Dan Sarkipato's Blog

Limping and the World's Greatest Missionary

2009-06-28T12:19:00.004-04:00

Limping

For the past couple days I've been walking with a limp because I cannot put weight on the ball of my right foot. People notice when you limp. It makes me think of Jacob and how, while wrestling with God at Jabbok, Jacob's hip was put out of joint. From then on, he would have walked with the limp that God gave him, marking the time he wrestled with God. Every step for the rest of his life Jacob [and those who saw him] would remember his encounter with God. May my current limp be a constant reminder that I belong to Jesus Messiah.

The World's Greatest Missionary

While overlooking the incredible Hellenistic ruins at Beth Shean, a decapolis city south of the Sea of Galilee, Bart DenBoer asked us yesterday "who is the world's greatest missionary"? He made the case that it is Alexander the Great.

Alexander devoted his life to spreading Greek culture, Hellenism, throughout the world. In this part of the world he established ten Hellenistic cities (called The Decapolis) to showcase the values of Hellenism and humanism.

Man first. Humans are the focus of life, not the gods.

The greatest human becomes a god.

The lowest humans are of little value.

Pleasure and the exaltation of man are of greatest value.

If you control the Media, Education, Worship, and Recreation/Entertainment and you will control the culture.

So he built the following in all his cities:
Theater

Gymnasium (school)

Temple

Arena

Bath

He believed if people, including Jewish people, were exposed to what Hellenism could offer, They Would Buy It. IT WORKED. IT IS STILL WORKING.

The Gospel of Alexander continues to influence the culture we live in to this day. Jesus spoke of it when he told the parable of the 4 soils; the third soil represents a heart that received the seed, but then the cares, worries, and pleasures of life choke the Word and it brings no fruit. Time to dethrone Alexander in my life.

Manger, Bullets and Paths of Righteousness

I'm posting some pictures of an ancient manger (stone watering trough), Paths of Rightesness (zig zag sheep paths on a steep hill) and a bullet hole in the window of an interior wall of our hosts on Beit Sahour (West Bank, next to Bethlehem). For clarification, the bullet hole was not made during my stay at their home. It happened when Israel invaded Beit Sahour during the early 2000s, during the second Intifada.

1. Standing in the Torah Closet, synogogue in Gamla

2. Sheep following paths of righteousness in Negev

3. Paths of Righteousness, sheep trails, on a hillside

4. Dan sitting in manger at Arad

5. Bema-raised platform in the middle of synogogue

6. Water in the desert at En Gedi

In the Desert and Adaptability

2009-06-27T11:06:00.007-04:00

The Desert

The past few days our group has visited some remarkable sites, starting in the Negev (desert). Our father Abraham was a man of the desert, with flocks and herds. From the time of Abraham and earlier the Bedouins were nomadic shepherds who moved through the desert lands with their flocks in search of water and pastures for their flocks. Those who live in the desert learn to survive, to endure, to continue on in a harsh often hostile environment. God’s people living in the desert (wilderness) learn to survive and to persevere by depending on God. Most of the land of Israel is desert. Unless God gives us water and leads us to places of shade and refreshment, we die. Abraham was a man of the desert; Moses and Israel spent 40 years in the desert (and Moses spent 40 more years in the desert before that!); David was a shepherd in the desert (the Judean mountains near Bethlehem are very dry); John the Baptist lived in the desert; Jesus went to the desert for 40 days as final preparation for his ministry.

While in the desert I had the opportunity to reflect on my own times “in the desert” in my life. Times of dryness, of struggle, where the environment seems harsh, when I wonder if I’m going to make it, whether I’ll be able to keep going. As I reflect on my life, it is particularly in those desert experiences when I’ve learned to trust and rely on God more completely. I’ve also observed and heard from others that it is the same for God’s people all over.

So if you find yourself currently in a desert experience, remember how often God sends his people into the desert so they will learn to trust him. And remember that he meets us in desert. He will meet you there too.

Adaptability

Before leaving for The Land my right foot started to hurt, particularly the top of the area at the base of my big toe on my right foot. I thought I injured it, but as the symptoms persisted I learned through Karen Blamer, nurse practitioner in our group, that it is gout. After about ten days the symptoms subsided for which I am very grateful to God. Then yesterday the symptoms returned, making it difficult to walk. So today instead of visiting Tel Dan, Capernaum and Katzrin, I stayed back at our kibbutz for a day of recovery and reflection.

On one had it is disappointing to be in a place like this and to be unable to what I came here for. On the other hand, a day of recovery and reflection has been a great gift. It has been hotter than hot the past two days and my roommate just told me that today was hotter than yesterday. Abut 110 degrees. It has been brutal to press on through the afternoon in those oven-like conditions.

By God's grace I've been able to adapt and to accept what God has given me today. It served me well today, and being flexible and submissive to the plan of God for each day is a value that serves me well whenever I’m able to put it into practice. Proverbs 16:9 says: "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." O for the grace to keep planning each day with wisdom and then to follow God as he unfolds his plan. Someone once advised me that "ministry IS the interruptions in your day." O for the grace to plan wisely and well, and to adapt to the realities of each day through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

