So… I missed the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, and Bethlehem, but I saw this verse on the wall in the hospital.
Category Archives: Church Family
An Amazingly Busy Day in the Holy Land…
Holy Land — Day 3
Today things started early. From the 6 a.m. wake-up call until now, things have been going non-stop.
First we went to Bet-She’an, a relatively newly discovered archaeological dig. Although we saw great pillars, a remarkably well-preserved theater, and detailed flooring, the most popular room was, of all things, the restroom just off the theater.
Yes — the restrooms. It was funny seeing people wanting to sit in them, but struggling with the idea of such images being posted online. Who would post such things online? Me.
Luke 4 tells of Jesus being taken by force to a hill in order to be thrown from the precipice. While at Nazareth, we stopped and visited the only hill in the area that would be good for such brutality. While the plaque at the site said Jesus leaped from this cliff, the Bible tells us he disappeared from their midst — less dramatic, but more accurate, no doubt.
We went from there to Zippori, a village across from Nazareth.
The village was long ago buried under the sand, but excavations have unveiled some amazing things, among which is a mosaic floor depicting the pagan goddess, Dionysus. One of the faces is known as The Mona Lisa of the Galilee. The Jesus connection is that there is a chance that the boy Jesus carried his father’s lunch to him here in Zippori as Joseph may well have been working at this site.
There has been a lot more archaeologist’s work done at Tel-Megido. But the most amazing part of that site remains Ahab’s tunnel. We walked through it and tried to recreate the photo I had taken 13 years earlier. It’s a bit blurry, but it was a good effort.
As we headed to Mount Carmel, our guide said, “Hey — let’s go up this road! There’s a newly discovered tomb with a stone in front of it that would have been just like the one that had been rolled away from Jesus’ tomb!
Sure enough, our drive wheeled around and traveling up the narrow road, we were able to locate the tomb and take pictures.
From there we went to the highpoint of our day — Mount Carmel, or as I like to call it, The OK Coral! Upon ascending the mountain, we looked east toward the Mediterranean and imagined a cloud, the size of a man’s hand on the horizon. I spoke there on the three miracles that God performed on behalf of Elijah in this place, emphasizing that he still does miracles in our own lives.
After all, Elijah was a man just like us (James 5). Looking down into Harmegedon, it was amazing to think of blood being as deep as the horses bridles.
Every day has been incredible on this trip, but today was the best.
Tomorrow a couple dozen people will be baptized in the Jordan. Then a devotional on a boat in The Sea of Galilee! The devotionals have been going well. Thanks for your continued prayer support.
I probably won’t get to post this completely for a few days.
Feeling Disconnected…
One of the benefits Christians of recent decades have enjoyed is doing things in bulk. Sunday morning was a time when everyone was together — in bulk. It was similar on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.
When Carl George and others advanced the small group model of the church, they noted the importance of the Sunday morning service — a time when all the groups came together to worship — along with the importance of small groups. Part of the jargon they used included the terms, cell and celebration. They noted that the celebration of Christ was best experienced in a larger community of believers connecting in worship, and that cell groups gave opportunity for genuine spiritual intimacy.
If you miss out on either of these, you will feel disconnected. But when you embrace both, the experience is generally more fulfilling than doing things in bulk all the time.
So, as you might have guessed, this is a shameless solicitation asking those who call Curwensville Alliance their church home to engage in both the cell aspect (small groups) and the celebration aspect (corporate worship).
Not only does it help you feel connected, it also helps you grow to be the disciple God wants you to become.
Please pray with me that our church would experience the joy of small group interaction with the celebration of corporate worship.
Criticizing the Young…
How easy it is to tear down.
How Christlike to build up.
GRACE: Positive Energy…
I read today about the essentiality — yeah, that’s a word — of optimism in leadership. Corporations headed by pessimists, whether they be churches or tech giants, seldom overcome obstacles necessary to grow. I need to be optimistic. What’s frustrating is how easy it is to be negative. It’s easier to say, “Nazareth?! Can anything good come from there,” than it is to say, “We have found the Christ,” (John 1). And it’s easy to be swayed by negative energy. It has a power to stifle both productivity and creativity.
Today I was feeling anything but positive about what God was doing in my life… until the UPS man came to my door. No, he didn’t drop off that 65 inch television I’ve been dreaming about. Instead, he dropped off the cross that we ordered to replace the one Anna bought in memory of her husband. You may recall the original cross had been stolen. Immediately, Laurel and I hopped into the car and headed up to see Anna. As we drove, I shared my negative feelings with Laurel and my struggle to be optimistic.
Then we arrived at Anna’s home. She showed us in and we talked about her health, the church, her home, and her family. I showed her the new cross and told her the story of how God had provided a larger cross for the same price as the smaller one with which we’d all been dissatisfied. We rejoiced together. We then prayed together, taking time to pray that the person who had stolen the original cross would turn to Jesus and find forgiveness. That was a great visit, but probably not for the reasons you would expect. It wasn’t because of the prayer. It wasn’t because of the new cross. It was because Anna epitomizes grace. Grace toward the thief. Grace toward her brothers and sisters in Christ. And grace toward people who crank out negative energy. She was so gracious and positive I left feeling like a completely different person. I said to Laurel, “Every now and then, God surprises you with a person who brings incredible joy.” Such people are people of grace.
As you go to God in prayer, may I suggest praying three ways:
- Pray that you can be a person of grace, for people of grace are anything but negative.
- Pray that God would use you to be a gracious influence on people around you so that when they leave they feel like life is a good thing.
- Pray for those who struggle with negativity — that God will so bless them they can’t help but see him in the world around them.
Oh — and pray for me, that I might have the optimism essential to ministry and life.
Let your conversation be always full of grace… (Colossians 4)
~Pastor Steve