Author Archives: Pastor Steve

Traveling the Length of Israel

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September  11, 2011

Today was a great day of travel. While my mind was on the remembrance of 9-11 my heart was clearly in the moment in Israel.

Our day began with a great breakfast in which I discovered halvah. It’s a sesame seed and honey mix, and baked into a pastry, it’s to die for. I had seven!

After breakfast we went nearly the length of Israel, heading down the highway along the Jordon river, seeing the many date palms and banana trees. At times we could see the boarder between Israel and Jordon, with army patrols along the fence.

Finally we arrived at our first stop – Masada. While Masada is not a biblical site, it is surely a testimony to a people who feel they should be slaves to no one, except the Most High God. Here, the last of the Jewish rebels held out against Rome, for six months as Rome built encampments far below.

Imagining their meeting in their synagogue as the Roman siege ramp neared completion is sobering. How do you decide to kill your own wife and children, and then your closest friends? Such commitment to something higher than themselves is attractive and moves one to consider one’s own commitment level.

From Masada we went to The Dead Sea. Doron mentioned more than once that the water level in the Sea is extremely low. When you see it, you understand exactly what he is talking about.

Still, it was fun for the people on the tour to get into the water and be amazed at their own buoyancy and forming a chain as they floated.

Some even dared cover themselves with the black mud so they might emerge more beautiful. That’s a matter of opinion, I am sure.

After the swim in the sea we went to the Qumran community and saw a film on their way of life. The film conjectured that John the Baptist was one of their own, but such speculation is just that – speculation. We walked to see the caves, and we were especially near the one where the boys found the majority of the scrolls.

Doron noted the sovereignty of God in uncovering this. I noted the God’s work in preserving his word. At the Qumran community, I presented the devotion that had been blown away – literally blown away – on The Sea of Galilee the day before.

This time it was clear and well-received, as I spoke of how Jesus is our refuge, suggesting that the Cities of Refuge were named by God with Christ in mind. Chuck lead several songs as we sat in the community. Thanks for praying for me as I minister here.

As you think of it, pray also for Chuck, Sunday was the second anniversary of the death of his wife, Kathy. He was quiet today.

From there we headed to Jericho where we had opportunity to buy Hebronic glass. We saw the Mount of Temptation, just outside of Jericho.

This Palestinian area is very different than the rest of Israel. We also saw the sycamore tree – not the one Zacchaeus climbed, but the Palestinians selling postcards and figs would like you to think that the wee little man climbed that very tree.

By this time we were getting pretty punchy, singing the song that bears Zacchaeus’ name.  While in the store we sampled Turkish Coffee, one of Bobbie’s passions. Doron loaded her up with two cups and she was bouncing around in the bus. I took a video of it and will post it if she is not nice to me. 😉

Now, on to Jerusalem. As we went up to Jerusalem, we passed many Bedouin camps. Their lifestyle is so foreign to us, it would be fascinating to visit them. As we came closer to Jerusalem, we passed the place Jesus lived while in the area – Bethany. Then, on the final ascent to the city Mike, our driver, put in a CD of the song, “Jerusalem,” as the sun set. It was thoroughly moving as we all sang the parts we knew, eyes sparkling with something between tears and excitement to arrive in the holy city.

Upon our arrival we got settled in our rooms and went to dinner. It was a good day. We look forward to exploring the city tomorrow.

Thanks for your prayers – particularly for the devotional time. It was much improved today.

Baptisms…

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September 10, 2011

Please forgive me for how poorly written this is. I just don’t have time for edits. Click any image for a larger view.

Today began with a trip to the Church of the Beatitudes on the traditional site of The Sermon on the Mount. While there we read the Beatitudes from Matthew 5. Afterward we sang together. There is something amazing about being with dozens of other groups, hearing them each singing songs in their own tongue as you recognize the melodies and singing along. Being there brought back memories of being there and Rev. Paul Cope asking Laurel to read the Scripture.

From there we went to the traditional location of The Feeding of the Five-thousand. Doran pointed out that this miracle was probably the most well-known of Jesus’ miracles because so many people witnessed it. Additionally, Jesus did this in the Galilee – a poor region of Israel. Providing them with food was scratching them where they itched.


Nearby is The Church of Peter’s Primacy – the church built to recall the place where Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” those three times.

As we stood outside of the church, it was remarkable to read the text and understand that, by the death Peter died, he showed that he did love Jesus with a self-giving, sacrificial love. The church on this location is beautiful.

Next we went to the town Jesus spent most of his ministry in, Capernaum.

