Marlin & Sally in Jerusalem

Traveling Mercies

On the road again.

Will post when we can.

It was great meeting so many of you on our travels around the Midwest.  Thanks for the encouragement.

Marlin

Amy's Struggle

Christian Peacemaker Amy:

“One of the reasons I wanted to come to Palestine was to help children get to school and protect them from soldiers who caused them trouble.  However, being a good peacemaker, I also came wanting to work hard at loving my enemies.  My plan was to try to see the humanity of these soldiers and identify with them as individuals rather than as faceless, uniformed bad guys.

I did not have to work hard.  In fact, I did not even have to try.  From the beginning, these enemy soldiers were happy to respond to my greeting and even happier to chat for a while.  The times when we argued with their orders, they remained patient.  Many times, they calmly repeated that they had orders not to let us pass and could do nothing about it.  They often apologized for that fact.

Meanwhile, some of the Palestinian children whom I was to support and protect were not nearly as innocent or grateful as I expected.  Some schoolboys – and random boys who were not going to the schools we accompany – mobbed us and stole from us, harassed, and swore at us.  These boys were the ones to really challenge my commitment to nonviolence.  When they threw apples and stones at us, I was tempted to leave them to whatever came their way, tempted to think that they deserved their fate.

I must continually remind myself that no one deserves to live a life like this, and that these kids have been formed by the conflict that surrounds them.  It is no wonder they throw stones and swear at anyone who invades their space.  How are they to tell which foreigners are here to help them and which are here to hurt them?

As a wannabe peacemaker, I must pray to God to give me love for these children - these children who cause me so much anger and often feel like my enemies.”

I appreciate Amy’s struggle – and honesty too.  It is not always easy to like Palestinians, especially some of the young boys.  I can imagine that the Israeli soldiers were easier for her to relate with, and like, as these young people are a lot like her – on top, in power, and empowered as well.  For the most part, Israeli youth feel pretty good about themselves.  They get a lot of affirmation from a lot of different places.  The Palestinian children and youth have a tougher task.  They have to work through the resentment that comes from the intentional humiliation heaped upon them by the young Israeli soldiers who occupy their land, as well as the abuse they are forced to endure from the Israeli settlers that the soldiers are there to protect.  Then along come well-intentioned folks like Amy who unintentionally remind Palestinians that they can’t even protect themselves or their children.  These are bitter bills to swallow and no amount of honey will make them go down easily.

The enemy is hard to pin down, isn’t he or she?  If our enemy’s situation were to change would her enemy status change in our eyes as well?  If our circumstances were to suddenly change, would our list of enemies change along with them?  Is “like” and “love” the same?  Does God “like” or “love?”

Loving the enemy is not the same as liking the enemy, is it?  And, it’s important to note, that just because you like someone doesn’t mean he or she is not an enemy.  And the opposite would be equally as true. 

Loving the enemy is an act of will, a willingness to be reconciled to him or her.  In point of Gospel fact, loving the enemy is a deep wanting to make the enemy into a friend.  Love the enemy, but watch your back.  Love the enemy, but keep a healthy distance – whenever possible, stay out of rock range.  When it is not possible to stay out of rock range, don’t throw the rocks back.

And always remember, that according to Jesus, the real enemy is the one who works 24/7 to keep you and me from seeing our enemies as anything but ...

MLK Day

Undoubtedly you have heard all the great speeches, or at least lines from all the great speeches, that MLK delivered during his time in the sun.  But there are many others that we do not hear again and probably should.  One of them is entitled "Beyond Vietnam -- Breaking the Silence."   Enjoy.  Or perhaps that's the wrong word.  Inhale -- it's fresh air.

24

Watch 24.  That’s mostly what I have to say, Watch 24.

I watched the first episode with great interest wondering how they were going to represent the various characters in the predictable theme of terrorism loose in the U.S.A.  I worried for a variety of reasons.  First of all, the series is on FOX TV.  Second, Rush Limbaugh did a promotional interview show to hype the series.  And finally, I fretted over this TV show because Hollywood, like Washington, seems to need an enemy to exploit in order to play on the fears of her audience -- US.

Watch 24. The first two hours were filled with the fulfilling of every stereotype imaginable.  I’m guessing that the writers had a checklist that they needed to complete.  Each day of writing would conclude with a ceremonious checking off of another stereotype successfully depicted.

Indecisive, black president.  Check.

Short, sleazy, mean-spirited FBI director (my personal favorite).  Check.

Not one, but two, brutal, vengeful, American-hating Arab males.  Check.  Check.

A boy-next-door, soon to be conflicted, Arab young man who is up to his brown neck in hatred.  Check.

A naïve, long-haired, soon to be enlightened, all-American, only son of Ozzie and Harriet, friend to the boy-next-door, soon to be conflicted, Arab young man.  Check.

Big, bad, bully down the street.  Check.

A sinister, stoic, Chinese guy.  Check.

I suppose I’m being overly critical here, and cynical as well.  Sorry.  I mean, it is just TV, right?  It’s harmless entertainment, right?  Everyone knows it’s just make-believe, right?

I hope so.  I really do.  But I worry about these things because I see how easy it is to manipulate folks like you and me.  As good as TV and movies can be – go see Blood Diamond for example – there are too many entertainment folks too lazy to reach beneath the surface of issues and bring out the nuances of gray in the dramas they create for a non-reading public.  Actually, I’ve liked the 24 series for the most part.  In fact, Sally and I are bringing the first 5 years of the series back to Jerusalem with us.  I am hoping, however, that the next 22 hours of 24, will provide some surprises for those of us who worry about the persuasive power present in the stories we tell.  Maybe super-patriot Jack Bauer will save the day.  Let’s hope so.

I won’t know though, as we leave to go back to Jerusalem in a few days.  So, please, Watch 24.  I mean, really, Watch 24.

Friday Prayers

Dearest Lord Jesus, today we approach your gentle side and ask for grace. 

We are a people divided, and we seem content to live this way.  Grace us.

We are a people at war, and we seem neither to know nor desire a different way to make the world a different place.  Grace us.  Give us imagination to image something better, something more like the vision you had in your mind when you chose to embed your seed in the womb of Mary, blessed seed of Abraham and Sarah.  May we grow up into love that is patient, kind, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  As we empty ourselves may we be filled with love that does not insist on its own way; is not irritable or resentful; does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 

Humble Jesus, as we humble ourselves before you this day, will you grace us with love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things?  Please do.  Please grant to us a measure of your Holy Spirit in order to cement in us a will that will not quit trying to speak calm into a frantic, frightened world; peace to a people who have no peace and expect no peace and have even given up hoping for peace.  Gracious Jesus, grace us, we pray.

Good God, plant deeply within us faith like a mustard seed so that we never stop believing, never lose hope, never give up on your word and your way … never, never, never, never give up!

Resurrected Jesus, keep watch over those who make the decisions that decide the fate of millions of people.  We ask you to be present with President Bush and his family.  We know that these are difficult days for him, and we pray that you will be his guide.  If the path on which President Bush has placed the world is the path you have set before him, the way of peace and reconciliation, then strengthen his resolve to stay on course.  However, Lord of History, if this is the wrong way, then make that clear to him, and to us as well.  Holy Spirit give us wisdom to listen for your voice as you speak through a multitude of mouths.

God of Truth and Justice, please be with Jimmy Carter as he stands alone and lonely in a determined struggle to engage us in honest dialogue around issues facing Israel and Palestine.  We pray as well for those who are challenging him, asking only that they practice the same kind of grace and gentleness demonstrated by Mr. Carter.

And finally, God of “fear not,” cast out fear in each of us.  Allow in fear’s place the faith and confidence that we see in children who dance and play before the adoring eyes of a loving parent.

We pray all prayer in the name of Jesus, our Lord, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, present to interpret our every sigh.

Amen.

"Stop Scaring Us!"

