Getting ready to head back to South Africa... Loosing my religion...

Tonight is my last night at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Jerusalem - we fly out at 1 AM on Wednesday morning (first to JHB, and then from there back to Cape Town where I land at around 2pm on Wednesday). I had the day off today (well, almost, we had two meetings this morning, but we were able to get away at around 1oam).

I spent the day with my friends Cois, Corne, Etienne, Wilma, Dawie and Isebel going through Hezekiah's tunnel at David's city (just outside of the Old City near the Western Wall). It was quite a challenge to make it through the tunnel on crutches, but I was adamant that I wanted to experience this! The tunnel itself was carved well over 2000 years ago. In some places one has to wade through water that is almost waste deep, however, for the most part it comes up to the top of one's calves. The challenge for me was that I had to remove my cast to walk through the tunnel, and in places it was narrow and low - so using crutches was not all that easy. However, it was a great experience! I couldn't do it last time I was here, and when our group went out the other day I was in the studio and meetings, so I was pleased to do it today.

Now, on to what truly matters!

Yesterday the Global Day of Prayer was such a wonderful blessing and encouragement. It was magnificent to see Christians from 214 of the world's 220 countries praying in various manners and contexts (from the Orthodox Christians in Egypt to the Charismatic Christians in Texas, Catholics in Latin America to Messianic Jews here in Jerusalem). The purpose of the movement is very simple:

1. For 10 days we encourage people to pray ardently for the struggles, joys, and contextual issues that they are faced with in their communities. In many contexts 'houses of prayer' are formed in communites where Churches work together to pray for 24 hours a day, for 7 days a week. Naturaly we give some prayer pointers and guidance, but the idea is simply that people will pray for the needs they are aware of, ask God to give them insight, guidance, help, and counsel to work for the establishment of God's Kingdom of grace and blessing.

2. The Global day of Prayer normally takes place on Pentecost Sunday each year. On this day people gather in various forms throughout the nations of the world. In some places (like India) there are huge public gatherings of hundres of thousands of persons, in other places, like Lebanon, people will meet in private homes, or small Churches. The idea is that people across the world will gather together on one day of the year (Pentecost Sunday in the Latin calendar) to humble themselves, pray, seek God's forgiveness, and ask God to hear and answer their prayers. Most of these events have a mix of worship, some teaching, and communal prayer. There is a prayer for the world that is said in the many languages of the world (see the Global Day of Prayer website for the prayer).

3. This is followed up by 90 days of blessing - here Churches and communities are encouraged to find creative and practical ways to address the issues that they have prayed about. In most instances there is an encouragement to address the practical and felt needs of communities (food, clothing, job creation, fixing up schools, helping in hospitals etc.) This year there has been the added challenge for Christians to read the Bible in 90 days.

Amazingly, even though I have read through the Bible numerous times, I did not realise that you can actually read the whole Bible in 90 days if you simply read for 1 hour a day. If you're interested in signing up to read through the Bible with about 100 thousand other Christians then please follow this link to the Bible Marathon sign up page.

Well, yesterday was a truly special day here in Jerusalem. I spent most of the day outside the Jerusalem Convention centre at a mobile studio with Graham Power. From there various interviews were conducted, information was shared about the various nations, gatherings, and the movemnt itself. In total the broadcast lasted for 18 hours (which is more or less how long it takes from sunrise in Fiji until the sun sets on the last gathering place, Hawai). I was so touched to see children, parents, and diverse Christian communities gathering in such harmony and joy to worship the Lord and pray.

I will confess that it is truly a blessing to be out of the conflict and struggle of leading the seminary and be doing this work! Somehow working with lay Christians seems to have a lot less trouble! Maybe I am still in the honeymoon period? I will ALSO confess that there were some expressions of worship and prayer that were not quite my style. More than once I had to ask for grace to leave space for some of the more charismatic and pentecostal expressions to have the space they deserve within the diversity of our Christian world. There are some hectic ways in which people express their devotion and sincerity to the Lord!

Perhaps the most encouraging part of the day for me was meeting with the son of my friends Graham and Daine Vermooten (who run the Media Village in Cape Town as a base for YWAM). Their son has been doing mission (Discipleship training) here in Jerusalem. He and the rest of their group came and prayed with us last night. This is a new generation of believers! They are young (all in their late teens and early 20's). Most of them have multiple tattoos! The one young guy you see here (John) has the name of Jesus tatooed on his neck! He also has other tatoos to remind him of the how God graciously rescued him from a life of addiction to drugs (Meth, cocaine, and herion). These young people skate in the streets of Jerusalem, befriend young people, and share their faith through their love. With dreadlocked hair, multiple piericings, and passion for the way of Jesus they are making a huge impact upon this city! Their aim was to win over religion with love! Doesn't that sound absolutely fantastic!? To win over religion through love!. They prayed passionately for us to serve God with courage and integrity. I was blessed and touched by their love for Jesus and the Gospel of Christ. I feel that I am loosing my religion - and it is good! I think this new generation doesn't see the distinction between conservative and evangelical, between liberals and charismatics.... They understand that Jesus wants to address the social needs of people, but also that people need to deal with their sin and cultivate a passionate relationship with Christ!

