Shabbat Shalom,
As we come to the close of our second week in Jerusalem and first full week at JUC, I (Tayler) am currently sitting out on the Pergola with the far off sounds of a concert and the smell of freshly mowed grass around me while writing to attempt to summarize a week that has felt like both a marathon and a sprint. We moved into JUC last Friday (as mentioned in our Manna letter) and have gotten more settled this week; at least our suitcases are put away! We are beginning to establish rhythms in this new season with course work and within our marriage as well as continuing to pursue the Lord and all the adventures of living in His Land.
Highlights from our second week in Jerusalem:
- First day of Classes
- Grant started officially being a full-time Masters student on Monday with his first class, History of Ancient Israel. This week has consisted of MANY, MANY pages of reading and two Biblical Hebrew quizzes. Grant has gotten hundreds on both quizzes (noted by his extremely proud wife)!
- We are taking two classes together – Physical Settings and Life and Times of Paul. As I am the one that is writing this, and Grant might have a differing opinion, I would say the most interesting discussion we have had in these classes this week has been answering the question of who cares? By opening up the discussion on this topic we were able to unlock a deeper understanding of why geography in the Land matters and why we continue to study it today!
2. First Field Study
- On Sunday, we went on our first field study! It was a five hour walk around Mt. Zion and into the Old City. It was honestly astonishing to me that we literally walked feet away from the JUC gate and were discussing the historical context of the scene around us and how SO much has changed but also what has stayed the same.
- My favorite place that we visited was Omar Mosaics in the Christian quarter of the old city. Omar (and his father Siobhan) is a JUC legend and has opened up his shop to the students over many years. Connecting with Omar and hearing his run down of how to haggle in the old city (it starts by taking 80% off the asking price) as well as learning the code phrase to be able to exchange money felt both comforting and highly intimidating.
3. JUC Community
- We have gotten to spend a lot of time with the 14 other students at JUC and the staff that make this place a community. There are so many ways that this community has already poured into us (study support, emotional support, active dialogue) and I am grateful that God brought this specific group of people into our lives — it truly takes a certain kind of person to say “yes” to going to Jerusalem in the middle of a war; we feel like these are our people.
- An unexpected highlight has been that the food on campus is amazing and the dorm beds are actually comfortable. Small details, but it helps to be full AND to sleep well at night.
I picked the word “Tov” for this week because, honestly, it’s one of the only Hebrew words I know — but also because at the start of our Physical Settings class, our professor, Dr. Elaine Phillips, has us sing a Psalm to begin the class and it stuck out to me that Tov is a small but mighty word. You probably know Tov in the same way that I do with the celebratory “Mazel Tov” but really this small but mighty word is so much more than just something you say when cheers-ing. One of the first time Tov is used in the Bible is in Genesis 1:10 when the Lord proclaims that what he had created is good (tov). It stood out to me that the way we use “good” makes it sound like it is almost a bad thing in our modern language (i.e. if something is average you can 100% find me saying it was good….). But how can we be using the same word to describe middle of the road restaurants that God uses to describe creation??? We had a sermon on this many years ago at our home church in Nashville (Church of the City) and our pastor started using the term “God Good” to which we in the Taylor family have shortened to just capital G “Good” to signify the difference because there is truly a difference.
I have been asked over the past two weeks how Jerusalem is by friends and family and I find myself wanting to say something extra like it is EXCEPTIONAL or it is AMAZING or even it is SO FULL OF LIFE which are all so, so true about Jerusalem. It is all of those things — the people are vibrant, the city is alive with activities and the Land is flourishing. But it still has felt so inadequate to explain what it is like to sit on this pergola bench and live steps away from a historical pilgrimage site for ritual cleansing or a short walk (and many many stairs) away from the Jewish quarter and the cardo (Roman road) from the sixth century. All this to say, I think I have landed on Jerusalem being Good. There is something that is inexplainable about being here, something about the layered history and something about this land being chosen by God; it is just Good and it’s hard to describe (trying my best here).
God knew what both Grant and I needed when He called us here. He knew that there was a richness to the Word, an unexplainable connection to different cultures and a strengthening and deepening of our relationships with Him that could only occur by being here. Jerusalem is Good.
If you want to know how you can pray for us..
Prayer requests:
- New Rhythms
- Being on this adventure is somewhat difficult when Grant is studying for 16+ hours a day. We ask that you pray for school rhythms and for rhythms in our marriage that will help us settle into our new home and circumstances.
2. My (Tayler) Day to Day Routines
- Kind of along the same lines, but we officially got the news that I wouldn’t be able to work while I’m in Israel. It was both expected and unexpected, but I am trusting that God opens the divine next door in my life and I ask for prayers that whatever it is that He is leading me to that I lean in with open palms and faithfulness.
3. Deepened Relationship with Christ
- It is kind of funny that when you go to school to study biblical history and geography it sometimes feels like you are just reading about the Lord instead of breathing in the Active Word. I ask that you pray that despite all the reading that we never lose sight of what, why and who we are here for.
With love,
Grant & Tayler
Week 2 Adventures
In the Field! (Jerusalem – Old City)
