It’s right up the hill I have an announcement to make: I have been appointed to serve as Director of the Lutheran Studies Program at Yale Divinity School by Dean Greg Sterling. http://divinity.yale.edu/admissions/lutheran Since interviewing to be pastor at Bethesda around this time four years ago, I asked, “what relationship Bethesda does […]
Continue ReadingGroaning in Gaza Psalm 38: 6-9 I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all day long I go around mourning. For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my […]
Continue ReadingJob took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. (Job 2:8) Ashes are associated with repentance. They make you humble, as you get down and dirty with them. Busy lives in our culture symbolize purpose, forward movement. We readily honor those who have appointments and commitments. Ash Wednesday and Lent […]
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The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom –Maya Angelou The Environmental Education Center in Beit Jala http://www.eecp.org/ wowed our group with its demonstration on how the environment is challenged. Invasive species […]
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St. Jerome called the land itself the Fifth Gospel. I always insist on proclaiming that wherever I am, like at my current congregation Bethesda, it is the New Jerusalem. What is it about the landscape, the water. the traditions, the edifices and chapels, and the ruins that assist the story of God? This is what […]
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Day 5 Considering Jesus November 15, 2013 When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14:26) For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been […]
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Day 2 Via Dolorosa November 14, 2013 We will glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, our life, and our resurrection. So go the words of a devotional service created by Franciscans to commemorate Jesus’ way of suffering. It goes by many names, Via Dolorosa in Latin, Stations […]
Continue ReadingDay 2 Arriving in Jerusalem November 13, 2013 Rejoice in Jerusalem We landed in Tel Aviv after our almost ten-hour flight, and found ELCA Global Mission staffer Julie Rossate ready to greet us. She has been my consultant for planning, and a valuable partner as a local resource. Julie and her husband Jeff coordinate the […]
Continue ReadingDay 1 Leave-taking November 12, 2013 Rejoice in Jerusalem Twenty-two of us leave today from Newark Airport to Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv. It is a direct flight, and takes over ten hours. We leave in the afternoon our time and arrive in the morning their time (though it will feel like the middle of […]
Continue ReadingRejoice in Jerusalem For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will […]
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