A Quiet Day - A Holy God

Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement

The Judgement Day.

Here is Israel Yom Kippur is a very quiet day. It is a very Holy day.
Israel as a nation, all Jews are repenting of their sins. It is a day filled with prayers and fasting.
The atmosphere reminds us clearly God is Holy and our sins stand in the way of that.

I've been thinking of it lately, our protestant Christian churches love to celebrate our closeness and the love of God.  It is a good thing. Christ died that we CAN be with Him.  We have a hope of life eternal. We have the promise of new life, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

But I wonder if we can get too comfortable with it? If we can emphasis feeling close to God in so great a way that we neglect to remember that God is Holy. If we emphasis God's grace and love in such a way that neglects to identify and call out sin and that it has no place with a Holy God?

So how can I balance the tensions between Holy and Loving? How can we live in celebration and not forget the weightiness of our transgressions?  Can the picture of God as our Father help? A father who loves us, but not to forget a father that holds all authority. In working that out, we have the confidence of a father's unconditional love and the  motivation of father who has ultimate power.  And driven by the knowledge of God's holiness - we are driven to strive to be holy as He is.

It's life in a tension. But God has not left us with only remembering a Holy God - less than a week from today will be Sukkot - feast of tabernacles, a 8-day celebration of God dwelling with his people.  It's a beautiful tension.

Nest: day 28-35

The bird kept on growing. .. Then one day it just wasn't there anymore.

Still looking a little fuzzy

watching me

hanging out beside the nest...

empty nest

A Wander in the Garden

Sunday was a relaxing day - took some time to try to capture a glimpse of the beauty the is there in this season. 

The grape vines are full of promise!

Old pomegranates still hanging on. Just shells, emptied out by the birds.

New buds coming in

And lots of varieties of flowers in bloom!

A small lizard playing peek a boo on the stairs...

Aiming for the sunshine! 

Nest: Days 24-27

Day 24 - Eyes are definitely open, starting to get little feathers

Day 25 -  little more feathers, starting to notice when I am around

Day 26 - it keeps growing! it looks a little funny when it tries to puff itself up when I come to look at him, even tries to peck at the window sometimes

Day 27 - much more independent, I didn't see the mom at the nest last night. Mom does come by to feed. Also it is starting to get some color in it's feathers

Nest: day 23

Heard some chirping from him yesterday, looks like sleeping and growing ate it's main activities.

Nest: day 22

The bird's eyes were open a little and you can start to see the feathers growing on its wings

Nest: day 21

It had its eyes open just after the father bird left.
Apparently pigeons take turn sitting on their nests.  The mother has learned I'm not really a threat and won't f do anything when I come near. Maybe puff up and attack the window bit never leave.  The father... flies way if I get close.

Nest: day 20

Nest: day 17

One little bird today!

Yom Haatzmaut

Able to see the fireworks from my window tonight, hearing all the different conveys and celebrations going on too.
It is an interesting holiday, Independence Day, but the 24 hours before now were remembrance day.  You don't get the one without the other.

Nest: day 2

Another egg!

 

The mother on her eggs, 

Nest day 1

This morning I found a nest in my window. It belongs to a couple of pigeons I think.

A thought on time - Exodus 12:1

Passover.  It is one of the appointed times.  One of the festivals that God appointed for the people of Israel to keep every year. It reminds me of a conversation that we had early this year while reading the weekly Torah portions.

It was Exodus 10-13. The story of the final plague and the exodus from Egypt. And at the beginning of chapter 12, God gives the people of Israel their first command. He realigns their calendars. 

Not the first time God talked about time, in the garden of Eden, the first thing God created was day and night, and on the fourth day, planets and moons to tell time, and in the seventh day he made time holy,  the only thing in creation to be made holy.

At the first passover they are commanded to re-align their calendar with God's. Restructure their week, their year, their festivals and celebrations and time is no longer to calibrated by the Egyptian gods, the Nile and it's cycles, but instead it is to be calibrated to the moon, the sun, the movement of the planet and seasons, the objects that God created with the purpose to tell time. 

Today, the concepts of time are varied. Fleeting, precious, valuable, something to just get through or simply something you never have enough of. 

There is a whole genres of literature and entertainment based on things like space- time dimensions, time-travel and the like. 

But what we rarely call time - holy. 

Why? 

