Daily Reflections
Reflection #1, February 15
Mark 6:8-9
"He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick-no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic..."
Jesus said this to his twelve disciples before sending them off to exorcise demons and, anoint the sick and preach repentence. While my companions and I won't be exorcising demons on this journey, our packs are light! I spent a lot of time carefully choosing which materials to bring on this journey. I also took some quiet moments to rest and consider the "baggage" (fears, anxieties, labels, opinions, wants) I need to leave behind to walk swiftly.
My students, for this first reflection, consider with me the extra baggage we need not carry with us in our every day lives. What keeps you detached from relationships, joys, prayer, God?
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And on the same token, what objects (non-tech items) do you consider special to you? What objects comfort you?
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Reflection #2, February 17th
Within a two and a half hour window our small party visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, and the Western Wall, some of the most sacred spaces in the world.
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For this second reflection I invite you
to free write in your journal on the
question, "what makes a space
'sacred?'" Provide a variety of
examples to support your thoughts
on sacred space.
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Reflection #5, February 20th
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The Gospels tell us little about Jesus' adolescent years. This story from Luke 2:41-52 is only a glimpse of his life as a teenager like you!
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The Boy Jesus at the Temple
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41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”[a] 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
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This is one of my favorite passages from Luke and the entirety of the four Gospels and it came to mind today as we visited Nazareth, Capernaum, and Bethsaida up near the Sea of Galilee.
For this reflection there are two questions:
1) Consider how Jesus may have been similar to you in his teenage years. What would it have been like to be his friend?!
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2) I've had to tap into my spiritual imagination when looking at these different places where Jesus lived. How is the imagination sacred to our human experiece?
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Reflection #6, February 21st
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We've encountered numerous dazzling views not only today but throughout the entire trip with hopefully more to come in the final few days. It's not unrealistic to imagine Jesus retreating to high and secluded places to pray and relish the landscapes seen from Bethsaida, Capernaum, Mount Tabor and Tiberius in the northern region of Galilee.
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For this reflection, describe a time when you viewed a beautiful landscape from a high vantage point. What were your feelings in that moment and try to explain why you might have experienced those feelings then?
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Reflection #3, February 18th
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After visits to Yad Vashem, the Church of St. John the Baptist, and the Church of the Visitation, our group of three hiked back through a valley in silence mostly out of exhaustion but also because I sense we were each lost in our own reflection spaces. As the sun gently fell below the mountains to our backs, memory is a theme I prayed over on this walk. And I wish for you too to consider memory for this third reflection.
How is God found in memory? What memories evoke strong emotions within you?
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Reflection #4, February 19th
We spent much time in darkness and silence today. At the Church of the Sepulchre in the earliest hours of the morning we listened to the chants of monks filling the still and quiet space of the entire chamber. We also stopped numerous times to listen to the smaller sounds easily missed when we sloshed through the foot deep waters in Hezakiah's tunnel.
For this reflection, consider both darkness and silence. What is unusual or unsettling about the dark or silence? Why is being in the dark or shutting off noise unsettling yet wonderfully mysterious?
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