The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth.  I don’t even have to qualify that with an “arguably.”  No one will argue with this.  We’ve got the guns, the planes, the tanks, the bombs and everything else we need to defend ourselves against any and all comers.  Therefore, to my leaders -- political, religious, business, and all others -- I say: “Stop scaring us!”

Citizens of the United States are as hard working, inventive, resilient, persistent, ingenious, resourceful, integral – need I go on? – as any people on the face of the planet.  We put a man on the moon, for crying out loud.  We may not lead the world in making automobiles any more, but we invented the dang thing in the first place, didn’t we?  If history tells the tale then when we are called upon to fight – even with each other -- we fight as hard and well as any, right?  Come on, the world may not love us, but they sure as heck know better than to cross us.

“Stop scaring us!”

There is a T-shirt sold in the Old City of Jerusalem.  It is sold in Palestinian shops as well as Israeli shops.  It sports the picture of a jet fighter plane – an F16, I think.  Around the fighter jet is written: “Don’t worry America, Israel is behind you.”

Okay, so that’s a little scary.  But only a little, and it is also more than a little true, so “Stop scaring us.”

Stop telling us that every decision you make is for our safety and for the safety our children.  We want you to make decisions that are for the good of the world, not just our little corner of it.  We are bigger and better than just being concerned for our own welfare and the welfare of our children.  If we’re not, then we won’t be the most powerful nation on earth for much longer, and then we will have reason to be scared.

Think bigger and better, and for God’s sake, “Stop scaring us.”

If you are going to send more soldiers into Iraq, then please don’t try to scare us into supporting you.  For goodness sake, don’t tell us that you are doing this for us – okay? Tell us the truth.  Tell us that the situation in Iraq is a mess and that we can’t just leave this mess because we made this mess.  We’ll accept this because we’re not stupid.  Don’t blame neighboring Arab nations for this mess.  Don’t blame the Iraqi people for this mess.  Don’t blame radical religion for this mess.  We made this mess, and we know this is true, don’t we?  We’re not puppies who pee on the floor and then 10 minutes later after the lady of the house steps in it without her shoes on, forget that we’re the one who made the floor wet.  We know this is our mess to help clean up.  Tell us that staying in Iraq is the right thing to do.  Tell us you can’t think of anything better to do.  Tell us this is our best option among a bunch of bad options.  We’ll believe you.  We’ll even respect you.  We might not like it.  We might not like you.  But we will support you, because we want to do what is right.

“Stop scaring us.  Start leading us.”

If you don’t think we should send more soldiers into Iraq, and you want us to get behind an effort to resist this move, then you need to come up with something better than comparing Iraq with Viet Nam.  Some of us are still able to remember enough about Viet Nam to know that there are some significant differences between Iraq and Viet Nam.  The primary similarity between the two is the boogieman that has been set up to scare us.  As it turned out, Communism wasn’t that scary.  It will turn out that fundamental Islam isn’t that scary either.  The one lesson we ought to learn from Viet Nam is that the enemy is not the enemy – fear is the enemy.  “Stop scaring us!”

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”   Roosevelt said this when we had reason to be afraid.  Who is saying this now?

“Stop scaring us.”

“Start trusting us.”  And then, maybe you leaders can lead us into something bigger and better than a “war on terror.”  In my not-always-so-humble opinion, the war we ought to wage is on the myths and misinformation and misdirection that are making us afraid.  We do not have to be afraid of anyone or anything except our own ignorance and arrogance.  Or at least that seems to be God’s opinion on the matter.  “Fear not …”

Why not fear not?

"Is Papa Going To Die?"

You are 4 ½ years old and you are strapped into a brand new booster seat in the back seat of your mother’s Honda.  Your 7-month-old brother is securely fastened into his car seat next to you.   His head is facing the front of the car and so he is staring up into your face.  He spends a lot of his time watching you.  You know it is because he is little and you are bigger, but not so big.  Your mother is driving and your Nana is sitting next to her.  They are talking.  You are half listening and half sleeping.  Then you hear a word that you’ve heard before and it is one of those adult words that adults don’t think you know anything about, but you do.

