Well, this is it — the
exact right moment. This is the day to throw off the shackles and walk free! It
won’t be our fault if you don’t take this chance — we’re doing everything in
our power not to get in anyone’s way. There’s no point in nit-picking over the
details of our work. We have endeavored to be faithful servants of God and
we’re confident that we’ve got the runs on the board. It’s not as though we’ve
had it easy either. We have hung in there through hard times, tough times and
horrendous disasters. We’ve been bashed, lynched and locked up. We’ve worked
ourselves into the ground when things needed to be done, sometimes even going
without sleep and food. And through all this we have maintained our integrity —
our intentions have been pure and our heads have been clear. We have managed to
hold on to our patience, generosity, and holiness of spirit. Our love has been
genuine, our speech truthful, and God has continued to work powerfully through
us. We have armed ourselves with nothing but an iron commitment to doing what’s
right, and we’ve grasped the work of justice with both hands. Sometimes we’ve
been honored and sometimes slandered. We have been true to our word and yet
denounced as charlatans. We’ve been treated as nobodies even though everyone
knows who we are. We’ve been written off as dead, but here we are, brimming
with life. We’ve been flogged to within an inch of our lives but never quite
killed. We’ve almost drowned in tears and yet we are still bubbling with joy.
They say we are poor, and yet many are enriched by us. They say we have nothing
to offer, and yet everything is ours to share.
Four years of classes, conversations and chapels at an ELCA
Liberal Arts college taught me a lot about the importance of looking at the
context of a scripture passage when attempting to gain an understanding of the
message it offers. Throughout my
four years at Luther, I was blessed to have the guidance of very wise and
knowledgeable professors (both those with whom I had classes and those I never
had an actually class but heard preach several times) and pastors (both within
Luther College Campus Ministries and in a variety of other settings). These faith mentors where constantly
offering insight into the context of a certain passage, and then encouraging us
to explore how these passages continue to speak to us in our current
context.
While this was always challenging, and sometimes
frustrating, all of it was preparing me to leave the “Luther bubble” and apply
my faith and understanding of scripture in a broken world. This preparation has been
incredibly helpful this year, as I read and hear scripture with new eyes and
ears.
On Sunday mornings, I often find myself listening to the
pastor read the readings for the day in Arabic and following along in my
beat-up English NRSV. As I reflect
words during the sermon, I often find myself wondering about what the words say
to the people I am worshipping with. There are Sunday mornings when I feel the weight the
scripture dropped on me like a ton of bricks, and Sunday mornings when I feel
that weight lifted and replaced with hope.
This was no less true this morning as our pastor told us the
scripture he would be preaching on would be 2 Corinthians 6:1-10. As I read the words, I sat in awe of
the fact that Paul’s second letter to the community at Corinth, written to a
specific people at a specific time in a specific context could hold so much
relevance to a completely different people at a completely different in a
completely different context.
From what I can gather, Paul was writing to the community of
Corinth at a time when his relationship with them had been deteriorating. He seems to be addressing a couple of
different problems, but none of these are directly identified in the letter,
meaning that the readers are most likely aware of the issues Paul is
addressing.
Almost 2,000 years later, we no longer know what these
issues were, but there is still meaning and truth in Paul’s words, and the
truth that I heard this morning is incredibly impacted by the time I have spent
getting to know the stories of the people of Palestine. I read the NRSV
translation in church and upon returning home, looked at a couple of different
translations, each time seeing more and more of the story of the people of
Palestine in this passage.
The talk of now being “the day to throw off the shackles and
walk free,” of hanging “in there through hard times, tough times and horrendous
disasters,” and of being “bashed, lynched and locked up.” Yet throughout the challenges
“maintaining integrity” and managing “hold on to patience, generosity, and
holiness of spirit” while their “love has been genuine, our speech truthful,
and God has continued to work powerfully through us.” If I didn’t know that this
was a reading from 2 Corinthians, I would easily believe that these words were
part of a sermon or message delivered by one of the many Palestinian Christians
who I now count among faith mentors.
While I could relate to the entire passage, it was the power
of the last two verses that spoke loudest to me, (switching to NRSV, as that is
how I originally read it)
We are treated as
impostors, and yet are true…
Throughout the primaries that are going on back home, we
have heard a lot about the latest things candidates are saying about
Israel/Palestine (again, notice how context impacts what is important and what
is paid attention to). Often statements are made minimizing Several weeks ago, one candidate
was bold enough to claim that the Palestinian people are an invented
people. But unless I have recently
found myself in a land full of incredibly realistic invisible friends, I can
tell you that Palestinian people are a real people, with real stories and real
traditions
…as unknown, and yet
are well known…
It is a common believe that there are no, or at least very
few, Christians in Palestine, or in the Middle East in general. While the Christian population may be a minority in number, it is not a minority in presence. You may not know their specific stories
or even their names, but the story of the Palestinian Christians, and the Palestinian people in general, is well known
story. It is the story of all of
humanity, of trying to live their lives, in the hopes of creating a better
future for the world.
…as dying, and see-
we are alive, as punished, and yet not killed…
It is all too common for Palestinians to be able to share
stories of the time they, or a loved spent in jail. Palestinians can be arrested and held on administrative
detention, without being charged or sentenced for 3 months at a time; however,
due to a loophole in the law that 3-month administrative detention can be
renewed indefinitely. This means that many people live in constant fear of
being arrested. If somebody is arrested, it means they live in constant wonder
of when they will see their loved ones again. For statistics on
administrative detention,
detention ofminors and the
number of Palestinians in Israeli Custody.
…as sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing…
When people gather here, there always seems to be much
rejoicing. Whether the gathering be a celebratory event or simply every morning
in the teachers lounge, the joy and energy, while sometime overwhelming, is
contagious. Big celebrations are often
accompanied with much food and dancing as the community comes together to
rejoice with their friend.
…as poor, yet making
many rich…
Like the much of the rest of the world, Palestine has not
escaped unscathed from the recent economic downturn plus here there is the
added economic stress that comes from being an occupied country Yet in the 6 months
I have called this place home, I have learned about the incredible riches that
cannot be purchased with money: the riches of traditional knowledge, of time,
of friendship of welcoming people into your house. I know that as time passes I will learn to appreciate
the gift of these riches more and more, but for now I stand in awe of all that
people here are willing to offer to complete strangers and
the ease at which I
was welcomed into a community here.
…as having nothing,
and yet possessing everything.
This is the land of hospitality and some of the most
generous and welcoming people I have met.
My family is coming in a few short weeks (insert happy dance here), and
I am finding myself struggling to schedule their time, not because there is so
much to see and do (which there is) but because when people find out they are
coming, invitations to homes for dinner are immediately extended. While the number of physical
possessions may be smaller in number, the courage, patience and love for others
which people here possess is everything.
I know that this change in the way I hear and read scripture
will be a continuous journey. For that reason, I am incredibly grateful for the
way that my faith mentors at Luther prepared me to wrestle with the message that
scripture can have. In doing so, they demonstrated the importance of being open to having that message be
influenced by not only the context in which the words were written but also the
context in which the words are being read.
I leave you with the words of a Bishop Butler (don’t
ask me which one, apparently there where several):
It is not at all incredible,
that a book which has been so long in the possession of mankind
should contain many truths as yet undiscovered.
