TD's blog

Diamond Lake youth trip Feb. 2012

2012-02-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

- The following photos and video are from United's youth snow trip to Diamond Lake, Feb. 18-20, 2012.

Our first stop was at Toketee Falls about 20 miles from Diamond Lake.

Toketee Falls

The following photos are from our Saturday snow ball adventure.

The following are photos from Sunday morning. This was part of a team building activity in which the youth had to get across the lake of hot chocolate (the floor) using marshmallows (paper plates). They did a great job and had fun as well.

The next photos shows scenes from the cross country trail on Sunday.

Mt. Bailey

Mt. Thielsen

The following link is to a video showing the great Oreo race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKGsSs68mro

Everyone had a great time at Diamond Lake. Many thanks to the ULC trust fund committee for using funds to help make this trip possible.

Video of Sunset Bay and Shore Acres

2011-12-31T13:39:00.000-08:00

Gay and I spent sometime of the afternoon on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011 at Sunset Bay and Shore Acres on the Oregon Coast just west of Charleston. These are some of our favorite places.
The following link shows some of our time there. If you want to see the most spectacular wave, cut to the final 10 seconds of the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BisP7zvW8fs

Advent Christmas activities at United Lutheran Church December 2011

2011-12-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

The following link shows three different activities at United during December 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ebnk-_YY4g&feature=youtu.be

School kits for Lutheran World Relief

2011-10-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

The following link is to a short video showing the work of assembling 825 school kits by the people of United Lutheran, Eugene, OR. There was a great turn out and the whole process took about 3 1/2 hours. It started at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 8, 2011 and was over by 11:30 a.m. It was an example of terrific team work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyi8I7G-aec

Last stop on the sabbatical tour- San Francisco

2011-09-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

The last trip scheduled for the sabbatical took me to the Bay area. The primary purpose was to talk with the staff at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, learn more about their ministry, and participate in the Friday food pantry program and the Sunday worship. As some of you know, this is the congregation at which Sara Miles serves and about which she writes in her books, Take This Bread and Jesus Freak.
Another opportunity I had was to visit several family members and friends while there. In addition, I was able to go over to PLTS and see former intern, Jeremiah. He is doing well. I was glad that we were able to have a final time together after he had finished at United/Good Samaritan.

As for a rundown of the week, I got in on Monday, September 12th and left on Sunday, September 18th. My first activity was to sit in on the staff meeting at St. Gregory's. (My sanity was questioned about doing such a thing on a sabbatical but it was good to get a behind the scenes look.)

a view of St. Gregory's

Here are three staff members- admin. assist., education, and interim choir director

Paul Fromberg, the rector

Sara Miles, Director of Ministry

On Wednesday, I had a good interview with Paul regarding administrative philosophy and worship practices. Their way of encouraging people to pursue their gifts for mission and service are similar to that of United. The worship seeks to include as many people as possible with the idea that the staff should give away as much ministry and leadership as possible. For more about these facets of St. Gregory's please click on the following link-

http://www.saintgregorys.org/

This is the baptismal rock and is located outside next to the sanctuary.

This is a view of the area of the church for the Service of the Word. Preaching is done from the raised chair in the center. Behind is one of many modern icons. I will talk about it in a video later in the blog.

This is the altar and the area in which Holy Communion is shared.

I also learned about a fascinating ministry which was also going on in San Francisco. It is called the Free Farm and is located on the former site of St. Paulus Lutheran Church. The building burned down in 1995. For over a year now there has been a garden run by volunteers on this piece of land. The food which is harvested is given away at various sites throughout San Francisco.

The sign seems to shout- "Yes, this is in San Francisco!"

Please click on the following link to get a view of the farm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84GsU01Ku0g

On Friday, I spent all day helping set up the Food Pantry, serve food, and clean up. I think somewhere between 400-500 people were served. There were about a total of 25 volunteers throughout the day. A few are from the church. Many are from the community and a number of them came initially to receive food. They have since returned to help others.

The tarps are down and food is being delivered. This is about 8:45 a.m.

The food keeps coming.

The food is almost all in and processing it for distribution is underway.

Food and icons

Here are two of the main leaders. Nerma is the overall leader and Michael (He couldn't resist hamming it up.) is the Operations manager.

Angela is also one of the primary leaders. All of them are very hard workers and able to direct others into various tasks.

People receiving food.

The woman in red came from Russia 13 years ago. She knew no English. Now her youngest is going to college. She has been volunteering at the food pantry for 12 years!

With about 45 minutes left, the clean up begins. Food is still distributed as this takes place

The clean up is almost done and most volunteers have left by 4:15 p.m.

Please click on the link to watch a video showing the food pantry and the icons of St. Gregory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJl8j107wSc

To get a description of the people represented in the icons, please click on the following link.

http://www.saintgregorys.org/Resources_pdfs/Dancing_Saints_Bios2.pdf

It was a great day. I met a number of people and will be glad to share some of their stories. I got back to the motel at around 5:00 p.m. and promptly took a nap!

On Sunday, I participated in both services and the adult forum. As I said, the aim is to bring everyone into active participation whether that be in leadership roles, sharing briefly after the sermon, or dancing with others around the altar. This particular Sunday, there were three baptisms. They celebrate this gift in a very joyful way.

Baptism at the 8:30 a.m. worship

When the second service was over, I "scooted" out and headed back to Eugene. With this, the last of my special experiences for the sabbatical came to a close. I am now in the process of putting together material for classes at United.

It has been a good time filled with people, places, and insights. And now, I am more than ready to return to our community and life together. I am glad to be home and look forward to October 2nd when we rejoin one another in life and mission!

In Christ,

Tom

Luther and Bach

2011-08-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

This posting will be the last one detailing the German portion of the sabbatical.
On Sunday, August 21st, Gay and I went to worship at the City Church in Wittenberg. As it turns out, it was a special service in that there were two baptisms. They were the daughters of a couple with one about three or four and the other a toddler. In addition, there was a youth group at worship of about 40 youth perhaps in 5th grade. Taken together with others at worship, there seemed to be over 100.

This link is to a rather lengthy video. It contains "footage" of the interiors of the Castle Church and City Church in Wittenberg as well as video with bells before worship, prelude, and postlude at the City Church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i62aupO-XMM

This is at the beginning of the baptismal service.

After worship, we drove to Leipzig to explore some of the surroundings of J.S. Bach. We had three sites in mind. The first two were churches where Bach served. They are Thomas Church and Nicholas Church. The third site was the Bach museum.

This is a view from the chancel facing the main organ in the Thomas Church.

This stained glass is in honor of Bach in the Thomas Church.

This organ is a recent addition to Thomas Church and was built to be much like the instrument at the church when Bach served here.

This stands outside of the Thomas Church

This shot is looking toward the chancel in the Nicholas Church. This is the other main congregation at which Bach served in Leipzig.

Our final goal for Leipzig was to go through the Bach museum. It is a fine collection and one of its features is that it gives people the possibility to access a number of Bach's compositions and listen to them. It has been done in a way which is very accessible. One could spend quite a bit of time simply "surfing" from one piece to another to one type to another.

This piece of whimsy was on the first floor of the museum.

When we were done at the museum. We drove back to Wittenberg. On Monday, August 2nd, we started our trip back by driving to Frankfurt. The autobahn was fine to drive on and though some drive extremely fast, the "culture" of the road is clear and by and large, the drivers are courteous. I did not go over 135 kilometers per hour!

Our flights home went smoothly. We flew Lufthansa from Frankfurt to San Francisco and United back to Eugene.

It has been quite an experience from Israel to Italy to Germany. I have experienced much- much which has been beautiful and inspiring as well as much which has shown the darker nature of humanity. The beauty and brutality of our race seem to exist side by side.

Indeed, Luther himself had these dynamics within himself. He was a shining light of God's grace as well as someone who could express hatred towards others who did not agree with him.

It seems to me that the continuing challenge before us as individuals and as groups is to live out the grace and compassion of God. That it seems to me is neither easy nor natural. May God's Spirit continue to breathe such new life into us that we may live it out in how we treat one another.

In the days ahead, I will be working on classes and putting thoughts together as well as working in the yard, playing tennis, and enjoying being back in the U.S.

Blessings!

Berlin

2011-08-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, August 20th, Gay and I caught a morning train from Wittenberg to Berlin. We decided to take a four hour walking tour and then do further exploration on our own. The tour was led by a 20 something named Heather who has lived in Berlin for five years and has her master's in German history. She was lively and informative.
The tour had three main focal points. They were: 1. General German and Berlin history; 2. the Third Reich; and 3. the Communist era.

This photo incorporates the first two topics. It is one of the oldest museums in Berlin and is located on what is called "Museum Island". It was also a favorite spot for Hitler to gather large crowds and address them.

This shows part of a very powerful monument. It is about a block square and it is the monument to the murdered Jews of Europe. This monument fills about a city block with over 2,000 cement blocks. They are all unique to one another in that not one is the same size. It is purposely abstract so that people who experience it may develop their own meanings from it. Below the monument is a museum to the Holocaust which takes the exact opposite tack. It focuses on a number of extended Jewish families from around Europe. It shows photographs of the members of the families and then tells what happened to them. We learn who survived and who was murdered. It, too, is a powerful experience.

In these many memorials and museums, I experienced the Germans as facing the reality of the past straight on without flinching.

Another feature of Berlin's history is that of the Communist era. This photo shows one of the few reamaining sections of the wall which was erected to keep people in East Germany from escaping to the West.

This is the American part of "Check Point Charlie". This was the most traveled check point between East and West. The East German side had a huge complex for checking people entering and leaving East Berlin. At times, the guards would completely strip a car to make sure that no one was being smuggled out.

Another museum which Gay and I went to was on the grounds of the former SS building. If focues on the Nazis themselves and less on the victims. It, too, is a clear and unflinching look at the horrors of the Third Reich. On of the most chilling experiences came from the photos of the concentration camp guards smiling and laughing while they are taking some R and R. These pictures show a casual side which seems to indicate that they were simply having a good time away from their jobs.

Our all too brief time in Berlin provided many strong experiences.

Blessings.

Martin Luther

2011-08-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

The main reason we came to Germany was to go to sites related to Martin Luther. Our first stop involved Eisnach which where he studied for a time as a youth and where he was hidden at the Wartburg Castle following the Diet of Worms controversy.Then we went to Erfurt where Luther entered the Augustinian order. We saw that cloister and churches important in the area, After that, we pushed on to the town of Eisleben. This is the town in which he was born and as it turns out, also where he died.
Though it took a bit of poking around and asking questions, we did find his birth house.

Here I stand (If you will) in front of Luther's birth house.

The museum in Luther's birth house was very good. In it was a model of Eisleben in Luther's day. The lighted buildings show where Luther was born in 1483 and where he was baptized (St. Peter and Paul Church) the next day. They are just about a block away from one another.

If you look closely enough, you can see once again the house where Luther was born and the house where he died. He had come back to Eisleben as he was asked to settle a dispute.

This picture shows the continuation of the "scaffolding tour". St. Peter and Paul Church in Eisleben is undergoing extensive renovations in preparation for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

We were able to go into the church but a few steps. Again, this is where Luther was baptized. That was God's gift to him which supported him throughout his life.

It was in this house that Luther died. If you look closely through the front door, you will once again see scaffolding. We were not able to go into the house.

After spending a few hours in Eisleben, we pushed on to the place which would be the center of Luther's life as a reformer. We drove to the town of Wittenberg. This is where he became the most famous professor at the University of Wittneberg and from here he began turning the world upside down with his emphasis on the free grace of God.

This is a view of the Schloss Kirche or Castle Church. It was here that Luther nailed the 95 theses and so began the revolt known as the Reformation.

This is a view of the nave of the Castle Chuch.

This is the other main church in Wittenberg. It is the Marien Kirche or City Church. Evidently, Luther enjoyed preaching the most in this church.

This is the actual pulpit from which Luther preached in the City Church.

This may seem a bit big but it is the home of Martin and Katherina Luther. It was the former cloister of the Augustinian monastery. As it turns out, they needed the room. In addition to their own children, they took in the six children of one of Luther's sisters. They also had students board with them. They would often have 40 in the house and for meals! Katie was a remarkable person in her own right!

Here Gay is shaking hands with a statue of Katie.

I have a couple of videos of the churches which I will post later as the connection I now have is too slow.

It was a good day exploring Wittenberg and being in this remarkable place. I will post more about this in a later posting.

Blessings!

Buchenwald

2011-08-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

This entry will concern itself with our visit to the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. We were there on August 17^th. The following is from the journal I have been keeping.

At about 10:30, we set out for Buchenwald. We headed in the general direction and used the maps but it was not well marked. We did happen across it though and made our way in. We were there from about 11:00 to 4:30. As we expected it was probably the deepest time of the trip. We got a video guide and several pamphlets.

The tour starts in the area where the SS had their barracks. Then it goes to the remains of the train station and the road down which the people were herded/rushed into the camp by both guards and dogs. We then went into the camp itself. There are only a few buildings remaining but the outlines of the many barracks have been marked in crushed stone. As such, the layout of the camp is clear.

The front gate has on it a saying in German which translated means, “To each his own.” It seems odd but perhaps it was a way for the Nazis to say that they had chosen one way and the prisoners had chosen another. First, we walked to the crematorium. This was a building in which the dead were cremated and also in which a number were murdered by strangulation.

After that we went to the disinfection station were arrivals were stripped and made to go through a stinging disinfectant bath. The permanent art exhibit is housed here. The building next to it was the Depot. This large structure is where the prisoners had to leave their belongings. This is now the museum which is very good showing many aspects to Buchenwald. It covers the building of the camp which was begun in 1937, the stages of its growth (It would be the third largest camp.), the prisoners, the SS guards, the harsh, tortuous conditions, and finally the liberation by the U.S. Army in the spring of 1945.

After spending quite a bit of time in the Depot, we walked to the Russian exhibit. After the war, the Soviets used the camp for about five years to hold 1,000’s more whom it suspected of being former Nazis.

We then walked around the area where the prisoners’ barracks were and the different memorials to different groups. While we were doing this, there was a group of Jews laying a wreath and having a service at the Jewish memorial.

The Jews were by no means the only ones at Buchenwald and may not have been the largest group. There were many Russian POW’s. in addition, there were people from different countries, many gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, and homosexuals. There was also a small contingent of Allied soldiers. The Russians and Jews were singled out for much of the harshest treatment. A number of Russians were executed using a device which looked like a part of a physical exam. It was the place where height was measured. When the victim stood with his back to the wall, there was a slot in the wall where the killer held a pistol and shot the victim in the nape of the neck.

Our time there was a time to confront the ways which hatred and fear can lead people to do horrendous things. We were also reminded of the ways in which such brutality was both systemic and systematic.

After we were done, we got into the car and ate a bit as we had not felt like eating while going through such horror. We then drove back to Erfurt.

As a warning, some of the following may be difficult to look at.

The following link is to a video I took showing the entry into the camp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWFnSQdR7wI

This is a picture of what remains of the train station at Buchenwald. Originally, people were brought in by bus or were forced to march. The train line was built when the SS started an armament factory at the camp. It was then that people were brought to the camp by train.

This is the front gate with the camp behind it.

Here is the saying on the front gate, "To each his own."

This is the depot at which people had to give up all their belongings.

This is the crematorium. People were not gassed at Buchenwald. Here the intent was death through labor.

One of the ovens used to cremate the dead.

This is the device I mentioned in the text. Made to look like a device to measure height, the victim would stand with his back to the wall. He would then be shot in through the nape of the neck. An untold number of Russian soldier POW's were murdered in this way.

This room was in the basement of the crematorium. The hooks were used to strangle over 1,000 innocent people.

These are the remains of what was euphemistically called the "hygiene unit." It was the barracks where the SS purposely infected people in order to try out different drugs to see whether or not they worked.

This statue is in the permanent art exhibit at Buchenwald. It well describes the results of this horror.

While we were there a group of Jewish people laid a wreath and held a memorial service.

There were thousands of gypsies also killed at Buchenwald. This is the memorial to them.

Here is one of guard towers and the fence used to keep the people trapped in this place of living and dying hell.

The time on the clock tower has been set to show the time the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army.

God bless us all to pursue the ways of compassion, understanding, and justice.

From Italy into Germany

2011-08-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

We have been quite active since the last posting! The last time I sent something, Gay and I were enjoying the sights, sounds, and food of Venice. We have since taken the train to Frankfurt, rented a car, and driven to Eisenach and Erfurt. I will post a number of photos to show you some of what we have been doing and what we have seen.

This is a photo showing a building with the inscription showing Murano. It is an island in the Venetian lagoon. For centuries, it has had a creative and thriving glass making industry. The art that is produced is amazing.

There were a number of exhibits of glass art to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy becoming a nation. This is the one we liked the best.

After Murano, we visited the island of Burano. It is known both for it lace making industry (Again, incredible.) and for the pastel color scheme of the houses.

On August 13th, we were back exploring Venice itself. The picture above is of the Doge's palace. The Doge was one of the important leaders in the Venetian republic.

The Venetian leadership often used intrigue and anonymous denunciations to keep control within the republic. This photo shows the slot someone could use to slip through such a secret written denunciation.

Here is a bit of irony. This painting showing the Doge paying homage to Mary and the Christ Child is the room into which the secret denunciations would come. So, the official presentation was that the leadership was following Christ while it was actually using secret means to condemn a number of its citizens.

One of the striking experiences we have had was just how strong the veneration of Mary is in this part of the world. This painting shows the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven.

Here are a couple of photos of us enjoying Venice.

August 14th was our long travel day by train to Frankfurt. This photo is in the morning as we are leaving Venice.

This is from the train as we are passing through northern Itlay.

We have made it into Germany. Do you think that this is a special welcoming gift?

After we picked up the rental car, our first stop was Eisenach. This is a photo of Luther house. Luther stayed here while he was studying in upper grammar school.

One of the exhibits in the Luther House had to do with Lutheran parsonage life. No longer was it a celibate priest but a married pastor. The parsonage became a place for meetings, discussion, and a source of social action. When Gay saw this, she gave words to the woman, "You invited how many to dinner?"

Just outside of Eisenach is the Wartburg Castle. This is where Luther was taken, for his safety, after the Diet of Worms at which he had refused to recant his beliefs.

This is the room in the Warburg where Luther stayed. It was this room in which he translated the New Testament into German in the space of eight months.

This is a view of Eisenach from the front gate of the Wartburg.

It is now August 15th and we have made it to Erfurt which is another center of activity for Martin Luther. This is a picture of the Predigerkirche (Preachers Church). It became a Lutheran church in the Reformation.

Though it is hard to see, I am including this photo. It comes from the Predigerkirche and the painting is one of the oldest in Erfurt. It depicts the death of Mary. This is in contrast to the doctrine and paintings of Mary's assumption into heaven. This painting which comes from the 14th century shows a time before the doctrine of her assumption became universal in the Roman Catholic church.

This photo shows the Augustinian cloister which Luther joined as a monk.

This is the sole remaining building of the University of Erfurt where Luther studied.

This is the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Erfurt. This is where Luther was ordained into the priesthood.

This picture shows the altar area of the cathedral. It was here that Luther was so paralyzed by fright that he almost was not able to say his first Mass.

This brings us up to the present. As you can see, we have been experiencing much in our travels. We now have less than a week left in Europe. It has been a rich experience.

Blessings!

Made it to Venice!

2011-08-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

We have made it to Venice! The train ride from Florence to Venice went without a problem. After getting in, we got three day “Vaporetti” passes. These are the water buses and are the way to get around.

This was our first view of the Grand Canal which is the "main street" of Venice.

After checking in and getting great help from the clerk at our hotel, we headed out to explore. Our first stop was to Piazza San Marco. This is probably the place most people want to get to when they come to Venice. The following are several photos of the church and the piazza.

This is looking out from the piazza.

San Marco Basilica.

The link is to a video showing a panorama of the piazza from the balcony of the church.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TTLA4cWohw

Gay and I enjoyed our time inside San Marco/St. Mark's. A striking piece was the overwhelming Byzantine influence. As the church was built before the Great Schism, east and west were not split. Indeed, the eastern influence in art would go on in the west for another couple hundred years. The following photos are from St. Mark's.

This is the main dome. It shows a classic Byzantine theme of Christ as pantocrator- ruler of the world.

A view of the chancel from the balcony

These horses were cast in the time of Alexander the Great and came to Venice as booty from the Crusade which sacked Christian Constinople.

This next link is to a video showing one of the nightly forms of entertainment. There are a number of combos which play most nights. I took this video in the late afternoon. They were still playing when we were back at 9:00 p.m.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UgTk4DuGDI

Here are a few photos from the piazza at night.

It was a fine first day in this storied place.

Blessings!

In Florence and seeing sites expected and unexpected

2011-08-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Today we had reservations to go to the Accademia which is the museum housing Michelangelo’s David. We toured the museum which also has quite a collection of Florentine religious art from the 13^th century through the 16^th century. It was very well done and gave a good understanding of the changes which were made throughout the period. The way I would describe it is that it goes from a Byzantine icon style to an increasingly realistic style. The museum allows people to get quite close to David which is a tremendous gift. I was happy to take a photo of this masterpiece.

Following our time in the museum, we walked over to the Piazzale Michelangiolo. This is a park on a small bluff south of the Arno River which overlooks Florence. The day was gorgeous and the scene beautiful.

This is a view of the old city wall.

The following video link gives a panorama of Florence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKbTyalKZmE

Following that we walked over to Santo Spirito basilica. Though it was not open, this is where the priests allowed Michelangelo to do dissections which at the time were forbidden.

As we were walking following that, Gay noticed a sign for a Lutheran church! It was fun to have an outpost of the Reformation in Florence.

You may be able to read the German above the door- "Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott"- "A Mighty Fortress is our God."

The following photo is of the church's founding plaque. The verse is from 1Peter 1:25 and translated says, "The Word of the Lord remains forever."

We then walked over to the Santa Croce Basilica. As a basilica, it is very large and is the burial place of many famous people from the region.

This is the tomb of Galileo.

This is the tomb of Michelangelo.

But, the most important one for Italians is the following. Take a guess before you look at the caption.

This is the tomb of Dante who by his work fathered the modern Italian language.

Gay and I will be going out for dinner after I send this and though we have already had gelato (a recurring theme of our time in Italy), we may have it again.

Blessings.

We are in Italy!

2011-08-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since my last blog owing to several things. 1. It is good to spend time with Gay and less time on the computer. 2. Our schedule has been very full. 3. I have had limited Wi-Fi access. I ask your understanding for all of this.

Today, there is an opening in the schedule and I will be glad to fill you in.

Monday, August 1st- Gay and I met at the DaVinci airport on Monday. We were able to connect without any trouble even without either of us having a cell phone!

We took the bus into Rome and enjoyed seeing the city as we drove by. The bus dropped up off close to the Termini train station. We had picked a hotel a few blocks away from it. We got a bit lost (This would be a recurring theme.) but we found our hotel. The room was ready and we dropped off our bags to explore the area. I was concerned that Gay would be tired from all the travel and jet lag but she was ready to go.

We started walking and headed for sites in which we were interested. We used a map and I regularly asked police officers about directions. They were all friendly and helpful. That first day, the first landmark we saw was a column to the Roman Emporer Trajan but now topped by St. Peter. After that we stumbled onto a large monument to the founding of the Italian republic. After that, we wandered around and found the Trevi fountain.

Here is proof that Gay made it to Rome!

As we walked around looking for other sites, we stumbled onto a number of churches. It seems that Rome has more churches than just about any other place on earth.

This is a picture of a "local, neighborhood" church. It was quite amazing.

An interesting point from a Lutheran perspective, we came across two churches which expressly dealt with indulgences.

This photo is from the Church of Mary Magdalene. We were simply walking by and decided to go in. It had a museum which was only open for an hour and a half on Mondays. We happened to hit that time and went in. This is a "papal bull" from Leo X authorizing the sale of indulgences for the "fabbricia" of St. Peter's. It is dated January 10, 1517. Luther would post the 95 theses later that year.

A little later that afternoon, we came across a church of the 12 apostles. At least two are said to have their tombs in a crypt in the building. The photo which follows is of the lintel above the front door.

Though my Latin is not good, I interprest the words to say that plenary indulgences (These are the ones which cover all sins for all time.) are here for the living and the dead. Here, one of the causes of the Reformation is literaly "written in stone". It made my head swim.

We continued our walking tour and found the Spanish Steps and the Borghese Park. In addition, we made our way to the Pantheon and went in to this ancient temple to the gods which was later turned into a church.

That was plenty for the first day. We found a place for dinner and eventually found our way back to the hotel to drop into bed.

Tuesday, August 2nd- This is the day we had reserved for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. We walked there from our hotel and did not get lost! It is amazing what one day can do to help with getting a feel for things. (This is not to say we did not get lost again but we were better able to orient ourselves.)

The Colosseum as its name suggests is huge and we spent a couple of hours there. We had purchased Roma passes which enabled us to by pass the very long entrance line. It was a purchase well worth it.

After touring the Colosseum and the many exhibits, we headed for the nearby Palatine Hill on the way grabbing lunch. The Palatine Hill was where many emperors had their palaces and is the site where many decisions involving all of the Roman Empire were made.

We then went down into the adjacent Roman Forum. This was the "main street" of ancient Rome. Among the many items there was the Arch of Titus.

This arch celebrates Titus' victory over the Jews in their revolt which ran from 66-70 AD. (It also ties together parts of my sabbatical with my time in Israel and our time in Italy.)

Once again, we found a place for dinner. It was a fun, family style one in which there seemed to be few other tourists. We left, had our obligatory gelato, and crashed into bed.

Wednesday, August 3rd- We headed for St. Peter's and the Vatican. We were warned in our Rick Steves' guidebook not to go until mid afternoon if we did not reservations which we did not. So, the day began by taking the bus to a little farmers' market area known as Campo de Fiore. We had a good time looking at the various offerings and bought some pasta spice mixes which were in bulk.

When we got done there, we caught a bus back to our hotel and dropped off our purchases. Then we took the metro/subway to the area by the Vatican. Our first stop was to Castle Sant' Angelo. Though begun as a burial tomb for Emperor Hadrian, it was later used by many popes as a fortress in times of trouble. We walked up and down its many stairs and made it to the top which affords a great view of Rome.

With that accomplished, we walked over to the Vatican. The line was long to get into St. Peter's so we headed for the Vatican Museum whose crown jewel is the Sistine Chapel. The line moved well and we were soon in. According to Rick Steves (He is a new great friend!), the museum has four miles of floor and he suggests to walk quickly through the collections in order to get to the Sistine Chapel. We followed his advice and we were still in the museum for over two hours. (My irreverent take on it, is that is like a museum based on an IKEA floor plan. One cannot get in and simply get what one wants. Instead, one must go through the whole place.)

The iconic center of the ceiling.

Then, we went over to St. Peter's. It is nothing if not huge! Directly to the right of the front doors is the Pieta by Michelangelo. It is such a beautiful piece.

The following video shows various scenes from the Colosseum, the top of Castle Sant' Angelo, and the chancel at St. Peter's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=847RVVhxbN4

We ended our day by taking the bus to the Trastevere area of Rome for a meal at a great little restaurant followed by gelato.

Thursday, August 4th- After having three long days of walking and taking in, we thought a more relaxed day would be good. Our only scheduled activity was to go to the Borghese Museum. This is a gem filled with painting and sculpture. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed so I cannot share with you some of the terrific pieces we saw. The rest of the day was spent "hanging out" in the park, reading, and finally scouting out the train station for leaving the next day.

Friday, August 5th- We got up early and got packed. We headed to the Termini station and were at the platform we thought was the one for our train. A "local" asked us which train and I showed him our tickets. He told us we were at the wrong platform and took my bag. He also took Gay's and we followed him to the right train. He evidently makes a living this way and wanted a hefty reward. I did give him some Euros though not as much as he wanted.

In our compartment, there were two other couples, one from Australia and one from California. All of us were headed for Cinque Terre on the Tusan seacoast though to different villages. We enjoyed one another's company for the trip. Gay and I changed trains at La Spezia and made it to our destination, Riomaggiori.

This is a view looking north from Riomaggiori.

Saturday, August 6th- There is a hiking trail which links the five villages of the Cinque Terre. We took a local train to the northern most village and hiked south.

This is a view of Monterosso (the northern most village) from the hiking trail.

We ate lunch at the next village, Vernazza. While we ate, the church bells began to ring announcing a wedding. It was fun to see the fesitivities. As we were about to leave to continue our hike, we saw a local custom "up close". The bride and groom went to a balcony and threw out a lot of candy to the crowd below. It was a lot of fun.

We closed our day with another fun meal at a little restaurant. We have enjoyed almost all of our meals here and the people have been most welcoming. Again, we ended with gelato.

Sunday, August 7th- We had our personal devotions and then headed into the day. We took the train to Monterosso once again. This time it was to spend a little time at the beach. Monterosso has the best beach of the five.

We did get into the Mediterranean at least a bit!

Once again we ate lunch in Vernazza and took the train bach to Riomaggiori. When we got back, we took a shuttle to the trail head for a 13th century sanctuary. We hiked up about 30 minutes and got to the sanctuary which is the top of the headlands.

This is a view from the sanctuary.

For dinner, we went back to the same restaurant as we had such a great time the evening before. It was just as much fun the second time. And again, we ended the evening with gelato.

Monday, August 8th- We got up early and once again, it was time to take the train. We got the 8:37 to La Spezia and then the 9:15 to Viareggio. We got in there and the train to Florence was just about to leave. I put my arm into the closing doors and then put my back into opening them. Thankfully that worked and Gay and I were on our way to Florence.

We got in at noon and found our hotel without too much trouble. We stowed our bags and went exploring. We found a few landmarks and enjoyed lunch and dinner at places suggested once again by Rick Steves.

The Duomo is one of the striking churches in Florence.

Tuesday, August 9th- We have finally made it to today! Our major excursion was to go to the Uffizi Gallery. It has many incredible pieces but once again, no photos were permitted.

So, I shall simply sign off for now. It is a rich experience which Gay and I are greatly enjoying together.

Blessings,

Tom

Leaving Israel

2011-07-30T02:17:00.000-07:00

Already it is time to leave Israel! I have the bed loaded with a number of items- clothes, brochures, pages of notes, the toiletries, various items I have picked up, cameras, and various other things. Soon it will be time to fit them in the bag. I have made arrangements to be picked up tomorrow by the shuttle at 10:30 a.m. for the flight which leaves at 2:50 p.m. This gives the shuttle an hour and a half to get to the airport in Tel Aviv and me three hours to get through the process and board. I hope that will be enough time!

Our group has been breaking up for the last day. Some have left to go on a side trip to visit Petra in Jordan. Others have left for the airport. As always, saying "Goodbye," brings feelings of loss as a community comes to an end. The fifteen of us became a supportive and friendly group in just a few days. It has been good. We represent England, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, New Guinea, and America. Of the 15, 9 are Roman Catholic, 2 are Presbyterian, 1 United Reformed (England), 1 United Methodist, 1 Anglican, and me the 1 Lutheran. It has been a good mix. We all took turns leading evening prayer. This gave us opportunities to experience each others traditions.

Moving on to the overall plan from Tantur, I have appreciated the pattern and flow of the month. Week one was an immersion in Jerusalem. We visited many churches including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We drove to the top of the Moun of Olives and walked our way down. I confess to getting "churched out" after awhile. I was relieved to learn that I was in the company of many.

Week two is when we went north to the Galilee area. We stayed two nights in Nazareth and two nights in Tiberias which is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was good to explore that area. We looked at archaeological sites, a number of churches, and the natural surroundings. It was soon obvious that the north country receives more rain and is much more fertile. In addition, it gets more water from mountain runoff. We were glad to go be in the area where Jesus lived most of his life. One special place was to go to the seaside village of Capernaum and see some first century ruins. It is possible that Jesus had spent time in those homes.

Week three, we went south and east into the desert. We visited Masada and Qumran. We saw Beer sheba and an outpost of the desert tribe known at the Nabateans. We walked into a canyon and listened to Scripture and the silence of the desert.

Week four was back in Jerusalem but the schedule was lighter. I think this was meant to give us more time to reflect on our experiencs. A particularly strong experience was going onto the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif and entering both the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Throughout we had a number of lectures and presentations. We learned about the geography of the area. We looked at the Gospel of Matthew through the shame/honor lens. We looked at the stories of other ancient peoples and how they may have influenced the Bible. We learned more about the background of the Jewish festival/liturgical calendar. We heard from the leader of the Machsom Watch which is a group of Israeli women who monitor check points among other work.
In addition we went to museums such as the Israel Museum, the Tower of David, and Nazareth Village.

It has been a rich time of community and exploration in a variety of ways. I hope that it will make the stories more vivid as I read the Bible. (That being said, there were a number of places which we did not have the time to go to. As usual, there is always more.)

Yesterday, Friday, for our last day together, we went into the western side of the Jerusalem area. We visited two churches which are close to one another. The first was the Church of the Visitation which celebrates the time Mary went to visit Elizabeth. In Luke, that is when Mary sings the Magnificat.

This statue is in the courtyard of the Church of the Visitation. I found it to be a wonderful portrayal of the meeting between young Mary and old Elizabeth, both of whom had been especially blessed.

The next church we went to was to the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist. This congregation celebrates the birth of John who came to make the way ready for Jesus.

After that, we drove into the hills to get a view of the western Judean wilderness. The west is significantly different than the east due to the fact that it gets more rain. The following clip shows a bit of this area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLwtd0tdYXE

After this, we drove to a nice restaurant for our "last lunch". As always, there was plenty to eat and eat we did!

This is our group less the three who had already left to go to Petra.

With this, I will bring the Israel section of the sabbatical blog to a close. As I said, I fly out tomorrow for Rome and plan to meet Gay at the Da Vinci airport on Monday. (We hope to connect without the help of cell phones!) This is the longest we have been apart in 35 years of marriage.

I will close with a photo I took a couple of days ago. Several of us went on a walk into a valley just to the east of Tantur. It has a fairly large hillside with an olive orchard running throughout. When we had gone down a bit, one of our group spotted a shepherd with his sheep just below the crest of the hill. The sun was setting and we climbed up to get a closer look.

May the Good Shepherd be with us all to give us hope, life, love, and the call to follow.

God bless!

