Liminality

One of the most striking scenes of the Middle East is the Separation Barrier between Israel and Palestine. This wall separates Israeli Proper from what is known as the West Bank. It is four times as long as the Berlin Wall and in places it stretches twice as high. It was built to maintain control, power, and order. It was built to keep the Palestinians out and to create a safe haven for what Israel believes to be their rightful land. In all five countries we stayed in we saw one thing that remained consistent from city to city – walls. As a matter of fact, the only thing left standing after centuries and even millenniums in some places were walls. That’s right, the remains we got to examine were the leftovers of somebody’s attempt to separate themselves from another group. In my opinion, the Middle East looks like an ancient, giant, strategic game of RISK. What is our infatuation with keeping others out? Some months ago I wrote a blog on exocentricity. I said all hum

Ruins are nothing special to look at — until you hear their story. In the Middle East we traveled from city to city staring at rocks that had fallen up to 5000 years ago in some places. Each city had its own oddity. There was either a stable, temple, well, or some other major artifact uncovered that made this particular city worth visiting. Everywhere we went we looked and observed fallen rock. We talked about broken pieces of ground and empty spaces where something somewhere might have existed at some point. Speculation was our forte and criticism was the one commodity that was not diminished when shared – it rather increased. But through our skeptical, critical minds sat the beauty of broken rocks. Each visit to a Tel (ancient ruin site) offered a new history lesson, a new appreciation for life, and a new piece to the puzzle of scripture. Over time it was quite easy to become emotionally connected to these cities and to feel the power of God in their brokenness.

How do I even begin to deconstruct touring the Middle East? I touched ruins from the Bronze Age (Exodus, Egyptian Empires), the Iron Age (Israel, Judah, Persian, Greek), the Classical Times (Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine), the Medieval Times (Crusades, Mongols, Ottoman Empire), and Modern Times (WWII, Palestine). I walked the road to Damascus, kneeled at the cross on Golgotha, prayed in the empty tomb, swam in the Dead Sea, boat-rode the Sea of Galilee, preached on the Mount of Beatitudes, stormed a Crusader Fortress, worshiped God in the Temple of Baal, stared at John the Baptist’s beheaded head, peered the Promise Land on Mt. Nebo, filmed the sunrise from the tip of Mt. Sinai, hiked Petra, walked shoeless in the Great Mosque, baptized in the Jordan, read the Dead Sea Scrolls, smoked a cigar in the Parthenon in Greece, and sang ‘Away in a Manger’ in Bethlehem. Needless to say, the past three weeks have impacted my ministry, life, and spirituality - forever. The entire