Lakes and Farms

 Traveling along toward western Turkey we passed mountains and some beautiful lakes.  The lakes were calm so there are some stunning pictures -- Teresa was the photographer for most of the trip and she caught these shots. 

As we moved out of the mountains we moved into some of the farming country.  We were told that the houses on the farm property were not for living in like we live.  People tend to live in the towns and villages.  They will "sleep-over" in the houses on the farms during the harvest or planting seasons.  Otherwise, they drive their tractors and equipment to the farm each day.  We didn't see a lot of mechanical equipment in use on the farms.

Thanks for visiting.  Have a good/fun day.

The Silk Road and Caravanserai

We spent a better part of the day traveling along the ancient "Silk Road", an ancient trade artery along which the silk trade flourished around the time of Jesus.  It was fun knowing that the road our bus traversed was part of a larger, and more ancient, artery of commerce.

Along the way there were "caravanserai" enclosed havens or inns for the caravans of people, camels, and goods.  These havens were spaced according to the distance a caravan could travel in one day.  The deal was, apparently, if a caravan could make it to the next caravanserai, it was afforded protection and safety, both during the day and during the night. 

The caravanserai were square fortified enclosures with a single gate large enough for caravan animals to enter.  The courtyard was open.  The one we visited had a "multi-faith" chapel in the center.  All around the edges were large enclosed areas.  Along one side for the animals, the other for the humans.  The caravanserai would have provided provisions for the travelers, including food, rest and bath. 

We were told that when caravans arrived in the evening they would take time to worship, freshen up, care for the animals, unload the animals and settle the animals down for the night.  Then they would open up for the "locals" to enter the caravanserai to engage in trade from the various merchants.

Thus you can see that the caravanserai supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes.

Here are some photos from the collection of my fellow traveler, Jeff Hawkey.  Thanks, Jeff.

View from outside.  Note the large brick terrace surrounding the caravanserai.

Here is the gate.  The Carved area is symbolic of the blessing of many "gods".

The Multi Faith area in the center of the courtyard.

Another view of the courtyard.  The arch to the left leads to "human guest areas."

The sheltered, but open areas for animals.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessed Christmas to all.

Presiding Bishop Hanson's Christmas Message

This year the Christmas story is inseparable from our deep sorrow for the children of Newtown, all who died and all who mourn. We can make no sense of such violence, so we cry out for mercy. And God hears our pleas.

God responds with words of promise saying, "I am with you. I am with you in Jesus, the child lying in a manger. I am with you in Jesus who has borne your grief. I am with you in Jesus on the cross and risen from the dead."

God's promise is that nothing in all creation will separate you from God's love in Jesus. So amid the unspeakable, we can join the angel choir singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace." Because our hope is in Christ, we can rejoice in the wonder of Jesus' birth.

I wish you a blessed Christmas.

Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

40% OFF CHRISTMAS

40 % OFF CHRISTMAS

the sign said.

I paused for a moment

It caught me by surprise.

40% off Christmas?

It caught the storekeeper by surprise too, I think,

When I stopped to ask,

“Which 40% of Christmas are you taking off?”

Of course, it was an after Christmas sale. 

There was 40% off Christmas decorations, and the like.

But the sign just said,

“40% off Christmas”

I never got around to telling her,

But I kind of liked the sign.

You see,

I’d like to take about 40% off Christmas too--

Not in an after Christmas sale, mind you,

But in the before Christmas time--

What if we’d take about 40% off the time that we have to endure the pre- Christmas, ads, sales, and marketing campaign?  Maybe we could enjoy the season a bit more, and not be so fed up with it all by mid-December.  What if we’d diminish our expectations of what makes a “Merry Christmas” by about 40%?  Maybe we could not be so depressed when it is all over.  Or maybe, just maybe, we could relate a bit better to those for whom Christmas isn’t very “merry” at all--the grieving, the sick, those who are alone, the poor.

Or what if we’d spend about 40% less on gifts, parties, clothes, and dinners?  Maybe we would still give, enjoy, and share in ways that brought true glory to the God who gave the first gift--the gift of Jesus.  Or maybe we ought to take off about 40% of the things we do, the lights we put up, the pageants we go to, the time we run to shop for that one last gift.  Such a discount might make way for us to give more time for focus on what really matters in Christmas.

I, for one, happen to think that Christmas has gotten way out of hand.

Too much, too early, way too long; time, money, energy, and all the rest.

I, for one, happen to think that a 40% discount isn’t a bad idea at all. 

Stripping away 40% would leave 60%.

40% off Christmas leaves CHRIST--

That’s what this Day, and the 12 days following (not the 2 months prior)

are all about anyway--

The Christ, God’s gift of salvation.

Jesus, God’s Son,

who grew up to live, die and rise again for forgiveness of sins!

It’s about how God first gave, so we could serve God,

and bring glory to our Creator, by giving for each other.

So, let’s do it!!

40% off Christmas!!

Then CHRIST will be left

and we can celebrate the real reason for the season!!

"In Deepest Night"

These words of a hymn speak to the darkness of these days (both in terms of the shortest day of the year and the darkness of evil that destroys innocent lives). 

In deepest night we light a candle and remember that, as Kingdom Children, we are the "light of the world" and no darkness has ever over come light.

"In deepest night, in darkest days,
when harps are hung, no songs we raise,
when silence must suffice as praise,
yet sounding in us quietly
there is the song of God.

"When friend was lost, when love deceived,
dear Jesus wept, God was bereaved;
so with us in our grief God grieves,
and round about us mournfully
these are the tears of God.

"When through the water winds our path,
around us pain, around us death:
deep calls to deep, a saving breath,
and found beside us faithfully
there is the love of God."
-- Susan Palo Cherwien   (ELW 699)

Central Turkey Life

In central Turkey, rivers and waterways are especially valued because of how arid the countryside is.  Mostly the water is clean and the banks of the rivers accessible.  This scene isn't atypical in this part of Turkey.

Likewise, it is not unusual to find a nice outdoor restaurant along the banks of a river/stream like this one.  Here is a shot of the outdoor patio of one such restaurant (actually not to far from where the above picture was shot).  Even when it is hot, these covered outdoor patio areas are quite comfortable.

The specialty of this particular place was guvec, a local meat dish cooked in a pottery jar.  They make the pottery jars on site (see picture).  The dish is cooked in sealed pottery jar in a wood fired oven.  When done, the jar is brought to the table with with some ceremony a hammer is applied to the top of the jar, popping of the neck/lid and the steaming stew is poured onto a plate. It is all quite dramatic.  I didn't have this particular dish, but the reports were that it was delicious.

One of the things that was also quite interesting was to notice the contrasting dress patterns, with the very traditional and very western often being seen side by side.  It wasn't unusual, likewise, to see mixes of the two styles.  For example a young woman in blue jeans wearing a full head covering of the traditional style.
This photo was taken on a "Holy Day", a day when one might expect to see most people dressed in a traditional manner.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'll be back with more pictures soon.

"What a Way to Begin!!"

On December 2, 2012, I had the opportunity to travel to Bloomfield, where I served for 10 years as the pastor of St. Mark's, and fellowship with the dear people of St. Mark's, bring the message for the First Sunday in Advent, series C, and speak about the exciting things that are happening in the life of the Lutheran Church, ELCA and Nebraska Synod.  Here is the message I brought.

Happy New Year!  That’s what today is, you know.  The first weekend of another liturgical church year cycle during which we recite and relive the cycle of our faith and the mission and ministry of Jesus among us and with us.  The expectation of his birth, his birth, his maturing ministry, his life, death, resurrection and ascension and then the long season of what it means to be His people in mission and ministry now ending with our Lord’s promised return.

But what a way to begin.  With a Happy New Year that, according to the Bible, sounds like the world’s attic is going to collapse into the world’s basement.  It sounds like the coming of a time when everything that has always been counted on as stable and enduring will begin to crack.

What a way to begin, with the sense that humanity is doomed and we cannot save ourselves, as much as we’d love to think we can.

What a way to begin, with Jeremiah who, from the middle of his own “doomsday”, the Babylonian Exile, looks forward to a new day, a day that took almost 600 years to happen, and still 2,700 years later still isn’t complete.

What a way to begin, with our Lord’s own words that point to “doomsday”, the end of times. 

A funny way to begin when the news is rife with the message of “the end” by those who sincerely believe that the Mayan calendar has something to say about it.

In fact, when I took a glanced at the Omaha paper before I left home this morning, it looked like there was a whole section devoted to “doomsday”, to the end of the world, to what it looks like when things are falling apart.   Oh, no, that was the sports section.  

Seriously, though, the “Living Section” has an article about a survival group that trains up around Tekamah.  They are serious.  This group is serious about how to survive a “doomsday” scenario.  The end of times.

What you notice, I hope, is that this doomsday message isn’t new.  It has been around (and gained popularity) every time when what seemed enduring was beginning to crack.  For the early Christians, where they were helpless in the face of persecutions and the political realities of the day, the doomsday message was rife. 

In succeeding generations (right up to our own), there have been unknown futures.  There have been nations perplexed, dismayed, and bewildered.  There have been personal and public disasters, worries that weight us down and paralyze us to inaction.  There have been the end of seasons in life.  There has been sufficient things to agonize us.  Finances.  Politics.  The fiscal cliff.  What our children are doing.  Global warming and an earth polluted. Personal and national security. Disease, paralysis and death.  Losses and failures.  Food safety.  There is no end to things that might agonize us, cause us worry.

Jesus suggests something more pro-active.  Jeremiah suggests hope. 

What Jesus gets, that few of us seem to understand, is that worry diminishes our ability to deal with the future.  Worry is the opposite of Advent.  Advent is about hope and anticipation.  Worry agonizes about the future.  So Jesus says, “Lift up your heads!”  Look with joy and anticipation. 

Jeremiah tells us that God has a new vision.  Not just to recreate the past (or rather what we remember about the past) (which wasn’t all that great to start with and certainly wasn’t want we remember it was).   A new day is surely coming, says Jeremiah.  Salvation is at hand.

If you look a little deeper into Jesus’ words, you’ll see that they are the end of the story.  They are from the days before Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.  The truth here is this:  We begin at the end of the.

I love reading stories to little kids, Owen, now especially.  It is so fun when they know the end of the story because they have heard the story so many times.  It is so fun when they can deal with the scary parts because they know the end of the story.  Oh, yes, some adults are like that too, needing to read the last chapter before starting the book.  Knowing the ending seems to make the middle parts more bearable.

So “Happy New Year” (Advent) begins at the end of the story.  When things seem to be falling apart around us, when we are tempted to be paralyzed with worry, when we want to give up, we need to know future is open to us in a new way because of the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  The end of the story gives hope for today.

In Advent we see the coming of our God in every moment.  We see what has already come that makes us new.           

You see, when we understand that the battle has been won, that we have received everything and that the Holy Spirit of God is continually at work, then we can face the treats, the doomsdays, with the simple trust that God is acting for us. 

When we see that Advent isn’t a one time or once a year piece, a time expected for Jesus to return again, we can look for God entering human history, every day, today.  Every day is New Year.

I wonder if the walk of faith isn’t something like living in the shadows of doomsday, everyday.  Engaging in the struggles of the day, enjoying the moments, joy full or sorrowful, knowing That God has already taken care of it.  I wonder if it isn’t seeing God at work in the unexpected, around a corner, in the middle of the street, or in a back alley.

What a way to begin – at the end.  What a great way to begin, knowing that every day holds within itself the possibility of being a “doomsday.”  In faith, with full confidence in a God who is continually coming, in a God who asks us to look up, we face this day, this new year, this Advent, clinging to the One who loves us, who gives our lives meaning and promises us boldness and confidence because we are baptized.  And, as a wise old pastor once said, the death of baptism is the only death you need ever fear.”

So, what a way to begin!   

Happy New Year!!    

 Amen.