December and Christmas

            December began with endings. JUC finished its term in early December this year. Students and friends trickled away for home and country. Two fellow grads and I were given the task to care for campus while the rest of the staff went on holiday leave; so by the middle of Hanukkah the campus was empty and quiet, save three.

Plenty of chores and holiday activities kept us all quite busy as we continued with our own respective communities off campus. I have been doing a bit of preparation for the Olive Branch Institute's Israel tours that I have scheduled for January while trying to gain momentum on my school work.

It shouldn't be too surprising that the holiday allows for more opportunities to get away from the routine. The city, after all, has been full-up with celebrations. Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of the long-lasting oil; this, a provisional symbol of God's approval with the Maccabees' revolt. During this Festival of Lights, each new day is begun by lighting another candle. This year Hanukkah started December 8th and lasted until the night of the 16th. 

Christmas has a similar intrigue; secular and religious folks celebrate, albeit in their own way. The overlap, Christian and Jewish, secular and religious, spills into the streets and lights flicker all over the city express with connections to one of two holidays.

For us also, this time of year ushers in the best of spirits. It’s familial and meaningful, colorful and bright. The holiday has all but usurped the month, too. We wish our days faster, prepare with ornaments and symbols, buy and write in preparation for a brilliant celebration. 

And celebration ought to be thick with luster because celebration is a really good thing; a day or season to venerate important sacrifices and memories. However, isn't it our tendency to embellish and recreate? Andrew Peterson’ song “Labor of Love” starts out, “It was not a silent night, there was blood on the ground.” This is a stark kind of realism that routes-off fantasy away from incessant recreations. Our tendency, I think, is to mythologize and embellish until all that are left are the narrative’s names and places - to celebrate silly things and trivialize the more important bits.

A lot could be said to help Westerners filter out images of Motel 6-no vacancy and wooden stables and mangers because the stories greatness, after all, is not in what is made up about it (I never did like flannel-graph), but it is in what is so mysteriously real. Here, the raw moments that accompany the human experience are shrouded in God.

God humbles Himself by restraint and imposed limitation – placing His heir in a woman’s womb. She has to travel an awfully uncomfortable journey in and out of rain all for government dues; and this only to find their family's accommodations a bit less kind, you might say. 

This birth and His life will be terribly normal. Of course, this is what is so exceptional. He suffers the silliness of learning; learning to eat, speak, and walk with all the imposed ignorance of an infant. A story of common cycles envelopes His life. And then, after having succumbed to something so far below Him, He establishes his ministry restraining so much in his own attempt to help the world see that He is Emmanuel. This harsh reality takes on greater terrors when He is met with rejection and curse. That it, though. He offers Himself up… according to plan... at the right time. 

 This, after all, was what Jesus said to Pilate, essentially, “I was born for this!” We celebrate, now, the undoing of every dark thing, venerated in the connection this celebration has with His life lived on our behalf and His death died in our place, vindicated by an approving Father who raised Him from the dead. Everything sad is going to come untrue. Is not this what Christmas is all about, anyway?

Hope yours is lovely and meaningful - Merry Christmas!

Seth Hague

November Reflections...

November marries autumn and Thanksgiving; football and turkeys; pumpkin pie and people. The Hague and Augsburger clan stitch birthdays, Thanksgiving, black-Friday shopping and Christmas all into one. It’s the season of giving and going, rest and reprieve. And somehow we manage to craz-ify it, filling the holiday with acrobatics, baseball injuries and music, not to mention our staple hand-and-foot tournaments.

Last year these things changed. It’s the inevitable journeys end that comes to us whether we like it or not. The end always comes - hopefully birthing something that remembers and cherishes the past just as it embarks on its own new voyage. Last year, Aunt Erma and Jean left this life for another. My brother Samuel married two weeks later. These events were the get-togethers that marked our holiday, so it was, therefore, more tight-knit and sober filled with tears and laughter surrounding different memories: one final and one beginning.

I have been in Jerusalem two months this time around. School has just finished its term and students are trickling out catching their respective flights home. I have been leading tours for the OBI and am tending the JUC garden, this all falling under the priority to get my thesis done. Though my responsibilities keep me rather busy, I have taken time to arrest some of my holiday reflections and interface them with this estranged and lovely Jerusalem context; this to offer a few update-anecdotes and wish you a Merry Christmas.   

As you know, Jerusalem has never been free of drama. November’s included Gazian rockets and return fire, people coming and going, and now a mishap-pole incident. I am sure in a donkey-driven world more than one Jerusalemite has fallen off or, in my case, ran right into something hard and stable. I will be well, soon enough. Thanksgiving football has provided an extra measure of continued entertainment for those who have seen the video of my little accident.

Even more, conflict and sojourning seem to characterize Jerusalem from the time of Abraham and Melchizedek, Joshua and Adonizedek to the lives of Zerubbabel and the returnees during the Persian period through to Jesus and the Romans, and so on and so forth. Remember, history highlights happenings and conflict sells; so it may take a bit of added effort to gain a better sense of what is really going on. In any case, every age knew folks who journeyed ‘round like strangers in a foreign land and I feel as if I can identify.

The long drives and short stays have become a normal part of my narrative. Though I have found a temporary home here, soon enough it will be time to move on. So it’s actually quite a marvel that I have now spent over three years in Israel. Though I have moved from place to place, Israel has taken on a sense of familiarity - the people and places. For this I am becoming more and more thankful. 

Just last week, as I toured in the north I found that every site offered more perspective than my previous visits. Even walking ‘round Jerusalem, trekking with a colleague I found things I had not seen before and appreciated things that I had before resented whether it be Egyptian building features at the Garden tomb or the Jerusalem rain. Amazing what you see when your eyes are open or receptive.

This is summarized well in a parable told by David Foster Wallace. He tells a story about three fish. An older fish said in passing to two younger fish “How’s the water?” The younger fish were perplexed by the question because they had no ideal what water was. Wallace’s point is so obvious and perceptive. Their whole lives were inundated with a reality that they had never taken time to appreciate.

It is high time that we begin paying better attention to the life-situation in which we have been called to live. While I find it particularly remarkable that God has chosen to work with a bunch of boneheads i.e. Isaac, Samson and Peter, it seems to me that he energizes us to engage our generation - living in this world as bright lights thoroughly equipped for every good work. We must have answers that are Gospel-informed. Answers for how to engage with situations that are right in front of us, whether it be couple-drama or country-drama. Forgiveness is a power won by the Christ's cross. This after all is why Jesus came.

I do hope that your Christmas Holiday is filled with wonder and blessing. I hope, too, that this Advent season would awaken your numbness and quicken your spirit. 

Blessings from Jerusalem,

Seth   

Update; A Month in Review

     Jerusalem, Jerusalem! A month in and I am finally feeling a bit more settled; though life's pace seems to cycle faster than I have been used to for a while. Church, school, work and volunteering have each demanded a sure amount of commitment and I thank God for graces in these things... both for them and the strength to do them.

   Again, the primary reason I have returned is to finish my thesis. I have thus far determined a topic and methodology and have just to research and execute it... My thesis title is: "Direction Indicators in the Hebrew Bible, A Catalog and Analysis". Things have progressed, albeit slower than I would like. As it is, I am Grateful to have come when I have come. This semester's JUC students are again extraordinarily lovely. I have had a very wonderful time learning about and from them. Their encouragement has been much appreciated! 

   Work continues to demand a good portion of my week, though it provides a nice outlet from other pressures and I have a bit of control in terms of how I spend my time... all within this Zion garden, of course. After all, I have the privilege of tending a garden in Jerusalem on Modern Mt. Zion - Edenic work, I like to think :)

   Lastly, Volunteering has been a beautiful addition to my time in Israel. I volunteer for the Olive Branch Institute. This month, I have had two responsibilities and both were very enjoyable chores. The first was an airport run, which included a ride to Arad, and then a drive north to Jeru, then out to Tel Aviv, then south to Arad again. It worked out that a JUC group was in Arad at the time so I stuck around for the day while they toured the Negev. There I enjoyed an Eyal Golan concert that evening and then caught a ride with them up the next day as they visited Masada, Ein Gedi and Qumran en route fro Jerusalem. 

