What was on your Christmas list?

What a privilege!  Sharing with hundreds people on Christmas Eve - trying to help all the activity of Christmas connect spiritually with people on the night before Christmas.  The fun thing for me is that it didn’t end on Christmas Eve, God was still sharing with me the next day.  Letme’splain...

First, you need know (if you don't) that I'm a pastor, and on Christmas Eve our church has 3 services. And you need at least a thumbnail of my evening message:

• Making Christmas lists - there are things we want which you can’t go out and buy, there are some things which society can’t give you.  That is what Christmas is about, God giving what the world can’t give.
• There is a biblical promise that God will give you want’s on your Christmas list.  Here’s the biblical phrasing “God will give you the desires of your heart.”  But there is some “fine print.”

Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.   Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.   Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.  Psalm 37:3-5

• It’s part of a package deal, and as we trust, cultivate, delight (worship), and commit our list gets better, and we are more ready to receive what God can entrust to us.... if you want to hear the whole message (about 20 minutes long) be my guest....DRC Media Player

But here’s the deal, I admit that my dad and I have tool issues.  And as a result, if I put a tool on my list, my dad can’t help but to buy it.  But this year I didn’t put any tools on my list (actually, I didn’t really make a list - sorry family).  Those who wanted to give me presents did a great job.  But then I was blown away by the present from my parents.  In a little box was a slip of paper with a picture of a generator on it.  Yep, a generator - now maybe that isn’t top on your list, but for someone looking to build a cabin in the woods it is perfect!  I really wanted a generator, but I knew it was more than I could reasonably ask for or expect.  And I hadn’t even asked for one...

My parents are not God, they are great people, but like all of us, perfection has yet to be attained.  But what a follow up to my thought of the reality that the closer we get to God, the more we receive the desires of our heart.   My relationship with my parents is close, close enough that they know what I’m into, what I want (could really use) even without me specifically asking.  

If this is true of earthly imperfect parents, how much more so of our heavenly Father?  It doesn’t mean I get everything I want, when I want it - refer back to “God is not Santa Claus”  but the more we trust, cultivate, delight and commit - the closer we are to God, the more we receive the desires of our heart.  This is something the world cannot give. Indeed, a Merry Christmas!

I can't even sleep like I want...

I am 39 years old, and I can’t sleep like I want to.  My young boys can sleep in any position they choose, from sprawl to a ball, front, back or sideways.  They wake up in the the morning, and they are good to go.  Upon returning from Israel, it was confirmed, this is no longer true for me.  Let me explain, and then share my life corollary.

For some time my neck and upper back have been funky.  When it would get too bad I would go and get straightened out by our great chiropractor.  He would ask about my sleep positions - back: good, side with enough pillow: good, stomach: bad.  I didn’t sleep on my stomach, I slept on my side with an additional ¼ turn (i.e., a pillow under one arm and shoulder).

Well, for my two weeks in Israel it was a twin bed every night (and no beautiful wife, but that is unrelated to the matters at hand).  At 6’4” I don’t fit well on twin beds, and there was absolutely no room for a side+1/4-turn sprawl.  So it was back or side, and ya know what - my neck was better.  Now maybe it was a miraculous Holy Land healing - but I have a hunch God wasn’t working overtime on this one.  Once I was back in a queen sized bed (with a beautiful wife) the pains started again.  So as not to start any spurious rumors, my wife is not a pain in the neck.

Forced discipline was required to sleep only on my back or side.  I had to take away my beloved extra pillow, and push through a few restless nights.  I wanted to go back to the comfort of side+1/4-turn sprawl, for I knew that in a few moments I could be sound asleep, but what I wanted and what I needed were not the same thing.  And so, as I laid there awake, desiring comfort but going for well being, I thought:  Isn’t this true beyond my pain in the neck...

We are led to believe that we can figure it out for ourselves, just by relying on what feels right.  We are led to believe that our intuition can be trusted to take us to the right place.  We know what we need, and what is going to be best for us - right?  It doesn’t appear so.  The obesity epidemic of America speaks against this.  The highest rate of incarceration in the developed world speaks against this.  The dramatic increase in the use of anti-depressants and psychoactive drugs speaks against this.  Left to our own devices, we feel good in the moment, but are left bent out of shape in the long run.

