Stones - Ancient and Living

Stones Ancient and Living

Preached on Lent 3 2016

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, Whitemarsh

As some of you know, in January, I had the opportunity to visit the holy land and take a course called “The Palestine of Jesus” where I spent 16 days with classmates and new friends from all over the world (including a group of wonderful Presbyterians from Wilmington, DE who I hope to reminisce with for time to come). In concurrence with the report of many first time pilgrims to the holy land, I must say that I will never read Scripture or the news columns the same again because of my experience in the land.  It was truly an eye opening experience. Some of it is almost exactly what you might expect but then again most of it takes you by surprise.  There truly is no substitute for being there. 

There are so many “thin” places…places where heaven and earth seem to be so closely linked that it is hard to know in which realm you’re actually standing.  You know those experiences…as you can imagine, and those of you who have visited, as you know…there are many of these “thin” places in the holy land. 

Of the thinnest places I experienced was the Jordan river.  Only recently have they opened the actual site of Jesus’ baptism to pilgrims. I was excited when I heard this, as one of my friends told me that we would likely have to visit the Jordan further north closer to Galilee as he did when he was there a few years ago due to security concerns. A power overcame me as I stood looking down the river with my feet planted in the muddy waters.  I contemplated not only the baptism of our Lord, but Israel’s crossing over into the land under their new leader’s direction – Joshua.  I contemplated not only the biblical accounts of God’s faithfulness in this holy water but also the uncountable number of pilgrims who have experienced healing, affirmation, and transformation through an encounter with the same God whose voice thundered over Jesus on that holy day so many years ago.  On the day of our visit, it was as if the heavens opened again.  God’s voice thundered over all creation including all of us gathered there and most especially with his precious people in mind who are going through such hardship now in the holy land.  “these are my daughters and sons!  They are the joy of my heart – Arab and Jew alike!”

 I stood there in the Jordan and read Scripture relating to the Jordan river, prayed midday prayer, and offered my own prayers of praise, thanksgiving and intercession. After praying, I simply stood in the cold, muddy water and listened for a while—after all, that is what God tells us to do—“listen to him.”  One of my new friends, an Episcopal priest from Atlanta Georgia, Father Rob, told me I must’ve been in a God moment as he tried to get my attention to tell me everyone was on the bus waiting to leave, but I didn’t respond.  I did not want to leave that holy place…  Fortunately, I finally heard Fr. Rob and didn’t get left behind!  I will never forget my time in the Jordan River. 

There were many experiences similar to the one at the Jordan.  Being at the place where our Lord was born in Bethlehem was one of them.  I was especially glad to be there during the Eastern church’s 12 days of Christmas just after our 12 days had come to an end. It was an overwhelming experience being in the place where the incarnation of God in human flesh occurred. Many call Jesus the “sacrament of God, as he, in the flesh, is the full revelation of God – the fullness of God made present through creation – the invisible God made visible as a human being.  And it was in this place where I saw another living sacrament.  It was while I was down stairs in the church where the spot is marked where tradition claims Jesus was born.  The spot is marked with a star and is set up as a shrine.  You can touch the star where Jesus was born, but you have to crawl into it. Venerating the place of Jesus’ birth brought a deep since of wonder and awe, but it was something else that was the most profound moment of the day.  I lingered back a little as everyone else went back up stairs.  A woman had a baby that couldn’t have been more than 2 months old.  She laid the baby down right beside the star with her baby’s blanket touching the star.  She then got down on the ground and crawled in with the baby and prayed with tears over her baby and then blessed herself with her baby’s blanket which was touching the star. Her sense of gratitude and faith overflowed to where I was standing. It brought tears to my eyes to see her love and faith and hope for her child knowing that Christ would make a difference for her baby. I could feel her energy – the energy of a woman who loves her Lord and is grateful for the love our Lord has for her newborn child, just as the Blessed Virgin had for hers.  It was a site to behold—a thin place.  I pray for that kind of gratitude to offer to such adoration in each and every place in this world where God is born anew in our midst. 

