As you receive this blog, Amgad Beblawi, Doug Olson, and I are now in Palestine-Israel. While we have not been secretive about our trip, we felt it prudent to not advertise on social media before we arrived in Israel-Palestine. Amgad, Doug, and I are part of a delegation to the region from the Presbyterian Church (USA), a group of 35 Ministers, Elders, and Presbytery Executives from across the nation. This delegation was planned in response to a call from our Christian partners in Palestine-Israel.
The purpose of the delegation is to express solidarity with all who are suffering in Palestine and Israel during this time of increased violence of the Hamas’ acts of terror in Israel and the bombardment of Gaza. Our intent is to listen and bear witness to the pain and suffering of those victimized by these acts of violence. We will meet with and worship with Palestinian Christians; we will be learning from those working for peace in the region Muslim, Christian, and Jewish; and we will be sharing their pain in our prayerful listening.
I go because I believe in the power of a ministry of presence in places and among people who are suffering. Jesus embodied and modeled this ministry as he went out and cared for and loved people in pain and powerlessness. When Jesus was asked who is our neighbor, his answer was a story about a man who was a victim of violence. What is the cross but a symbol of God’s loving and graceful presence in the face of violence by the state?
I go because I bear some responsibility for the violence occurring in Israel-Palestine. I am a human whose cultural attitudes and beliefs have denied the humanity of brown people and Muslims and Jews. I am a citizen of a country whose government funds the very bombs dropped on women and children. I am a spiritual being who, as Thomas Merton once wrote, carries the dark seeds in my soul of Watts and Auschwitz.
Ultimately, I go because I seek God among the suffering and powerless. I go to hear God’s voice in the tears and cries of those impacted by the violence and death. I go to catch a vision of God’s Kin-dom where I may receive enough imagination and energy and courage to envision and create Shalom. I go because I follow the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.
The Raving Rev,
P. Alex Thornburg