“Who died?” you ask.

Your Nana and mother look at each other and then your Nana turns to look at you.  She has that look on her face that she wears whenever you say something she doesn’t expect, something older than she thinks you are.  “What did you say, Emma?”

“Who died?”

Your mother says, “A man named Ford died.  He was a very important man.” 

“Why him died?”

“Why did he die?”  Lately your mother seems to think she has to repeat whatever you say.

“Yes,” you say, “why he dead?”

“Well,” your Nana says, “Mr. Ford was old.”

Your four-year-old mind immediately travels to a busy, bright mall a few days before Christmas.  Your Papa is carrying you on his shoulders.  After a while he stops, lifts you down and sets you on the floor.  “Honey,” he says, “Papa can’t carry you any farther.  You’ll have to walk.”

“Why Papa?”

“Papa is getting old.”

From there you go to the hill next to your home.  You are sledding with your Papa.  You slide down the hill, then Papa pulls you back up, and down you go again.  After several trips up and down that little hill, Papa says, “Honey, you’ll have to walk up the hill this time.”

“Why Papa?”

“Because Papa is getting too old to pull you up the hill all night long.”

Your eyes fill with tears now, and your heart skips a beat.  You look at your Nana with a look that startles her.  “What, honey?” she asks.

“Is Papa going to die?” you ask.

“No,” your mother quickly says.  “Papa’s isn’t going to die.  This other man was very old.  Your Papa is not that old.”

The next time you see your Papa, you take his face in your hands, and you look at him for a very long time.  Then you say, “Papa, you’re not that old, are you?”

“No honey,” he says.  “Papa is not that old.”

“You’re not going to die, are you?”

“What?” Papa says.

“You’re not old that you’re going to die, are you Papa?”

“No, Emma, not that old.”

Children know more about life and death than we think they know, and that’s a fact.  What they know is what we try to forget.  “Death is a debt we all must pay,” is how one wag put it.  Just this past week, Gerald Ford and Saddam Hussein made their way through death’s door.  We looked back on their lives, and in doing so, those of us who are as least half awake and half listening, heard once again the question death asks each time death speaks:  How did they live?

The truth is Emma’s Papa will die one day, along with her Nana and her father and her mother too.  And of course, Emma will one day stand before those same back-lighted doors of death.  How will Emma live?  Let’s ask the question now while she is little and so alive.  How Emma will live depends at least partly upon who she looks up to, who she watches and listens to, and follows as well – huh?  That would be me, for one – me, her Papa.

So who looks up, watches and listens to you?  What does that little one see?  How are you living?  Emma already has a little brother looking up to her.  And I tell you the truth, Emma knows this is so, and she is very serious about pouring love onto that little guy.  Of course, he’s not getting into her stuff yet, so it is easy, but still …

From time to time take the time to notice who is looking up to you.  Live well.  Death will come soon enough, and then it will be too late to live the life you’re thinking about living someday.  Live well, now.

Friday Prayers

God beyond imagination
God not satisfied by mere infatuation
God revealed through inspiration
God leading with determination

We worship you!

Lord God, moving above time and space, we bless and thank you for the gift of this New Year.  Once again, we commit this beginning again to the leading of your Holy Wind blowing through each moment and movement in each day that lies before us.  As before, we promise anew to stand with you and not against you, to work for you and not for ourselves, to love as you love, not as if love is an idea we invented to please our own needs and wants, but to love as a way to transform the world into heaven on earth, or at least to something reasonable close.  Therefore we will love you with heart and soul and mind.  Therefore we will love ourselves as you have loved us.  Therefore we will love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  Therefore we will love even our enemies as we remember that but for grace we are enemies all.

Lord God, riding the clouds to champion the cause of the weak, we bless and thank you for the gift of windmills to joust and damsels to rescue.  As in the past, we promise to keep fighting the good fight, even, and moreover, especially, when the good fight seems a fight that can’t be won.  We promise to do what we can, and not measure success by the numbers or the headlines or anything else measurable by standards not in scale to heaven’s major goal – the transformation of the world.

