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May 19, 2009: Dr. Paul Wright,
I’m sending out just a short update this time.
Please do have a look at the new pictures that have just been
posted. They include a lot of outdoor laboratory learning (one of
our year-long students, a seminary graduate, told me today that his
year at JUC was by and far the best learning experience of his life.
He’s not the only one who thinks this way). In any case, this spring
we doubled the length of the field study for our Cultural
Backgrounds of the Bible course from 3 to 6 days. We take this
trip in southern Jordan to help facilitate its goal of getting in
touch with persons from the ethnographic present who still reflect
lifestyles that in some way touch on the lifestyles of biblical
characters (its getting harder and harder to meet this goal, even in
the Middle East). Six days, five nights with no electricity; the
last two nights had no water or facilities of any kind—just us and
the goat-hair tent, the sand and the stars of the sky . . . We
learned a bit how to live off the land, the value of a sheep (and
what it means to sacrifice one), and something of time—even though
there may seem to be a lot of “down time” out in the wilderness, the
biblical writers knew that life was never quite long enough. “Like
the flower of the field” they were fond of saying, which in this
climate withers way far too quickly. So it was a wonderful way to
end the semester, not only putting together disparate bits of data
learned in the classroom with life in the field, but reflecting on
the entire God-human endeavor.
And so we say good-bye to another wonderful
group of semester students and, with a 24-hour turnaround time,
welcome the first of our summer programs. We are hosting three
programs during May—a group from the Assemblies of God
Theological Seminary (lead by Deb Gill and instructed by
Steve Lancaster), our regular session of Wheaton College’s
Wheaton in the Holy Lands (led by Nick Perrin, Mark Thorne and
Keith Johnson and instructed by Paul Wright), and our regular
Historical and Geographical Settings of the Bible course
instructed by Carl Rasmussen. This latter program includes
individual students and groups from Cedarville University
(with Tom Hutchison) and Simpson University (with Jack
Painter), and Columbia Bible College in Canada, among others.
Please do keep us in your hearts and minds, and
with your prayers. It’s such an important work, and lives really are
changed for having come here (I know everyone says this, but its
really not a cliché). In spite of various challenges that could have
affected our balance sheet this year (the war in Gaza, the overall
downturn of the economy), we are finishing our academic sessions
healthy and strong. Thank you so much for your care, interest and
support. We have just produced a CD of pictures taken during our
last two fall semester Egypt trips, and are happy to send it to
anyone who makes a financial gift to JUC over the next few months.
You’ll see a bit more of what we do. Next year promises to be one of
the busiest in our history. Hopefully we’ll see you in Jerusalem
sometime soon.
With blessings.
Dr. Paul Wright
Director, JUC |
