What is happening in the Middle East - or The Golden Rule

I’ve been following, admittedly with some trepidation, the happenings between Israel and Gaza. I have wondered greatly at the cause and reason for the bombings, the killings, the wantonness and seemingly unreasonable behavior between the Hamas and the Israelites. Why would a small group of people in a non-descript strip of a war-torn land lob bombs over “the wall” at a nation that could quite literally wipe them off the map with small effort? Adam Hamilton recently wrote this about that:

“The question I found myself asking as the military wing of Hamas began launching their crudely made and ineffective Qussam (Kassam) missiles into Israel two weeks ago was “Why?” After all, these missiles have no guidance systems and virtually never hit a real target. They stand no chance of winning a military battle against Israel. These missiles have killed as many Palestinians (as they occasionally fall back into Gaza) as they have Israelis. And the launching of them was almost guaranteed to bring an Israeli attack that would kill large numbers of Palestinians - making their launching of these missiles suicidal. So, I continued to ask, “Why?”” (http://adamhamilton.cor.org/)

I’ll freely admit that I haven’t been an astute student on what’s happening in the Middle East. I have been somewhat confused with Israel, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, the Arabs – who is who and what is what. I’m embarrassed to admit this because as an educated man with three degrees including a graduate degree I feel I should know more especially as it pertains to the lands where my Christian religion began!

I’m working to fix this lack of knowledge and I’m beginning by doing one of my favorite things – reading. This last week I spent two days at the library in a development retreat. While I was there I took advantage of checking out three books about the Middle East.

I’m beginning with Sandy Tolan’s, The Lemon Tree. This book tells the story of an Arab and Jewish family living in the same home – although not at the same time. The story takes place during WWII and the years following the war. It tells of Bulgaria – a country that was aligned with the Axis power – the Nazi regime. I’m just beginning the book but here’s what I have learned so far.

During the war Berlin sent the Bulgarian king and parliament an order to begin fulfilling the final solution for the Jewish people of Bulgaria. 47,000 Jews were to be impacted by this command.

The Final Solution? Send the Jews by railroad car to the gas chambers at Triblinka. When the orders came the Bulgarian king and parliament felt they had no option but to capitulate. They handed the orders down and the authorities began to gather up the Jews, taking them out of their homes, telling them to bring only a change of clothes. They were taken to the Jewish elementary school in Plovdiv where they were to wait for the railroad cars to take them away.

As the Jews stood by the chain linked fences with their flimsy suitcases and cloth sacks jammed with clothing, throngs of people stood outside the fence shouting – pledging not to let the Jews go.

Common, every day people – Christian people stood up for what was right and said they weren’t going to allow this to happen. The Orthodox Bishop Kiril stood by the fence, placing his hands on the links and said to the Jews, “My children, I will not let this happen to you. I will lie on the railroad tracks and will not let you go.” He later told the children of one of the Jewish rabbis, “The whole Bulgarian Orthodox Church will stand up for the Jews.”

Common, everyday people sent petitions to parliament. The order to have the Jews taken away was eventually held up – rescinded if you will. The Jews were sent back to their homes. On June 7, 1943 months after the drama at the school yard, the railroad station and parliament, Germany’s ambassador sent a report to Berlin that read, “I am firmly convinced that the Prime Minister and the government wish and strive for a final and radical solution to the Jewish problem. However, they are hindered by the mentality of the Bulgarian people, who lack the ideological enlightenment we have.”

Indeed the Bulgarian people lacked the ideological enlightenment of the Nazi government because instead they held high the ideals Jesus Christ had taught. Christ had taught, “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matt 7:12) in other words “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

It takes great moral courage to stand up for what is right. Christ gave to us a simple, golden rule to follow. I wonder how many of us have the moral courage to do what is right – to stand up for those unable to stand up for themselves – in the face of great opposition?

Because of the people’s courage, the Bulgarian nation’s Jewish people (all 47,000 of them) were unharmed by the Nazi purging even as 6 million other Jews died.

Doing what is right isn’t always easy. Following Christ isn’t always easy.

The two other books I am reading are: War Without End: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Struggle for a Promised Land by Anton La Guardia; and The Case for Peace: How the Arab Conflict Can be Resolved by Alan Dershowitz.

I hope to learn more and share my thoughts with you.

Let me close with this prayer: Gracious Lord, as we go about in this big, wide world, let us live by the Golden Rule Jesus gave us – easy or not. May Christ be at work in our hearts to change the way we thing, the way we do, the very person we are. Give us courage to live as we are taught to live. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Subtle Sins In Our Lives

Growing up as a Catholic we had regular confession time where I would go into the confessional box – confess my sins to the priest – receive my penance of Hail Mary’s and Our Fathers and then continue with my life. As a young boy there were only so many things I could say that I was doing wrong – I was fighting with my brothers (an every day occurrence sometimes), I was disobeying my parents (also a frequent happening), and I said a swear word here and there. In Catechism classes I learned about Mortal sin and Venial sin, but there were some sins I didn’t learn about until I was much older. I think there are subtle sins that we have to be careful of in our lives.

We know of the sins of lust, hatred, greed and pride; but, what about the sin of indifference? We can be indifferent to the lives of those around us – those who are hurting or in need or those who need a reassuring word of comfort and encouragement.

What about the sin of bitterness which can lead to self-centeredness. We can grow bitter because of the things life has handed us – which sometimes, truth be told, are results of our own poor choices. Maybe we grow bitter because some thing didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. Or we grow bitter because we have an illness like cancer or leukemia or a tumor. Now, this isn’t to say we should negate the seriousness of this illness, yet it also doesn’t mean we shut God out of our lives because of it.

Self-centeredness can lead us to place ourselves first and others, including God, second or third or even last in our lives.

There is another subtle sin that comes to mind for me which I call lack of awareness. We can be unaware of life around us – or God’s involvement in our lives. This is not the same as indifference. Indifference means we know what is happening, we just don’t care. Lack of awareness means we don’t even know what is happening. We go through out day not seeing the blessings God gives us, not sharing in the joy of those around us, not being in relationship with people around us.

In 1938, Thornton Wilder wrote a Pulitzer-Prize winning play called Our Town. It tells the story of a young woman named Emily who dies and is given permission to return to the earth for one memorable day. She can pick any day from her life and relive it moment by moment.

She chooses to go back on her twelfth birthday because she remembers it as a happy day. She is soon frustrated, however at the lack of awareness of those she loves. She wants to engage in life with them, but she see that they are just going through the motions, taking each moment for granted. As she stands by and watches her birthday take place, she tries to stop it because she can’t take it anymore!

She had been reliving her special day, and yet no one was experiencing the significant moments. People weren’t even looking at one another. Emily cries out, “I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another… Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute? (Thornton, Wilder, Our Town, 108)

What are the weights and sins that pull at you? Where do you find yourself growing more distant in your relationship with God and those around you? Is it time management – a schedule to full to allow God a significant part of time with you? Is it selfishness – my needs come first? What would you write down if you were to take a prayerful moment in thinking about this?