Advent 4 - 2 Samuel, Living in Tents

Advent 4 - 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 7.1-11, 16

For thousands of years, tents have been an important part of the lives of the people of the Holy Land, who have a long tradition of nomadic life—herding sheep, hauling goods for trade, or seeking out more fertile land. Our ancient ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, lived in tents. The Hebrews fleeing Pharoah lived in tents for forty years while they waited to enter the promised land.

Jews today have their meals in tents during the week of Sukkot, the fall harvest festival. Sukkot is a pilgrimage holiday, when Jews travel to Jerusalem. When we were in the Old City in October, there were temporary shelters everywhere in the narrow streets of the Jewish Quarter, the sukkahs—“tents” made of plant material (and some plastic for shade). The city was crowded with people who had come to celebrate the harvest with delicious food and remember the time when they lived in those temporary homes in the Sinai, waiting for God’s gift of a homeland.

Today in the Holy Land, there are also people who are trying to maintain this ancient nomadic life—the Bedouin, whose lives revolve around herding sheep and make a living from the desert lands east of Jerusalem and south in the Negev.

Many times, riding between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, I have looked out the window at the Bedouin camps and thought, “Surely, if these people had a choice, they would want to live in houses in Jerusalem or Bethlehem or Jericho.” The life in the desert looks very hard—no trees, no water, no shade, and a relentless sun. I was wrong.

For years, the Israeli government has been trying to get the Bedouin in the Negev to move into towns. They have built them houses and tried to make them move. The bulldozers come and destroy the Bedouin camps, but the Bedouin like their way of life and resent the Israelis for taking their grazing land to build new Israeli towns. When the soldiers with their bulldozers leave, the Bedouin put up new tents and rebuild their camps. For a short history of Israeli efforts to destroy one Bedouin town, see a Palestine News Network article.

Just two weeks ago, Israel announced that they will remove 2300 Bedouin from the area east of Jerusalem, the Bedouin communities I see when I have traveled on the tour bus from Jerusalem down to Jericho and the Dead Sea. The Guardian newspaper reports that the Palestinians say this is part of a larger plan to obtain more land for the Israeli settlements that stretch from East Jerusalem, now almost to Jericho, dividing the West Bank in two—north and south (picture is of these Bedouin, sorting through their belongings after their homes have been destroyed).

This portion of 2 Samuel questions, “Who is in charge here?” Both David and Nathan have gotten it wrong. God’s message is clear—God dwells where God choses, not where David wants God to be. And God does not choose the sturdy protection of the house of cedar; God chooses the precarious and temporary tent.

Wanderer God, as we ponder your words to Nathan, we, too, are reminded of our own endless quest for security and safety. Help us learn the lesson you tried to teach David, to trust in your plans for us and to remember that you, not we, are God. In the name of your son, whose advent we await. Amen.

Advent 3 - John, Testifying to the Light

John 1.6-8, 19-28
For Sunday, December 11

He came as a witness to testify to the light…. (Jn 1.7)

The first time I went to Israel and Palestine, I thought I would find a land preparing to be divided. After all, I had seen it on the map—Israel hugging the Mediterranean coast, the West Bank sitting atop the hills to the east, and Gaza, wedged between the sea, the desert and Egypt. Eventually these areas would be confirmed by treaty and the violence would end. There was nothing I could do to change the slow pace of peace, but it would come.

I knew there were obstacles—suicide bombers who blew up buses, and settlements that Israel had built in the West Bank and Gaza. But I thought that Israel was doing everything it could to come to a peace agreement. It’s military actions were regrettable but necessary for their safety; I thought the Jews were, as they have always been, the victims. Our $3B military assistance guaranteed they would be victims “never again.”

SO…… when I visited the West Bank, I was shocked by what I saw—a 24-foot-high concrete barrier being constructed around Bethlehem, to protect the nearby Israeli settlements from the people of Bethlehem. Because, after all, the settlements had been built on Palestinian land and the Israelis who lived on these islands surrounded by Palestinians, lived in fear of retaliation and attack.

I was shocked by 18-year-old Israeli soldiers pointing their AK-47s at shoppers in the market in Hebron, or using their guns to prod Palestinians off the bus to stand in the heat while documents were checked. I was shocked by the rubble everywhere—the remains of buildings left in the middle of town or bulldozed into the road to close it off.

Although we were on the Palestinian side of the map in my head, we were subject to whatever the Israeli soldiers wanted. There were no rules but their commander’s voice on the cell phone. Nothing to protect us except our American passports.

