Pray for Peace

Dear Friends in Christ,

I imagine like me you have been horrified and saddened by the escalating violence between Israel and Palestine. As your vicar I want to offer you words of wisdom and comfort, but I find myself unable to do so. I do not know enough about the history of Israel and Palestine or the current politics to justify offering any thoughts in the situation. My visit to the Holocaust Museum makes me well aware of the violence Jewish people have experienced from the beginning of time; violence with no justification (which begs the question, is violence ever justified?) for the sole purpose of eradicating them as a people. I know Generational trauma is real, so I imagine that the recent attacks have triggered grief, pain, and fear in every Jewish person across the world.

I know that the Palestinian people living in Israel have been dispossessed of land and property, rejected from what they consider their homeland, denied their social and economic rights, treated as second class citizens, and subject to their own trauma of systemic discrimination and oppression.

I know I have read a lot these last few days from people on both sides both condemning the violence and justifying it, but above all lamenting it. I know that violence is not God’s will. I know that it is wrong to kill innocent people and I know that collateral damage equal dead children. I know that while both sides have their truth, God’s truth is probably something different.

I know from social media posts that both Jews and Palestinians are suffering right now. And I know that both nations have a history of dispossession and exile. I know that both want retribution and vengeance. One only has to read the Psalms to hear the cries for retribution from a persecuted Israel, but those cries are to God, and it is God’s retribution the psalmist seeks, and we don’t get to control or dictate what that might look like. And I know that the Book of Genesis tells us God was with Hagar and Ishmael in the desert after Abraham cast them out, and God made a great nation of them which is considered the foundation of Islam.

I know that at some point we will have to face God and be confronted with the ways we have permitted oppression and violence to continue against God’s precious children of all races, nations, and beliefs. And I know that God has demonstrated God’s faithfulness to God’s people throughout the ages, no matter how often we turn away, rebel against God’s will, or wander from God’s path.

I believe in the God who is revealed in the psalms as the one who always protects us, shelters us, and guides us; who is our “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble… who makes wars cease to the end of the earth” (psalm 46:1, 9a). A God who cares enough about God’s children, all God’s children, to live as one of us, to show us a better way to live, and who chose to die rather than resort to the world’s violence to save themself.

And ultimately, I believe in a merciful and forgiving God who demonstrated God’s great love for humankind by resurrecting Jesus from the dead to show us that God’s love is greater than the world violence and sin. Pray for peace.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among

them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP p. 816)

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+