3-24-2012 Anyone Home?

Anyone Home?

      "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

                                                                                                                        Acts 1:7-8

Eastern Gate - the Old City of Jerusalem

Over the last few years, Lord, You have been working on Patti and me. It seems that, because of information being shared with us, along with personal observations and Your Spirit stirring the pot, our perception of corporate worship has changed and continues changing radically. 

Fellow travelers at the Angel Tree Hotel

Not that we don’t appreciate a good “Sunday Morning Experience”, but that once a week encounter of life together with other believers just doesn’t seem to hold the same place in our hearts as it once did.  We have fallen more and more in love with the concept of inviting our brothers and sisters of Your calling, into our home. Here in our “home-church, we share life and worship, not just once a week, but also trying to connect with this same family of believers on a regular basis during the week; praying, and studying the word together, helping and being helped as needs arise and sometimes, just getting together to share some laughter and fun.

Church Door in Jerusalem

Granted, we don’t always “get it right”, but we are seeking transformation rather than worldly conformity. And isn’t it interesting, that when transformation occurs, I see with transformed eyes, hear with transformed ears and love with a transformed heart? So when we were in Israel, and could not see the church (Koinonia – the intimate fellowship of believers, not the organization of believers) or hear the church or love the church of that land – The Land – was it because it didn’t exist, or because You weren’t ready to reveal it to us yet? By testing, I perceive it to be the later. I even think I’m beginning to understand why.

I’ve reached out to those I know, with connections in “The Land” and have heard the truth of it.  I’m going to offer now, Lord an example – call it a Letter Prayer.  Please accept this offering – this response  to my “reaching out”, from Wendy of the Hope School in Beit Jala – as a light to shine on the true condition of Your Church in Israel.  Perhaps others reading this will be moved as I am by its example:

            Dear Mark,

Many thanks for your email offering your commitment and willingness to help Christians in Palestine and especially Hope School. To answer a few of your questions: the school email address is:

 

info@hopeschoolpal.com  and the website address: www.hopeschoolpal.com

Class at Hope School

You are correct in realizing that the Christian community is declining here in Bethlehem and the West Bank and all over Palestine: life here is very difficult living in an occupied society. People are unable to travel freely, so they are unable to find work and are often cut off from their families, and therefore many thousands of Christians have emigrated because they can see no future.

Students at Hope School

I have asked Laila and she is unaware of any house groups going on in the area-the Christians who are here still attend the various churches. I'm not sure if there are any youth groups either, though there is still a strong Scout movement in B''hem, which one would hope would cut across the different denominations. It seems that all the Christian schools and churches are all busy trying to chase the same pots of money: so any work that would bring the churches together would give Christians a much stronger voice (this goes for the UK as well!). Hope School is unique in that 1) it is not affiliated to any church and 2) It is promoting Muslim and Christians living and working together.

Street Market in Nablus (Modern day Shechem)

…Christianity at risk of dying in the land of its birth? That’s the fearful thought that I had at the first reading of this letter. But then I realized that You are at work, Adonai. In fact the whole letter (and the fact that people like Wendy are in The Land) gives me hope and inspiration to pray and seek relationship with these folks. But how? How are You calling me and others to respond to this cry? Certainly I know that I’m not called to be an evangelizer in Israel – that You have made extremely clear. So is my calling to reach out to those in The Land, who are acting on Your call? Or am I to introduce others from my walk of life to the challenging conditions experienced every day by Christ followers in Israel, so that they might observe, pray and act based on the profound circumstances?

Mark Contemplating  Ein Gedi

Perhaps the answer is a little of both: What I see now so clearly, is that Wendy and Laila are the “home-church” in Israel, along with other believers such as Dan, Gary and Mike who also live in The Land. They don’t know each other, but I pray they soon will – maybe even through Your inspiration in this blog. And in their connection, our connection, Your Church will gather more closely into Your arms.

Lord, because of the risk associated with such a radical approach as Koinonia, I know I need to see, hear and love very carefully. In certain parts of The Land, proclaiming You as Messiah can actually result in physical and social persecution. I do not want to put those who risk much at greater risk, so I need to follow Your lead in how to reach out.

