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Prayers for the world
Upheaval in the Ukraine. Upheaval in Israel. The deep complications. I am deeply thankful for prayer, and for the prayers of the Church! A collect for the world from the Book of Common Prayer 2019: Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily…
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Tolerating demons
When I began Lent I had in mind a practice I read in Esau McCaulley’s new book, Lent. I was going to go through the New Testament books that weren’t the Gospels or Paul’s writings. I would start in Acts and move through and end up in Revelation. Once I opened my Bible to try that while I was in…
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Israel… it’s complicated
The trip to Israel was important to me to connect with the time of Christ and other biblical eras. The trip also could not avoid modern Israel and its current conflicts. While we were in Israel there was some activity between Palestinians and Israeli settlers that flared up. We weren’t near any action, but it was certainly a concern.
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The geography of Israel
One of the striking realities of Israel is its very limited geographical footprint. The stories become more real as I read them when I realize how the distances are not that great. Yes, they traveled by foot and that made the journeys longer in time, but to travel Israel today helps shorten up the space in the biblical accounts.
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Time traveling
In the past few years when I have visited historic sites, I have had a sense of “time traveling.” A few years ago I visited a traveling exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls. When I looked at the tiny piece of parchment through thick security glass, I had a sense of time travel. Thousands of years no longer separated me…
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The visit without pictures
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. We are finishing a trip to Israel and I limited myself to a phone and typing with thumbs isn’t my thing. But I wanted to make one note before I get back to working on posts about the Israel trip.
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The Middle East
I grew up in a church/movement where end time theology was wrapped up in “the rapture” and unquestioned support for Israel.
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The necessity of waiting on God
Moses was called up to the mountain. There he was in the powerful presence of God 40 days and nights. Moses spent the forty days in the presence of God and received the blueprint for God’s heart concerning Israel. Israel “waited” at the bottom of the mountain and fell back to their old patterns from Egypt. Moses received the heart…
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Smokescreen
100 years ago there was an obscure “archduke” assassinated by a small faction of a small ethnic group that just seemed like nothing in the news. It was so out of the way, WHY would it be significant? There were bigger things on the table at the time. People wouldn’t pay attention to some backwater story when Germany was the…
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Random Weekend Thoughts
We had a fast and furious trip to Duluth to see our son in the musical “Pippin.” As I drive I have a lot of thoughts tumble through, none of which I can remember for very long. To develop them is a lot of fun… but maybe for another time… and privately. Some thoughts along the way: — We heard…
Tag: Israel
