Even though I've been only out of the pulpit for six weeks, I miss preaching. It's not so much the telling as the struggle sitting with and integrating scripture to the world around me and within me. In this sermon I will tell you a little bit about my experiences in Palestine. I have struggled to find a way to bring them to you in the light of the scriptures (Psalm 85 and Mark 1:1-8) and our common search for peace.
The poetic vision of Psalm 85 touched my heart. Imagine faith and loving kindness meeting. What would they say to each other? Imagine justice and peace kissing. How beautiful would their embrace be? To be sure this Psalm brought hope to the Jews, sustaining them in hard times over the centuries. Continuously beleaguered from captivities and then Diaspora, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust, no one doubts today that Jews have suffered. God speaks peace to his people in this Psalm but tells them it will come only if they stop their sinning. Can they or we see the suffering they are now causing others?
In the gospel John the Baptist prepares us for the coming of Jesus. We are admonished to get their lives in order. His life-changing baptism leads to the forgiveness of sins. No poetry in John's message, just an urgent stark message for us to be ready to meet this coming Great One. Do we believe new life is possible? Could peace be that change that is coming?
I went to Palestine in November hoping to encounter Christ. I prayed to remain open to a life-changing new path for me however it might come. Our group, mostly from Marin and Sonoma Counties, met once a month for nearly a year to prepare for our trip. We heard speakers, read books, saw videos, but none of it adequately prepared me for the oppression and violations of human rights I saw. It was the dark side of my beloved friend Israel. You see, even though this trip intentionally looked only at the Palestinian perspective, Bob and I had lived in Israel for half a year in 1977, I have a soft spot in my heart for Israel. Living there was an especially happy and innocent time for me. I came alive in the warmth and genuine hospitality and friendship I found there. 1977 was a time of relative calm with economic prosperity benefiting Jews and Arabs. I got used to seeing soldiers with Uzi machine guns at the grocery store. I didn't think about why the Arabs were angry. This was a time of hope for peace with Jimmy Carter, Sadat and Begin meeting at Camp David. So even though I studied, I was not prepared for changes those 30 years had brought.
These are a few of my impressions: I found Israel to be liked a giant gated community----surrounded by a huge 12 foot high concrete wall. It snakes through the West Bank separating Israeli Jews from Palestinian Arabs, separating Palestinian homes from their fields, annexing illegally Palestinian land. My Israeli friends said it makes them feel much safer, but Palestinians feel they are in jail. More than 600 security check-points restrict Palestinian movement and degrade and humiliate them daily. I saw the enormous proliferation of settlements. Settlers number nearly half a million now and all the hundreds of settlements are on illegally confiscated land, controlling most of the water for the region. From the hilltops, settlers threaten and attack Palestinian farmers and school children. By far the biggest change I found is that everybody is afraid. Fear has infected the Holy Land bringing a paralyzing fog of toxic negativity and desperation along with harsher restrictions for the Palestinians. I came away deeply sad for everyone and deeply concerned about the urgent need and the increasingly distant possibility of peace for Jerusalem.
I found hope in the many young people we met. I saw the face of hope in a tall thin Palestinian lawyer working for Defense for Children International in Ramallah. I saw the face of hope in an arts center, teaching photography, drama and dance as well as non-violence to teens in the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. The center's director has a PhD in biology yet works to help teens. I saw hope in the curious smiling faces of the beautiful children, the fifth generation to grow up in refugee camps in their own land. I have many stories, but let me tell you one that stands out.