We saw the location of Peter’s house and The Synagogue of Jesus. The synagogue of Jesus was destroyed and rebuilt at a later time. It sits right near a archeological discovery that is thought to be the house of Peter. If this is the house of Peter, then, as we often hear, “George Washington slept here,” one might say, “Jesus slept here.” Jesus had no where to rest his head, so he almost certainly would have found hospitality with Peter and in the home of Peter’s mother-in-law.

By the way, in 1986 the Roman Church built a church over Peter’s house. The church is very ugly in comparison to the other churches we have seem. It looks like the Millennium Falcon. Ugh.

Along the way we stopped at the place Doran believes that Jesus cast the demons out of the pigs. We teased a lot about bacon and the like. Doran feels sure this is the spot because it is the only place the pigs could have run off a cliff into the sea. Today, this area is a minefield. Literally. There are mines buried there.

Lunch was interesting. We had the option of fish or fish or pizza. I opted for fish – tilapia or St. Peter’s Fish – head and all. It was good, although the fries were just not what fries should taste like. Someone let me taste her pizza and I was glad I didn’t get it. I have decided that when in Israel, you should eat their national foods – that’s what they are the most skilled at preparing.

Then we headed off the a baptism service at the Jordan. The location was the same one as we used last year, but it was so much more crowded. We had to share our baptismal area with two other groups. I asked Chuck Campbell to help me and he and I baptized 26 people – 2 or three first time baptisms and the read renewal / recommitment. Over the past several days I had been talking to baptism candidates, making sure they knew what baptism is and that they understood what the rededication meant. Before the baptism, I shared my personal testimony and explained how our love for God is a great motivator to be baptized.

We ended our day taking a ship operated by a Messianic Jewish man across the Sea of Galilee. We boarded the boat and I began my devotional.

The weather, however, was extremely breezy. The last time, the boat operator took us onto the lake and shut down the engines. I did that devotional in the quiet of the boat. This time we continued and with the stiff wind, the devotion was, at best, a flop. Afterward, Daniel, the captain of the boat, was preparing to share some music and suddenly a Jet Ski came up beside us and swerving away, sprayed us with gallons of water. One of the people said that it was a baptism by sprinkling! I was soaked. Daniel reported it on the radio and then they came back and hit us again. This time, they sped off into the distance and spilled the Jet Ski. We never saw them again. Daniel presented some beautiful music and a spirit of worship prevailed.

Tonight we are going shopping in Tiberius. I am ready for bed.

What a great day!

 

An Amazingly Busy Day in the Holy Land…

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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.

Holy Land 2011

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Day 1

Now that I have found the free internet, I will take the opportunity to post some information about my trip on this site. Not everyone stops by this site, so if you get the chance, please let anyone who might be interested know there’s fresh data here.

We left rainy Pennsylvania on Tuesday to head to Scranton where we caught a bus to JKF. While it was rainy in Pennsylvania, it was even worse, weather-wise, in New York. Sometimes when you’re leaving on a journey like this it’s hard to leave the familiar, but weather like this makes it easier to say goodbye to your native land.

When we landed in Israel we hit the ground running – literally. After being processed, we got onto the bus where our “first water is free.” We headed off immediately to our first stop – the “traditional site” of the home of Simon the Tanner, where Peter enters a trance and receives his revelation concerning not calling “unclean” what God has called “clean.” I brought a devotional message called, “Hidden Realities,” concerning our need not to miss the spiritual significance of the events that had taken place here. Our Jewish guide, Doran, made a good point concerning Peter’s vision: “So what did he do? He got up and made himself a ham sandwich, right? No – Peter was a Kosher Jew, he never had a ham sandwich in his life! Peter went to the house of Cornelius. The point of the vision wasn’t dietary, it was the opening of the door for the Gentiles!” I’d never thought about that before. While Jesus did declare all foods clean, his point in this context for Peter was that he needed to be willing to go to the house of one who was unclean, Cornelius, and to willingly eat with him. The food might have been clean or unclean; the point was that Jesus wanted Peter to reach people who didn’t belong to him.

From there we went to Caesarea by the Sea and saw the Aqueduct and the Theater along the Mediterranean Sea.  The view of the sea was amazing. We read some Scripture and headed in for supper at our kibbutz, arriving at about 8 p.m., exhausted. The food was great, fish and lamb, the inevitable pickles, and a vast array of vegetables.

I headed off to a long-over-due shower and went to bed. 6 a.m. would arrive too soon.

I don’t even have time to proofread this. Edit the typos out in your head, please!

Feeling Disconnected…

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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.