felix hominum

Holy Week, Jerusalem

Just for those who may be liturgical types and like that sort of thing:  I will be in the official procession from the Armenian Cathedral into the Holy Sepulcher for the service of Holy Fire at the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday evening.  Jerusalem rocks... 

Working backwards - today was a day at Masada (no trip to Israel is complete without it - and especially for a classicist)  then a float in the dead sea, and then Qumran.  Spent a bit of time at Cafe Hillel on Jaffa St, catching up on some reading.

We were two days around the sea of Galilee - Nazareth, Mount of Beatitudes, Tabor, and Tiberias.

The sea of Galilee is a surreal experience for the pilgrim - holy places side by side with night time disco boat cruises. The church of Peter's Primacy, the site of the feeding of the 5000 - so much of Jesus' ministry took place around and on these waters.

The mount of transfiguration is quite remarkable - an ancient monastery exhales memory of prayers.  I spent more time wandering around the ruins of the monastery than in the church.  We had a great ride up to the top with our Bedouin friends - they have traded in their camels for taxis, but the Bedouin flavor is still there.  They have a character and way of doing things all their own. 

Dinner on the edge of the sea of Galilee - overlooking the water.

The mount of beatitudes is a small hill overlooking a plain which cuts into the side of the hill - it's easy to see how one gospel sees this event as the sermon on the mount and another sees it as the sermon on the plain.

We toured the Holy Spulchre - home of the tomb of Jesus and of the bedrock of Golgotha - where he was crucified.  The building itself houses worship space for 6 denominations - all sharing land in a single structure which is really beyond description.  Artwork, architecture, a living worship community - surrounded by the heart of Old Jerusalem and the old city walls.

Visited the western wall yesterday - thousands of Jews at prayer - managed to make my way up to the front and touch the wall itself.

And early this warning went the wadi quelt - the Judean wilderness of Jesus. - great view of Jerusalem in the distance, and a stark landscape that somehow supports the roaming shepherds who still tend their flocks.

 

out of Moab, into Jerusalem

I have found a connection in Nazareth, but I'm not sure how long it is for , so we're just gonna go fast here.  Jordanian border crossing - Israeli border crossing.   Across the Hussen bridge after about 3 hours of various things, questions, more questions, examination of documents etc.    We got into Jerusalem and are staying in a 18th  century hotel which is built right up against the old city wall.  It is quite a location.  the place is called the Knights' Palace, run by the latin patriarchate of |Jerusalem (read western church vs eastern Orthodox).  Great location - inside the old city itself.  Went to the church of the holy sepulchre and then took people out for a taste of local cuisine and atmosphere.

Saw the wall that Israel has been putting up around the Palestinian territory.  Will reserve comment for when I get back.   Spent yesterday in Bethlehem, then today arrived in Nazareth, and got in the abbouna tour (will explain later for non arabic speakers) of the excavations of what many believe is either the childhood home of Jesus or of one of his relatives.  pause to go to caeserea maratima - where St Paul was imprisoned, and am now getting ready to head of to find a room at the inn.  Tomorrow hopefully will be mount tabor and the mount of the beatitudes, and take in the sea of Galilee

out of Egypt

This post is costing me a small fortune.  In Petra (made famous by Indiana Jones & the lost temple or whatever that movie was).   This place ius mind blowing.  ruins of so many civilizations, cultures and histories are set in coloured sandstone.  The carving and architecture goes back to Assyrian times, with numerous other influences over the years.

We ended our time in Cairo  - a remarkable city - and headed out over the eastern desert.  8 hours or so past the Suez Canal (or rather under it) and through the Sinai desert.   We arrived at St Katherine's monastery at the base of Mt Sinai.   Quite a place.  St K's is the oldest continuous monastery in the world.  It is a place of contrasts - as all Egypt seems to be.  Nearly 1700 years of monastic life, and a throng of pilgrims, tourists, seekers, and who knows what else - all gather here from time to time.  The bedouin tribe that lives on the grounds was given the commission of protecting the monatery by Justinian in the Roman Empire.  Climb up Mt Sinai in the dead of night  - sunrise on the top.   There is an alternate route back down called the "stairs of repentance" - I was the only one in the group who wanted to try it - but it was quite breathtaking  - in every sense of the word.

