Dusty Living

roses are red at least in the light
and only the ones that bleed from the night
their blooms bear beauty - divinely arrayed
the mist disappears and the rose petals fade
though cycles and life-lines reel round and round
and dust to dust journeys return men to the ground


Here, in the moment the whispers today
still and small noises we'll hear on the way
the reeling may burden and break a mans back
but ours have been steadied and risen from black
The journey in beauty from blood red to grace
the time tested drama in this faith to faith race


A good thing is found in a good friend's embrace
a better thing won best face to face
the eye to eye vision reflecting the soul
the man in the mirror will be resurrected and whole 
this moments exchange soon gone with the wind 
is better resolved in the love of a friend 

Arad, Jonas, and Jerusalem

Last Tuesday afternoon I traveled down to Arad, volunteering at the Olive Branch. As usual the ride to through the territories is an adventure to say the least. Passport in hand and pedal to the metal, we arrived without incident about an hour an hour later. I was given the evening and the morning of the next day to work on my thesis and then I met up with my Director for lunch. He had the volunteers over and I learned more about the kinds of people that are attracted to his compassion-institution.

After lunch he took Jonas and me to the Bedouin village where we met Muhammad, the principal of the school. Then he took me to the Laundromat and set me up with a few tools and supplies. He had a washer with a loose front panel. I took his only flat-head screwdriver into the hardware store on my way to pick-up bolts and nuts and the receptionist asked what I was doing with a dentist tool... Use what you have, I suppose. I finished up and made my way back to the shelter just in time to finish up a few chores before packing.

Thursday morning, we headed back to Jerusalem and my director asked me to take one of his volunteers around. After grabbing a bite to eat at school and showing Jonas the gardens, we started out in front of the school where I gave him a lecture on the main geographical features in Jerusalem and how its Hills and Valleys are connected with the world around it. This also included a brief sketch on the major happenings in the biblical world. We then went up to the summit of the Western Hill atop the, so called, tomb of David. The room of the Last Supper is venerated in this location and we climbed to the roof in order to look toward the east. Here, I introduced many horizon markers, which helped to orient the rest of the trip. There we had a chat about overlapping Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions and land-claims, etc.

Then we went inside and read a few stories from the Gospels thinking about Jesus' interaction with the Disciples in the "Upper-room". After this we made our way to the city of David noting important views and features along the way: Zion gate, Nea tower overlook, etc. The city of David is a fantastic site full of regalia and legacy. The view from the overlook atop the Cinema at the City of David park sets a context that fits Ps 121 so well: "I look to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord!" The encircling mountains and the compact city both stand as a witness to the sentiments alive in the early inhabitants of this ancient city!

We talked quite a lot about the significance of Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament making sense of why David chose to conquer, etc. Then we went through the so called Palace area down through area G. There I made quite a number of comments regarding Jerusalem's last stand against Nebuchadnezzar and the living context alive and well in periods before this e.g. Ahiel's four room house. We moved into the Water system and talked quite a lot about the represented MB and Iron Age periods. Then we walked through the tunnel down to the Siloam pool. I had heard the night before that the Herodian drainage line had been made accessible all the way up to the Davidson Archaeological park. So after a word about John's record of Jesus healing the man born blind in John 9, we made our way through the ancient refuse shaft up to the "pinnacle of the temple" or if you prefer the southwest corner of the Temple mount. Here, I retraced a bit and talked/ made sense of Herod's coming into power and then we talked about the features that you can see exposed by Benjamin Mazar's dig: the agora over the Cardio Valencias, the place of the trumpeter etc. We made our way around to the southern stairs and talked a bit about ritual-purity laws/ the institutionalization of cleanliness laws in the second temple period... all that is required to enter the sacred precincts on top of the Temple Mount. We talked about teachings and teachers found on these steps in the first century: what they said and why - interfacing the geographical/ archaeological witness with texts that we have on these things. 

Then we went for lunch and made our way to St. Anne's for a chat on Asclepion and Jesus - John's record of Jesus' healing of the lame man and the dialog that followed. Then we traveled back to the Western Wall esplanade, then to the Holy Sepulchral where we chatted briefly about the second Wall and its significance in the discussion of the validity of the Holy Sep. as the site of Jesus' death and burial and resurrection. There are so many more things I would like to tell you about our time together in Jerusalem but I don't have the time. 

All in all, I Jonas had a good time and we both learned a lot from each other. I am confident that our love for the God grew. It did as we reflected time and again on Gods involvement with a city and a people within  particular historical setting in the face of Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria

Photos from the trip

Run in with Shimon Gibson and the Albrights

On my way to the post office, I ran into a tour led by Shimon Gibson. Riding past the Western course of the 16th century Old City wall, I caught a waving hand out of the corner of my eye. Debbie and Kyle, friends from various archaeological projects, were touring with Dr. Gibson. He was lecturing on the finds and features within and under the wall just north of the Ayyubid tower at the southwestern corner of the Old City. Shimon Gibson was the editor of The Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible. He also wrote in The Final Days of Jesus: The Archaeological Evidence and Shimon led the team that found the 10-line ritual cup on Mt Zion.

To find out more info

Majrasa, Sea of Galilee Belvoir and Tiberias

Sunday, the campus cleared out heading north for Campus appreciation day. The long track up to the Bethsaida wadi, proved to be a useful sleep-catcher for most students. Once at Majrasa, we were told (most probably because they were told) that we needed a good 3 hours at the site. Everyone was able to walk up and down the Jordan tributary within the reserve in about 20 min. Providing the group with an opportunity to study for Monday's exam or to throw stones at stones (the new game invented by the undergrads). After a bit of wading and waiting around, we decided to add a stop at the Galilee to our trip. We stopped at a water-park(not for the water-park) to access the lake front from their property. Just south of Tel Hadar a number of us took the opportunity to visit to see what has made it so uninteresting to so many travelers. We found the remains of an Iron Age building and wall. We stuck around until 2 p.m. and then headed for the Crusader castle of Belvoir. It was a construction put up in the mid 12th century by the Hospitallers only to be taken in 1197 by Saladin's Islamic Reich. The good view of Belvoir makes it a worthwhile stop. An ice-cream treat put people in pretty good straights for the trip home. Two days later, on the heels of a scene full of unfortunate events, I found myself busing up to Tiberias. Its the first time I have taken my bike with me on the bus. It proved to be a really enjoyable trip. Though the trip took a lot longer than I remember, my trip to Hamat Tiberias was only interrupted by a stop at Tel Tiberias just north of the Synagogues. I met with the lonely park ranger, had a few dates and guavas, walked around a bit, took some pictures and then made my way back to town. I stopped inside the 18th century city walls inside Tiberias and learned they were destroyed by a flood in the early half of the 20th century. I was reminded again just how easy it is to project exact images onto biblical landscapes dressing the biblical narrative in a way that is suited by the modern lay of things. Its more complicated than this!

Blessings... enjoy the pictures at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.629768702724.2115721.141303260&type=1

Jerusalem and Arad

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" (Luke 10:2).

Since Fall of 09, I have been living in Jerusalem, Israel and I have been working on my Masters Degree at Jerusalem University College. I just handed in my final project and am now focusing my energies on my Thesis, which I hope to get done by the end of the semester. The scene in Jerusalem is full of progress and sureties in question. The new light rail is up running through the center of town as more and more tourists and potential citizens flood its streets hoping to make sense of their love of this historic city. The September UN-vote - anticipating the formation of a Palestinian state - continues a long-standing drama centered around land-rights here; hence, the "progress" and tension.

I am also working for the school. I have worked myself into an Assistantship under our Campus Manager for which I am chiefly responsible for the grounds and gardens on campus. Even though the pay is meager, it has been a lot of fun working the gardens, especially because so much of the work has a correlative in the biblical text. We are on the front end of pomegranate and almond season, our roses are in full bloom and the grapes have been enjoyed already by the new group of students who arrived last week. All kinds of biblical images can be seen and thought about from a walk through our garden from the pomegranates, almonds, and figs, to the olives, netzers and (poppies) "lilies of the field".

I have been here for almost 2 years and I feel as if I am only beginning to understand how needy and spiritually interested Israel travelers are. I volunteer on the weekends in Arad at a beautiful ministry called the Olive Branch Institute. They have a number of engaging compassion-ministries including orphan care, single mothers programs, English classes, Bedouin integration. Most of my students are Sudanese refugees who came to Israel by foot having fled violence in their home-land and seeking a refuge in Israel (finding refuge in Israel - ring any bells?). Its has been a wonderful experience for me. God knows that this kind of ministry is very near to my heart - engaging people where they are! Your prayerful support is extremely important to me as I look to follow where the Lord leads.