So as I pursue God, I work hard not to create God in my image, but rely on the most trustworthy resource I have found, the Bible.  But even in that, it is clear I need the help and guidance of others who have more wisdom, and the corrective nature of true friends.  When I parent my children, I must use sources beyond their desires, beyond my best intentions, seeking what will guide them to be the men of God which I believe will be in their best interest.  When I make financial decision... when I choose my diet... when I decide how to sleep - I can’t even sleep how I want to...unless I want to be bent out of shape.  Thus my joy that God has reached into this world, revealed divine wisdom, and not left us to our own devices.  The joy of Christmas!

God is like Santa Claus for adults

God is like Santa Claus for adults

I don't watch Glee, but my nieces do, so I have seen it from time to time to stay in the loop (and be entertained). Two months ago there was one I just had to watch, “Grilled Cheesus.” The face of Jesus appeared on grilled cheese – and another main plot line was that Kurt's (a central character) father had a major heart attack and was comatose in the hospital. God, Jesus, high school students, teachers, life & death, atheism, all with the cast breaking into song throughout – gotta love it.

Well, I'm sure some didn't because while the Christians portrayed in the show came across as great people, Christianity as a larger abstract idea took a beating at the hands of wonderful one-line zingers delivered by atheists. And the one-liners were allowed to stand unanswered... but hey, it's TV.

Now that it's December, I'm reminded of one of them.

Kurt says, “I think God is kind of like Santa Claus for adults.”

I'm now realizing why it was it wasn't answered. Not that it can't be answered, but any one pithy statement will sound either defensive, naive, like blind faith, too strong or too weak... but I don't have to be limited to one line.

Yep, for many people God is kind of like Santa Claus – and that's a problem. The God for some people has about as much in common with the creator of all, as Santa Claus has with a 4^th century Greek Christian bishop from Myra in Lycia (coast of present day Turkey if you're wondering). Oh, his name was Nicholas, and he was famous for his generosity to the poor. He was a Christian man who put his faith into action. Of note, he kept girls out of sex-trade by providing dowries so they could marry. No red suit, no cookie belly, no toys to children of white middle class neighborhoods... okay, I'm starting to kill the holiday buzz – I really like the fun of Santa Claus, and he still fills stockings in the Gieser household...

Santa Claus is as far from Bishop Nicholas of Myra, as many people's god is from the infinite eternal God. (okay, the two Nicks are actually a lot closer). So unfortunately, for many, God is kind of like Santa Claus for adults...and then when the right present isn't delivered they feel like the curtain has been pulled back. The modern day Santa is just what we want him to be, and for many God is as well... and this doesn't cut it when the dark valley comes, when all the pieces don't fit together, when we need a God who is bigger than it all. The God revealed in the Bible, is big enough, complex enough, strong enough, true enough, revealed enough – for any adult, in any situation, in any time.

Enjoy Christmas, have fun with Santa, and know that Jesus came to allow us to better understand and connect with the God of all. As Pastor Dave Corlett said, “the inconceivable God was conceived by a virgin in Bethlehem.”

Back at home

Time is a funny thing.  Ceasarea Maritima (our first day) seems ages ago, yet the trip went by quickly, it felt like a very long time away from my family, but now after just a few hours it doesn't seem like I was gone at all.

I have prepared for tomorrow morning, will reconnect with friends tonight, and then Sunday comes.  It will be a good day of sharing, of connecting, of celebrating (Tobiah's Birthday party in the afternoon), of trying to be in this time zone.... All this to say, that quickly life is back to normal.  My two weeks of learning, reflecting, being stretched, hiking, exploring, etc, will quickly fade into the background.  But I know this trip will always be more than most any trip I have taken.  Whether it is listening to the news (or reading it online) and now having a much more comprehensive matrix to hang things one, or reading the Bible and picturing the terrain and knowing the history better, or working with strangers and dealing with group dynamics... this trip will be with me.

There is so much of this trip I may never be able to share, but it is part of who I am.

God's Blessings,
Dirk

Taxi shuttle is coming

In about 1/2 an hour our transport to the airport should be arriving.  My dad and I have had a good final day in Jerusalem.  Lord willing we will be home by lunch on Saturday.  Today we walked the wall of Jerusalem from the Jaffa Gate to the Dung Gate.  After lunch we walked up the Mt of Olives and re-visited some of the churches, then did some shopping (and I still was accused of being hard, but also a friend when I left the stores), we were able to view the Western Wall as Shabbat began, then dinner, and now we are waiting in the lobby of the Golden Wall Hotel.

