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Sunday, April 25, 2004


Sermon

Allahu Akbar!

Chant: Allahu akbar!

It was with these words that we began our morning every day in Jerusalem, at 5:30 mind you, and it was these words which stuck with me for the remainder of my trip, reminding me of my duty. “Allahu akbar” is the Arabic phrase for “God is greater”, and it functions as the opening of the call to prayer – the call which all faithful Muslims heed five times a day. Over the next few minutes, I am going to take you on a journey with me. It will be a journey where images from the Bible and images from the news are brutally juxtaposed into one. It is so appropriate that the lessons for today tell of God’s voice asking Saul why he persecutes God, and also tell of the risen Jesus walking among the disciples and they do not recognize him. Throughout this journey, as throughout mine, remember that God is greater and let that phrase call you into a state of prayer.
The reason for my trip was to attend a conference on “Challenging Christian Zionism”. That phrase, Christian Zionism, merits some breaking down and explanation. Zionism, by itself, is a secular movement among some Jews which has as its central tenet the return of all faithful Jews to their rightful and God-given homeland, biblical Israel. In the broadest sense of the word, this is a movement that has been around since the first Diaspora in 586 B.C. But, in the modern context of the word, we’re dealing with a belief only about sixty years old. Following the end of World War II, Jews and many others began actively working towards a return to their biblical homeland; a dream which would eventually be realized in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Enter Christians into the scene. Going back to the mid-nineteenth century, making it actually older that modern Jewish Zionism, some Christians began developing a doctrine of Christian Zionism, coloring a secular movement religious. This belief, at its core, maintains that in order for the second coming of Christ to occur, Jews must have their own nation-state of Israel and that all Jews must be returned to it. Highly eschatological and dispensational in tone, Christian Zionism in its worst form believes that all non-Jews must be kicked out of Israel forcibly, even with the use of violence. So, as you know, the first stage of this belief was accomplished in 1948 when Israel once again became a sovereign state.
This view, this Christian Zionism, has been subtly made immensely popular in the United States, almost deceitfully so. Brought into the mainstream by authors such as Hal Lindsey and Tim LeHaye, millions of American Christians hold to some form of Christian Zionism without even knowing it. The heresy of this belief, and I do not use that term lightly, is that an act of human kind will bring about the second coming of Christ. Brother and sisters, we are not in the business of changing the mind of God and we are not in the business of attempting to effect an event which will only occur in God’s good time. So, there is a little background on the conference topic, but I really want to take you with me on a journey through the Holy Land, where I saw these beliefs being enacted.
I could tell you about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which enshrines both the tomb of Christ and Golgotha, where our Lord was crucified. I could tell you about walking up to the slab where it is believed Jesus’ body was prepared for burial and being totally unprepared to be beset by such a sight. I could tell you of bowing low to enter into the tomb, joining two or three weeping nuns in prayer, knowing nothing else to do. I could tell you of kneeling before the altar of Golgotha, underneath which is the rock where it is believed the cross was erected. On that place our Lord breathed his last, at which time the veil between God and humanity was torn in twain. That was an event that brought down barriers, brought together people, and connected all with God in a way so rarely understood. I could tell you of all that, but I am convicted to tell you of something else.
I must tell you of the apartheid wall being built, what the Israeli government calls a “security fence”. Instead of bringing down barriers in the Holy Land, new ones are being built. A blight upon the land, the wall stands 9 meters high and 1 meter thick, weaving in and out of Palestinian villages, encroaching upon and annexing Palestinian land, and imprisoning at least one whole town. If that is not bad enough, the really disgusting part is that it is being built on the backs of Palestinian labor. So desperate for money in order to simply feed their families, Palestinian men are employed in the only job they can get; to build the very structure which is destroying them. Separating father from son, mother from daughter, farmer from land, and shopkeeper from business, the wall is more than a security measure. It is a harbinger of doom for the Palestinian people. It is an economic sanction, the likes of which have not been seen before. It is death to livelihood and, in all too many instances, death to life. In places where the wall is actually competed, it is surrounded by electronic security sensors, which alert the military whenever anyone gets too close. Just last month an eleven year old Palestinian boy was shot dead by an Israeli soldier for chasing a ball too close to the wall. In the land where God forever brought down the greatest barrier of all, humanity is constructing a new one.
I could tell you of going to Bethlehem to celebrate the Eucharist in the Church of the Nativity, but I never got there. On the very road which Mary and Joseph walked, Mary heavy with child, there is one of the worst checkpoints in the whole country. Mary would never have made it to Bethlehem today. No, she like so many modern day Palestinian mothers, would have been forced to give birth at a checkpoint, surrounded by soldiers and automatic weapons. The day before we were scheduled to go to Bethlehem, Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire in Gaza, illegally assassinating a leader of Hamas. Because of that, the country went into lockdown mode, and we could not leave the city of Jerusalem.
I come down hard on Israel here, brothers and sisters, because Israel is the dominant force and the occupying power. But, I equally strongly condemn the actions of those Palestinians who carry out suicide bombings against Israeli citizens. I condemn the use of force, violence, and terror in all situations, be it Israeli or Palestinian. Peace was never made in such ways.
It would seem then, that the cycles of violence have made for a hopeless situation. Were it not for God, Saul would have been a hopeless terrorist as well. I am here to tell you today that it is not hopeless because the love of God transcends all hatred, all fear, all violence, and all oppression. The love of God will conquer the hearts and minds of desperate humanity. Just this past Friday a race for peace was run from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. It began with 15 Israeli Jews and 15 Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem, and they were joined, once they crossed the checkpoint, by 15 Palestinian Muslims to end in Bethlehem. That is the love of God at work. That is the hope.
Walking around aimlessly after the death of their Lord, Peter and some of the disciples decided to go fishing. I can totally empathize with them in this moment and I can almost here Peter’s resigned voice saying, “I’m going fishing.” At first they didn’t recognize the face of Christ in their midst. It is equally hard, in the midst of so much violence, terror, and oppression, to see the face of Christ in Jerusalem today, but let me conclude by sharing two hopeful stories wherein I recognized the face of Christ.
When I entered a shop on the Mount of Olives, I was greeted by a warm face and a fresh cup of tea. The Palestinian shopkeeper asked me if I had ever been to Jerusalem before and when I told him I had not he responded to me by saying, “Well, then before anything else, let me say to you, welcome home.” Welcome home. I was so moved by this sentiment and it was an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my days.
A few days later, it was time for us to leave. We got packed and left our guest house at 1:30am to catch the bus to the airport. As we were walking out of our little neighborhood area, struggling with our heavy suitcases, two Palestinian young men approached us and asked us if we were leaving Jerusalem. We told them that sadly, we were. One young man stopped us then and said, “Please, before you go, before you walk out of that gate, pray in your hearts to Jesus for the peace of Jerusalem, for the peace of Palestine. Alleluia! He is risen! Pray for the peace!” And we did, earnestly and hopefully, pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all of Palestine and Israel before we walked out of New Gate. Allahu akbar! God is greater! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Amen.

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