"Context Determines Meaning"

My fifteen day journey to the Holy Lands as a part of a travel course with Garrett-Evangelical has changed my outlook on the nature of the Bible and the state of Israel. To see the biblical sites, to interact with the Israelites, to experience a different culture, and to have an experience with God was an awesome and enriching trip. I even experienced riding on a donkey and snow in Jerusalem. Visiting the Holy Lands has given me a new insight on the Bible and about the Holy Lands.

I often hear the phrase "context determines meaning.” Context includes the experiences of a persons or groups personal life: the experiences of success, failure, births, relationships, and so forth that allows persons to, or prevent persons from, experiencing God in their lives.[1] I have been reading the Bible most of my life, whether it was in Sunday School, Bible Study, worship service, or even in seminary. I never understood why the biblical authors consistently referred to mountains, rocks, hills, stones, water, and sheep, until I was able to walk through the biblical sites. It was the context that they were living in that the authors wrote such profound words that have become a roadmap for my life.

I remember one particular day when we were in Tel Hazor, which is an ancient city found in the region of Galilee in Northwestern Israel, about four miles southwest of Lake Huleh and ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee.[2] When you are at Tel Hazor, you have an amazing view of all these different landscapes and mountains. When you are looking at these beautiful mountains, it is mind-blowing and places more meaning to the text. I took a picture pointing above the mountains, because when in Psalm 121:1-2, the psalmist said, “I lift up my eyes to the hills from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” I can understand how these mountains and hills could give inspiration to this particular author.

In conclusion, I have to say this has been an awesome opportunity to visit the Holy Lands. What I thought would be just a fifteen day trip turned into a life changing experience. I enjoyed walking through the biblical sites, interacting with the local residents there, and learning firsthand about the war situation in Israel. I would highly recommend to anyone who is hoping to expand their biblical horizons to take a trip to Israel at least once during their lifetime, for it will change ones perspective on so many things. I am not sure when I will return to the Holy Land of Israel, but I plan to return some time in the near future.

[1] Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, Rev. and expanded ed., Faith and Cultures Series (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2002), 5.
[2] Charles R. Page, The Land and the Book: An Introduction to the World of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), 137.

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Tiggs Washington is a second year Master of Divinity student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Travel Logged

Garrett-Evangelical has been proud to offer a variety of travel course opportunities for our students each year. We are pleased to be able to share some of our students travel stories over the next few weeks.

Becky Wilson (second from the right)
in Bethlehem

One of the many things that stood out on my first visit to the campus of Garrett-Evangelical was a flyer promoting a travel course to Rome. While I have not yet experienced Rome, my experience as a seminarian has been marked by travel.

By whatever means available from my home in Detroit to Evanston.

By train to downtown Chicago for urban ministry conferences at SCUPE.

By bus through the Galilean hillside.

On foot through an Israeli check point from Bethlehem to Jerusalem.

And last summer, by plane to Philadelphia for the travel course, United Methodist Studies: Wesley and the 19th Century.

This was my first trip to the City of Brotherly Love. I ate my first cheese steak, tasted soft pretzels from several vendors and preached a sermon from the pulpit of Historic Old St. George’s United Methodist Church.

Travel courses are a lot of fun. They are also hard work. Each student was required to preach two sermons on the trip. No big deal, right? Except for the fact that the assignment was to preach contemporary interpretations of John Wesley sermons. I considered dropping the course when I was assigned The New Birth. (Seriously, I did.)

Standing in the chalice shaped pulpit of Old St. George’s in the summer heat was a daunting task. Once my body adjusted to the pulpit’s swaying I found my voice and delivered a sermon to my professor and classmates. In this preaching moment I felt a powerful connection to the history of my denomination and my family roots, which are half-grounded in Methodism.

Originally hesitant to embrace the topic, but in the end, encountering a new birth of my own.

Traveling to Lovely Lane Chapel, Old Otterbein, Long’s Barn, Cokesbury College, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Gettysburg and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, I was reminded of the importance and the power of seeing life and learning history from a location other than our own backyard.

It is one thing to read about the evolution of Methodism in America, but it is another thing to travel through it.

It is one thing to read about Jesus’ travels in and around Galilee, but it is a totally different experience to put your feet in the Sea of Galilee and contemplate your future ministry.

It is one thing to read about violence and oppression, but it becomes real in a whole new way when an Israeli soldier’s gun brushes against your leg as he walks the aisle of your tour bus.

As I begin my final year of seminary, I realize how fortunate I am for the opportunities to travel and experience the world outside of the classroom. All of my courses at Garrett-Evangelical, not just the ones involving travel, have filled me with a boldness to preach The Gospel and with an eagerness to transform the Church and the World.

I am also eager to visit Rome.

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Becky Wilson is a third year Master of Divinity student with a concentration in Urban Ministry.