The Walk to The Temple Mount

My role is not to make some grandiose gesture or turn their efforts into some kind of Hollywood production (wouldn’t that be just like me as an American, mistakenly trying to make Your work BIGGER and BETTER by my standards?). Home-churches are alive in Israel and, although their numbers are small, their spirit is incredibly strong. I must trust that Your Spirit is working in The Land. Maybe my role is to love Your people by writing about them (and to them), sharing their story with others. I can invite them into our home-church by sharing my own struggles and victories and I can be taken into their home-church by receiving their love offerings in the same manner.

Jim Contemplating The Sea of  Galilee

Galilee

Can home-church – in The Land and in my land and in every land – be that simple? Your lessons don’t run quick and shallow, they carve deep rivers of understanding. I ask You to give me further sight, hearing and love, that I might grasp Your will and participate, in my own small way, in Your larger plan for home-churches throughout Your kingdom.  So that Your Home-Church, Your Bride, will be made ever more ready for the wedding feast to come.

Lord Jesus, help me to bring this message home.

3-12-2012 Open Says Me

Oldest City Gate ever discovered -
one of 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

Entrance to Tel Dan

Ancient of Days, I’m having trouble taking this all in. I was actually standing in front of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – the city gate located at Tel Dan in the Northern Region of Israel, just below the Golan Heights. There was no ticket booth, there were no roller coasters or food kiosks and not one souvenir shop: Just You, me, my fellow pilgrims and a deep sense of spiritual history.

What I’ve learned, because of the geography of this land, is that this was THE place, (perhaps the very spot on which I stood while snapping pictures), where Abraham would have approached Your Promised Land. Here he would have had to seek favor with the locals, making sure they did not consider him, or his clan that accompanied him, as a threat.

“Wait a minute,” some might say. “Why couldn’t he have just skirted the gate, snuck in around and avoided the risk of confronting the Canaanites?”  Before this trip, I had considered that very question.

Mt. Hermon to the North

Abe would have been seen coming from a long way off – again because of the terrain – and the mountains on either side would have prevented any easy way around into the land. The “locals” were well aware of his approach and would have sent scouts to determine his intent. Abraham would have little choice but to approach honestly and declare his purpose…

            “My God, the one true God, told me to come here and live in the land.”

Fellow Pilgrims at Tel Dan

Hmmm, wonder what the locals might have thought of that? Did Abe proclaim his faith or did his just declare and interest in seeking out some good grazing ground? When You, Lord, told him You were going to give him this land for his descendents and he discovered it was in sever drought conditions, did he have a conversation with You? Did he express confusion, possibly even doubt about the opportunity You offered him?

Father A. was amazing in a lot of ways, Adonai. But You knew that, You saw that in him before he was even in the womb. A man who gave up his family business – You know the one, where his dad was an idol maker – shirked the ire of his relatives, took a flock of sheep (not an easy trade to pick up when you’re 70 years old) and headed to an unknown land at the bidding of a God no-one else recognized.

Abe had to have courage, Lord. There was no map, no GPS, nothing but legend and stories from other travelers. What would cause a man to radically redefine his lifestyle in such a way?

      …And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.  Gen 15:6

Crusader Fortress at Tel Dan

Go Forward

It makes me wonder about our relationship, Father God. Am I willing to abandon all for You? Are You sending me to unfamiliar places for reasons I can’t yet comprehend? Abraham didn’t hear Your purpose for him until he was already in transit and at risk. Do I have the faith necessary to go with only Your Spirit as my assurance?

Do I understand that You don’t offer anything more than relationship and that could mean anything – life, death; any and all of what You offer is blessing if I offer obedience.

I saw that in the land, Lord: A place of wonder for a wondering people. And I stood at a gate that represented a choice, just as it did to Abraham – turn back and resume your old life, or take a total leap of faith, a risk venture into the unknown Kingdom of the One True God.

Patti and Mark at City Gate

Thank You Ancient of Days for seeking relationship with Abraham and all his descendants: establishing a role model and inspiration for those like me, who might say, when offered the same opportunity, “That’s impossible, no one would risk that much.” And thank you for the ultimate historical and spiritual demonstration of Risk For All; he who even could teach Abraham, Your son, Jesus, my Messiah. By these examples, my walk is filled with possibility, not impossibility, the gate is opened wide and I walk through now in confidence, knowing You are leading me by example.

Mark C.