Once again into the Judean wilderness

2011-07-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how quickly the month at Tantur in Jerusalem is coming to an end. Tomorrow, three of our group will be leaving. The rest of us will be going our separate ways in the next three days. As such, this is the last full day we have together.
I am glad to say that it has been an excellent one. It began with getting out of bed at 4:45 a.m. This was so because eight of us were going to leave at 5:45 a.m. for a hike in the Judean wilderness. This is the area just east of the ridge upon which Jerusalem sits. It is in a rain shadow and the moisture and vegetation drop off dramatically.
The link is to a video I took just after we got to the trail head at about 6:30 a.m. It was a beautiful morning and already warm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH5_XFo5es0

Our hike would take us down into Wadi Qilt, to St. George Monastery, and finally down to Jericho. Our group was glad that we were going down almost the whole way!

If you watched the video, this will look familiar. If you didn't, this is a view of the Judean wilderness. The sun had been up a short while and it was pretty and already warm.

In the background, you can see St. George Monastery.

The monastery was begun in the year 420 A.D.

As we walked down the wadi (aka canyon), we saw a number of human made caves. In the 400's and 500's, there were quite a number of hermit monks who lived in the wilderness to pursue a life of prayer and dedication to God.

This picture shows the cave of the one remaining hermit monk living in Wadi Qilt.

The hike was a lot of fun. As it was fairly early in the morning, the colors were vivid. I was glad to be out in the creation with a group of friends I have made while at Tantur.

After we hiked out of the canyon, we met up with the rest of our group and we went to the Monastery of the Temptation. It, too, is on the side of a cliff and commerates Jesus' trial in the wilderness. The earlier video clip shows the view from the monasatery.

After returning to the bus, we went to the Jordan River.

Here I am wading in the Jordan. As you can see it is more of a stream at this point. It is used significantly for irrigation. So by the time it gets here, which is getting close to the Dead Sea, there is not much left.

While we were there, there was a fairly large Hispanic group of Roman Catholics. This is the second baby I saw baptized by them in the Jordan.

With this, we headed back to the bus, ate a picnic lunch, and returned to Tantur. This evening we will have our closing party. Those of us who remain will have Jerusalem activities tomorrow but this will be the last time all of us our together.

I hope this finds you well.

God bless!

A trip to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount

2011-07-25T04:37:00.000-07:00

We began our last week in Jerusalem with a trip to the area of Jerusalem which is called by Arabs, Haram al-Sharif and by Jews, the Temple Mount. It comprises about one sixth of the entire size of old Jerusalem.
Since 2000, access to this area has been restricted. The reason for this is that in 2000, Ariel Sharon went on a so-called peace mission to the area and brought with him approximately 2,000 police/military personnel. This inflamed tensions with the Arab population and sparked the second intifada. Though non-Muslims do have limited access to the outside areas, they are still restricted from going inside either the Dome of the Rock or the Al Aqsa Mosque.
The following photo shows some of the area. It can be surprising to think of such a wooded area here.

The guide for our tour was Dr. Yusuf Natsheh, Director of the Deptarment of Islamic Archaeology at Haram al-Sharif and lecturer at Al-Quds University. He was very knowledgeable and welcoming.

The following photo is of the Dome of the Rock.

As I said, access to the inside of the buildings is still restricted to non-Muslims but there are exceptions. One of those is for students in programs such as at Tantur. Because of this, we were able to get on to the grounds in a time most non-Muslims are not able to and to enter the buildings. Even then our time was limited but it was a great privilege.

The Dome of the Rock is on the site traditionally ascribed to two important happenings. The first is that Abraham is said to have taken Isaac to this mount (Mt. Moriah) in order to sacrifice him. The second is that Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven from this spot.

Currently, the center of the Dome is going through extensive renovations with scaffolding going to the very top. As that is the case, the following picture shows one side of the building. The artistry is stunning.

After leaving the Dome of the Rock, we went to the Al Aqsa Mosque. This marks the furthest point Muhammad made in his pilgrimmage from Mecca before being taken up to heaven.

The front of Al Aqsa Mosque

the central aisle in the Al Aqsa Mosque

the dome of the Al Aqsa Mosque

I am sure that you will agree with me that both buildings are beautiful. I greatly desired to take more pictures of the interiors but our time was significantly restricted. We were grateful to have the opportunity to go inside.

Here we see two of the most important structures in the Islamic world. Their artistry reminds me of the care and passion Muslims have for their faith. An important step for our world will be to see how we can both cherish our deeply held beliefs and work together for the common good of all.

God bless!

Worship, sculptures, the Tower of David, and Tantur

2011-07-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

This is the last full Sunday in Jerusalem. (It seems appropriate to say, "The time has flown by.")
As last Sunday I had to wait on the bus for about 25 minutes and got to worship just as the bells were ringing, I got an earlier start today. I got to the bus stop at the Bethlehem gate a bit before 8:00 and we left at 8:00. This got me to the Jaffa Gate at the old city at about 8:25. As worship did not start until 9:00, I had some time to explore.
I had heard about a little shopping area just outside the Jaffa Gate area which had a number of contemporary sculptures depicting biblical themes or characters. I was able to find it and could go through about half the sculptures before needing to leave for worship. I went back to see the other half after worship.
I took a number of pictures of the pieces. Here are two of them.

The snake and the temptation were depicted several times.

I think this catches a great deal of Sarah's laughter in being told that she would finally have a child.

It was good to be with the people at Redeemer Lutheran Church for worship. I was at the English language congregation's service. There is also an Arabic speaking congregation and a German speaking congregation.

The following is a link to a video I took at the beginning of worship. It features the prelude and the bells from the church. This is certainly an effective way to have everyone get quiet and prepare for worship. (Should we try it at United?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR_za6-RyAw

I am including a couple of photos of people from the congregation.

These are Mark Brown, regional director for the Middle East for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and his assistant, Britt. Mark and his wife host a Wednesday evening potluck and volleyball fellowship time from about Easter to Thanksgiving at their home on the LWF campus which is located near the top of the Mount of Olives. I was glad to go there last week.

These are Pastor Fred and Gloria Strickert. He is the pastor of the English speaking congregation at Redeemer Lutheran. They were most gracious and hospitable.

After worship and the second half of the sculptures, I met with others from our group and went to the Tower of David. It is also known as the Citadel. The name is a misnomer because David did not have anything to do with it. It is a museum housed in the ruins of an Arabic fortress on the west side of the old city.

This picture shows the courtyard of the fortress.

Though it appears to be misnamed, the museum was terrific. It gave a wonderful presentation of the history of Jerusalem through the ages and through its many rulers. Also, it affords a great view of the old city from its tower. (The tower we could go on is the one with the flags.)

The link that follows is a video of the view from that tower. In addition, I put on a piece about the Hinnom Valley. This is just to the west of the old city. It was used both as a burial ground and the city dump. The dump would catch fire and smolder. Because of this, it was used as the model for the eternal flames of hell or Gehenna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AksRNiLyp-U

After that, I headed back to Tantur. As I arrived there, I thought that a video of the campus might be of some interest. Because of that, I put one together. The following link is to it. (At the end of the video, I wonder what people are doing on the tennis court. As it turns out, they were marking the lines for a labyrinth which we would walk later during evening prayer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn4uBd5iWac

God bless!

Going to the Western Wall, the Southern Wall, and the City of David

2011-07-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Today, we had a half day excursion into the old city of Jerusalem. This time we did not go to churches but to areas which pre-date the churches.
Our first stop was at the Western Wall of the Temple. The wall was not part of the Temple itself. Rather, it was part of the huge retaining wall built around the mountain (Mt. Moriah later to be called Zion) to support the Temple.
We spent sometime simply being in the area of the Western Wall.

This photo shows the men's side of the Western Wall.

The following link is to a video I took while at the Western Wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROj_xKOrO0

After that, we went to The Jerusalem Archaeological Park which is located in this same area. You may see some similar pictures as earlier ones as I went to the part by myself the first week of our time in Israel. After we spent some time in the museum, we went to the southern wall. Scholars think that this is the side that most people would have gone through to get to the Temple in first century. This would include Jesus. The entry point was the Huldah Gates.

The gates have been filled in but the steps you see are from the 1st century. Jesus would have walked up them to go to the Temple.

This picture shows the ends of one of the stone blocks used to build the wall. You can see that they were quarried and laid so precisely that no mortar was used. This is even more incredible when one considers that some of the blocks were 22 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high.

While we were at the southern end of the western wall, we were privileged to see either a bar or bat mitzvah going on.

We then left to go to the "City of David" which is the oldest section of Jerusalem. This is the portion of the city which David conquered and then built on.

This area is thought, by a number of archaeologists, to be the ruins of David's palace.

After looking at some of the above ground structures, we went to perhaps the most important structure of all, at least as far as keeping the ancient city going. This is the tunnel which was dug through limestone bedrock to bring the water from the Gihon Spring into the city.

This picture shows some of our group going down into the tunnel. This portion was dug by the Jebusites about 1,800 BC. This was 800 years before David and during the Bronze Age. This tunnel was dug by hand with bronze instruments. It boggles the mind.

The tunnel would later be lengthend by King Hezekiah. The extension runs for 485 meters. People can walk through it if they would like to.

The tunnel itself begins at the mouth of the Gihon Spring. The photo which follows shows the remains of the Pool of Siloam which was built at the mouth of the spring.

The pool of Siloam is featured in John 9 in the story of Jesus healing the blind man. You may want to read the story as you look at the photo.

We ended the tour at the pool. I do not think that is a bad place to stop. It is good to be reminded that Jesus came to heal and give sight in a variety of ways. May we all be so blessed.

God be with us all!

A trip into the Negev Desert

2011-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, our group left early to go into the Negev Desert which is in the southern part of Israel around the Dead Sea stretching south, east, and west. The route we took was to go down the "spine" of the Judean hills. On this ridge are situated cities such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron. As you would expect, as we traveled south and as we followed the hills lower until they end in the desert, the precipitation falls off and with it the vegetation. This series of photos shows that reality.

This photo shows the area near Hebron. Please notice the terracing and the fields. Hebron and the area to the south is where David began as a warlord. He would later increase his power after the death of Saul and conquer Jerusalem making it the new capitol.

We have traveled further south. We are lower in the hills and the rain fall is smaller. Still, it is possible to grow crops.

Now we are entering the desert. The faint hills in the background are in Jordan.

Near the base of the Judean hills is a fortress known as Tel Arad. It was used by David, other Judean kings, Herod the Great, and the Romans over the centuries. It overlooked the Negev Desert and served as a way to protect the cities in the Judean hills from an attack coming from the south. It also served as a place from which to launch attacks and to control the trade routes going through or skirting the desert and going to the Mediterranean Sea.

This is a picture of the Arad fortress.

We then traveled further south into the Negev itself. Our destination was the ruins of Mamshit. (To help clarify possible pronunciations, our guide pronounced it, "mom-sheet".

This is a view of a central area in Mamshit.

This is a view of the Negev Desert near Mamshit. This terrain and that around Masada reminded me of Utah.

We took a short walk into the desert from Mamshit to experience a bit of its silence and then to listen to Biblical texts related to the desert.

This is the overhang we used for our time of meditation and listening in the Negev.

Our final stop was at Tel Beer Sheva. This is still in the wilderness and the area was the site for God encountering all the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is dry and the area is pretty flat.

This is a view of Tel Beer Sheva. It was inhabited by many groups over the centuries. It has about 15 layers showing different time periods of use.

This is a view of the huge cistern it had for collecting water. We walked into it. It was cavernous below.

The following link contains video of the various sites we went to today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzfAQwV6STY

This last photo is of a flock of goats we passed on our way back to Tantur. There were a number of sheep, goats, and shepherds but it was tough to get a picture.

That is it for today. It was a fine day to explore more of the Biblical setting, to see the remains and hints of history, and to go into the desert to listen both to it and the Word. The last passage we read was Psalm 23. It was good to hear that promise as we were surrounded by canyon walls in the desert.

God bless.

Monday, July 18, 2011- a trip to Masada, the Dead Sea, and Qumran

2011-07-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today, we got on the road by 7:45 a.m. to go into the Judean wilderness. The wilderness begins very close to Jerusalem which is on a ridge. This ridge runs for many miles north and south. Just to the east of the ridge it gets very dry due to the "rain shadow" effect. (Here think of eastern Oregon being in the rain shadow of the Cascades.)
The first major site we got to was the Dead Sea. Though still very large it is losing three vertical feet of water every year as the Jordan River, because of so much use, is barely a trickle when it reaches the Sea.

This is a view of the Dead Sea from the roadway.

When we got to the Sea, we continued driving south until we got to the mountain fortress of Masada. A brief overview of its history is as follows. It was originally built by King Herod the Great as a fortress of last resort should he find himself in trouble. In the Jewish revolt of 66-70 AD, rebels took the stronghold in 66 AD. They would hold out until 73 AD, when a Roman army laid siege to the fortress. When the walls were breached, the Romans entered to find that all the rebels had killed themselves instead of being taken by the Romans and made into slaves. It has long stood as a sign of resisting even in the face of great odds.

Masada is the anvil shaped plateau in the center of the photo.

This shows some of the ruins on the top within the fortress.

This shows the remains of one of several Roman army camps which were set up during the siege. This one in particular is that of the general in charge, Flavius Silva.

This is looking west from the fortress and shows the siege ramp built by the Romans. It was built on a natural spit which led to the mountain. The spit was 379 feet tall. The Romans only had to add another thirty feet of height in order to get the siege tower in place.

It was a strong experience to be in this place and to think of what went on here.

After that we went for a much "lighter" activity you might say. We went to an oasis for a picnic lunch and then to "bob" in the Dead Sea. Most of us took advantage of this opportunity.

About the only thing one can do is float.

Our next major stop was to the ruins of Qumran. Most scholars think that this was the community of a group known as the Essenes. This group felt that Jerusalem in general and the Temple leadership in particular were hopelessly corrupt. Because of this, they withdrew to the wilderness to pursue the ways of God and to wait for the Messiah. They were devoted to the Scriptures and to this end made a number of copies of Scripture as well as other writings which were important to them. As they, too, came under attack, they put the scrolls in clay jars and hid them in caves near the settlement. These would be found in 1947 and become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This shows some of the Qumran compound.

This is one of the caves in which scrolls were found.

Obviously, keeping the holy story safe not only for themselves but for others was a priority. It reminds me of just how important the story of God and God's people has been and continues to be today.

The following link is to a video which shows some of the Dead Sea and the rest is about Masada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4SgI1rRUGM

This then has been Monday on the east side of the Judean hills. It has been a good and strong day!

God bless.

From Galilee in the north to Hebron in the south

2011-07-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

It has been a week since I last posted to the blog. Our schedule took us to the Galilee area in the north of Israel for this past week. Throughout, we had either no or very limited access to the internet. As such, this posting will be on the long side. You may want to take it a piece at a time. I will go through the week on a day by day basis.

Monday, July 11, 2011
We get on the bus with our driver Akel and guide, Ghada Boulos. He is a fine driver and Ghada is fun and very knowledgeable. Not only has she done extensive study, she grew up in Nazareth. She is a Greek Catholic Malchite Christian.
Our first stop was to Caesarea Maritima. This was a town built by Herod the Great. It is on the Mediterranean Sea. It had a theater, a hippodrome for chariot races, and a palace. After Herod died, the palace would be occupied by Roman procurators including Pontius Pilate. The Apostle Paul was held here for two years following his arrest in Jerusalem. The city served as the capitol of Palestine for nearly 600 years.

This shows the theater. It could seat 4,000 people.

This a view of the ruins of the palace with the Mediterranean Sea in the background.

Here I am with two others from our group. It was fun being at the beach. The Roman aqueduct is in the background. When built, it ran for 10 kilometers bringing water to the city.

After we left Caesarea Maritima, we drove to the ruins of the Sepphoris. This was a Roman town which served as an imperial administrative center not far from Nazareth. Because of this, there was much wealth in the town.

This is a mosaic from a villa in Sepphoris. I am sure you will agree that it is a beautiful piece of art. It also demonstrates the affluence of the city.

After this, we drove up to Mt. Carmel. This is the mountain on which the prophet Elijah had his contest with the priests of Baal. (1 Kings 18).

The following link is to a video which I took from the top of Mt. Carmel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_zh-WciqQ

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

We began the day by going to the Basilica of the Annunciation. It commerates the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to Mary that she would bear the Messiah. (Luke 1:26-38) The basilica is in Nazareth and is the largest church in the Middle East.

The following link is to a video I took just following a worship service in the grotto of the basilica.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv-ZwQQRWwY&feature=related

This is a photo of a statue of Mary in the courtyard of the basilica. You may be able to make out that she is standing on a snake. This refers to the comment in Genesis 3 about overcoming the tempter.

After that, we went to a YMCA site which recreates, as best as they are able to ascertain, what first century Nazareth looked like. It was an interesting place with a number of volunteers working in grain harvest, carpentry, and weaving.

This is a picture of thrashing grain using a donkey to walk on the wheat and so to break it down.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

We left Nazareth and made our way to Tiberias which is on the Sea of Galilee.

This was our first opportunity to get to the Sea of Galilee that day.

We spent a good amount of time at Capernaum. This is the seaside village which Jesus spent time in as an adult.

The following link is to a video which shows the ruins of a family's housing complex in first century Capernaum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8OwH_OJmYw&feature=related

Later, we went to a kibutz which housed a unique find. In the 1980's when the Sea of Galilee was low due to a drought, a fisherman found an ancient fishing boat. It was preserved and was found to be from the first century. It would have been a boat like this that some of the first disciples would have used.

This is a view of the remains of the boat.

This is an artists rendering of what the boat may have looked like.

We left the kibutz and walked to a boat which took us on an hour ride on the Sea of Galilee.

The link is to a video from the Sea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAitAwSKVSM&feature=related

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Today we drove to the far northeast corner of Israel. Our first stop was to the ancient city of Dan. This is one of the centers which Jeroboam strengthened when he led the northern tribes of Israel to split from Judah in the south. As a way to keep the country independent from the south, he set up two worship places to be in competition with the temple in Jerusalem.

This is the actual site of the "high place" set up by Jeroboam. The metal stand in the middle is a re-creation of the size the altar is thought to have been.

After leaving Dan, we went to see the Syrian border on the Golan Heights. The link is to a video of that visit. It was very interesting to be in that area after having read about it for a number of years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTxYr3YUwVQ&feature=related

We then went toured the ruins of a fortress called Nimrod's Fortress. This was built by Saladin as a way to block the Crusaders from going to Damascus. It was quite large and still impressive.

The photo shows some of the ruins. The "castle keep" is in the background.

Friday, July 15, 2011

We left Tiberias and then stopped just done the road at a kibutz which offers Christians the opportunity to get baptized in the Jordan. The river is large enough at that point to provide a good opportunity for this.

This is the Jordan close to Tiberias.

This photo shows some of the areas for baptisms.

We would then go to the ruins of a large town called Beit She'an. It was a Roman town and was quite large.

This is a view of the main street.

This shows the distruction that an earthquake caused in 749 AD.

After this, our last stop was to Mt. Tabor which has traditionally been thought to be the place of the transfiguration.

We went to the top and visited the Church of the Transfiguration on the top of the mountain.

After that, we took a two hour drive back to Jerusalem. We followed the road on the east of the country. The link is to a video which shows some of the Judean wilderness and the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. At that point, you will see that the country is arid and dangerous if one is not prepared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM-ur0W2Uhk&feature=relatedri

Saturday, July 17, 2011

This was a special trip which I had wanted to do and several others wanted to come as well. I am also glad that the director, Tim Lowe, was with us. We went to the city of Hebron which is about 35 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is a hotspot in friction between Israelis and Palestinians because of the Tomb of the Patriarchs is there. Traditionally, it is believed that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah are buried in caves in Hebron. The Mosque of Abraham is on that site. This has been a source of conflict for years. In 1994, an Israeli settler went into the mosque and killed 29 people and wounded 125. Also, 500 Israeli settlers have moved in next to the old city where the mosque is. To protect them, 1,500 Israeli soldiers are stationed there. The following photos document some of our experience there.

This is part of old town and it used to be a thriving area. Now because of intimidation by settlers and soldiers, it is close to being a ghost town.

This is a view of inside the Mosque of Abraham.

These are Israeli settlers returning from worship. Please note the automatic weapon.

This photo shows one of many soldiers we saw in the old city.

At one point we found ourselves surrounded by a squad of soldiers. They "escorted" us for 10-15 minutes. They would not talk with us. My sense is that they were trying to make us feel unwelcome. It was interesting to be seen as the "enemy" simply by walking around the area. We also had a guide from the Christian Peacemakers Team.

Paulette was our guide. I call her "justice with a smile." She is a Franciscan nun from the United States.

These then are some comments about the past week. I did not share about all of the sites we visited. That will be for another time. Also, we ate at some very interested places- a Druze village and a Circassian village.

It has been a rich time. I look forward to the coming week.

God bless.

A special prayer request from Sandy Raney

2011-07-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

Before leaving for the sabbatical, Sandy Raney and I talked about putting a prayer in the Wailing Wall at the Temple. She gave me a slip of paper and today I was able to put it in a crack in the Wall. I am posting this video to the blog as I was unable to get it to attach to an email to Sandy. In talking with Mark, I think it is okay to put it up here.
For me, it is an example of love and faith and the community we share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX_D6x68jVs

Sunday, July 10 in Jerusalem

2011-07-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today began with a bus trip from Tantur into old Jerusalem. Once again, I took the #21 Palestinian bus from Tantur. It is Sunday which is a regular work day for many so there were a number of people headed for work. The bus stop is right at the check point for those who live in Bethlehem but work in the Jerusalem area.
I got off the bus at the Jaffa Gate and with the aid of a map made it to the church. The chapel is in the headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Lands. It is an English speaking congregation and is a mission of the ELCA. We used the ELW and sang hymns I knew. I was surprised about the strong feelings I had about being "home" in worship. Having witnessed a number of different groups and services, I was glad to be with the group I call mine.
The following link is of a video which gives a taste of the service. It is a verse from the closing hymn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV-wOO0fxSQ

After worship and socializing, I found my way to the Western Wall of the Temple and then to the Davidson Center and The Archaeological Park. The center studies the Temple area and the park is on the south and southwest wall areas of the Temple Mount. The following pictures are from there.

This is a picture of the southern end of the West Wall. In the far corner, you can see some of the stones that were thrown from the wall by the Romans during the destruction of the Temple

This is a close up of some of those stones.

Another view of the stones.

This is a view of the city wall built during the time of Suleiman the Magnificent.

This is a picture of the south wall at the Huldah Gate. This would have been in operation during Jesus' time. I am in the photo to help give a sense of how large this is.

After leaving this area, I went up unto the Temple Mount itself. The following link is to a video I took which gives a panorama of just part of the Mount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMZZa014b1I

I am also including some pictures I took of the area.

This picture is of the west side of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

This is a picture of the Dome of the Rock taken from the front of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

This photo is of an Arab Moslem who talked with me about the meaning of life and the perfection of the Quran. Though I did not convert, we parted amiably.

After this, I found my way back and left through Herod's Gate.

Herod's Gate.

I then found bus #21 for my ride back to Tantur.

Tomorrow our group leaves at 7:00 a.m to go north to Galilee. I am looking forward to this section of the time in Israel as Galilee is the area where Jesus spent most of his life and minstry.
As it appears that a wireless connection will be harder to come by, I may not be posting as much as this past week. Our itinerary has us in the Galilee for five days and four nights.
So, until I get back to this, God bless.

Pictures and video from the last couple of days in Jerusalem

2011-07-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

The first photos show that I have been able to get to the tennis court. Tantur has a court though it has seen many years of hot sun. I am also enclosing a picture of the racket I had. It is great that they have a couple of rackets to loan. It gives me the added advantage of being able to blame the racket for any missed shots!

A couple of days ago, I took a short video of the Israeli security wall with Bethlehem behind it. If you click on the link you can get a feel for the Wall and its reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvR9w9MmBOo

Today, a group of us went to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It has several parts to it. One is the Shrine of the Book which is dedicated to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Essenes who created them. The museum proper has several sections including a large archeological one. A third part is a large outdoor model of the Second Temple which King Herod the Great built. This was the temple during Jesus' day. The following are a few photos of the model followed by a short video giving a panorama of it. The first photo is from the east as if one were stanging on the Mt. of Olives. The second is from the south looking north. The third is of the rock quarry east of the Temple which might have been the place of the crucifixion.

The following link is to a video which gives a panorama of the model. Again, it is taken from the Mt. of Olives side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlRKGhNB524

This last photo is from a meeting which a number of Israeli women had at Tantur on Friday. They seem to be ordinary kinds of people. And yet, they are doing something extraordinary. They are members of Machsom, which means "Watch." They all take turns watching check points to make sure there is nothing done by their government which is beyond the bounds.

So, these are some of the highlights from the last couple of days in Jerusalem.
God bless,
Tom

Time at the Herodian Fortress and Bethlehem- July 6, 2011

2011-07-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Today, the group took a bus in the occupied West Bank. Our first destination was the Herodian Fortress. Herod the Great had this built. It is on the edge of the Judean Wilderness. The link to the video clip gives a panoramic of the wilderness.
We also went into Bethlehem. Here we went to the Church of the Nativity, an organization named Diyar which was started by the local Lutheran church, and a Palestinian refugee camp. The Diyar organization which is actually a combination of several does amazing work serving people of all ages and faiths supporting them in health care, sports, and the arts. You can find out more by googling Diyar Bethlehem.

The video link is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9iq9ctfDp4

The following link has some photos I took today as well.

https://picasaweb.google.com/107103284714257400001/July6PicturesForBlog?authkey=Gv1sRgCJei2ojppPTZvAE#

A few photos from the sabbatical trip

2011-07-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Please click on the link to view a few photos from the sabbatical up to this point.

https://picasaweb.google.com/107103284714257400001/SabbaticalPicturesForTheBlog?authkey=Gv1sRgCPbBxc_1_-zp0wE#

Notes from Jerusalem July 5

2011-07-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get the hang of blogging. So, as usual, please bear with me.
As you have already noted, I have posted a couple of videos from my time in Israel. I plan to post photos as well.
I left Eugene the morning of June 29th and got into Tel Aviv the afternoon of June 30th due to the time change. I spent 17 plus hours in the air and a total of a bit more than a day between leaving the house and getting to Tantur.
First evening- get a sandwich, unpack, and go to bed.
Next day- July 1st- I met several people who are at Tantur but not participating in the four week course I am. I went into town (Tantur is close to Bethlehem.) with two of them. The professor dropped Andrea (a nurse who likes archeology) and me off. We tried going to the Rockefeller Museum but it was closed. So, Andrea acted as tour guide and we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Wailing Wall. That was much of the day. On the return, we saw an Islamic prayer protest which was quite peaceful. We then took a Palestinian bus back to Tantur. That evening, I chatted with a couple of the participants. One was from New Guinea and the other Australia. Out of the conversation, we discoverd that attracting 20 something adults is a concern in all of our countries.
July 2-The beginning of the program and the group assembles. We have 15 participants. 3 women and 12 men. 4 from Australia, 2 from New Zealand, 2 from England, 1 from Papua New Guinea, 1 from Thailand (He plays tennis and there is a tennis court of sorts here.), and 5 from the US. 7 are Roman Catholic, 2 are Reformed, 1 is Anglican, 1 is Methodist, 1 is Presbyterian, and I am the sole Lutheran.
We had a good orientation in the evening.
July 3- Sunday- Our primary activity was going to worship at the Abbey of St. Mary of the Resurrection. This is a French Benedictine Monsatery for both men and women. There seem to be about 25-30 members total. The worship was all in French or Latin but it was the Mass so I could follow where we were in the service. I chanted along with some of the parts I could make out such as the creed and the Lamb of God. I did not chant loudly though. The building itself was built by the Crusaders. It is quite an experience to be worshipping with an active faith community in such an old setting.
July 4- Our program starts off in earnest. This is a full day which begins at 7:30 a.m. and does not end until 7:30 p.m. We start by going to the Russian Orthodox Convent of the Ascension at the top of the Mt. of Olives. We will then work our way down the mount. It is quite something to be in this setting. Also, it is noteable that the Mt. of Olives is significantly higher than Jerusalem itself. On the mount, one looks down on the Temple mount and the rest of the city.
At the base of the Mt. of Olives, we spent some time in the Garden of Gethsemane which has ancient olive trees. They may go back 2,000 years. This for me has been the most moving moment of this time.
Afterward, we went into Jerusalem through the Lion's Gate. This was probably the gate Jesus used for the procession on Palm Sunday.
Going through the gate, we went to St. Anne's Church which is at the pool of Bethesda. The church is another one built by the Crusaders and the accoustics are incredible. You can hear our group on a video I posted on the blog singing in the church to get a sense of the acoustics.
We then went to the Ecce Homo convent and had lunch. Afterward, we went below it. There is a Roman cistern and paving stones dating to the 1st century. This is also the area of the Praetorium. So, it is possible that Jesus was held in this area.
Afterward, we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. If you look at the video, you will get a sense of the busyness in the place. While the group spent time there, I wandered around and found the headquarters for the Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Lands. I walked through the building and found the chapel. It has an English service at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays.
We then gathered and headed back to Tantur. At 5:30, I led the Evening Prayer service. As it was July 4th, I chose the theme of freedom with the text of Galatians 5:1, 13-14. It seemed to be well received. This was followed by dinner and then a review of the month's program which was very helpful.
July 5- Today was a lighter day. We walked to the Orthodox monastery of Elijah. Tom Lowe gave us some background on the Orthodox church. (He is not only the director of Tantur bur also an Orthodox priest in the Orthodox Church in America.) We then went into the church and looked at the many icons. Tim followed this with a presentation on icons and did some Q and A.
We returned to Tantur, had lunch, and then Andrea (the nurse from LA) and I took the bus to Augusta Victoria Hospital. It is a Lutheran institution and has been so for 100 years. Since 1948 it has been run by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) for the purpose of providing medical care to Palestinians. We got to it and walked around the facility Andrea left contact information as she would like to pursue the possibility of working there for a period of time.
We then left there and walked across the street to the regional headquarters of LWF. The regional director was very gracious and gave us much of his time. We talked about the work of LWF in the region in general and Augusta Victoria in particular. It is one of those occaisions which makes one proud to be who we are and what we are doing.
After that, it was back to the bus and Tantur. (A side note- There are two bus systems in the area. One is used by the Palestinians and one by the Jews.) We had Evening Prayer and supper.
And now I am back in the room and finishing up this posting.
God bless.

The link shows video of several scenes from the sabbatical trip in Jerusalem on July 4, 2011.

2011-07-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Ye5rxjIqs&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Video from Jerusalem- the Western (Wailing) Wall, Islamic prayer protest, Christian worship and examples of buildings in the Jewish outskirts of Jerusalem

2011-07-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/tomdodd52

The link shows service (burrito distribution) and fun on the high school mission trip to Los Angeles

2011-07-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/thdodd100?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/6sQWAC6hW_Y

2011-07-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

This group picture is at Pueblo de Dios Church with Pastor Samuel who comes from Peru.

The following two pictures are of the assembly line putting together the hygiene kits.

This photo is of Emilia and her family.They along with a neighbor made 190 burritos the previous day in preparation for us to go with them to distribute lunches to people looking for day labor.

This is one of the four sites at which we distributed the meals which included a burrito, soda, water, and salsa.

Here is the group with the assembled hygiene kits.

Distributing the hygiene kits. This took less than 45 seconds.

These are our guides at Homeboy Industries. Jose, our main guide, is on the right. The reason for the hairnets is that we were in the bakery at the time.

This is a group picture outside of Homeboy Industries.

The following photos are getting ready for and serving the community lunch at St. Mark's.

The group spent the last day in Los Angeles having fun at Disneyland.

Back in Eugene after another strong week of learning and service.

Photo from the United youth mission trip to Los Angeles 2011 sent from SFO airport. More to be sent later.

2011-06-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Video of the beginning of the Congregational Renewal period at United

2011-06-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltmi8iMZRl0

Link for video of Pastor Mark Perry

2011-05-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Pastor Mark Perry was the first intern at United/Good Samaritan. His now an intern supervisor in Arizona. We met at the team building workshop hosted by Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary at San Damiano Retreat Center, Danville, CA, May 18-19, 2011.
The following link brings his greetings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7vPIdw6tlY

Link for video of Pastors Matthew and Nadia Bolz-Weber

2011-05-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

Matthew was intern at United/Good Samaritan 1996-1997. Since then Nadia has also been ordained. They are now intern supervisors and we were at the team building workshop at San Damiano Retreat Center May 18-19, 2011. The following link has their greetings to the congregation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56uoSmMI-Xw

Link for video of Laura Stephenson, 2011-2012 intern at United/Good Samaritan

2011-05-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU4BsQZWK9U

This video was made at the team building workshop which Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary hosts. It was held at the Franciscan retreat center of San Damiano in Danville, CA.

Easter Baskets at United 2011

2011-04-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

This link is to a video showing some of the great work and generosity in putting together 52 Easter baskets for children and youth served through First Place Family Development Center.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Ln_0at48I

Assembling LWR health kits at United April 2011

2011-04-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

This is a You Tube video of the same posted movie about putting the LWR health kits together. The resolution is much better!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC0GkW7yC5g

LWR health kit assemby at United on April 9, 2011

2011-04-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is my first video movie. It is a start. Obviously, there are many areas for improvement in the production values but I hope you see a bit of this area of United's ministry.

Photos from youth trip to Diamond Lake, Feb. 2011

2011-02-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

Describing United

2010-12-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

Everyone is asked to add their ideas on what makes United the special congregation it is. I am encouraging people to come up with 10 items. The following are what I have come up with. There are plenty others and I am sure better said. So, please, add your ideas to the list. The website design team will go through these for ideas on building a new website for the congregation. Thanks.
Tom

1. Our congregational life is centered in God’s compassion as we experience it through Jesus Christ.

2. We are a welcoming group of people. We are an RIC congregation in which we welcome people of various sexual orientations.

3. We strive to make people included and to listen to one another’s insights.

4. We are engaged in our community both as individuals and as a congregation.

5. Our worship style blends a variety of musical types while using a type of service which features Holy Communion and Scripture.

6. We have various opportunities for musicians. Our creative music director leads the ensembles.

7. We believe that following the “Golden Rule” is a good guide for living.

8. We have a good mix of ages.

9. Our youth program is active for children and teens.

10. We have a number of educational offerings in small group and large group settings.

11. Our congregation’s size allows everyone to know everyone else as well as being large enough to offer various programs.

12. We have an evening midweek meal from which a number of groups leave for their activities.

Trying out putting on a picture

2010-11-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

Just starting

2010-11-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

This is the first posting to check it out.