Lord God, by your Holy Spirit, woo us to your side, and in so doing to the side of peace.

Lord God, cast out fear to make room for hope; cast out pride to make room for humility; and cast out doubt to make room for faith.  Cast out all our delighted demons to make room for creatures of a lighter and brighter fare.

Finally, Lord God, raise up awareness in us of the power in us to overcome the power that is in the world.  Allow us, Lord God, by the power of your Holy Breath to see angels all around.

We pray in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A Lot In Common

“You a liberal?”

That’s what he wanted to know.  “You a liberal?”  How does a man in the political middle answer a question like that, especially when it comes from somewhere right of Rush?

It is early Monday morning, January 1, 2007.  Happy New Year!  I’m standing in the lobby of a coffee shop in Holland, Michigan.  Standing with me is a couple about my age.  They are big people who drive a big van that sports a “WE LOVE AMERICA!” sticker in the back window.  He is wearing a Green Bay Packer jacket, and a hat to match.  She has her hands buried in the pockets of a brightly colored, beautiful, long sweater that has a variety of colored leaves embroidered all over.  I had followed them into the parking lot and then into the coffee shop.  Together we wait for the bakery people to get all the bagels in the baskets.   We’re all working at waking up.  I can’t stop yawning.

I screw up my courage and ask them if I may ask them a question.  It is a question I've been longing to ask people with stickers on their windows and bumpers.  “No offense intended,” I say, “and I ask this with all due respect, okay?”  Wearing wary looks they nod their heads.  He reaches up with his left hand to scratch under his left eye.  “Why do you have that “WE LOVE AMERICA!” sticker in the back window of your van?”

“Because we love America and we support our government.”  It is she who answers the question, and a little too loudly, I think, and in a way that says she has been waiting for some idiot like me to ask that very question.

I nod my head and say, “But this is America, right?  And don’t you think that all of us love America, and so I’m just wondering why you feel it necessary to put a sign on your van saying so is all?”  Then I add, “Please, really, I really mean no disrespect by the question.  I’m just curious is all.”

“You a liberal?”  He is staring at me – not quite glaring, but really close – staring with intensity.

“What?” I sputter.  “No.  I mean, see, I don’t know what you mean by liberal.  It’s a relative term is all.”  I’m talking to them and at the same time I’m wondering where this “is all” is coming from.  He has narrowed his eyes at me and she is shuffling from one foot to the other -- left, right, left, right.  Her hands are no longer tucked in her sweater pockets – an ominous sign I’m thinking.

He turns his back on me and says, “You’re a liberal.”

She is looking at me, waiting.  I say, “May I ask you one more question?”

Resolved

Resolved … to spend my life and not save it.

Resolved … to work as hard for peace as others work against it.

Resolved … to say “yes” to Jesus whenever I am aware that Jesus is asking me to do something, or say something, or listen to someone, or go somewhere, or stay where I am.

Resolved … to wait when waiting is what I’m being asked to do.

Resolved … to forgive even myself.

Resolved … to pray and never stop praying even though it feels at times as if God has stopped listening.

Resolved … to unconditionally love my children, their spouses, and my grandchildren, and to ask that they receive my love in the same way it is offered.

Resolved … to walk beside Sally and enjoy the view.

Resolved … to remember my father and mother.

Resolved … to listen even to those who think Fox News is the most accurate and unbiased news source in the world.

Resolved … to give everything and expect nothing in return, and to know that to live in such a way is to live the contented life.

Resolved … to know my limits, and then inch my way beyond them.

Resolved … to write only when I have something to say.

Resolved … to not give up on those who have given up.

Resolved … to make more friends than enemies, but to make enough enemies to make a difference.

Resolved … to be more tolerate of those I find intolerable, realizing they find the same of me.

Resolved … to read the Word of God, but to worship the God of the Word.

Resolved … to love evangelicals, even those who worship the Word more than God, and especially those who profess to know more about the Word than the Spirit who inspired the writing of the Word in the first place.

Resolved … to be less cynical – starting now!