Israel Week 3 – Kids, Heat, Hip-high Weeds
This week was dominated by my time at the Sisters of Bethlehem convent in Deir Rafat in the Judean foothills near Jerusalem. I had been recruited as a warm body to help with the youth (teenagers) camp that ran Monday through Thursday. This is during their long Passover break—the kids get three weeks off of school, like our spring break.
Israel Week 2 – Adjustments, Jerusalem, Killer Cactus
I’ve found some time to get back into my Hebrew textbook. Shena added me to her Pimsleur group account, which is an online language learning program. I’m not sure I’ll get time to log in every day, but every little bit helps. I bought two huge purple cabbages, and rice and eggs and decaf coffee. I knew I could get chocolate here (and there’s lots!), but I’m glad I stuffed the empty spaces in my luggage with my favourite chocolate from Canada—it’s a bit of home with every bite, and makes easy gifts.
Israel Week 1 – Gardens, Hebrew Mass, Capernaum
The House of St. Abraham parish grounds is a city lot with one large multi-purpose building. City permits in Beer Sheva do not allow for churches or mosques, so the worship space is a lovely chapel built on the ground floor of the house. All the walls and floors of the chapel are hard, so even a few people make for a nice sounding crowd. Honestly, the quality of the room’s longer reverb is outstanding, and a pleasure to listen to.
Isaiah 50 – Better start early
“Rising early” is a major biblical theme. When you aim for far-reaching effect, one needs to begin the implementation of it early. Like first thing in the morning if you wish to be attentive and make the day’s impact great. An idea so grandiose as resurrection needs an early start.
Jeremiah 31 – The days of new remembrance
Ancient Israel knew that one could not become morally pure simply by acting out rote commands. Something new brings about the total forgiveness of iniquity, and the eternal no-remembering of sin. The theatre of action becomes the heart, and the interior work of God’s Spirit will move ahead to forge a deeper relationship between human and divine.
2 Chronicles 36 – A remedy for moral decay
This story, like all stories in the Bible, doesn’t just communicate facts, it communicates meaning. Our author wants to tell us the meaning of Jerusalem’s destruction, not just data about it. We’ll reach back to our studies in Leviticus to help us understand some the author’s images and how the Chronicler structures his message.
Exodus 20 – Command the story
This list of Ten Words is part of the Torah, the five books of Moses, which is a long story, and so they play a narrative role. Each Word can function as a topical heading, or entryway into a longer discussion. From there we can use them as references to remember moments in the big story, both theirs and ours.
Genesis 22 – Grace Not Withheld
“Withhold” in Hebrew sounds like Issac’s name. The author is pairing these two words to draw our attention to his point: the father is not to withhold his only beloved son in the quest to bless all nations of the earth. For our benefit, God will challenge us—sometimes quite severely—to offer our most precious things to him, in exchange for something better.
Genesis 9 – Patience in the Flood
The world was then a huge earth-sized mess of war, bloodshed and violence. Humanity had entirely bailed on its responsibilities given in Eden to serve and preserve life on the earth. God didn’t make the mess, but he was going to clean it up, and provide the way forward.
Leviticus 13 – An Offense Uncovered
This passage is a study-within-a-study: a disorder, a pronouncement of “unclean”, a life lived in exile. As an object of meditation, we’ll let our attention be drawn to our Exemplar’s uncovered head and his own self-pronouncement. Then we’ll listen to a poet’s own meditations on this passage and continue the journey ever inward, toward wisdom and insight, and ultimately, toward God.