[Luke 2:8-15 NKJV]
My first trip to Israel - with a Global Celebration mission team of about 35 people, most of them from the U.S. - was originally planned to depart on Friday 2/8/13, but our flights were cancelled due to a snowstorm in the Northeast, and our group rescheduled to depart on February 11. A good snowstorm sometimes interrupts our human plans, and forces us into that quiet place where God’s voice can be heard and His plans displayed (Job 37:5-7)… With three additional days to re-pack my suitcases and pray, this delay helped me to connect more personally with God’s heart for this mission trip in a way I hadn’t really been able to before.
To be honest, I was a bit nervous about visiting Palestinian territory – after all, U.S. media rarely reports anything but suicide bombers, rockets and hatred for Israel. While in theory I admired Global Celebration’s commitment to show love toward all people, like many American Christians, I love and pray for Israel, and hadn’t heard much of anything positive about Palestinians. So when our trip was delayed for 3 days by the snowstorm, I was a little bit glad we’d have less time in Bethlehem, and needed a few extra days to pray through the hidden fears in my heart.
God is so faithful to answer when we seek Him! As I prayed for our team, at first I “saw” angels going with us into Palestinian territory, then felt led to read Psalm 34:7 – “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” So far so good…
On Saturday 2/9, I was praying at home and had a spiritual “vision” – eyes closed, a mental image with profound spiritual meaning that reassured me about our destination. Here’s what I scribbled in my journal to remember it: “ancient walls crumbling, big boulders, blue skies, both sides (esp. Palestinian) could see common humanity – peace. rubble, large beings tossing boulders around (angels? playfulness? or secular ‘powers that be’).” [I decided later that these probably represented political powers, who toss issues back & forth, only occasionally removing any “boulders” of enmity, fear, anger, etc.] I also had a very strong sense that this was something God was already doing in the region, and that our team was going to be a part of something larger, which was already in motion. For the first time, I began to feel a personal connection to God’s heart for the mission aspect of our trip.
On our second day in the Bethlehem area, Abdelfattah Abusrour, PhD – general manager of Alrowwad Cultural and Theatre Center for Children in Aida Camp, where we gave more groceries & hugs to widows and enjoyed art, pizza and soda with the children – walked with us through the neighborhood to visit a widow whose name means “Beautiful.” The streets were relatively calm and peaceful, but he asked us if we could smell the tear gas, as there had been a conflict with Israeli soldiers earlier that day. It was February 14, so we wished him a Happy Valentine’s Day, and he replied with a smile, “Every day is a good day to love.” (Amen!) The widow named “Beautiful” had a son in prison and four deaf-mute grandsons, one of whom visited with us while his grandmother served us tea and bananas, and we worshipped and talked with Dr. Abusrour on her patio. He told us about bringing his children’s theater group on tour in the U.S. and France, showing them poor neighborhoods in wealthy nations where the children remarked, “these people are poorer than us!” As I listened to him speak about his philosophy of non-violent, “beautiful resistance,” I told him about my vision of the walls crumbling and people recognizing their common humanity, and shared something else I felt God showed me as we were talking, that his cultural center is “a fountain of love” in this community… Later, when we stopped by his office to donate some quality art supplies for his older students, we noticed pictures of this Palestinian’s “heroes” on the wall: Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King. Dr. Abusrour’s gentle eloquence clearly debunks popular myth (conscious or unconscious) that automatically associates the word “Palestinian” with the word “terrorist!”… Strife, hurt, fear, and enmity can distort perceptions on both sides - yet Dr. Abusrour’s words (quoted here) echoed very obviously the message I felt I’d received from God about walls coming down, and people perceiving their common humanity:
"We do not have the Luxury of Despair, but the Steadfast Hope that we can create a change that we can be proud of, and leave a better heritage for our children and the generations to come, based upon the values that we share as human beings and equal partners".
Continuing this theme of how awareness of our “common humanity” promotes peace, we later visited a rehab center in Tel Aviv which assists patients recovering from traumatic injuries (including a number of Israeli soldiers) and a Jerusalem residence for juvenile heart patients and their families (mostly from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq), with prayers and gifts. Medical care in Israel (as in many other parts of the world) is offered without regard to politics or nationality.
I’m not pretending to have all the answers for the complex issues of Israeli-Palestinian relations - I mainly wrote this to describe some of my experiences as honestly as I could, as an American Christian who got to be part of some “walls” coming down – especially in my own heart and mind - as I participated in Global Celebration’s 2013 “Prophetic Journey and Compassion Outreach” to the Holy Land.
“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' ”
[Isaiah 65:1 NIV]
I was reminded of the apostle Paul’s words to Gentile Christians at Ephesus, reminding them how God Himself reached out for them with His salvation. Most of us who claim relationship with God were at one time undeserving wanderers, loved and found by His grace, in spite of ourselves!
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
[Ephesians 2:12-13 NLT]
May God’s Spirit of Love and Peace again break through for the Palestinians of Bethlehem and everyone in the region. This “good news of great joy” – the message of God’s good will toward humanity - is for all people on the earth.
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
[Ephesians 2:14-18 NLT]
[Ephesians 2:14-18 NLT]
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
[Matthew 5:43-48 NLT]
[Matthew 5:43-48 NLT]
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For more information about Global Celebration, see www.globalcelebration.com