Well, tomorrow we have a few meetings to wrap up our time here and plan for some events later in the year (some of the folks we have working with later in the year - we have a critical meeting in London in September where a number of prayer, youth, mission and Church groupings will be meeting to work out creative and fresh ways to bring the Gospel, contextually, to young and old across the Globe. Then we are also going to be in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil in October for the ITN and Harvest evangelism meetings which aim to help create strategic alliances between people who minister in Churches and in wider society (what we call 'marketplace', i.e., among educators, politicians and business people).

The work I am doing now is so exciting - I am truly grateful to God for the blessed opportunity to be part of such great things! But, heck, I miss Megan, Courtney and Liam!!!!!!!!!

Megie's birthday is on the 19th of May, I am so pleased that I'll be home for that.

Global day of prayer - transmitting live from Jerusalem on Pentecost Sunday 2008

Today is Pentecost Sunday, yesterday we spent a wonderful time praying in the Upper Room site in Jerusalem. This first image shows a young man from Ghana (Peter Serekewa) praying with a gradnfather from Cape Town (AyJay Jaantjies), asking that God would heal the relationships between generations in cities across the world.

We currently have 214 of the world's 220 nations praying together in small and large events throughout the world. We have just heard that San Marino is now also on board with prayer and repentance!

The Global Day of Prayer is a simple process where we encourage Christians simply to pray for their families, cities and nations, asking God to intervene in the key issues that they are facing (whether it be violence, poverty, dissease, crime, or whatever the struggles are). You can read more about it on the Global day of prayer website.

As I write this I am sitting at the GodTV studio where the satelite linkups from across the world are coming through and being beamed across the globe. As the sun rises (from Fiji to Hawai) we are celebrating with Christians the joy of knowing that God has a real concern for the needs of people, that when the body of Christ is united, faithful in prayer, and active in ministry, we can see God's loving Kingdom established as justice, mercy, love and blessing flow from God through the Church. If you're in South Africa and want to tune your DSTV decoder into GodTV for free, please follow this link and follow the instructions to tune in your decoder. Of course, you can also watch some of the feed online at GodTV.

Here's a Youtube Video that tells the story of the Global Day of Prayer:

Please pray with us, and for us, as we celebrate the outpouring of God's Spirit to empower us establish God's gracious Kingdom here on earth!

Just to mention that I am updating my blog a little less frequently at the moment. Partly it is becuase things are quite hectic, but also because internet access is quite scarce (and EXPENSIVE!!!) here in Jerusalem!

Technorati tags: GDOP, Global day of prayer, GodTV, Pentecost, Israel, Jerusalem, Graham Power, prayer

In the city of David, Jerusalem (on crutches)

Today we visited the City of David in the old city of Jerusalem - it was wonderful to walk on the old walls of Jerusalem that date back to the Ottoman Empire, and even earlier to the Canaanite period.

One of the things that has left such a strong impression upon me on this second visit to Israel has been the sense of history here. In South Africa we have very few buildings that are older than 400 years. Here one can walk in a single street and see modern buildings, and right next to those buildings that are over 2000 years old!

I must confess, however, that it has been a bit of a challenge doing this trip on crutches. My leg has held up well, but I have had to take some medication to stop the swelling and pain. However, I would gladly do this all again!

Back to Jerusalem.

Yesterday we travelled back from the Galilee to Jerusalem. I was impressed, once again, by the distance that Jesus would have covered on foot as he moved towards his death. Not only is it far, but it is also a very steep climb up from the coast!

I do believe that Israel (both as a region and as a cultural and religious grouping) have a special place in Biblical history. I am, however, not convinced that the Zionist agenda (to 'restore Israel' as a sovereign state) is in line with Christian theology. I am open to correction and being convinced. However, I think that issues of justice and God's universal evangelical agenda supercede a nationalist Jewsish state.

