First let me say thanks to all you who were praying and thinking of me and my interview with the church in Michigan. The interview/conversation went well considering it was from 11pm to 1230 am for me, and I had already been up since 6am that morning. That said, the people on the committee voted regarding moving me forward in the interview process, and the vote was negative. I received a wee note from them a few days after that telling me such. A further dilemma for them was that I am female. Hm....not much I can do about that, considering that's the way God made me...
Anyway, in the middle of all this, I had already received and accepted an invitation to return to Glasgow for a second year. So...I will have a short holiday in the States and return to Glasgow for some more of the same and some more of different ministry opportunities in the life and witness of the world church. (keep reading for dates and details...)
Right so, I was originally planning on returning to the States, July 12...until an urgently, brief encounter with a colleague named Helen. Monday, about 10 minutes after I arrived in the office, Gail (the WGRG administrator) and I were talking through the details for John's upcoming trip to the States, when Helen asked to interupt.
She said: "Can you go to Palestine?"
With a little bit of shock, I replied, "Possibly. When do you have in mind?"
She said: "When do you go home to the States?"
"July 12, next wednesday...but I could move my flight if need be?"
Anyway, long story short, I am going to Palestine July 25 to August 7 on behalf of the youth department of the Iona Community. I will be attending the First International Young Adult Conference which is hosted by Sabeel (www.sabeel.org) and the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
I will then make my trip to the States, August 9...just in time for my cousin's wedding, Aug 12.
One ironic and one surprisingly mysterious thing. Mystery first...On monday morning, I was working through the text I will be preaching from this coming sunday at the Gorbals Church in Glasgow...during these hours, I was trying to remember the map that my preaching prof (Tim Brown) had us run our hands over to imagine the terrain and life-style of the Israelites...(etc.) then my next thought jumped to thinking it would be nice to visit the holy land, merely to have a better idea of the terrain and stuff to aid my imagination, preaching, and understanding of the context of the Scriptures...then I had a thought...i think i know some folk from Dundee who might be going there in October, perhaps I could inquire if there was space for me to join them...
Well, you know the rest of the story...
the ironic and also interesting thing is that I will be in the area of Nazareth on August 3, the anniversary of my ordination. Hm....
Well, more to come as things develop.
I am still praying about posts after next year and for everyone who has expressed concern about me going to Palestine / Israel right now...
much love...J
No comments:
Post a Comment