A handful of facts that do all the heavy lifting for the rest of the year.
Five things, and the land stops being scenery.
Coastal plain, Shephelah, hill country, Rift Valley, Transjordan plateau. Everything that happens, happens in one of these, and which one matters.
The Via Maris along the coast and the King's Highway east of the Jordan. Armies, traders, and caravans all move on these. So do a surprising number of Bible stories.
There is a line where the rain stops. North and west of it you farm. South and east of it you herd, or you are in the wilderness. Much of Israel's history is a negotiation with that line.
The ridges run one way. Crossing them means climbing in and out of valleys all day. This explains journeys that otherwise look strange.
From every direction, including from the north. It is on the central ridge. This is why the Psalms of Ascent are called that — they were sung going up.
Read: Psalm 121
It is a Psalm of Ascent. Read it as a walking song, sung uphill, by someone who can see the hills they still have to climb.
Entirely optional. Come either way.
Sit with this week’s passage and see what the Spirit shows you in it — a connection, a question, something that will not leave you alone, something you think the rest of us need to hear. That is not an interruption of the night. That is the night.
The subject above is the field we are working, and it is a real boundary. The Spirit who inspired these texts is the one who lights them up, and he does not compete with himself. What he gives will open this material further, not change the channel.
Send it ahead if you can, by replying to the message that brought you here. We open by hearing what the week turned up, before anybody explains anything.