Ceasaria Maritimas, Meggido, Mout Carmel & Haifa Feb.27.11

Well, what a busy day it's been.  While it was sunny an nice in Tel Aviv by the time we arrived at Ceasaria Maritimas it was raining steady.  We hurriedly bundled into our rain gear and went to see what Herod built.  It's only been three years but I'd forgotten the opulence that is still apparent in the ruins.  You can imagine a bustling port city filled with international traders and who all, of course, would pay homage to Herod.  herd the Great, that is, so named because he was the great builder.  The engineering prowess that went into building an underwater wall that would allow the ships to enter a protected port some 3000 years ago is difficult for a girl like me to imagine.  

I remember the story from the book of Acts about Peter's vision where God told him that nothing that God made could be unclean.  By making that statement, by pronouncing the rules of Leviticus null and void God not only opened up the choice of what people could eat but God opened the way to accepting everyone - even the gentiles, and what a gift that was.  

It seems that we judge each other based on whatever criteria is in vogue at the moment.  Up until the mid 1900's the blacks were the obvious target whereas the boogie man of my youth was those dangerous Russians before the Cold War came to a close.  Each culture, each nation, creates its own boogie men blaming everything that goes bump in the night on a certain group of people.  Nowadays in North America it seems that our Muslim brothers and sisters are the target, blamed for the obvious downfall of the many because of the horrific acts of the few.

Which brings me to Meggio.  Standing on top of the mountain looking down at the three valleys that were the roadways of the ancient world you can hear the prophecy of Armeggedon.  This is where the last great battle will be waged, a battle between good and evil.

So where is Peter's vision when we need it?  Where is the vision that declares that all that God made is good and worthy?  May be if we stopped looking at one another from a place of suspicion and instead looked at each other as a beloved creation of God we could stop making these sweeping judgements and live together as worthy servants of God.

And as always, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem