gregoryjenks

Category: Uncategorized

  • Closure of FaithFutures Foundation

    A brief note to advise that the papers have recently been filed to wind-up FaithFutures Foundation which has been registered as a not-for-profit organisation in Kansas and also as a 501c3 organisation with IRS.

    I want to thank all those who supported the Foundation since its establishment in mid-2001, just a few weeks before the world changed for many people in the West and and the Middle East with the 9/11 attacks in New York.

    In particular, I want to acknowledge Peter Lawson, whose vision for an inclusive grassroots organisation was the key for much that we sought to achieve, and also Robert McElwain, who has tirelessly managed the financial affairs of the Foundation and attended to our various reporting obligations to state and federal regulators.

    My personal projects relating to progressive re-visioning of Christianity for the present times continue through my own blog here as well as the Jesus Database web site.

    For those who may be interested, I maintain a current list of my own publications on this blog site.

    Best wishes for 2014 and blessings for the journey we all share.

    Gregory C. Jenks

    Founder and Executive Trustee
    FAITHFUTURES FOUNDATION

  • Bethsaida Study Leave

    In a couple of day’s time I will begin an extended period of time in Israel during a combination of study leave, recreation leave and on-site teaching for the annual Bethsaida archaeology project.

    From time to time I will post news and information on this blog site, but it will not be in the form of a daily journal until at least 16 June when the main group of Australian volunteers arrive.

    In very brief terms, as already indicated in a post on my Facebook page, I will be spending the next 4-5 months as follows:

    • I will be living at Tiberias, and commuting to Jerusalem every week or so for a few days a week, to work on the coins recovered from Bethsaida over the past 26 years and now held by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
    • During that period I also need to prepare two conference papers for the International Meeting of SBL at St Andrews in Scotland in mid-July. These will draw on the coin database, as a kind of ‘firstfruits’ from that research.
    • In amongst all that I plan to finish the draft of a new book.
    • Finally, I will have 5-6 weeks on the Bethsaida dig this year instead of the usual two week season. I am really looking forward to this increased involvement in the dig.

    No doubt my Arabic and my Hebrew skills will improve dramatically through this time, and that will contribute to my future teaching and research. As a sabbatical, I shall be aiming to keep my emails to a minimum, so I hope you will understand if I am not as accessible as usual.

  • Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

    Psalm 122:6 calls upon people of faith to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

    Like me, I am sure you are watching with alarm as the tensions between the Hamas administration in the Gaza strip and Israel have reached a flashpoint in the last few days.

    Let’s pray and work for a non-violent resolution to the problems shared by Israelis and Palestinians as each community seeks a way to build sustainable and just futures for themselves and their children in the land that so many of us revere as the Holy Land.

    Inshallah, God willing, the people of power will find a way to step back from this brink, and just maybe this glimpse into the abyss will motivate people of goodwill to seek an outcome that allows both communities to fulfil their dreams in the land they must now share.

    Too many Jewish and Arab mothers will be crying for their lost children unless somehow those with the capacity to shape the future do so with an eye to reconciliation, justice and peace. Security for the Jewish communities, and for Israel as a distinctively Jewish nation, is a necessary element in that long term vision. So too, it seems to me, is justice for the dispossessed and hope for the disillusioned.

    Surely this conflict will soon abate, and the work of reconstruction and reconciliation will begin afresh.

    In the meantime, let’s focus our love and prayers on the beautiful people of Israel and Palestine, all of whom have suffered too long from the wounds created by the political and military decisions of previous generations over the past one hundred years.

    Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for the peace of Gaza, and for the peace and well-being of every village, settlement and town in all of Israel/Palestine.

    May the guns and missiles soon fall silent, and may the winter rains wash away the bitterness of the recent past as people move into a shared future.

    Kyrie eleison / Lord, have mercy.

  • 2013 Sabeel Global Young Adults Festival

     

    A number of people coming to Bethsaida in 2013 are thinking about participating in the Sabeel International Young Adults Conference which will happen immediately after we finish our time on the dig.

    Preliminary information about that event has now been published by Sabeel:
    2012 Sabeel Global Young Adults Festival

    As you may already have noticed, the event has a new name:
    GLOBAL YOUNG ADULTS FESTIVAL

    The dates are July 1-6, 2013 – but participants are encouraged to arrive the previous day (June 30 – when we are scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem in any case).

    This program will be based in Bethlehem and runs in parallel to the special one week program arranged for us at St George’s College, Jerusalem.

    Remarkably, the cost for the week is just US$500.00 and that includes accommodation, meals, land transport, tips and gratuities.

    The program is described as a celebration of environmental sustainability, economic justice, human rights, and community.

    The theme of the conference is:

    MOVING MOUNTAINS | RE-SHAPING THE WORLD
    Aiming for miracles through creative activism.

    For more information about the Global Young Adults Festival , please contact Sabeel directly at youth@sabeel.org

    If you are between 18 and 35 years of age and interested in taking the Sabeel conference as an alternative to the St George’s College program, please advise Audrey Warren at Mission Travel asap so that we can plan for the appropriate numbers at SGC.

    For those who meet the age requirements and are considering the relative costs as part of their decision, the cost for the St George’s College program is US$1,750 while the Sabeel conference costs US$500.

    Meanwhile, we still have a number of vacancies for the 2013 trip, so please talk about the program to anyone you know who may be interested. We are keen to have a full group of 25 people for 2013.

    Do get back to me if you have any questions about the program.

    Shalom waSalaam.

  • 2013 Bethsaida Holy Land Study Tour

    This afternoon I have received the final costs for the 2013 Bethsaida tour.

    The program has been arranged in two sections:

    1. Core program: Return air travel, two weeks on the dig (16-28 June), weekend visits to lakeside holy places and other selected sites in northern Israel, two nights in Nazareth (28 & 29 June). All participants.

    2. Additional week at St George’s College in Jerusalem (30 June – 6 July), during which time we will visit selected sites of historical and religious significance in and around Jerusalem. Optional program.

    Some participants will be attending the Sabeel International Young Adults Conference from June 30 to July 6. That conference has its own costs, and these will need to be paid directly by the participants.

    Other people may opt to return home after the core program concludes in Nazareth on Sunday, 30 June or to continue their travels to other destinations.

    The cost for the total package (Bethsaida/Nazareth plus SGC) is $8,249.00
    The core program without the week in Jerusalem at SGC is: $6,499.00

    Eligible CSU students will be able to access $6,051 of financial assistance under the OS-HELP program, and a further $500 from the Vice-Chancellor’s Travel Fund.

    We already have several registrations, but I now invite anyone wishing to participate in the 2013 Bethsaida Holy Land Study Tour to contact Audrey Warren at Mission Travel as soon as possible so that you can register for the trip and pay the $500 deposit to secure a place on the trip.

    Audrey’s contact details are:

    Email: audrey@missiontravel.com.au
    Phone: 1300 554 654

    Places will be limited to 25 people.

    More detailed information will be available from Mission Travel shortly, but I know that many people have been waiting for this news so I thought I should share it as soon as I had received it.

  • Bethsaida 2013

    For anyone interested in joining the 2013 Bethsaida excavations program, including additional days in Jerusalem and Jordan, the preliminary details are now available at:

    http://www.jesusdatabase.org/index.php?title=Bethsaida_2013

    The preliminary itinerary is currently being costed and an updated version will be posted to the above page as soon as it is available.

    At the end of June 2012 we had almost 40 people who have expressed an interest in the 2013 tour, but numbers will be limited to 25. Once the first 25 deposits have been received, additional names will be placed on a wait list in case a vacancy becomes available at a later date.