Another day travelling in the desert - spending some time with the bedouin - many of whom still live much the same life their ancestors did.  We followed the basic route of the Exodus.

Out of Egypt and into Jordan, where I am now, but am heading off in a few hours for the border to Israel.   My time on this HP is running out fast.

Cairo

We've been in Cairo for two days now, after about 22 hours of travel.  If New York is the city that doesn't sleep, then Cairo is the city that can't get to sleep.  I have a balcony overlooking the Nile - the traffic and the sounds of activity are non stop.  As well, there is a large presence of "tourist police":  we have about 10-15 heavily armed guards stationed around our accommodations - with thousands more throughout the city. Am heading for the market today - the same one where the recent bombing took place, killing two French tourists.

Cairo is a city of contrasts - wealth and poverty.  It has a 60% unemployment rate, with tourism being the largest employer.  The Egyptians have been very gracious to us.

\Yesterday we took the group to old Cairo - narrow streets leading to the Coptic quarter.  I prayed in a church where Christians have been praying since the 3rd century.  The icons from the 8th century are amazing, and very well preserved.   

We also took the group to the pyramids and the Sphinx.  The two great riddles - eternal life and the nature of man.

"random thought"

Just a little something for the googling friends...

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life."  We need to move through the words and meet the Word.

And by the way, Poul bangs one out of the park with these few thoughts .

Oh, and one more ps - I'm turning comments off until I get back from overseas.

Holy Land Pilgrimage

Again, there may be a shortage of posts for the next little while.  I’m heading off in 36 hours to help lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  We are heading to Cairo on Wednesday, then over to Jordan, then a few weeks in Israel, following the footsteps of Jesus through the gospels.  I’m not sure how often I’m going to have access to broadband connections.  Certainly not in the monastery on Mt Sinai, but perhaps in a few other places.   I’ll  upload some pics if I can, or you will be subject to a long slide show when I get home.

We will travel, and we will break bread – on Mount Sinai, on the Mount of the Beatitudes, by the Sea of Galilee, and in a few other places.

There are several stages to a pilgrimage.  First, there is preparation for the journey.  Second, there is the journey itself, which is done in the context of a community.  We are pilgrims together, and it is in the shared journey that much takes place.  Remember Canterbury Tales?  It was about what happens on the road, on the journey.  The third part of the pilgrimage is arriving.  But that is not the climax of pilgrimage.  The true pilgrim returns home, and has been changed by the journey.  The final part of pilgrimage is returning to the place you left.  The place you left has stayed the same, but through the journey of pilgrimage, you have changed.  And so you re-enter your community as a changed person, and you bring the fruit of pilgrimage home with you, and let it shape your world.

The road to Emmaus is a picture of pilgrmage.  Two are walking together, companions in conversation.  Jesus comes among them, unrecognized at first.   When they arrive at their destination, Jesus becomes clear to them, but then he vanishes from their sight.  The pilgrim does not linger, waiting for a repeat of an experience of God.  The pilgrim returns to his own community, and shares what he has discovered on the journey:

That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions…then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to  them in the breaking of the bread.

prayers for Chris

I ask your prayers for Fr. Chris, one of our priests from a rural community, who was involved in a very serious car accident.  He was airlifted to the U of A hospital, and has undergone multiple surgeries.

glorious body

I've heard
(he said)
that they are very happy and content children.
Yes, yes they are. 

For the most part. 
(I've been in the trenches 4 years now - I consider myself a veteran.)
but when they are not, they are inconsolable,
for they cannot tell us where it hurts or why
perhaps they themselves do not even know.

Some folks write about the resurrection from the dead wrought for us by Christ, and what it means to them. 
I have not lately considered what it means to me. 

Rather, I find myself thinking of what it might mean for her...

Coffee and the Charter of Rights

Jesus once said to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.  Jesus was perhaps the first figure to make a declaration about the separation of church and state.  A Christian in this life is the member of two kingdoms, or as St. Augustine put it, resident in two cities – the city of man and the City of God.

How am I as a Christian to live at once in these two cities, these two kingdoms?  And what is the relationship between them?  I did a very Canadian thing this morning.  I got a double double  and sat down to read, in full, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms .  Maybe it is an after effect of spending time with the Christian Law Students Association.

The Constitutional Act of 1982 begins with the following words:

“Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law”

These are foundational things:  “the supremacy of God” and “the rule of law”.   Now I find myself asking:  are these two completely separate things?; or are they supposed to be one and the same?; or are they intended to overlap and coincide on certain points?  Is it a relationship of equal principles, or does one inform and have authority over the other?

The first interpretation – they are completely separate – would lead to a way of life in which the Christian would have no care for what happens in the state.  Religion is private, government is public, and never the two shall meet.  The Christian person would then have no concern for what happens in the public sphere.  God and any human authority would be opposed, and the Christian would see the state, the laws and “secular society” as a lost cause.  The extreme end result would be perhaps a holing up in the hills in retreat from society (“praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”), or a coldness which does not care what happens in society at large, as long as I can do my religious thing in private (“they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I said nothing”).

The second interpretation – God and the state are one – we have seen before.  In the time of Christ, Caesar was held to be divine, and worship was due him as a god, there was no such “separation of church and state”  The will of Caesar was the will of the State, and was the will of a god.  The early Christians refused to offer incense to this deity, and so were persecuted.

Rome was the Walmart of the religions of the ancient world.  Everywhere they conquered, they brought back a cheap new god for Rome.   What the Christians could not abide was the claim that the state, personified in the person of the Emperor, was divine – was in and of itself the highest authority for humanity.  Caesar makes reference to no higher authority than himself.  He is the state, and he is divine.  All things are Caesar’s, for he is God.  Rome was the first true theocracy.

What of the third interpretation – that the supremacy of God and the rule of law may coincide, may overlap on certain points?  And as a Christian, the first must inform  and guide the second.  But how?   I will leave this for the law students to help me figure out…but I do have a few thoughts to share later.

under the influence of drugs

There will likely be a Paucity of Posts, due to a Plethora of Pain.

My only friend right now is Sinutab.   I believe that while I was sleeping a few days ago, someone took several of those CO2 charged life vests from aircraft, placed them in my head, and released them all at once.  So under the influence of medication, let me put forth the following remarks:

1]  The preamble to the Charter of Rights mentions the foundational principles of "the supremacy of God and the rule of law."  How does the relationship between these two work itself out?   Does neglecting the supremacy of God necessarily lead to the rule of law becoming corrupt?

2]  Lech Walesa, head of the Solidarity movement in Poland in the 80's, stated that the recently departed Pope was "50% responsible for the fall of communism."

3]  Are more people into complaining about what is wrong with church than going about improving it?  Do a quick percentage check of the gospels - Compare how much time and energy Jesus spent complaining compared to how much he spent improving things.

4]   Never, never try to rub your eyes after preparing something  with crushed chillis.   On the other hand, it works great if you are in a spot where you need to feign an emotional response to something.

5]   We need to look at each situation and ask the question:  How can I bring Christ's mercy into this?

Goodnight.   If the medication does not work to allow me to get some sleep, I'm headin' for "daddy's cupboard" - the one above the stove, over on the left.

more thanks and praise

Prayers of thanks to God and encouragement for Tianye, an engineering student, who was baptized at the Easter Vigil at St George's, and for Michael, who is currently preparing for baptism.

"My word will not return empty"