   The second responsibility was to lead a group of volunteers 'round Israel. If I do say so myself Kay, Kit Karen, and Nancy were a very lovely bunch; and I had a very good time. We toured Jerusalem, Thursday. Friday, we drove out to the Dead Sea and did the typical sites listed above, save Masada. We instead went out to the Makeshim and read from Psalm 90. Then Saturday, we drove up to the Galilee and spent our time journeying the Elijah to Jesus narrative or from Carmel to Capernaum, if you like. Then from a beautiful home visit to some ol' Scandinavian friends of mine (Lily and co.), we did a Coastal Plain/ Shephelah day ending with David and Goliath as we overlooked the Valley of Elah. 

   Time like water scurries in its intended direction without asking for approval or permission. Appropriate that Moses likens life's span to a watch in the night or something a flood disposes of. Just before I journeyed back to Jerusalem, my family mourned the loss of a friend and father figure. Its been a month. Today, I woke up and thought it a very special grace. My days are numbered and I suppose I best ask God for grace to help me redeem the time that I have been given. When I think of Tom, I think of the many stories he had to tell having lived earnestly and well. It still a marvel to me that God's mercies are not only new every morning - they are forevermore! 

Psalm 90:13-17

¹³ Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favor^[a] of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

English Standard Version (ESV)

Lovely that He promises to continue what He has started in us... til He comes or we go.  

   Below, I have included a number of pictures from this month... Feel free to ask about anything I am up to!

My email is sethhague@gmail.com. I love letters and am indebted to so many of you for your prayers and support. 
Blessings and Love!

There and Back Again...

Smells and sights trigger recall and memories. Bits of data buried under the chapters written over the past few years uncovered instantly in the waft and view. Who knew it would be this potent; this overwhelming?

Why are you late to campus? What have you been doing over the past year? What are you doing now? These questions are the ones that I have been answering over the last week. Naturally, a new setting with new people invokes the exhausting but good work of getting to know the neighbors... Truth is, I have found that these questions expose the more important bits my narrative has to tell -  this last years bloopers and blessings (perhaps the bloopers are themselves blessings, too)

Almost a year ago, I ventured off to the States leaving behind a place that had become my home with its various connections and loves. The following months proved to be hard and good ones. Death visited my Aunt Jean and then Aunt Erma. Then in late November the Hague family went about celebrating my brothers marriage. So miles put between Israel and myself drove me up to Grand Rapids, Michigan then out to Des Moines, Iowa. A little after thanksgiving I circled out even further to see what kind of jobs were available in my field. I flew out to North Carolina drove to South Carolina then to Georgia visiting friends, colleagues, churches and schools. Flying from Atlanta to Seattle, I did more of the same in Washington and BC, Canada.

I found graces upon graces, mercies upon mercies. I found that even the shortest previous interactions could lead to deep-rooted and meaningful relationships. Finally, I found work. I took up wings and flew out to Australia. I didn't expect a Jerusalem University College experience would land me a construction job but it did. One that then provided an opportunity to teach. A provision I also did not expect. With these very lovely folks, I began to find my voice. I began to see how much I loved to teach and what the teachings could mean to people. A three month period may only allow you to scratch the surface with folks but God can use the smallest of seeds to topple the largest of mountains.

From Australia to New Zealand for holiday and reprieve, I went. A while before I had decided to come home, I had begun looking for what might be next. Coming home, it became more obvious that I should return to Israel and take up the task of finishing a thesis that I had seriously thought about letting go. Its not a document that I need for the degree though it is a document that would put me in better stead for more serious work in the discipline.

So April, I returned home and began searching again for work and the ability to finance a return to Israel. I again landed in Grand Rapids, not least after having visited a number of lovely friends in Chicago, Upland, Greenville, Lowell, Nashville, Little Rock, Buies Creek, Scioto Hills, Akron, Oberlin and Tank Lake. After one last trip from Grand Rapids to West Virginia and I began taking on as many hours as I could manage to fit the flight bill. God be praised. He provides and I have made it back. The journey has so many meaningful happenings and Providences. I have found that, God as my witness, the most devastating of losses can lead to the most life-giving gains. "The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph."