff like that, but why, in God's sovereignty, did He choose the season most closely associated with joy, love, and life to die on a cross for us? There are probably a lot of very insightful answers to this question, but I just wondered something very simple. I wondered if maybe He was helping us realize that the point was not death but life, not darkness but light; the point is that He rose three days later. Because in our "Jesus died for me" church culture, it's easy to make that an afterthought. The Spirit has been drawing my attention more to the resurrection this season than in some years past. He's been drawing me to the fact that Jesus isn't in the Church of the Holy Sepulche...

God's been teaching me a whole lot lately. And by lately I mean since the day I left for Israel. He is always teaching me, of course, but there have been plenty of weeks the past year when I haven't been listening. So I guess He got my attention in a lot of ways by interrupting my semester to bring me to Israel. He's rearranging me. My view of Scripture and how to read it. My understanding of the Christian faith. My understanding of the Jewish faith. My priorities and convictions and the things that occupy my mind daily. All of this has gradually been changing since coming to college and studying religion, but for some reason this particular season of change is different. I remember my first "crisis" of the religion major sort, last semester, when Steve had us reading Tillich and studying liberal theology. All the sudden I was face to face with something I was insulated from in the evangelical protestant tradition: the fact that I cannot KNOW anything about God, n...

We started off Day 7 at the Temple Mount. I wasn't very happy to be awake and walking around that day, to be honest, because of the cold weather and information overload and need for sleep. But once we got started, it ended up being a fantastic day. From the time of the 638 AD Muslim occupation in Israel, the entire Temple Mount has been a Muslim holy site. Of course, before that it was a Jewish holy site dating way back to Solomon's Temple. So now, although Israel once again politically "owns" the Temple Mount, the Muslims have jurisdiction over what happens there, hence the presence of a mosque and the Dome of the Rock. The Dome of the Rock is the third holiest site in the world for Muslims (have I already said this?...), believed to be the site where Muhammad ascended into heaven. The Western Wall, right off the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in the world for Jews. And the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to be the site where Jesus was crucified, is the ho...

So remember how I said yesterday I want to live in Jerusalem? I was just kidding. Today we walked through a lot of the Old City and the City of David, seeing most of the sites connected with the last few days of Jesus' life. The Jewish quarter was nice, but the Muslim quarter was stressful, and all those little alleyways and market streets made me nervous. It was definitely a different view of this city. It's getting harder and harder to focus and stay interested because of 1) being tired towards the end, and 2) what we're seeing here is foreign to my spiritual understanding. What I mean by that is that the churches built over every special rock and house here seem so weird to me. They don't help me focus on Jesus or the history of what happened there. They make me focus on Catholicism, or Greek Orthodoxy, but not really Jesus. Shmulik said today that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (the church built on the supposed site of Jesus' cross) has become a "monument...

So yes, I have been taking a break from blogging just to hold you all in suspense and build your anticipation for a post such as this one. Get ready for a whirlwind review of three long touring days. You have not waited in vain, I assure you. So if I can rewind my brain that far, day 4 was Gideon Springs, Bet She'an, Qumran, and En Gedi. Gideon Springs is the site of the story of Judges 6-7, when Gideon chooses an army with which to oppose the Midionites. We had the privilege of hearing Charlie Dyer speak there (the dude who WROTE our traveler's guide), and he taught us the story of Gideon and about how when the angel came and told him to prepare an army, he was freaked out and asked for a sign. Not a good idea, but God provides a sign. Gideon is still freaked out and asks for another sign (the fleece...go read the story, but that's where we get the phrase "Gideon's fleece"). Again, not a good idea to test the God of Israel, but God does it. I can just imagine...

*I wrote this last night, at the end of Day 3. It's definitely easier to write posts at night and put them up in the morning, so that's probably what I'll keep doing...* Shabbat Shalom! I’m so frustrated with my exhaustion level, because it’s starting to affect my ability to write and process and journal and pray about what I’m experiencing. But my body is making it clear that traveling across eight time zones and hitting the ground running with nine-hour-long touring days is not cool. Hopefully I’ll get to bed a little early tonight. But if you’re interested in a prayer request or two, my tiredness would be one. Also, my ankles have stayed swollen since we got off the plane, which never happens to me. I’m trying to drink more water. Shmulik, our delightful tour guide, could use some prayer as well, because he’s guiding despite a perpetual fever. Other than that, I don’t think we have any sickness in the group, thank goodness! With three days down, we are all starting to g...