Like you, I have been just short of transfixed on the unfolding events in the Holy Land ever since the brutal Hamas attack on Israel last Saturday. “Attack,” I suppose, is too mild a word for the carnage instantly inflicted on innocent villagers and revelers gathered in the spirit of love and unity. Atrocities the world has been both able and forced to witness in real time. Barbarous savagery born of utter evil. Merciless, remorseless, limitless infliction of pain and death. Once again Jews have been beset by agents of hate without regard for Hebrew life, personal or collective.
Oddly, my first response was not “How could this happen?” It has happened before, and sadly, likely will again. I think it was good Old Testament fashioned lament that first seized my soul. It feels presumptuous for an American Christian and clergyman to wail “How long, O Lord” from this safe a distance. But I did. I’m guessing you did, too. Lament was followed by an impulse to offer the only measure of influence at my disposal; prayer. Actually, lots of them. The initial urge to rap on heaven’s door until my fingers bled gave way to questions I wasn’t sure how to answer. Well, how do I pray? Who all do I pray for? How should I implore the God of Israel to respond, knowing that His heart is breaking too? What does God want to happen? How do I align my prayers with his will? And on it went. At one point I just wanted to go all Romans 8 and just ask the Spirit to do the praying for me. Would have been easier.
I figured it was safe to begin Isaiah 40’s “Comfort Ye my people” and Psalm 16’s “Keep me safe, my God, for you are my refuge” on their behalf. God knows His hurting and vulnerable folks need both.
But right now, Palestinians are hurting and vulnerable as well. Likewise created in God’s image, our Maker feels their pain too. It’s easy to miss that. And it has been for a long time.
Like some of you, I have been to the Holy Land. But unlike most Christian pilgrims, Lisa and I have spent time on the West Bank. In the company of one of my closest friends, Andrew Bush, we went to places most Americans do not. We spent time with Arab Christians trying to live in peace, often at enmity with both Muslims and Jews. And we came to more fully understand the plight of the Palestinian people who exist in a state of Apartheid at the hands of the State of Israel. It’s ugly. This tension for decades has born violent conflict, fear, mistrust and bad actors on both sides. Peace has hardly had a chance. I now fear it will not again for a long, long time.
When you pray for the peace of Israel, do so with some things in mind. Know that Hamas is not synonymous with the people of Gaza. This radical group seized control by force in 2007 and cares little for the people they claim to represent and protect. Half of the people of Gaza are under the age of fifteen. Within the walls of the high-rise buildings under siege are families just like ours who, for generations, have longed to live in some semblance of peace and security. They are victims, worthy of sympathy and supplication too.
Let me close with words from two colleagues and friends, both in the region right now. Andrew Bush, after 20 plus years living out the gospel of peace on the West Bank, now directs The Bethlehem Institute of Peace and Justice. Their motto is “Hope and Resilience in a Broken World.” I think that gives us two good words to pray in and for. More than ever, there is need for the divine provision of both.
George Mason is the recently retired pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas and a fellow member of Metro Ministers. He arrived in Jerusalem the day of the Hamas attack, leading a group of Christians and Jews with his ministry “Faith Commons.” George likes to say “You can say two things at the same time without talking out of both sides of your mouth.” We can say that the action of Hamas were evil, unjustified and cannot go without response from people with the right to defend themselves. We can also say that we hurt for the innocent people of Gaza who are suffering and expect to suffer more through no fault of their own. And we can and pray for the day when the people of Israel and Palestine may, by God’s grace find a way to live together justly and at peace.
In the name of the Prince of Peace, hear our prayers, O Lord.
Amen.