Our Bishop-elect John Smylie has received a grant from the Episcopal Foundation of Wyoming to take a group of clergy to the Holy Land next January. John’s thinking is that it will be an excellent team-building event for the clergy who do not know each other well. I have shared before that Israel is not my favorite place to visit, but I plan on joining John and the other clergy. A good friend told me once that for a priest the Holy Land is a necessary trip as it will change one’s preaching forever. I found that to be true. I am hopeful soon-to-be-priest Mary Erickson will go as well.
I do regret, however, that I changed my mind and chose not to teach the Wednesday morning summer bible study this year. I did so in light of Suzanne Harris’ gracious and fruitful offer to teach Sabbath World by Judith Shulevitz. Suzanne is very gifted and I am delighted that she will be leading the group on Wednesday mornings, with a repeat Monday afternoons. I do wish, however, we could find a way to do what I was going to do, which was look at Naim Stifan Ateek’s book, A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation. While John’s trip caused me to think of my decision not to go forward again, the real reason has to do with the events in Gaza this past week.
Israel does have the right to defend itself. Hamas does smuggle in weapons that kill and terrorize Israelis. But the Israeli failure is that it has blamed all Palestinians for these acts and has made all Palestinians the enemy. The thinking goes only if the Palestinians turn against their leadership will there be peace. I believe that is shortsighted.
Before we are too harsh on the Israelis, however, I believe it to be imperative that we look at ourselves as well. Politics is not gunfight; disagreements need not to be fatal. We don’t have to hate our opponents to think their solutions are inadequate.
It is my hope that we as a Christian community can witness to respectful dialogue. The political season will soon be upon us. I hope as we approach this time we can engage in looking at what Christian values and service might look like in the public arena and how we can engage each other honestly, wisely, and respectfully. That is what we are doing Sunday mornings at 9:00am all summer. I hope you will join us. God’s peace.
