This morning I started weeping for my brothers and sisters in Israel and Palestine. Kidnappings, killings, rockets and airstrikes are destroying any hope of even a "fragile" peace. If there is any urge in you for taking sides, I hope you won't do that. Both sides have committed heinous crimes against each other from stripping the land from its owners and making them refugees, to suicide bombings which kill innocent civilians. If there is a part of you that wants to say that "it has always been that way and always will be", I beg you to open your mind to God's power to bring peace. And if there is a part of you that wants to "have no part" of this war, it is too late for that. We are part of this war because our money supports Israel's military.
But there is a deeper reason calling for our concern and prayer. We are related to our Hebrew and Arab brothers and sisters through our ancestor Abraham. We are bound together by God who loves each one of us, and calls us faithfulness in worship of the one God. Fundamentalists of all three religions - Christian, Jewish and Muslim - divide us from one another with words of judgement and hatred. My prayer is that all sides will focus on what unites us. I believe it is that common love of the One we know as God and the family story we share.
There is a crisis in Israel and Palestine and most especially in Gaza. The Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani, reported yesterday that the hospital in Gaza has been seriously damaged by the Israeli airstrikes. The population of Gaza is 1.7 million people, which makes it one of the most densely populated areas of the world. The United Nations has recorded 168 Palestinians killed: 133 civilians, and 36 children. Over 1,140 Palestinians have been wounded. The first Israeli casualty was reported on Tuesday near the border of Israel and Gaza.
When our Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts-Schori visited Gaza in 2013 she told reporters this:
"God weeps at this war between his children. We weep as we watch the destruction; and we should be storming heaven with our prayers for peace."
I hope you will find yourself weeping over Jerusalem, crying out to God for those who suffer in Palestine, Gaza and Israel and praying like you have never prayed before for shalom, al-salam - peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment