As we move from sacred site to holy ground, from the Sea, to the river to the stark landscapes, seeking all that is Jesus and his ministry, sometimes at a pace that can be overwhelming and not as reflective as we might have imagined, life in the 21st century continues on. I am finding that my pictures are of these special places but also of everyday life. The apartments with the water tanks on top and the AC units hanging on the outside wall.
The "Arab Fried Chicken" restaurant and the US Embassy - also known as McDonald's restuarant (Our guides joke). Young children counting "one, two" as the only English words they appear to know. Shops with amazing fruit in many boxes, all for sale. People waiting in line patiently as American tourists by water, snacks, and soda trying to figure out how many shekels equal a dollar.
The people in the shop, the kids playing in the yard, the people ignoring the bus of pilgrims who are putting a face and place to voices they've heard over the years while sitting in the church pews or their holy closets, reading the scriptures. Don't they understand this journey we are on? Don't they realize how blessed they are to be so close to these places?
In the midst of Nazareth we stop at the church of the Annunciation, a facility enlarged dramatically when a Pope visited and felt it deserved far greater attention than the somewhat small chapel that celebrated Mary's home when the Holy Spirit came to visit. Walking to and from the bus there are men playing backgammon, vendors sweeping in front of their shops, a young man squeezing pomegranates for their amazing juice which he sells to neighbors but mostly tourists. We are somewhat secluded from the news of the world, until we get to the bus and connect with the vehicle's WIFI but there is plenty going on around us that lets us know that life continues, even among the sacred and holy.
In our everyday life in our cities, in our homes, in our workplaces, do we see the sacred? Do we realize how close we are living or working to that which represents the living presence of Christ? It may not be where Jesus fed the Disciples one last time before returning to the right side of God but it could be where a broken soul was healed, a hopeless person received new life, or a young person decided that serving God was their calling in life.
As we go about our business today, do we see Jesus walking with us, feel the love of God within us, experience the guiding power of the Holy Spirit through us? Is that just for certain sacred times in specific holy places or are we seeking it wherever we go?
I have no answers other than to say I am grateful to be reminded that in the midst of everyday living, the sacred and holy are all around us, signs of the living and loving Christ within us. As one of the guides told their bus, and I think I've got most of it right, Jesus didn't come to make a rock holy but rather to share God's love with all. May we all seek the sacred and holy amongst every day living today.
#neholyland16
Friday, February 19, 2016
In the midst of the sacred...
Receiving Communion on the Sea of Gailee. Walking down the path that Jesus took from the Mount of Olives to the gate into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Worship amongst the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane - some over 2,000 years old. Feeling the cool of the Jordan River as we are invited to remember our baptism.
Our guide shares that one Palestinian male with a knife, only Israelies can carry guns wherever they go-Palstinians will be put in prison if they even own a gun, attacks five policemen at the West Gate of the Old city of Jerusalem-if a Palestinian commits suicide they go to hell, if they are killed they will go to heavan, and dies. As we drive through one of the checkpoints at the Wall built by Israel not so much for security as harassment for the Palestinians who must carry their ID's with them at all times and must produce them whenever a soldier requires it, a young Israeli soldier enters our bus of many nationalities and walks down the aisle with his machine gun-why does he do that I wonder "Because he can" is the voice in my head. As we drive past the West Gate of the old city of Jerusalem we witness at least four police officers with two German Shepherds (One of which is barking and appears to be in attack mode) who are surrounding a young man in jeans, a blue and white short-sleeved three button rugby shirt. One is patting him down like a criminal. Is he just coming home from school? Maybe walking with friends who have scattered? Was he walking alone? He is Palestinian. Our guide understands security but wonders why no others who are on the sidewalk are getting the same treatment. A comment from our African-American sisters is simply "It happens all the time. Yes, it happens all the time."
Running by the Sea of Galilee before sunrise realizing Jesus walked around this mass of water many times. Seeing the Gold Dome in Jersulam for the first time and hearing the song "O Jerusalem" playing over the bus speakers. Standing in front of a nativity set carved by an artisan from a tree that is over 2,200 years old.
In the midst of the sacred...
