I'm back from Greece/Turkey, and there's a lot still to take in. Honestly, the experience was not what I expected it to be. It's a completely different place from Israel, different but equal significance, but nothing that I was expecting.
Now that I'm back and I'm trying to figure out how to share the experience I wonder how much of it I actually took in. A lot of this trip was working through feelings and emotions as I reflected upon the past year. Sitting on a bus for hours everyday gives you a lot of time to think. Working through anger, frustration, discouragement, feelings of inadequacy, Paul dealt with all of that. And that is what I believe God was trying to teach me there.
I was able to work through some thoughts about the church and ministry. I had the opportunity to go to a Greek Orthodox church in Thessaloniki and as I walked through the church looking at the ornate items there I thought, what would Paul say to this. Dr. Nielson was there, and he and I talked about the idea of what church buildings were then and are today, the differences in how we see the building and the significance it has. All of it is about finding balance, finding the right mix between having a building worthy to be called the House of God, and a building that doesn't neglect ministry for the sake a beautiful building. I'm not sure that I've found what that balance is yet, but I think that is the most important thing I take away from this.
I'm glad I went, I realized things that I knew but had just never realized that I knew. I don't know that any of the expectations I had going in were met, but that's ok. And now as the process of taking it all in and figuring out how to apply it to life begins, I'm glad its a day by day thing that I don't have to figure out all at once.
Peace be with you
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