Like many people I have traveled with since, I sat in the back of the tour bus and exclaimed, “How can they do this?? “Who allows this to happen?” “Why doesn’t someone do something about what is going on here?” “Why didn’t I know this before?”

It makes you crazy—seeing the injustice, the lies,,,,the Israeli campaign to take as much land as they can while they stall the peace talks. The land that has been given to the Jews for a homeland was not ours to give in 1948. It belonged to Palestinian farmers who had nothing to do with the murder of six million Jews.

It’s not the coming of the messiah, but we are all called to testify to the light that is revealed to us. John is not the only one who is called to cry out in the wilderness.

God of light, in this Advent season, help us to find ways to testify to your light in the dark places where we live and work and play. Amen.

Advent 3 - 1 Thessalonians, Giving Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5.16-24

for Sunday, December 11

Give thanks in all circumstances…. (1 Thess 5.18)

I have never met a Palestinian who has not lost home or lands. As you sit reading these words, many more are in the process of losing homes and land. If they have not already lost everything, they live in daily fear that bulldozers will come to tear down their homes, or that the bulldozers will tear out their olive groves to make way for a new part of Israel’s security wall.

All the Palestinians I have met have lost fathers or uncles or cousins or sons, either shot by Israeli soldiers, or serving long sentences in Israeli prisons. Human rights workers are regularly imprisoned for speaking out against Israel’s occupation. Professors are arrested for voicing their opposition to Israel’s policies.

Palestinians cannot travel without an Israeli permit. Their borders are still controlled by Israeli soldiers, even where the border is with another country, as in Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. They cannot even move freely within the West Bank because Israel has built settlements between the Palestinian towns and has set up checkpoints where Palestinians must wait in long lines to have their Israeli IDs and travel permits inspected by Israeli soldiers.

So...Paul admonishes Christians, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” Certainly this doesn’t apply to the Palestinians! How could they possibly give thanks for these difficult lives they have been given?

The Palestinians at Christmas Lutheran Church give thanks by preparing their children for a different future, a future they cannot see, or perhaps even imagine. Giving thanks for their long history of commitment to education, they build schools—first a K-12 school, and now a new college…..behind Israel’s 24-foot-high security wall.

Giving thanks for their resilience, they repaired their church compound after Israeli soldiers stormed the building in 2002 and destroyed all their computers and their offices, scattering their files and breaking furniture. They rebuilt the parts of the building that were destroyed by the tanks that pushed through Bethlehem’s too-narrow-for-tanks streets.

Giving thanks for their patience and perseverance, they got the necessary permits and funding to build a new conference center and guesthouse….and a new building for their school.

Giving thanks for the creativity and the dreams of their young people, they are now building a new college so that these future leaders of their community will have the skills to lead when a new country is finally realized. (Photo: Music Students in a practice room at Dar Al-Kalima College)

Gracious God, you have sent your prophets and apostles to remind us of your intentions for us, your beloved creation. Today we give thanks for the abundance in our lives—for the freedom to travel and be with our loved ones, for our democratic government which gives us the opportunity to shape our own future, for the peace and security we enjoy daily, and for_________________. In the name of your son, born in Bethlehem. Amen.

Advent 3 - Isaiah, Release to the Prisoners

Advent 3 - Isaiah

Isaiah 61.1-4, 8-11

For Sunday, December 11

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

Because the Lord has anointed me; …..

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And release to the prisoners…. (Is 61.1)

Isaiah is pretty specific here. God has sent him, not to save souls, but to end ordinary, everyday suffering. He has been sent to free the captives and the prisoners.

Isaiah does his work because God anointed him. Lest we think that Isaiah was chosen for tasks much too difficult for us, or that he was singled out because he was especially talented, let me remind you that you, too, have been anointed by the same spirit of God that anointed Isaiah—when the oil was placed on your forehead in the sign of the cross and water splashed over you.

Last year when I visited Beit Ummar, a Palestinian town just south of Bethlehem in the West Bank, I met Jamal Muqbel, who hosted our group in his home. He spends a lot of his time building bridges of understanding between Palestinians and Israelis. He is part of a group called Wounded Crossing Borders—Israelis and Palestinians who have been wounded in the conflict, who are committed to getting to know one another so that there will be no more death and suffering. We met Jamal and his family, his wife Sadiya, the Israelis who are part of the group and Jamal’s brother and sister-in-law, Mohammad and Sulha.