#neholyland16
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Too easy to be ovewhelmed
Wednesday was a day of visiting the largest Methodist Church And Presbyterian church in South Korea. In New England, large United Methodist Churches mean anywhere for 300 to 600 in worship. In the Sarang "Love" Presbyterian church, the average weekly attendance is around 49,000 (no, this is not a typo) and the Kwang-lim Methodist church avenged with 4,800 people a year in Bible studies. Both had either recently completed a building project that cost in the millions with the church having spent 180 million dollars (roughly two-thirds of the cost the land on which the structure was built). That building has seven floors that are seen above the ground and another 5 or so below ground. To get to the sanctuary we actually went down four floors below the ground level. The sanctuary is capable of holding 6,500 folks and has an amazing video system and a huge stage at the front. Like the Kwang-lim Methodist Church there is a bridge that goes between two buildings and there is a wide open outside area between them where's folks can relax and enjoy the beauty of the day.
The Methodist church has recently completed their second building which can be reached by a glass bridge from the original structure that contains the main sanctuary and five floors of Rooms for Christian education. The new structure contains a coffee shop and thrift store on the bottom level, two conference rooms in which wedding receptions can be held for up to 300 people each, and a stunning performance hall where all kinds of events including concerts and other shows can be held. In the sanctuary are huge stained glass windows created and built by the brothers at Taize. As I reflected on all of the church structures of which I am aware in the New England conference they are much smaller than these buildings. As a matter of fact, more than a few of the church structures in the New Hampshire district would fit into the sanctuaries of these churches.
However, as I think about what these facilities provide, the most important thing I remember are the
bridges that were used to connect multiple structures. Why are they so important to me? Those bridges were created as a firm example of church leaving their worshiping space and moving into the communities around them. In both cases the bridge is the walkway into the parts of their ministry that seek to serve all neighbors. The buildings to which they connect are the ones that offer opportunities for the church to connect with the community, to move from talking about how Jesus served others to living it out in their own lives as individuals and as members of the faith community. In these huge and expensive structures they wanted to make sure it wasn't all about them but rather to make sure they used the bridge to serve their communities.
While we might never create structures this size, and for many it is a challenge to maintain our aging facilities, we can all seek to create bridges that remind us, and others within out faith communities, that we are not here to serve ourselves as Christians but rather to move out and into the community to
serve with those in our neighborhoods and larger communities. What might those connections be to
the world around us? How can we be intentional about connecting with the community?
Pleae don't get caught up in their size or awe but rather I would invite us to consider if we have bridges into our communities, and if not, how might we build them. That is something that we can all accomplish within our communities and We might be surprised at how easy it is to make them.
The Methodist church has recently completed their second building which can be reached by a glass bridge from the original structure that contains the main sanctuary and five floors of Rooms for Christian education. The new structure contains a coffee shop and thrift store on the bottom level, two conference rooms in which wedding receptions can be held for up to 300 people each, and a stunning performance hall where all kinds of events including concerts and other shows can be held. In the sanctuary are huge stained glass windows created and built by the brothers at Taize. As I reflected on all of the church structures of which I am aware in the New England conference they are much smaller than these buildings. As a matter of fact, more than a few of the church structures in the New Hampshire district would fit into the sanctuaries of these churches.
However, as I think about what these facilities provide, the most important thing I remember are the
bridges that were used to connect multiple structures. Why are they so important to me? Those bridges were created as a firm example of church leaving their worshiping space and moving into the communities around them. In both cases the bridge is the walkway into the parts of their ministry that seek to serve all neighbors. The buildings to which they connect are the ones that offer opportunities for the church to connect with the community, to move from talking about how Jesus served others to living it out in their own lives as individuals and as members of the faith community. In these huge and expensive structures they wanted to make sure it wasn't all about them but rather to make sure they used the bridge to serve their communities.
While we might never create structures this size, and for many it is a challenge to maintain our aging facilities, we can all seek to create bridges that remind us, and others within out faith communities, that we are not here to serve ourselves as Christians but rather to move out and into the community to
serve with those in our neighborhoods and larger communities. What might those connections be to
the world around us? How can we be intentional about connecting with the community?
Pleae don't get caught up in their size or awe but rather I would invite us to consider if we have bridges into our communities, and if not, how might we build them. That is something that we can all accomplish within our communities and We might be surprised at how easy it is to make them.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Other bloggers on this Korean pilgrimage
As our group moves continues our pilgrimage I wanted to share two other blogs that are following our adventure.
Erica Robinson-Johnson, Director of Communications
http://ericaneumc.wordpress.
Rick McKinley, Director of Congregational Development
http://scituatedrev.blogspot.com
http://ericaneumc.wordpress.
Rick McKinley, Director of Congregational Development
http://scituatedrev.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
It's 5am and almost 1,000 people are gathered and are clapping!
It is Wednesday morning in South Korea and the singing awakens us at 4:30am (3pm on Tuesday NET - New England time) so that we can prepare for the early morning worship service. Every day, 365 days a year, at churches around South Korea, people gather for a time of prayer and the hearing of the good news of Jesus Christ. Lisa and I do a little preparation, put on our Sunday go to meeting clothes, and walk the short distance to the main sanctuary that can hold a couple of thousand people for worship. It is raining quite hard outside and we are grateful that the sanctuary is connected to where we are staying. As we enter the sanctuary we see almost 1,000 people who have traveled from their homes, walked in the rain, and are in the sanctuary at 5am.
Some of our folks went yesterday but today is the first prayer service for many of us and I am expecting some quiet reflection time with some good preaching and maybe even some familiar hymns to sing. What happens at 5am though changes my images completely.
A young man walks up to the pulpit with a song book and the keyboard player begins. This is not a quiet, let us peacefully awaken song but rather the leader begins to pound out a fast beat on the pulpit and everyone starts clapping. This is not a robotic clap but one with emotion, joy, enthusiasm. They are there to praise God and to let God know that they are filled with joy because of God's love in their lives. The voices fill the space, the clapping keeps the pace, and the keyboard leads the group at a volume that is surprising and takes some getting used to. There is another song or two, a time of prayer, we are welcomed as visitors, I know for we have a translator to help us with the meaning of what is being said, we open to Luke 8:44, and then the senior pastor preaches about getting closer to
God. All good stuff and a new experience. We sing a little more, the pastor reads the names of those
who have brought their offerings on this morning, sang "blessed assurance" to the clapping of those gathered and at a pace that would proclaim that Christ is indeed alive,and then it is time for individual prayer. Certainly this is where people will sit and prayer quietly like in New England.
Not exactly. The organ begins to play a lively tune at a very high volume, one of the associate pastors begins a passionate prayer, and the people all around us begin to pray in a variety of ways. Some a re quiet, some rocking, some speaking out loud, some shouting or shivering, while others are clapping and celebrating. The senior pastor is on his knees in front of the chair in which he sits, at the foot of the cross, in prayer. I am in awe. For the next thirty minutes this continues and people are just as passionate in the final moments as they are when we first arrived.
During the time of personal prayer I am thinking of all those times in New England when the idea of
a prayer service in a local congregation is met with little enthusiasm. I am confessing how difficult it
is for me to take a little time for devotions at 9am during the week and how I am not always enthusiastic and thankful for those few minutes with God. I try to reason that in New England we just are not the same kind of folks around our faith but it isn't holding water. I know we are called "the frozen chosen" as a people who are not always responsive in worship but I feel it goes deeper
than that. If we took away the clapping, the motion, the music, and it was just the folks in the pews, I believe our answer to revival in New England would be found.
The folks we worshipped with this morning were filled with a rich and deep joy. There was thanksgiving in their hearts as they gathered on this morning to start the day by celebrating the One who gave them life, hope, and invited them to draw even closer in that divine relationship. now I am not saying that in New England, as individuals, we don't have any of that in our relationship with God but I am wondering if we might find ways to be the living presence of such love, joy, and hope to all
of those around us on Sunday morning but even more importantly throughout the week as we serve
our neighbors. What might that look like in Marlow or Pittsburg, Concord or Chesterfield, Manchester or Warren?
While the church here may have 4,5000 in attendance and some might wonder how anything can be translated into the smaller membership churches of New England, I believe this morning gave a real good example. Joy, hope, and love, not just for ourselves or for those in our congregations, but for all. Meet each day of the week. This doesn't require any money or other limited resources but rather some of our time and the sharing of the joy for Jesus we have in our heart.
Let the pilgrimage begin...
Sunday morning started at 2am with my phone waking us to the Trogladites singing "The Lion sleeps tonight" and didn't end until 7am (NET - New England Time) when our heads hit the pillow half way round the world in Seoul, South Korea. Along the way there was lots of sitting, many people in a small place, airplane food (including vanilla bean gelato), a buffet supper at a restaurant at a local mall, and very little sleep. In other words, it was a great adventure!
However, our adventure began the night before when we realized that one of the suitcases we had chosen to travel with was more damaged than we thought. The metal framing on the outside was showing on all four corners and we began to imagine them getting caught in an airplane hold and hearing upon arrival in Seoul that my bare essentials now extended from one end of the 747's lower level to the other. Usually when one bares their soul in a pastoral visit this is not what comes to mind and I didn't want it to be the lasting impression of this new adventure.
I then targeted a large retailer and called Lisa a few minutes later to report the estimated costs. Much more than I anticipated. The next stop was a place that marshals their prices and came home with a Samsonite, four wheeled drive, in a styling blue color and plenty of leg room vehicle for my now safe and secure personal items.
As I reflected on this transition I began to think of moving from old to new and how it is hard to part with something that has been around for so long but clarity soon set in. How long had we had this suitcase? Hadn't we just purchased it a few, or maybe it was only a couple of trips ago? When we bought this old and worn suitcase it had been to replace another that was beyond use. Now we had another one, albeit a little more expensive and with a recognizable name, but how long before we
would be replacing it with another suitcase to take us on even more adventures, God willing.
As I applied such thinking to my life, and I invite you to consider your life as well, how many times do we receive blessings, gifts, friendships and other items that carry us along life's path? Some of those things and individuals will stay forever while others are only with us for a short time. Of me, each one is a gift from God and each one has helped to carry me along my life's journey. There has often been sadness at the passing of a friend, the loss of the ability to do something I've done all my life, or the wearing out of an item but God always seems to provide something new for the next leg or my journey. I don't mean to imply that we easily transition from one thing to another, like one might with suitcases, but rather just the opposite, when we come to a point in our lives when change is required, when we are willing to set for comfortable and broken in, Godw provides us with the tools and blessings to carry on to another spot, another experience in this blessed life we have been given.
I wonder what other parts of my life, and yours if you are willing to consider it, we have chosen to hold onto, to not seek out that which can take me to a new place, something more challenging, or life altering ? What is there that might be so worn as to reveal that which should not be when in reality God is offering us a new wine skin, a new friendship, a considerable challenge, that in reality will help to bring us closer to God in ways that may carry us around the world or maybe just down the street? What new adventure might be waiting for us if we are willing to put away that which has been with us for a while, in order to receive something that will take us even further? We may love comfortable but there will come a time when if we want a new adventure we may have to pack up the old and roll with the new. God's blessings to everyone on is day.
However, our adventure began the night before when we realized that one of the suitcases we had chosen to travel with was more damaged than we thought. The metal framing on the outside was showing on all four corners and we began to imagine them getting caught in an airplane hold and hearing upon arrival in Seoul that my bare essentials now extended from one end of the 747's lower level to the other. Usually when one bares their soul in a pastoral visit this is not what comes to mind and I didn't want it to be the lasting impression of this new adventure.
I then targeted a large retailer and called Lisa a few minutes later to report the estimated costs. Much more than I anticipated. The next stop was a place that marshals their prices and came home with a Samsonite, four wheeled drive, in a styling blue color and plenty of leg room vehicle for my now safe and secure personal items.
As I reflected on this transition I began to think of moving from old to new and how it is hard to part with something that has been around for so long but clarity soon set in. How long had we had this suitcase? Hadn't we just purchased it a few, or maybe it was only a couple of trips ago? When we bought this old and worn suitcase it had been to replace another that was beyond use. Now we had another one, albeit a little more expensive and with a recognizable name, but how long before we
would be replacing it with another suitcase to take us on even more adventures, God willing.
As I applied such thinking to my life, and I invite you to consider your life as well, how many times do we receive blessings, gifts, friendships and other items that carry us along life's path? Some of those things and individuals will stay forever while others are only with us for a short time. Of me, each one is a gift from God and each one has helped to carry me along my life's journey. There has often been sadness at the passing of a friend, the loss of the ability to do something I've done all my life, or the wearing out of an item but God always seems to provide something new for the next leg or my journey. I don't mean to imply that we easily transition from one thing to another, like one might with suitcases, but rather just the opposite, when we come to a point in our lives when change is required, when we are willing to set for comfortable and broken in, Godw provides us with the tools and blessings to carry on to another spot, another experience in this blessed life we have been given.
I wonder what other parts of my life, and yours if you are willing to consider it, we have chosen to hold onto, to not seek out that which can take me to a new place, something more challenging, or life altering ? What is there that might be so worn as to reveal that which should not be when in reality God is offering us a new wine skin, a new friendship, a considerable challenge, that in reality will help to bring us closer to God in ways that may carry us around the world or maybe just down the street? What new adventure might be waiting for us if we are willing to put away that which has been with us for a while, in order to receive something that will take us even further? We may love comfortable but there will come a time when if we want a new adventure we may have to pack up the old and roll with the new. God's blessings to everyone on is day.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Flow, River Flow...
May the peace of Christ flow over the rocky places in our lives and may we experience the smoothing and transforming process of the water which springs eternal within us, through us, and over us, as our life journies on.
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