Holy Places amplify sound....

Good Night

Being Hard in the Markets of Jerusalem

Today I was called hard. “You are hard, very hard.” It was in the context of shopping in the market. After I bargained a man down from $72 to $15, he was not happy with me, but he still completed the transaction... I have shopped in markets in many cultures and many countries. There are at least two skills you need. One is to judge how high above selling price the initial offering is, and the other is the culturally appropriate ways to get from starting price A to final price B. Today I finally had some time to develop a sense of Jerusalem markets. I only shopped a short while – I am no expert, and those who have been here longer might take issue with what I think I learned...

The hotel is in East Jerusalem, facing the Old City wall, and very much enmeshed in a community. The prices in many of the stores are posted, therefore more or less fixed, and it seems like those other stores bump up the price a bit for foreigners, but a little asking and the price easily comes down 10 – 15%. They are shop keepers making a living, and making a little bit extra off the white guy who doesn't speak their language or know their prices – I don't mind, seems somewhat fair. But things are very different in the Old City, in the shops selling to the hoards of tourists tumbling past.

I was out for a walk, seeing where I might end up, and when I was around stores, I did some window shopping (sans windows of course). Occasionally I would ask prices, but I wasn't really seeking to shop. As I went, a nice older gentleman invited me into his small shop filled with embroidered dresses. Simple, nice, somewhat exotic. “How big is your wife?” “Is she blonde?” “What color do you like?” He had me choose one before he would tell me how much they cost. Then he sprung it on me... 350 shekels.. In case you aren't up on your conversions, that is $100. I knew that was overpriced so I started out (the store is only 7 feet deep, I didn't have far to go). By the time I was at the threshold it was down to 100 shekels (that's 30% per step I took). While maintaining interaction, I also continued movement away from him. By the time I reached the edge of his area he called out “10 dollars!” A 90% reduction – I kept walking, that is not what I want to support.

garbage tractor in the market

I learned quickly that the prices here are often more than the doubling I was originally told. One shawl that I thought was nice dropped from 450 to 150 – but this time it took just staying in the store, being congenial, recognizing the quality, and knowing that Rhamla is a Palestinian town. The bargaining here is relationship based, respect based, but they will go for the financial kill if the opportunity is given by an unsuspecting tourist. I would say that this is a very hard market.

My reflection after going for the bargain kill (getting a man to sell for almost no profit) on the present for Tobiah is that I indeed was hard. In the Palestinian neighborhood shops I did not feel that they were hard. Foreign and challenging due to my lack of knowledge, but not hard. And I reciprocated and happily paid a few dollars more. But I was taken from this more generous mindset to being a “hard American” by the hard market which takes advantage of people.

But this is not how we are to live. Jesus shows us a better way. Love your enemy, pray for those who persecute you, give more than you are asked for....don't allow yourself to become hard just because you are surrounded by hardness. I have seen this in many Palestinians here. Many are given the short end of every deal by the Israelis. They have their homes taken and are not reimbursed. They are restricted, denied rights, encroached upon – and the list of grievances goes on and on – and some become hard. But on this trip I have met many who are seeking better, to work for peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” Matt 5

Having more time, I discovered that this hotel has a terrace on top of it – I'm sitting there now. Watching people walk on the street below, looking across at the powerful stone wall of Jerusalem, and listen to the chatting of three Palestinian boys at the next table over sharing Coke, while their parents gather at a long table sharing nuts and good conversion.

Also today my dad and I visited the Garden Tomb, a more likely place for the crucifixion of Jesus. Turns out we can see the possible rock of Galgotha from our hotel window – who knew we were so close? It is likely that everyday I have looked out my hotel window at the buses in the station, I have been looking at where Jesus died – submitting to an unjust death in a hard world – back when it was a spent quarry 2000 years ago. Wow!

Tomorrow is my last day in the amazing place. Good Night.

Jesus killed in a place as unglamorous as a bus lot - fitting. 

Rocks - smoothed by the ages

Today was the last official day of our tour.  I have two more days here to process, rest, pray (and shop) - my dad and I leave late Friday night.  Today we started early, going to the Church of the Resurrection by foot at 6:30 in the morning.  As we entered this building with a very nondescript facade, we were greeted by singing and chanting in another language coming from around the corner.  It was a Catholic mass taking place at the entrance to the tomb of Jesus, behind it the Coptic priests were chanting in a small service of their own surrounding a small "shrine" where they believe the head of Jesus was at when in the tomb.  (hard to briefly explain the spacial reality)  Throughout this church which is shared by 6 difference branched of the church (Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopian), there are many different worship areas, venerating many different things, there are stones - lots of stones.

