Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Preventing Grace

Home
Evangelical
7 Jerusalem Takes

7 Jerusalem Takes

Last updated on: June 22, 2018 at 2:16 am by Anne Kennedy

7 Jerusalem Takes 2018-06-22T02:16:35-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Didn’t purposely neglect to post yesterday. Sat down to write a dozen times but couldn’t pull my mind into one single direction. The veritable accumulated feasts of the conference itself, this beautiful city, and all the lovely people have put me almost to saturation point. I can’t think of anything, or know where I am, and it will take me weeks to sort through and unpack all the riches of this time. Which makes quick takes perfect, seven scattered things instead of one thing that makes sense.

One

Yesterday all two thousand of us were bused into the old city of Jerusalem, to the original steps of Herod’s temple, to have our picture taken. It’s probably already been put up on twitter somewhere, and you’ll probably be able to buy a poster sized copy. It took forever to arrange us, and you won’t be able to pick any individual people out. But I bet if you look closely through the iron grates up towards the top of the wall you will see the little children who kept calling out greetings as we sang and prayed there on the steps. Some birds swept back and forth calling to each other, and the combination of the two cries was really charming. And who would have thought that reciting Psalm 122 altogether in that spot could be so moving…well, actually, generations of people have thought that. I just didn’t know, having never gotten to do it before.

Two

Got to meet the famed Charles Erlandson, of Give Us This Day who has written devotionals for the entire New Testament, and real theologically deep ones, instead of just fluff. Had been hoping to run into him, but with the size of the crowd it seemed improbable. Every day, though, as we take our well laden dinner plates into the cool elegance of the dining room, Providence has thrown us in the way of fascinating Anglicans. Confess that I spent rather a long time interrogating Fr. Erlandson about his brother, Paul, who I hope to meet in person some day for real. Truly, it was worth it to come all this way just for this moment.

Three

The day before (don’t know one day from another, honestly) we went through the old City of David excavation. Big portions of the hill have been dug away to reveal the wall of that ancient city, and the houses that were built right under David’s palace. Very easy to imagine, standing there, David above, shading his eyes and scanning the descending roofs for any bathing ladies. Every time someone says to me, “We’re making history,” I am now always going to ask, “What kind?”

Four

As you walk away from the ancient city wall, you climb down into one of two tunnels—Hezekiah’s water tunnel that he dug out so that Israel would have a spring of water inside the city when the Assyrians arrived to wreck everything, and the much drier Canaanite Tunnel that David and his men probably crept through to overthrow the Jebusites.

We went through the dry one, impressed by the brave family with four children who tackled the wet on. They carefully measured their little boys against the measuring stick of the water level, and, since their heads would all be outside of the water, decided to go for it. They handed each little boy a flashlight and went into the watery darkness in high spirits. Prayed fervently that they wouldn’t make history.

Nor did they. Saw them emerge a while later in tact, though very wet.

Five

At some other point Matt and I were interviewed during one of the Plenary sessions, about the cost of taking a stand and then losing something. We lost our church building, as most all of you know, but the people interviewed after us talked about losing much more—freedom, safety, friends, everything. Felt simultaneously honored but very very small to be in the same forum with such courage and faithfulness. We in the West should take heart. We aren’t facing the violence of true persecution, yet, but when we do, God will be faithful and will carry us along towards his glory.

Six

Have wanted to say more (of anything) about the incredible bible teaching and plenary talks every day. It’s not for lack of desire that I have been silent here. It’s just so much. It’s like drinking out of a fire-person’s hose. The one talk that is standing out in my mind though, just at this moment, is the one who talked about the cross and shame. God endured terrible shame and humiliation on our behalf, at the cross. It should have been ours. But he took it and drank it down to it’s dregs. As the West continues to fall into shadow, and persecution intensifies all over the world, I think the shame of cultural rejection is going to be a bitter cup to drink out of. But at the bottom isn’t death, it’s the sweetness of God’s mercy, of his everlasting presence as we walk, however faltering, in his way.

Seven

I am late for everything now. Go check out more takes! We’ll be traveling on Sunday but I should be online here and there. Make sure to check out all the tweets and articles put out by Gafcon. Google will help you!

GAFCON

Anglicanism

Previous Post

June 20, 2018

Come In, The Water’s Fine

Next Post

June 23, 2018 Bread on the Sabbath

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I'm a number that marks the beast, feared by many throughout history. Triple digits, all the same. What number am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

777 333 999 666

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »