Tag: Peniel

Day 9 :: Living Stone of HOPE

Join us for the 12 Day YMCA Devotion Series – LIVING STONES: LEAD, CARE AND SERVE LIKE JESUS

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the OnPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

by Norris Lineweaver, Board Secretary with Friends of the Jerusalem International YMCA

Over an early morning cup of coffee discussing the hope for peace in The Holy Land with a Palestinian friend from Ramallah, he said: “How can I have hope for peace with God if I do not have a relationship with my brother?”

Later that morning, we joined together in a worship service in the Oratory Chapel of the Jerusalem International YMCA, a landmark near the Old City, known as a ‘sermon in stone’.

On a wall at that Y near the altar composed of twelve stones, are sculpted bas-reliefs that tell the story of the twin brothers, Jacob and Esau, from the Book of Genesis. 

It is one of the most remarkable stories about hope and restorative justice in the Bible.

This sacred story shows just how difficult reconciliation is.

It involves devastation, it comes with sacrifice, great struggle, even injury; and requires hope and trust in God.

Through striving to achieve reconciliation with his brother Esau, Jacob saw the face of God.

He named the place of his struggle and hope “Peniel” – which means “face of God”.

At noon my Palestinian friend and I traveled north through the Jordan Valley of lush green fields to end the day’s journey in Tiberius at the beautiful YMCA Peniel by Galilee Retreat Center.

From the shoreline of Galilee at Peniel one can see Mount Beatitude and the foothills of Capernaum. 

Visitors come from around the world to rest from their struggles, to be reinvigorated spiritually.

Recently an unexpected fire raged up the Tiberius coast of Galilee severely damaging Peniel, leaving much of the property in ruins.

For many like me who have benefitted from coming “face to face” with God at YMCA Peniel, this devastation caused a loss of hope of it ever being restored to a place of reconciliation and spiritual renewal.

It’s easy to ask God why Peniel was not spared from the fires.

But in the struggle to rebuild the beloved retreat center God has come “face to face” with those in the YMCA working together as living stones in hope and trust: Jews, Muslims, and Palestinian Christians.

What are the fires in your life that have caused you to lose hope?

What are the struggles you experience that could be the place where God wants to meet you “face to face”?

How might you rebuild strained relationships in your life, like Jacob and Esau did, through trust and hope in God?

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.””

Genesis 32.24-30

This YMCA devotion series brought to you by onPrinciple – click here to learn more about it – a new leadership development program to strengthen the presence of Christ in the YMCA

Click here for the entire devotion series as a downloadable PDF booklet.

Click here to access entire devotion series on YouVersion

Fire in the Face of God

What would you do if you came face to face with God? What would you do if fire destroyed what you loved? How do you prevail in the midst of complicated struggles? The story and fate of Peniel is a metaphor to me of the YMCA, America, and our faith.

Fire! It’s a cry of alarm when the flames stretch forth, unwanted, under protest, against what you treasure.

Fire! It’s a shout for joy when the sparks take hold of the dry tinder, the night is brisk, the stars are out, and your friends are ready to gather around to warm up and tell their stories.

Fire! It’s a sign of judgment, a cause for destruction, a threat of scorching pain. It’s also a means to survival, purification, and transformation.

Haaretz.com photo credit/firefighter at Peniel

Fire unexpectedly scorched beautiful Peniel, a YMCA haven of rest in the Holy Land, a little piece of heaven on earth.

A shock to the soul in 2016!

Why would God let this happen here? What does it mean? How do we interpret the flaming disaster?

And what now in 2020?

YouTube.com/Guy Shacar, three weeks after the fire
Four years after fire swept through the Tiberius coast, Peniel is a burnt hull.

When Archibald C. Harte retired from his remarkable career with the YMCA in the 1930’s he purchased a plot on the Sea of Galilee and transformed it into Peniel, a beautiful retreat for weary YMCA workers and travelers from around the world.

Beautiful Peniel in Tiberius, along the Sea of Galilee

Peniel means “face of God” and comes from the Hebrew Scriptures, a story where a traveler named Jacob wrestled with God, lost, was renamed Israel, and limped away transformed.

Jacob named the place Peniel for he had struggled with God (hence the name “Israel”) face to face and lived.

Over the years Peniel became a thin-space for YMCA workers, where it did seem that heaven met earth there, and folks could experience a face to face encounter with the Lord in their soul.

Spectacular vista from Peniel patio of the Sea, Golan Heights, and the sunset
Lush walkways throughout Peniel, shaded picnic areas, a sunny beach
Harte Memorial Chapel, the heart of Peniel, a sacred YMCA thin-space
The overgrown, desecrated chapel; broken windows, vandalized; yet holy.

So when fire ravaged the “face of God”, many who had strong roots and formative memories at Peniel grieved the loss deeply.

How to make sense of it, and what to do now?

The legal and cultural situations quickly became complicated.

Meanwhile entropy emerged on the property through vandalism, desecration, squatting, and the weather.

Through wise, collaborative, and patient leadership, plans for restoration of Peniel are being formed.

A renewed purpose is being prayerfully considered.

YMCA workers around the world are seeking the face of God for inspiration, direction, and open doors for the rebuilding of this sacred space in the Holy Land.

My visit to Peniel was through the OnPrinciple cohort, a strategic YMCA program through the Harold C. Smith Foundation.

It brings together Christian YMCA leaders from across the United States to grow in their capacity to strengthen the Christian mission of the YMCA in the 21st century.

This training in agile learning and adaptive leadership skills is mediated through an online curriculum supported by venerable Springfield College, an immersive sojourn with YMCA’s in the Holy Land through the guidance of Friends of the Jerusalem YMCA, and an intensive series of seminars with the Global Leadership Summit.

The cohort of 12 learners and 12 mentors is an innovative, rich and transformative YMCA program that brings together our dual emphasis of Christian principles and diversity, inclusion, global.

Archibald C. Harte of the YMCA and Peniel

Archibald C. Harte was a visionary leader, making possible the construction of the Jerusalem International YMCA.

His love for the Lord, the YMCA, and the Holy Land, combined with his commitment to peace, solidarity, and friendship, inspired our OnPrinciple cohort still shapes the purpose of the JIY today. Read more here.

Peniel, a safe place for all to rest and enjoy good company
Peniel patiently awaiting restoration and renewed YMCA hospitality

The YMCA has long been a Christian organization which authentically strives to be welcoming for all.

Especially in the Holy Land, Jews, Christians and Muslims all work together in friendship and solidarity at the YMCA.

The Jerusalem International YMCA, which oversees Peniel, is renown for their diversity and inclusion of Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, all sorts of faith backgrounds but one thing in common: love for the YMCA mission and legacy.

Dedication stone at Jerusalem International YMCA, set by Archibald Hart.

So in a world still full consumed by violence and bigotry, hatred and war, poverty and oppression, how can Peniel be a crucial thin-space again for all, for transformation through the sacred struggle together?

Christians believe that in Christ Jesus we see the face of God; we also believe that we are sent into the world as “little Christ’s” meant to embody his grace and truth in love.

We believe that when we love, care and serve in the world like God in Christ does, through the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit, people can still experience the transformative face of God.

Christian hospitality becomes a way to co-create thin spaces in the world where spiritual transformation, sacred struggles, new names, holy purposes can be given and received.

Fire in the face of God is consuming yet purifying, burning but illuminating, painful yet transformative.

May Peniel become a renewed site on the Sea of Galilee where YMCA workers can experience a purifying fire in the face of God, amidst their struggles feel again the call to go and be the light, to be the good news of God in our burning yet beloved world.

Thanks to Mike Bussey for most of the beautiful pre-2016 Peniel pics, and some post-fire ones.