There is the stone which some say was at the base of the cross, the stone upon which Jesus' body was prepared for burial, the stone of the tomb (the tomb itself was chiseled away by some invader along the way) are the main ones.  Then the entire structure, with all its additions and rooms, is made from stone.  There are stones carved into arches, and stone walls with small crosses carved in by passing pilgrims.  What stuck me is how smooth the stones are.  They have been polished by the touch of a million hands, made to shine by the passing of a countless stream of shuffling feet, people seeking to connect with the story of the Bible, with Jesus, with God.



Just looking down at the floor is a reminder of how many people have passed this way....

polished...

We ended the day in the middle of nowhere.  Of course there is no middle of nowhere here, everything is close, every place has a not just a history, but multiple histories, but we were in a agricultural valley between Jerusalem and the coast.  The land which was the boundary between the Israelites and the Philistines as Israel became a nation once it crossed the Jordan.  It is this valley where the youngest brother David fought Goliath (I picked up 5 smooth stones from the creek bed), and the area where the Israelites - in a desperate move - bring the Ark of the Covenant into battle.  God didn't go for using it as a good luck charm - it was captured, and the priests son's were killed.  But that wasn't the main reason we came to this area, it was to see some rough stones. (read it in 1 Samuel 4-6)

A few years ago something amazing was found here, on a hill, near a village that has passed into antiquity.  Tombs - tombs carved into the the gently sloping hills.  Tombs with ledges carved into them to place a body upon while it decomposed into bones.  Bones which would later be placed into an ossuary and kept in the cave.  Yes, people back then really did sleep with their fathers...  These tombs were only discovered three years ago.  There are no signs, no trails, some have been cleared out, others are still undug, most have some trash in them as they have been used by local shepherd boys - but they have been dated to be within 150 years (+/-) of the life of Jesus - and they are rough.  They haven't been smoothed and polished, I got cobwebs in my hair as I crawled into one, they are the closest thing to the tomb where Jesus was laid, they even have a lip for a large stone to fit under to seal the door.  Neither in the Church of the Resurrection nor here in the wilderness did I see the actual tomb which could not keep Jesus contained - but Jesus came to be among the rough stones more than the smooth.

Where am I going with this?  Some other rough stones today were down in a basement chapel in the first church.  It was the chapel for the prisoners - a dark, rough, unadorned chapel - reminding people of Jesus's complete journey to the tomb.  This journey included being held with criminals awaiting execution.  And he was a target as a prisoner, beaten and abused, surrounded by rough stone.  But this is why he came.  Jesus challenged those who walked daily on the smooth, polished Temple stones.  He gave hope to those who were prisoners pressed against rough walls, lifted up those thrown down on rough gravel, and proved power over death which is wrapped in a roughly hewed cave in a hill.

This is getting long, but I have a bit more, using what our guide Marlin Vis pulled together for us today.  When the Ark was captured (when God was held captive) do you know who rescued God?  Read 1 Samuel 5 http://www.biblestudytools.com/nlt/1-samuel/5.html for the account of God's work.  And when Jesus (God with flesh on) was forsaken, killed and placed captive in the ground - who rescued him?  It is the power of God!  Jesus is scary because Jesus is powerful.  We want Jesus to be smooth and polished, but rather he is powerful and unpredictable.  "Jesus is Good, but He is not Safe."

If what we do becomes so routine that the path is polished smooth, we need to make sure the vibrant Spirit of God is still moving and guiding us.  If we never get scraped, or hurt, we need to ask ourselves if we are surrounded by the people who Jesus came to save.  Jesus bumped up against the rough stones, do we?

But I still really like smooth stones, today I laid my forehead on the place venerated as the foot of the cross.  (most pilgrims who come to that point kiss it - I couldn't go that far) - and here felt the power of God (even though there is no likely hood that the cross was actually at this spot).  The smooth stones of familiar worship are powerful, but they need to keep us connected to the solid, rough, tough, eternal, awesome, beautiful Rock.

Tomorrow is time to think, write, pray about what God wants me to share of all this on Sunday....

It is indeed a Good Night - I hope you have one too.