Mohammad told us the story of their son’s arrest earlier in the week (see picture with Sadiyaa, Sulha, and Mohammad telling us the story). Ibrahim was fourteen when the whole family was awakened at 2:00 am and forced out of their home at gunpoint, even the baby. The soldiers took Ibrahim, dressed only in his shirt and shorts, and beat him in front of the whole family. They blindfolded him and tied his hands behind his back. Then they took Ibrahim to a nearby settlement. Ibrahim was arrested for “throwing stones,” which he denies.

Mohammad had great difficulty in finding out where his son was taken and he did not get to see Ibrahim until the next day. In the meantime, Ibrahim’s hands were subjected to electric shock and the shackles he was forced to wear bruised his legs. Ibrahim was eventually released, but his family suffered and had to pay to have him released.

Ibrahim is only one of dozens of Palestinian children detained by Israel every year for stone-throwing. In its report, titled, “No Minor Matter, Violation of the Rights of Palestinian Minors Arrested by Israel on Suspicion of Stone Throwing,” the Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, details what happens when these young people are arrested—how their human rights are violated, and the effects of detention on such young people. Israel has established a separate criminal justice system for minors, but the military justice system treats these Palestinian minors as adults.

Although Ibrahim is back with his family, at the end of October, there were still 150 minors in Israeli prisons, 30 of them under the age of 16. [http://www.btselem.org/statistics/minors_in_custody] . There were no children among the 477 prisoners released in the prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit in October. Read more: http://electronicintifada.net/tags/defence-children-international-palestine-section

Take two minutes to watch a short video and hear the story of another young person, Mohammad, arrested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUGWmCXrcWg

God of the imprisoned, we remember before you all the children of the world who are imprisoned, separated from their families, tortured and beaten. Help us find ways to protest this inhumane treatment and stop the cycles of violence that permeate our world. Amen.

Advent 2 - Mark, Preparers of the Way

Mark 1.1-8

For Sunday, December 4

John seems an unlikely leader, badly in need of a wardrobe manager, some cooking classes, and a marketing strategist. But here he is, miles from the city in the wasteland of the Judean desert, shouting that he is not the savior people have been waiting for. John is only preparing the way for the real deal.

If we try to listen with the ears of the first-century readers of Mark’s gospel, we would be desperate for some hope. The Judeans have been skirmishing with Rome for decades. One rebel leader after another has tried to throw off the yoke of occupation, only to be defeated by the superior firepower of the Roman legions. Finally, by 70 CE, Rome has grown impatient with the uprisings and has squelched the insurrection once and for all, not only defeating the rebels, but completely destroying the temple and

forcing the Judeans to leave the city.

This is life for Mark’s readers—forced from their homes and suffering under conquest and occupation. A striking parallel with the situation of Palestinians today, and they, too, are desperate for good news—some glimmer of hope for an end to Israel’s occupation and an end to the theft of their land.

On November 16, in the West Bank, a group of Palestinians boarded the Israeli buses.

They took their cue from Rosa Parks, because, you see, Israel has segregated bus systems. The Israeli Egged and Veolia buses are only for Jews,even when the buses operate in the West Bank (for the settlers). There is a separate bus line for the Palestinians—the blue Arab buses. The Palestinians waited at the Israeli bus stops and boarded the Israeli buses, but they were physically removed from the buses by Israeli soldiers when they reached the Hizmeh checkpoint, which is a Jewish-only checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Read more in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Or watch a two-minute ABC report. Or a six-minute video describing the action, paired with footage of Mississippi freedom rides of the 60s.

It was a small gesture, but one of hope—a glimpse of liberation for the Palestinians, pushed about by rules and permits and exclusions. These Palestinians claimed what they believe is rightfully theirs—the freedom to travel and equality with the Jewish Israelis. Now, I’ve ridden the Arab buses and they are fine buses, safe, prompt—the only hassle is the soldiers who stop the buses, board with their automatic weapons, and make everyone get off the bus and produce their identification documents—IF you are Palestinian, that is; Americans with our blue passports did not have to get off. And I am also allowed to ride the Egged buses, something denied Palestinians, even when these buses are traveling in the West Bank.

These six freedom riders are preparing the way—they are planning more such actions to call attention to the apartheid policies of the state of Israel.

God of the powerless, you sent your messenger John to prepare people’s hearts for your son. Show us how we, like John, can be your messengers, preparing the way for your coming reign. In the name of your son, Amen.