Is it because it might demand more of us? In an age of quick, instant, fast paced and individual interests to set aside time is a costly demand.  We manage our time very carefully. We know how long it takes to get from here to there, how long can we sleep in, how many time can really press snooze and still get where I need to be on time. We know how to effectively accomplish things we need to. We count the hours we work, and calendars and day-planners are often not far away. 

I've encountered the idea going without time. At camp it happened a couple time while out-tripping that we wouldn't look at watches or the time and just take the day as it goes. It is freeing in a way, but if God created time and order, what if it isn't about getting away from keeping time - but rather about what we are keeping time for. 

"You're wasting my time...."  I have heard this phrase a lot. It is an attitude that I have found within myself. It goes hand in hand with "my time is valuable". The commonality - 'my time'.  

Who possesses time? 

Do I ultimately own the time that is given to me?  It is as if a kid is holding onto their allowance, buying candy and refusing to share it. As if they automatically forget where the money first came from. 

If time was the first thing that was called holy, is it not the most valuable gift that we can give back to God?  It is like the same lessons we use about money or possessions - that what we have is not really ours, but blessings from God for which we are called to be good stewards of.  

The difference - even if you don't have money - everyone has time. 

When God created the world - before the fight with evil even began - he ordained one of every 7 days to be holy. And in a world that struggles with evil constantly I struggle to give time, even part of the 7th back to God. 

And not giving as in hands off - do as you will with it time - but as time to stop, and rest. To remember that I did not create this time. It is not calibrated by my events or tasks. It doesn't bring attention things I think important, but rather, points to something, someone bigger.
It is a valuable blessing of which I am commanded and privileged to partaking, the time given to me, and the time given to those around me.  

Even in the time I 'give' to God, I find I can still be caught up in the busyness.  I let what I do define who I am, rather than seek to find who I am in Him. 

It is easy to point to the passage about worshiping God in every aspect of our lives. 

Yes, I believe we ought to do that. 

The word used for worship in Exodus is the same word for serve, or work, it is active or doing something. And just as the Hebrews left Egypt to go worship in the desert and once they were gone, there was no going back, the nature of our call to worship is life long. Paul changes the language and call us to be living sacrifices.
Yes, worship God in whatever you do - but do not do in order to take away from time with God. 

I can give money or things - I just let it go. But to really give time , it opens up a space in which something may happen. I may see something or hear something that I don't want to see.

 And so in a way I can see how that might be intimidating, but when we worship - it is not only what we give to God. 

When we open up that space, the time, the time that God has already declared holy, God is already there and although we might see something we don't want to, more than that, God meets us there because He has an undieing love and incredible faithfulness to those who He has chosen.

Easter in Jerusalem

So this is probably one of the busier weeks here in Jerusalem. The Jews are celebrating Passover or Pesach, the Western Christians are celebrating Easter Weekend and the Eastern Churches will be celebrating Easter Weekend this coming weekend.

There is always a long list of services or events to chose from in which to participate.

Thursday evening I joined Christ Church in their Maundy Thursday Service and walk to the Mount of Olives. On the way there we saw one of the Othodox groups going to the Church of all nations for a service. Their singing was beautiful!

Walking up to the Russian Orthodox Church's garden

The stars were bright 

Some flowers in their garden

Good Friday - I joined Christ Church again for their service. It was also the beginning of Pesach and our church does a Pesach Sedar.  This is a time to retell the story of the Exodus, and that is what we did. It is no coincidence that this holiday celebrating freedom comes at the same time as we celebrate Christ's victory over death.

 Sunday Morning - Catching the sunrise on my way to the Garden Tomb

I think this is one of the bigger gatherings on Easter Morning. 6:30am Sunrise service at the Garden Tomb.  Good worship and celebration time.

The trees catching the rising the sun.

The message was given by Rev. Simon Ponsonby from Oxford. 

We celebrated at school with an Easter BBQ - games, food and finished with worship together. 

But most importantly,

His is not here. 

He is Risen!

Palm Sunday

Celebrating Holy Week in Jerusalem

We joined hundreds of Christians in the procession down the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday, remembering Jesus' entrance into the city on a donkey.

It is amazing to hear so many languages and songs all together.

Cloudy with a chance of mud...

The warm weather from the weekend didn't stick around too long....

A sand storm (Hamsin) blew in, very fine sand the makes everything hazy.

Plus a little bit of rain this afternoon... the fine dust is stuck to everything, like mud.

Now it is very windy.

I'm glad we got out to see the almond blossoms at Sataf this past weekend.

The flowers are very delicate and the petals probably won't last in the wind.