It is the story of Josef ben-Eliezar. He came to an evening session at the Sabeel Conference we were attending. He is a small wizened very old man who came from London to tell his story. Born a Jew in Frankfurt, he fled with his family in the 1930's first to Poland and then to Siberia to avoid the Nazis. As a teenager, he found his way to Palestine in 1943. I continue to his words: "I struggled with the British colonial occupation over the next three years. I was filled with hatred for the British, especially after they began to restrict the immigration of Holocaust survivors to Palestine. We Jews said that we would never again go like sheep to slaughter, at least not without putting up a good fight. We felt we lived in a world of wild beasts, and to survive, we would become like them. When the British mandate in Palestine came to an end, there was more fighting for land between the Jews and the Arabs. I joined the army because I was convinced that I could no longer allow myself to be trampled on. During a campaign in Ramla and Lod, my unit ordered the Palestinians to leave their homes within hours. We didn't allow them to leave in peace but turned on them out of sheer hatred. We beat them and interrogated them brutally. Some were even murdered. We had not been ordered to do this but acted on our own initiative. Our lowest instincts had been released. Suddenly, my childhood in wartime Poland flashed before my eyes. In my mind I relived my own experience as a ten-year-old, driven from my hometown. Here, too, were people men, women, and children -fleeing with whatever they could carry. And there was fear in their eyes, a fear that I myself knew all too well. I was terribly distressed, but I was under orders, and I continued to search them for valuables. I knew that I was no longer a victim. I was now in power." (from The Search by J. ben-Eliezar)
He found he could not live anymore in Israel and ended up in England. He ended his story by asking the Palestinians present for their forgiveness. Then Samia Khoury, Palestinian Christian who had been forced from her home in 1948 as a child, came forward and answered him. I quote own words: "I wonder how many Israelis would have the courage and the magnanimity of Josef to admit that they have done the Palestinians wrong, let alone ask for forgiveness. Although his testimony was mostly in front of an international audience, yet there were a number of Palestinians from Jerusalem and Nazareth who heard him loud and clear. I was so moved that I felt I needed to get up and recognize his courage and thank him for his testimony assuring him that we do forgive him. As people came up to thank me later on for my words, I could not help but wonder how meaningful for the Palestinian people it would have been and how much suffering could have been spared had the Israelis since day one of the establishment of the state in 1948 admitted the wrong and grave injustice that they had inflicted upon the Palestinians, asked for forgiveness, and allowed all who were evicted to return to their homes." (private email from Samia Khoury) Watching this, I saw justice and peace embracing. There was healing and in that I saw a way for peace to come.
Peace is dynamic not sweet or placid. Maybe we need to remember that peace will be more like childbirth than our sweet sanitized Christmas carol images. It's a messy process, all engaging and alive. Peace is like a dance where everyone doesn't know all the steps, but God is truly present when peace is sought. For peace to come, injustice must end. The oppressor must let-go or be forced to let-go of the power over the other. There must be acknowledgement of wrong, in theological terms--confession of sins as both our scriptures said. Then the oppressed must forgive, not forget but let-go and move forward. We forgive because God forgives each of us unconditionally. And then reconciliation and new life can begin. Peace is a process. It has happened in Ireland and in South Africa and I can see it happening in Palestine.
God's yearning for peace can only come if justice comes for all the people. I see this is a kind of new life I was looking for on my trip. I can no longer be passive. It is the sure knowledge that once I recognized the ugly face of injustice I have the absolute responsibility for some kind of moral action. Yet I know that whatever actions I take must be energized not by anger but in a non-violent way, with love for all people and a yearning for peace. Peace can only begin here right within each of us.
So, the big question is how does all this relate to you? Are you yearning for true inner peace? If so, then listen carefully: there is no peace without justice. There is much injustice in our world, in our country, right here in California, in our lives. If the story of the Palestinians touched a place within you, like it did me, here are a few suggestions for what to do. First, don't just believe me. Form a study group and learn for yourselves. There is an abundance of resources and I am happy to share some of my favorites. Second, if you should be so moved speak or write to your elected officials telling them of your concern about human rights violations. Israel can only continue its flagrant violation of so many U.N. Resolutions because the United States backs its actions without questions. Third, consider non-violent action, like participating in boycotting companies that do business with illegal settlements. Fourth, commit yourself to a ministry of reconciliation, through studying non-violent communication and the wisdom of Gandhi, Martin Luther King. Learn about forgiveness and begin to practice it yourself.
If we truly dream of peace, then we cannot stand by and let injustice go unchallenged. Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is a vital place where mercy and truth meet. Peace starts right here, in our own hearts. When each of us begins to straighten out our life, begins to receive God's grace and love and forgiveness, then we are able to be that peace in the world. In Palestine, I found the face of Jesus calling me to have courage to speak out against injustice, to stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed and to work actively and prayerfully for peace. May each of you find new life and light this holy Advent season and have the courage to respond to it. Amen.
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