 As much as I would like to, I cannot share every story with you; so I will fast forward and take you through some of our journey.  If any of it sparks curiosity, I’m happy to talk in more detail about it with you later.  From Bethlehem, our journey took us to the Church of the Visitation where Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is commemorated, to the church of John the Baptist, to the shepherd’s field and grottos where we all joined our voices in singing Christmas carols, to Jericho, Massada, Qumran, and the Dead Sea (where we floated … and the only flotation device we used was our own bodies – because of the high salinity level of the water, you effortlessly float! It is amazing! – if you ever go to the holy land, make sure to go and float in the dead sea!  It was some of the most fun any of us had together – and we had A LOT of fun together). But we couldn’t stay forever at the Dead Sea, so we continued our journey, heading back North to Jacob’s Well, to Nazareth where we saw the first century home of Mary in the beautiful Basilica of the Annunciation and what is believed to be the first century home of the holy family.  We then spent a few days in the region of Galilee where most of Jesus’ life and ministry took place.  When we took a boat out on the lake, it began to storm.  It was surreal as we were in a larger sized replica of the “Jesus boat” which was recently discovered that many believe could have been a boat Jesus and his disciples would’ve used.  I imagined Jesus asleep, calmly in the midst of the storm as his disciples panicked and as chaos roared all around him...In that moment, there was a sense in which all will be well. I imagined our Lord sleeping on that rocking boat…calm, knowing he holds it all in check, ready to speak the words the world longs to hear.  After a long trip to the far north of the holy land only yards from both the Lebanese and Syrian borders, we visited Ceaserea Philipi (where Peter confessed Jesus as “the messiah”) and Bethsaida (from where 5 of the 12 disciples come).  We finally began our trek back toward Jerusalem, stopping at Mount Tabor where our Lord was transfigured and Caesarea Maritima on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea where Paul began his journeys described at the end of Acts.  

 When we arrived back in Jerusalem, we prayed the stations of the cross as we walked the Via Delarosa along the streets of the old city that finds it’s climax at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is built on top of the site where Jesus was crucified, buried, and from where he rose from the dead and changed the world forever.  There was no site that impacted me as much as the Holy Sepulchre.  As I visited the empty tomb of our Lord, I could not help but to feel an overwhelming since of hope – not only for Jerusalem, but for the whole universe.  Through the resurrection of our Lord, something new has broken upon us.  God is making all things new!  Just as Jesus rose to newness of life, so is the world rising to newness of life through Him. I could feel God’s hope for the world there in that Sepulchre.  I could sense God’s love as I stood there at the site of the cross, and as I venerated the place where we commemorate his body being anointed, receiving the blessing of our Lord there and blessing the tokens I brought back to others from my time of pilgrimage.

 All these sites meant so much to me, but something else hit me ever harder.  The living stones – the indigenous Christians who still live in occupied Palestine under severe oppression and persecution.  For me it is the faithful people of God who are resolved to live out their faith even in the midst of tension and uncertainty that radiates with the most glory in the holy land. What makes the land holy is not the ancient stones so much as the living ones.  I saw this holiness in the hospitality extended to us by Christians in the land who refuse to leave but to remain steadfast. They are so grateful to know that they are not simply local but also catholic.  And this catholicity becomes real when Christians from other parts of the world simply show up and break bread with them. In every place we visited they would tell us with big smiles on their faces, “So often we feel we are alone in a very difficult time, but when you come here, we know we are not alone and we are not forgotten. Thank you.”  

 My sharing would be incomplete if I did not include a priest who was like Jesus in every way.  Father Ibrahim, rector of St. Phillips Anglican Church in Nablus told us of how difficult it is to not only live in the occupied West Bank, but he also told us beautiful stories about how Arabs, both Christian and Islamic, are working together in solidarity and how supportive they are of one another.  This isn’t a story featured in popular media very often, unfortunately…He told us about how on Easter Eve during the Great Vigil, their Muslim neighbors join them in procession as they take the holy fire that originates at the Holy Sepulchre to each of the churches in Nablus and how the Christians also support the Muslims in similar ways.  One story he told gets to the heart of the beautiful relationship between Muslims and Christians in the West Bank. One of his best friends is an Imam.  One time when an Israeli soldier shot and killed his friend’s, the Imam’s, son, the Imam could not talk to the media.  He told the media, “I cannot speak about this right now, but Father Ibrahim, I trust him fully, he can speak for me.”  That a priest can gain the trust of an Imam in a land full of tension and conflict is simply profound.  When I listened to that priest speak, I kept thinking, “that’s the kind of priest I want to be in society.”  This priest and this Imam are fulfilling what it means to be the image of God as they are reflecting the glory of God to others and others are being drawn to God.

 God invites us all to be living stones in a world that competes for prominence and power…to be living stones of the beautiful temple of God, which is built upon the stone that builders rejected – Jesus Christ our Lord.  He has revealed to us real power that is summed up as self-giving and other embracing love.  My prayer upon returning to the U.S. following my pilgrimage is that we may live boldly and faithfully together as living stones that together with the rest of the living stones in God’s world is becoming one enormous meeting place of heaven and earth, drawing the world to Christ and Christ to the world.  May it be so.