I have been very remiss in not posting anything here about the tragic conflict in and around Gaza. But as those who know me well know only too well, I am a supremely apolitical animal, and I always doubt my ability to add anything useful to political analysis or debate. On the contrary, I seem only ever to step on people's toes without actually provoking anything more thoughtful, or useful, than some emotion on the spectrum between irritation and rage.
I can't hold back any longer, though. When UN aid vehicles come under fire from Israeli tanks, and rockets are fired into an Israeli old people's home from across the Lebanese border, the pride and fear of men has catastrophically overcome their humanity in ways seen more clearly perhaps in Rwanda or Kosovo. There are ambitions to genocide, perhaps on both sides of this evil.
Of the Christian bloggers whose work I follow, Jane Redmont in particular has useful collections of links, notably to Israeli peace initiatives. It is all too easy to assume that each and every Israeli is a hawk keening for the blood of those who live in Gaza, and it just isn't so, any more than the parallel assumption that those who live in Gaza each passionately, personally support Hamas' ambitions to destroy the state of Israel.
I don't quite know how to pray – but as I keep on saying in these pages, I don't have to:
…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8.26-27 NIV)
[I haven't given links for each of the reports or assertions I've made above: they are not my own private thoughts, but well attested in news media sympathetic to each side. Don't bother challenging me on each point: comments are moderated, and I don't want to get drawn into an argument as to whose news report is most likely to be true, and whose mere propaganda – that isn't the point of this post.]
2 comments:
Thank you for posting this. I hear your heart and it is such a painful and difficult situation. As a college student, I lived one summer at a conference center that put on summer camps for Israeli youth and children. We were a very mixed bag ethnically and nationally. We had Jews, Palestenians, Christians, and Muslims working and playing and loving and living side by side.
We were a Christian owned and operated facility, yet all were welcomed and knew they were valued.
It was a literal picture of what I wish for the rest of the nation.
The group of college students I was with also had the privilege of touring around the nation and one of those places visited was the Gaza Strip. This was before the uprising in the late 80's. In fact, I was there the summer before it began. Even though it was a relatively peaceful time for those people, the air was heavy with pain and tension. It was dark and jumbled and such a feeling of hopelessness was evident.
I can't even imagine what it's like now.
Oh Lord, have mercy.
I pray for the peace of Jerusalem...and Gaza...and Petah Tikva...and Nazareth...and Bethlehem...and Nablus...I pray for those I love and those I don't know.
Lord, have mercy.
Thank you, Elysa! Lord, have mercy, indeed...
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