Who am I Kidding?

Who am I kidding? I'm no expert in middle east studies. I've only read a book and experienced a small peek into one situation. Who am I to lecture you about the issues. I saw what I saw. I heard what I heard. I thought what I thought. I felt what I felt. Now I feel what I feel.

On the first day of our trip, we spent our jetlagged energy on a tour around old city Jerusalem. We saw many of the sites where scholars guess where Jesus spent his time. Churches are everywhere. Scholars think they know where Jesus was crucified and buried. You wouldn't recognize it today with the elaborate, gargantuan Church of the Holy Sepulcher sitting right on top of it. We saw the Wailing Wall. This is the most holy place for Jews, as it is the last remnant of the old temple that Herod built in Jesus' days. A very spiritual atmosphere surrounds that small area, not only from the wall, but the Dome of the Rock that sits on top of it. The most spectacular building in all of Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock is an Islamic landmark where Mohammed ascended and "leapt" to Mecca. With these two holy sites, commemorating two distinctly different religions in conflict, the area has a very frustrated aire to it. As my dad says, if something bad ever happens to that area, it is World War III.

That night we met with a group of men, one Israeli, two Palestinian, who have lost family members to the violence in Israel, but have found a way to reconcile with each other in the middle of it. Remarkable, what God has done in these men, especially considering they are not "Christians" from a traditional perspective.

Probably the most direct assault upon our hearts and conscience was our time at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. If there is a psychological reason Israel is oppressing Palestine, it can be found here. You know the story, I know the story, but we cannot understand the magnitude of the event for the Jewish race. What sadness is this that iI can't comprehend!!!

Most of our time in Jerusalem was sort of a sight-seeing/buildup to the rest of the trip. I find it surreal when I look back, wondering how holy God looks at the buildings humankind has erected to remember him. Are these sites any more holy than the mountains of Colorado?

The central time of our trip was the time we spent in Bethlehem. Far and away, it was the most intense and relational aspect of the trip. And no wonder! We were in the West Bank! We saw the security wall separating Israel and Palestine. We saw the poverty that grips the refugee camps in a tight fist. We saw the judicious and intimidating power of checkpoints, a power to divide the Palestinian people. We saw the slow encroachment of Israeli colonies populating a land slowly taking the resources from the native villages.

One of the most significant days, if not the most significant, was the day we went to the Dead Sea with a Palestinian youth group. I have already related part of the experience in a previous blog, but I cannot get over this experience. Faces bring humanity. Personal stories bring the reality that these are people, with emotions and thoughts and dreams and fears like me. I can build no wall between them and me, for they are doubly my brothers. On one level they are my siblings in humanity, but on a second they are my brothers and sisters in Christ. I cannot and should not forget them.

Our time in Bethlehem was too brief. We got in, we got out, then we got on with life. Even though we didn't want to. The last place we stayed in was completely different than Bethlehem. We hoteled in a resort in the Galilee. Yes, that Galilee. More sight-seeing, including the location of the Sermon on the Mount and Nazareth, but our time in Galilee was a time of much needed processing. Compared to the eventful (an understatement) nature of our time in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The time in Galilee was fairly relaxed. We did not do as much, and I believe it was intended that way. We desperately needed to talk about what we experienced, and we did, though not as much as I hoped.

The final night and morning brought a fitting juxtaposition to end the trip. A Orthodox Jew spoke to us about the mindset of the Israelis, at least through the eyes of a religious Israeli. This speaker was sorely needed by our group, for we had not met an Israeli who could give their side of the story in a well-articulated, thought provoking dialogue. It brought a little bit more balance to the trip.

The morning before we left, a man who lives in the Gaza Strip discussed the situation there. To explain: the Palestinians inhabit two territories inside Israel--the West Bank (ironically in in eastern Israel) and the much smaller Gaza Strip. Although the issues are the same for both territories, the injustices have different faces. The West Bank is a land held captive by Israel, with the purpose of slowly forcing Palestinians out. Israel wants the West Bank. Israel really does not want the Gaza Strip. Over 1.5 million people live in Gaza, a land that is so small. We were told the Gaza Strip was the most densely populated place in the world. And while imprisonment is again the issue, this time it is a radical imprisonment. Think a zoo. More on that later.

The man that spoke might have been the highlight of my trip. We left that evening with more stories to tell than fit in one blog, and emotions than we know how to deal with.

I am overwhelmed right now. I am heart-broken with the situation in Israel. But I hear horror stories in Africa, too. And the sex-slavery in Asia. Where does the injustice end? Where can we find peace in this world? Where can I go where my heart doesn't break?