One of the problems is that many texts related to Israel and Jerusalem (e.g., Psalm 122 and Ezekiel 36) are read by contemporary Christians without any acknowledgement of the fact that these texts have their own social, contextual and historical setting. It is a mistake, by my mind, simply to think that one can give 'eternal prophetic' status to texts such as these and ignore other texts in scripture that speak of justice, mercy, peace, and God's love for all nations. I think Ezekeil 36:22, together with Acts 1:1-11 show that with the ascension and Pentecost God's missiological agenda shifted from the geography and bloodline of Israel to the Kingdom of God throughout the world, among all people. The 'sons of Abraham' according to both Pauline teaching (see Romans and Galatians) are now counted as such not because of their bloodline, but because of their faith!

So, don't get me wrong, I do pray for the peace of Jerusalem - but I also pray for the peace of Darfour and Zimbabwe etc. This is a special place, but God loves other places and people with the same passion and grace.

Let me know if I'm missing something.

Shalom from Jerusalem! Today we shall pray at the City of David. You may notice thay I am not uploading as many pictures. There are two reasons for this. First, I have not found too many things that I felt were of interest in the last day or so. Second, internet access has been somewhat problematic and unreliable.

Tiberius at night - celebrating 60 years of Israeli 'indipendance'

What a lovely evening here in Tiberius. Today the Israeli public are celebrating 60 years of 'independence'. I know that this is a contentious celebration, and so security is SUPER tight!

It is fantastic to see the national pride (although, I do believe it is a little misguided). I would have loved to have my family at an open air event like this back home.

Praying on the border between Syria and Israel

This is a remarkable sight! This border is such a contested area (the subject of two wars between Israel and Syria). It is so peaceful here today. As we prayed we could see the UN embargo zone, tanks, troops and army intelligence in the area.

Sadly there is such a sense of 'self righteousness' among many Christian Zionists. The truth is that Israel does so much to infringe on the rights of their neighbours. Many of the persons on our tour do not share my views - however, I am convinced that Israel will need to repent and turn from injustice to justice and mercy (as all nations should) for there to be true peace in this region.

Caeseria Philipi - 'Who do you say that I am?'

Here at the border of modern Lebanon, on the foot of Mount Hermon in Caeseria Philipi Jesus asked Peter the question 'who do you say that I am?' It is amazing that he asks this question at an ancient pagan site, the temple of Pan.

Worship and testimony with Arab Christians in Nazareth

We are at the Nazareth Baptist Church for a meeting with Christians from the Nazareth region tonight. It is so wonderful to experience worship with an Arabic flavour! There are about 100 Christians gathered. We have come together to encourage one another, to share the blessing of Christian unity with one another and to learn from each other.

I forget, sometimes, that the Church throughout the world is so much more diverse than just western and African forms. What a joy and a blessing to be here.

The Christians here are so passionate about their faith (even though they are a minority community among Muslims), they have such a firm commitment to proclaiming the Gospel, and making it visible through acts of Christian service and mercy. I am deeply encouraged!

The hills of Nazareth

This afternoon we are in Nazareth for some sight seeing and meetings with some Church leaders. Nazareth is a lovely, predominanlty Arabic city, in the country. We spent some time at 'Nazareth village' learning some interesting facts about life at the time of Jesus. Geography, history, vegitation and a host of other things truly bring the scriptures to life!

Inside the Church of the beatitudes - the core of my faith

We have just left a wonderful, quiet, time at the Church of the beatitudes in Galilee.

Yesterday someone asked me if there were any passages in scripture that form the core of my faith. Indeed, there are, they are Micah 6:8, Luke 4:17-19, and the whole of the beatitudes (Matthew 5 & 6).

I am so drawn to this gospel, this good news, that has a real practical impact upon the lives of real people with real world pressures and struggles. Justice, mercy, humility and love - these are the hallmarks of Christ's loving Gospel. The teaching and ecample of Jesus echo God's radical hospitality, the hospitality that offers welcome and shelter first, and then only seeks to bring renewal and change.

I love this God, this Christ, and this Gospel, and I love the Gospel way of life.

Praying on the sea of Galillee

This morning our group (which has members from South Africa, the USA, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Namibia etc.) took two hours to pray about the concerns that we face in our Churches and nations. It is wonderful to see 'mainline' Christians, evangelicals, orthodox and Catholic Christians praying for the needs of the people among whome they live.

Issues of poverty, justice, sickness, the economies, education, safety etc., were all raised and prayed about.

In this picture you can see some members of the group on one of the wooden boats just off the coast of the modern resort city of Tiberius.

Filming Global day of Prayer spot on the sea of Galilee

Here we are at the sea of Galilee, it is a fresh water sea that is 230 meters below sea level. Jesus performed 25 of his 33 miracles in the region of this sea. It is lovely out here just as the sun is setting, we've hired one of the wooden fishing boats for the shoot. We did an earlier shoot at the Jordan, I'll post some pictures if I get a chance.