Sabbatical Reading

When I first started planning my sabbatical I had a long list of books I wanted to read. At the recommendation of others more experienced in the sabbatical experience, I reduced my number of books and added a novel. When my sabbatical finally came my list changed again. So here are the books I actually read and something about them. I highly recommend them all!

An Alter in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor. This wonderful book offers Brown’s experience of seeing the sacred and God in our everyday lives. For those who have a hard time noticing that God is living and active outside of church buildings, this a very helpful book. Some of the chapters are “The Practice of Waking Up to God,” “The Practice of Wearing Skin,” “The Practice of Walking the Earth,” and “The Practice of Saying ‘No’”. This book set the tone for my sabbatical.

Tattoos on the Heart: The Boundless Power of Compassion by Gregory Boyle. This was the most encouraging book I read over the summer. Boyle has worked with gang members in Los Angeles for 30 years and is the founder of Homeboy Industries. The book recounts the stories of the young men and women he has worked with over the years. You need to read this book if you care about cities or care about people or care about following Jesus. You will laugh hard and shed a few tears along the way.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. What can you say, everyone is reading the Help. It is a page turner, filled with laugher, tears, and an important message.

The Seven Pillars of Creation by William Brown. Brown, an Old Testament scholar at Columbia Theological Seminary, discerns not one but seven creation stories in the Old Testament. He then asks, “What lines of convergence is there in these stories and what modern science is discovering about the world?” This book was fascinating, challenging, and gave me a much greater appreciation of God’s creation. You will be left with a sense of wonder. I read this book while we were in Yosemite National Park which also added to its significance. This book is a must for those wrestling with how Christian faith and science go together.

This Odd and Wondrous Calling by Lillian Daniel and Martin Copenhaver. This is a book of preacher stories-not the fictitious kind-but the kind that remind why you were called to ministry and why you are still in it. If you are not a minister, this book will give you a great insight into minister’s lives, what they do, and the difference they make.

I read bits and pieces of other books and travel guides but these were the stars and I recommend them to you for your encouragement and growth in faith.

The Art and Science of Love

One of the challenges of ministry and having a four year old is finding a weekend away as a couple to enrich your marriage. Thanks to our sabbatical and the willingness of a great friend to watch Micah for the weekend (we are forever in her debt), Angela and I were able to attend a couples workshop by John and Julie Gottman called “The Art and Science of Love.”

John Gottman is known for his thirty-five years of research into marriage. Julie has been a practicing therapist for many years. John and his associates have tracked couples for over two decades. But perhaps he is most well known for his “Love Labs.” The so-called “Love Lab” was where couples were screened, interviewed, and observed. The Lab used video, heart rate monitors, and measures of pulse amplitude, jitteriness and skin conductivity. This information was coded using the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF) and techniques of math modeling to assess relationships and predict their trajectories. The Lab amassed a video data bank of hundreds of couples interacting at different points in their relationships.

All of this research has allowed Gottman to discover the characteristics of marriage relationship “Masters” and “Disasters.” Much of this is presented to in his excellent book (I highly recommend it) The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.

The workshop we attended was full of wonderful information and couple exercises to improve your marriage. The workshop was not presented from a Christian point of view (John Gottman is a practicing Jew), however, the material is very compatible with a Christian perspective and it is very easy to connect the dots with scripture and faith. Check out the Gottmans website at www.gottman.com. In my next post I will share the books I ended up reading during my sabbatical and something about it each of them.

Last Day in Greece

Our last day in Greece was one of our most enjoyable as well as one of our fullest days. We started our day at the National Archeology Museum in Athens. The museum is one of the most impressive collections of Greek statues (they also have an incredible Egyptian collection) anywhere in the world, housing most of the spectacular findings in Greece. While the Greeks are rightful proud of their new Acropolis Museum, the National Archeology Museum should not be missed. You simply need to plan to spend a lot of time because the museum is gigantic. The picture above is a famous bronze statue of Poseidon.

After our visit to the museum our good friend, Eleni Meliyrrtos, took us on a drive north up the coast from Athens where we saw some of the most beautiful vistas you will see anywhere in the world. Her destination for us was the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounion.

 According to legend, Cape Sounion is the spot where Aegeus, king of Athens, leapt to his death off the cliff, thus giving his name to the Aegean Sea. The story goes that Aegeus, anxiously looking out from Sounion, despaired when he saw a black sail on his son Theseus ‘s ship, returning from Crete. This led him to believe that his son had been killed in his contest with the dreaded Minotaur, a monster that was half man and half bull. The Minotaur was confined by its owner, King Minos of Crete, in a specially designed labyrinth. Every year, the Athenians were forced to send 7 boys and 7 girls to Minos as tribute. These youths were placed in the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur. Theseus had volunteered to go with the third tribute and attempt to slay the beast. He had agreed with his father that if he survived the contest, he would hoist a white sail. In fact, Theseus had overcome and slain the Minotaur, but tragically had simply forgotten about the white sail.

From the Temple we went to the lovely home of Alexander and Eleni Melirrtyos, where Eleni, a gourmet chief, made us a spectacular Greek dinner including homemade baklava for desert. To spend our final night in this incredible country with our dear friends made a perfect ending to our travels.

Streams of Living Water

“Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Romans 6:4-5

While traveling in Greece and Turkey, one of my projects was to visit and develop a photo collage of ancient baptistries. These baptistries all date from around the 5th century C.E. My research gave me the date of the baptistry, sometimes a description of it, and the town in which it is located. So, finding these baptistries was something of a treasure hunt. Searching for these baptistries was an adventure and exhilarating when we found one but also disappointing when a baptistry was in rubble and overgrown (Epidaurus, Greece), submerged in the sea (Cenchrae, Greece), or locked behind a fence (harbor outside Corinth). But when we did find one we were reminded of the many people who set foot in these water and gave their life to Christ Jesus and rose out of the water to walk in newness of life. We may not know their names but they are not forgotten by God.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul Turkey

St. Mary’s Church, Ephesus, Turkey

St. John’s Church, Selcuk, Turkey

Legendary site of baptistry used by John the Seer, Patmos, Greece (no date)

Location for many baptisms for the Churches of Christ in the 20th century (Attica, Greece)

Blessed are the Pharisees?

When you go into one of the famous mosques in Istanbul, like the Blue Mosque or the Mosque of Sulyeman the Magnificent, you quickly notice the regulations for entering the mosque. One’s legs should be covered, shoulders and heads covered for women, shoes need to be removed, no flash photography, and reverent behavior appropriate for a mosque. And there are plenty of guards to enforce these policies. I can appreciate all of these things and believe as well that one should enter a place of worship with reverence.

But there is one snag–having an energetic four year old! They may not want to go into the mosque in the first place or remove their shoes or sit still especially if their name is Micah. So as we enter the Mosque of Sulyeman the Magnificent, I have the bright idea of Micah and I laying back on the floor to look up at the wonderful Arabic calligraphy on the ceiling of the dome above us. After all, you can’t look at the ceiling of the dome without putting your head back. My hope was that Micah would be amazed at this awesome sight and feel a sense of the majesty of the place. Well, apparently laying back on the carpet (even though we are surrounded by scores of people sitting on the carpet) does not show proper reverence for the mosque and one of the guards quickly came running yelling at me to respect the mosque. His anger and tone was sharp and hostile.

I certainly did not want to disrespect the mosque or those worshiping there. However, I certainly felt like those I imagined in Jesus’ day who were scolded by the Pharisees. For those Pharisees there are proscribed ways of doing things and if they fall outside of certain boundaries they are wrong even if they lead to awe and wonder.

I could not help but relate this incident to a later experience we had on the island of Santorini in Greece. We went inside a beautiful church in Thira, the main city, and saw the most beautiful mosaics of Jesus’ life on the walls and ceilings of the church. They were simply stunning. This church too had it regulations for entering the church which included many of same things as the mosque. However, there was only one person to enforce they regulations and she was simply overrun by the crowds. She tried to be stern but she was simply no match for the number of people coming in. I could not help but feel bad for her.

So how do I feel about these modern Pharisees? I don’t know–but I sure wish my son and I could could have laid back and marveled at the beauty of a space dedicated to God.

Hagia Sophia

For about 1500 years Istanbul was the center of the Eastern Orthodox Christian world and known as Constantinople. And at the center of Constantinople was the Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia literally means “Holy Wisdom” and was founded in 360 C.E. From 360 to 1453 it was the centerpiece of the Eastern Christian world. It was a the largest cathedral in the world for 1,000 years. When the Ottomon Empire came into power in 1453 the Hagia Sophia became a mosque. When Turkey became a secular country the Hagia Sophia became a museum in 1935 and many of the frescos that had been white washed over during its time as a mosque were restored.

When I first saw the Hagia Sophia on our first night in Turkey it was one of those “Wow” moments when you feel overwhelmed by grandeur. It is truly a remarkable architectural achievement but also a place of wonder where you can feel a sense of worship to God.

 One can only imagine what it must have been like for a poor peasant from the countryside to enter the Hagia Sophia for worship! My experience in this place was one of worship and awe as well as imagining what it must have took to build this magnificent place.

  You are not in Istanbul long before you notice that there are cats everywhere and the Hagia Sophia is no exception. Here in the front of the church, the center point, facing Jerusalem are two cats. The guards who patrol the crowds in the front here told us, “The cat’s name on the left is ‘Barak’ and the one of the right is ‘Obama.’” We all got a good laugh at that but make no mistake the Turks appreciate our president.

Istanbul

There is so much to share about our time in Istanbul I will do it in two posts. In this first post I want to talk about our experience of Turkish culture. When one gets out of the airport the first thing you notice is that Istanbul is a modern city on the rise. Outside of the big cities, Turkey may be the same as in the days of the Apostle Paul but in Istanbul you quickly notice trendy neighborhoods and contemporary architecture.

We stayed in the Old Town close to all the main sites and right next to the famous Blue Mosque. We knew we were in a different world when the call to prayer came loudly into room just a stone’s throw away. It was especially jarring at 5:00 AM. However, I took it as a spiritual challenge. If dedicated Muslims can pray five times a day why can’t I? So, I used the call to prayer to remind me to pray whatever I was doing during the day.

Turkish food began to taste the same after a couple of days (sorry my Turkish friends) however I went crazy over Turkish coffee and Baklava! Angela and Micah fell in love in Turkish Delight. We even had our own candy store we frequented to get it.

The Turkish people were wonderful (except for the taxi drivers but I seem to issues with them in every culture) and especially love and welcome children-Micah was a star. I also enjoyed a Turkish Bath–it is quite an experience. It is like going to a car wash and you are the car. Start the day with a Turkish Bath and some Turkish Coffee and you can take on the world.

In my next post I will mention some of the incredible things we saw and experienced in Istanbul.