Weeks 4 & 5: parrēsia

Shabbat Shalom!

In the words of Taylor Swift, “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem.” I am so very sorry for missing last week, but we are back with a double whammy of an update to share all about our adventures from the last two weeks. First, let’s take a moment to appreciate the absolute wildness that it has already been over a month since we left the US. Bananas. There have been moments of PURE joy and moments of sadness, but the word of the week is parrēsia, speaking boldly and with confidence, and I want to continue to declare my faith boldly in the mountaintops and the valleys (like the topography of Jerusalem 😉)!

Week 4 Highlights (as promised)

1. I got a job!
   • You are officially reading the words of the new JUC Kitchen Assistant! I will be working on Thursday to serve the lunch meal and give our lovely kitchen manager a day off. I signed the paperwork and did a bunch of training, since I quite literally have never cooked for this many people, and spent the back half of the week trying to figure out what I wanted to cook! I am very thankful to the JUC team for offering me this opportunity and excited for the challenge!
2. My birthday
   • We had an AMAZING time celebrating my birthday! On the actual day of my birthday we were on a field study (of course). We went to see the Garden of Gethsemane/Mt of Olives/Herodium/Bethlehem. In terms of a birthday it was not too shabby to get to sit amongst the olive trees on the Mt of Olives and enjoy the breeze as it came up the mountain. It was truly astonishing — the solemnity and sanctuary of that place are hard to put into words.
   • The next day we got coffee and a pastry at our local spots – Rova for coffee and a bakery name across the way in the Jewish quarter – and sat and reflected on our day and weeks in Jerusalem. Later that night we went out to dinner at Mojos and I had a pepperoni pizza (vegan cheese and real pepperoni surprisingly) and Grant had a delicious burger! I also got my big birthday present which is a trip to Bat Shlomo vineyard (link to investigate – https://batshlomo.com)! It is such a kind gift and I am excited to enjoy the pool and amazing regional food. 
   • When we got back, JUC had planned a birthday bonfire to celebrate which was so kind. It’s such a healing and joyous occasion to get to be in a Christian community where people walk out their faith in so many ways including loving and celebrating someone they have known for a few weeks so extremely well. Each person before they left the fire told me something that they appreciated about me and to say my cup and my eyes were very full is an understatement.
3. Grants schooling
   • This man has been grinding away on Hebrew and through hard work executed a perfect score on his Hebrew midterm!! In addition to celebrating my birthday, going on field studies, taking 3 other classes and auditing an additional one, he still makes it all work and I am very proud of him. It affirms how much we are in the right place, that this is his passion! 

Week 5 Highlights (told you a double whammy)

1. We booked Christmas adventures
   • As part of one of our classes, Life and Times of Paul, we will be doing a 9 day field study all throughout Greece. In addition we decided that we would be staying in Thessaloniki for the month of December after the field study is concluded. We booked our flights (Ryanair) and our Airbnb last night which was so fun and we are THRILLED to get to spend the holidays in Greece. If anyone will be in the area let us know, I’ve already scoped out the Christmas market scene and it seems like perfection. 
2. Physical Settings Exam
   • Continuing my proud wife moment… Grant Taylor nailed his Physical Settings exam this week. It was hours and HOURS of studying in order to cram all the archeological periods and dates in, but he did an amazing job on his essay and the map! I also took the exam and it was a challenge for me but it was nice to see the progression of how much we have learned during our time here. As one of our professors said, how much of that did you know 4 weeks ago and for me it was quite literally none of it. 
3. My first meal
   • As the official kitchen assistant, I made my first meal for the week! I made Florida Dish (a Taylor family staple that’s chicken and veggies and pasta), a homemade marinara sauce, and made it a bit of a pasta bar. I felt super proud of my creation, there was an EGR moment where one of the other people chose to literally not eat anything rather than eat my cooking, but it all turned out okay in the end and I received A LOT of words of affirmation which is always so nice 🙂

The word I picked this week was parrēsia, to speak one’s mind with confidence and freedom – its Greek not Hebrew but I figured that would be acceptable. This idea has been rumbling through my mind as we have been studying Pauls journey through Acts. We see Luke (the narrator of Acts) write, “Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly“ (Acts 13:46, NIV). Paul and Barnabas, on their first missionary journey, are sharing the news of Christ at the synagogue when we see that the leaders in the community grow concerned with this new ideology and decide to threaten violence against the disciples. But instead of backing down, they spoke boldly, parrēsia, and stood up for their faith.

I’ve been feeling encouraged recently by this narrative. There was a student who recently withdrew from JUC and we have been trying to process through what it is like to have a toxic (and I don’t use this term lightly) presence in your life with 0 control over the situation. He spoke openly about his beliefs but I actually didn’t agree with most things he said. His presence on campus felt like a rain cloud, it felt like eggshells, and it felt like I needed to play defense all the time. The problem is, my own self-consciousness of my lack of knowledge of the Bible, all of it made me think, what am I missing? Do I not understand the message of the Word that I have been reading and hearing about since I was 18? But I had the thought that maybe I don’t understand everything about the Lord or the Bible, but I can speak boldly on what I believe too. I have struggled for a lot of years with being insecure with my non-Christian upbringing in large Christian community (i.e. I saw Prince of Egypt for the first time in 2021) but at the end of the day, I realized that Christ doesn’t call us to have a perfect background, he calls us to proclaim the good news of his love for the world! It is on display through His death and resurrection. He hasn’t called me to be anything but what I am. He has called me to be a believer. He has called me to parrēsia!

Prayer Requests

1. Grant’s vespers talk
   • As I am sitting here, Grant is currently working on his vespers (after Shabbat dinner presentation) talk. He is sharing something that is so deeply personal and passionate to him and so asking for prayer requests over his message and that there are ears and hearts to receive it.
2. The JUC Community
   • As mentioned there was someone that decided to leave the campus. In the long-term this will be good for both parties, but I want to ask for prayers for the processing and healing of this community after something so dramatic happens to an extremely close knit group.
3. Sister’s Pregnancy
   • We are in the home stretch people!! My sister (Whitney) goes to her next appointment on Wednesday next week and I am asking for prayers that Baby J continues to be on track for a healthy delivery. I have sadly decided to stay in Jerusalem as opposed to flying home for the delivery and am asking this community to pray over her, my brother-in-law and my soon to be nephew!
4. Strengthened Relationship with Christ
   • I am still struggling a bit connecting everything that I am learning and experiencing with the relationship I have with Christ. We go on so many field studies and I have to remind myself this is my faith, this is my relationship with Christ that we are talking about, not just stories in a history text book. I think sometimes I struggle to balance the intellectual and emotional side of being a follower of Christ and so asking for prayers for that balance. 
5. Light Living
   • This is the official phrase that we are looking to in this season. As Grant said recently during daily prayer, it has felt like his backpack has been heavy and that he has been carrying so much weight on his back and it is exhausting. The exhaustion that comes with trying to carry a weight that only is manageable through Christ. I am asking for prayer that you can pray for Grant to take a few weights out of his backpack and give them to God to head towards Light Living. 

We are blessed to have amazing people in our lives and are thankful to get to be on this journey together!

With Blessings, 

Tayler & Grant