1. Bullet hole interior window Bannoura house Beit Sahour from second Intifada

2. Paths of Righteousness, sheep trails, on a hillside

3. George, a student at the Al Basma Center for disabled young adults

4. Dry wadi bed in the wilderness

5. Dan with Fridleys and Greens on the Herodian near Bethlehem

6. Clark Haken Muhanned Bannoura Me Sumia Bannoura our hosts in Beit Sahour

6-23-09 From Serving to Study and Learning

2009-06-23T20:05:00.001-04:00

Yesterday our group of 35 persons departed from the West Bank and entered Israel for a day of learning and studying the text of the Word by visiting places in the “shephelah”, the hill country that runs north and south between the coastal plain along the Mediterranean and the Judean Mountains (which include Jerusalem and Bethlehem). Our transition out of the West Bank was slowed down due to the fact that Israeli security wanted everyone to exit the bus and walk through the check point area. That process was quite easy for us, since we all have American or Canadian passports. But for others, especially Palestinians who live in Israel and are given access to go back-and-forth, it can be a prolonged process, varying from day to day, that is both humiliating and frustrating. We said good-bye to our Palestinian hosts who treated us with much kindness and hospitality. They are Greek Orthodox Christians whose faith seems much more a matter of heritage and birth than it does a living relationship with God. Faith can erode in any culture I suppose.
Monday we visited places like Gezer (Don’t Play It Safe! Complete Your Obedience!), Azekah/Elah Valley (Throw Your Stone For God!—David and Goliath Story), Lachish (Apply Your Faith Where You Are) and much, much more. It was an exhausting but fulfilling day.

Today we visited the Negev (desert), and experienced some incredible sites and the vastness of the desert in this part of the world. Abraham was a wandering shepherd in the tradition of the bedouins who still live in much of the Arabian, African, and Middle Eastern Deserts. We had a very powerful teaching on the tradition of a Bedouin engagement ceremony when a couple would get engaged, and how God used that to communicate about His relationship with us (see the “cutting of a covenant” ceremony in Genesis 15).
There is much more I could say, but this will suffice for today.
Tomorrow we are off to the Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his ministry.
Thanks for reading.

6-15-09 Serving in the West Bank

2009-06-23T19:58:00.000-04:00

Today our group began our volunteer service. Projects ranged from a medical clinic to an orphanage for a refugee camp, a school for the blind, assisting farmers who can only get to their crops if accompanied by someone with an international passport, painting at the Bethlehem Bible College. I spent the day at the Al Bashara Center for youth with developmental disabilities. When I’m able to get online with my own computer I’ll post a few photos. Fifteen or twenty people age 15 – 35 spend the day at this center. Some have Downs Sydrome, all have some form of developmental disability. First they spend time doing exercises, then it is work time. They have several different jobs that the clients are able to do, such as: working in a green house; recycling paper; bagging olive wood Christmas ornaments, and more. I was assigned the Christmas ornament bagging department and worked with 4-6 young men whose job was to properly insert two Christmas ornaments and a small card in a plastic bag. These are then sold to help fund the Center.
The young men enjoyed their work, and stuck with it. How dignifying to give a person meaningful work to do, which produces results you can see. After eating a hot lunch provided by the center, they had singing and dancing time which was loudly successful. Following that was play practice—the clients are putting on a play about an injured bird who was helped by a passerby. The bird rewarded the helper by giving him a seed that grew a tree that produced gold.
I didn’t know the story at first and so my guess was first the story of the Good Samaritan, then I shifted my guess to Jack in the Beanstalk. Then one of the English speaking interns enlightned me. The clients recently put on a showing of Red Riding Hood that was a smash success.
I’m not sure I’ve seen the church doing better work than what I saw today. When we honor and care for and assist those with disabilities we are doing God’s work. Our rabbi teaches that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”. Our Lord was served well today at Al Bashara Center for youth.

6-12-09 9:30 p.m. Beit Sahour, the West Bank

2009-06-23T19:56:00.000-04:00

Our group arrived safely in Tel Aviv about 4:00 p.m. today, then took the bus to Bethlehem where we met our host families. It was a long day of travel (22 hours for me from door to door--leaving my house to arriving at our host’s home).
We are staying with the Bannoura family, who are Greek Orthodox Palestinians. Mom and Pop Bannoura (Sumia and George) speak basically no English, but their two sons who live in the basically the same complex of buildings speak very good English, along with their daughter in law. So, we did basic introductions and relaxed a bit. Over a meal of falafel, special cucumbers, pickles, flat bread, hummus, tomato and pickle along with sweet hot tea, we had a good conversation about what it is like to be a Christian Palestian.
A wall 24 feet high surrounds Bethlehem for “security.” If you live in Palestinian territory (the West Bank) you are not allowed to set foot in Israel. It is against the law. You cannot go to Jerusalem or fly out of Tel Aviv. You are completely restricted. It is like prison or apartheid. Muhannad, younger son of the Bannoura’s filled us in on his political views. In Beit Sahour where he lives, the town is mostly Christian with some Muslims. They get along fine, as they do in most of the West Bank. Same thing in Bethlehem and Ramallah.
Hamas however he finds completely impossible to accept and deal with, and sees them as the core of the current problem (in conjunction with Hezbollah, both supported by Iran).
Anyway I’m pretty jet-lagged, and so I think I’m going to sign off. I have an injured foot from a biking incident earlier this week, and currently that entire foot is very swollen, mostly from flying, but partially from the injury. So, I’d appreciate prayers for healing from anyone who reads this.
Shabbat shalom to all from the Land of Israel.

Off to Israel tomorrow

2009-06-11T10:48:00.001-04:00

6-10-09

Serving and Studying, West Bank and Israel
Tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. I’ll be joining a group from IDEA ministries and flying from Grand Rapids, MI to Tel Aviv, via Newark NJ. We are scheduled to arrive in Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon, and will be bused to Bethlehem. We will then meet our host families with whom we will be staying for a week.
Our first week we will be serving in various capacities in a number of different Christian organizations, as well as getting to know the Palestinian Christian perspective on the land and on our shared Faith.
I’m hoping to post regularly for the next couple of weeks, depending on Internet access.
Until then, shalom