There are three big things in my cultural-religious mind going on today. Today is St Patrick\u2019s Day. It is also Lent. And it\u2019s Israeli Election Day.\u00a0 First,\u00a0St. Patricks\u2019s Day. With a maiden name\u00a0like\u00a0Riley O\u2019Brien, each year on this day I try to feel a sense of connection to my Irish roots. And I never do. I\u2019ve never been to Ireland and I don\u2019t even drink. Instead, observance of\u00a0St Patricks Day for me is usually something closer to shuffling into my closet and thinking, \u201cShoot! Why don\u2019t I have a green tee-shirt?!\u201d I may not have any green clothes, but I have a daughter with stunning\u00a0red hair. Alas, the gene pool speaks.<\/p>\n Today is also\u00a0one of the 40 days of Lent. Not having grown up in a liturgical tradition, I don\u2019t feel much connection to observing Lent, or Ash Wednesday, or Maundy Thursday. Truth be told, I usually end up\u00a0forgetting it is\u00a0Ash Wednesday until its\u00a0too late. And\u00a0my liturgical calendar ignorance spills out as I say, \u201cHey, you\u2019ve got something on your forehead\u2026right. here.\u201d And the words slip out before I realize that it was put there on purpose. With holy, solemn, intention. Right.\u00a0Oops.<\/p>\n Today is election day in Israel-Palestine<\/strong>. Now here\u2019s<\/em> something that means something to me today.\u00a0Today is the day when, polls suggest, the Likud President Netanyahu may be supplanted by the center-left Zionist Union party. Not sure they\u2019ll do much better, but so many are ready for a change. The Israel- Palestine conflict is something that I care about deeply. And a\u00a0change in leadership there is something that I am eager to see. Especially since Netanyahu\u2019s press conference last July 15th when he said that he would never accept Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank. Since then, he has\u00a0bluntly revealed, in so many ways, that he is not interested in real peace-making. You didn\u2019t hear about this because his remarks were only spoken in Hebrew, and they did not get widely reported. But they should have been. (For larger quotes\u00a0translated and comments by David Horovitz,\u00a0see the Times of Israel article here:\u00a0Netanyahu finally speaks his mind | The Times of Israel<\/a>\u00a0http:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/netanyahu-finally-speaks-his-mind\/#ixzz3UfyIw1Fr<\/a>\u00a0). Or the Youtube\u00a0video<\/a>. https:\/\/youtu.be\/H-zzNr959I4<\/a> \u00a0Heart-wrenching. Time for change.<\/p>\n Lent<\/strong><\/p>\n The word \u201cLent\u201d comes from a root word meaning \u201clengthening,\u201d like the lengthening hours of sunlight in spring. This holy season\u00a0leads us up to a celebration of the\u00a0resurrection of the Light of the world. Even here, in Minnesota, it sends\u00a0us on our way\u00a0to the\u00a0warm days of summer. Last year during Lent I was in the \u201cHoly Land\u201d, or Israel and Palestine. And this was certainly an experience that lengthened me.<\/em> Let me tell you about that experience. It actually ties in with Lent.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t there on a typical \u201cHoly Lands Tour\u201d. I was there on something more of a dual-narrative tour where we traveled with and heard Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian) and also Jewish Israelis (some pro-Israeli settlers and some pro-Palestinian activists, all pro-peace) speak from the heart. Of the people we talked with, those who were intentional peace-makers, told us stories about\u00a0how and why they are waging peace in their lives and communities.<\/p>\n I\u00a0undertook this holistic experience,\u00a0spanning several months,\u00a0with a fabulous peace-making organization called\u00a0The Global Immersion Project<\/a>, in order to learn more about peace-making amidst this particular conflict. Our two-week long trip to Israel-Palestine was part of\u00a0the final \u201cImmersion Phase\u201d of our\u00a0Learning Lab on the topic of Peace and Reconciliation. We immersed ourselves\u00a0into\u00a0the concept of \u2018how to be an everyday peace-maker\u2019 in the hardest of circumstances, where it actually means something \u2013 something quite threatening to the status quo \u2013 to be a person of reconciliation. Yes, we went for the jugular. We sought out the experts. We asked the hard questions to\u00a0people living on both sides of a very real and deeply entrenched conflict as they live amidst what some call a military occupation, what others (like Nelson Mandela) call apartheid. Yet, the peace-makers\u00a0we came alongside went around this, refusing to be\u00a0\u201cenemies\u201d<\/strong> with others in their lives.<\/p>\n In Jerusalem, like so many before me, I was a pilgrim far outside my comfort zone, in the middle of a modern-day war zone.\u00a0We saw what it meant to live\u00a0lengthened lives. We heard the hearts of people hoping for, seeking, and bringing in new light to dark places. <\/strong>What\u2019s more, we saw them succeeding. We saw the light winning, spreading, warming the hearts of the people on a grass roots level,\u00a0far beneath the political party lines.\u00a0This was true Lent. These were real people pushing beyond the status quo of merely co-existing amidst immense peer pressure to be enemies. They were lengthening, stretching, reaching across the fear and the miles of cultural and religious difference, in order to make a better future together.<\/p>\n These friends were taking the lengthened path<\/strong>, the road less traveled, for the high calling of waging peace. They were refusing to be enemies. They\u00a0were building bridges of love and communication. Like many things, it is simple \u2013 but not easy. It brought home the truth that, as is so often the case, making peace started in\u00a0the heart. It involved\u00a0listening, empathizing and humanizing the \u201cother\u201d. This heart posture, this disposition, is not easy. But it IS effective. I\u2019ve seen it in action and I\u2019ve seen it working in the hardest of places.<\/p>\n Our peace-makers shared with us stories of brokenness, and put-back-together-ness. Stories of pain and suffering, and, ultimately, of deciding to make a heart change in their lives. Amidst this change, they began\u00a0to conspire for good in courageous, clever and creative ways. In many of their stories, there was a crisis-point, a moment of decision.<\/p>\n Benyamin, of Bereaved Parents Circle<\/a>, is a father of a female IDF soldier who was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomb. He said that after his daughter\u2019s death, he stayed in his apartment for two weeks trying to decide whether or not to use his own gun to go to a near-by construction site and take-out several Palestinian construction workers. That was what his first instinct of anger and revenge made him want to do. But in thinking things through, he came to this point, amidst his brokenness, when he realized that,<\/p>\n \u201cWhat good would that do to their parents? The color of our blood runs the same. The salt of our tears tastes the same.\u201d\u00a0Responding in a violent way\u00a0would solve nothing about his pain. It would only create the very same pain he was feeling in many other parents. And where would that leave him? Only perpetuating pain and violence as those parents fought, and maybe gave into, the same urge\u00a0to turn to violence, revenge and bitterness. Benyamin chose the way of peace and forgiveness. As he did this, a green shoot of healing sprung up in his life.<\/p>\n Benyamin responded to a friend\u2019s invitation to join other parents \u2013 both Israeli and Palestinians \u2013 of the Bereaved Parents Circle<\/a>. This is a group of people\u00a0on both sides who also lost children and spouses in the conflict. They come together and support each other in choosing forgiveness and even reconciliation with the \u201cother\u201d that killed their loved one. In doing so, they tear down walls and res We also met Palestinians who were living under the harsh realities of occupation. They have lived their whole lives being\u00a0treated as far less than equal\u00a0to Israelis. For example, we couldn\u2019t drink water or flush the toilet in their homes because they are only given a ration of water one day per month. Meanwhile, the Israeli neighborhoods next door have a regular flow of water, swimming pools and lawn sprinklers and irrigation. The\u00a0Palestinians are\u00a0not allowed to vote in many cases. They don\u2019t receive\u00a0services like garbage removal. But they are required to pay taxes like the Israelis. And numerous other kinds of laws, regulations, and disruptions to life and inequalities toward any attempt to make a normal economy.<\/p>\n The Palestinian experience\u00a0was both so heart-breaking and also SO DIFFERENT from what it is portrayed to be in American media, that I almost doubted it could be true. But what made hearing these injustices undeniable, what really brought it home, was\u00a0hearing about them from Conservative and Orthodox Jewish friends \u2013 the very people who were taught not to see this their whole lives, and the\u00a0ones who one would think would minimize these events. But that was not the case. Several of them came to be\u00a0particularly outraged by the injustices toward Palestinians because of their own sense of justice that they see in Torah. And they\u00a0went into careers working\u00a0for the government or military with high hopes of doing good and justice. But then they came to know and see otherwise.<\/p>\n Our friend Yahouda, of Breaking the Silence<\/a>, was a Sergeant in the IDF. He\u00a0got out, like a \u201cconscientious objector\u201d because he realized he objected to what he calls \u201cthe immoral and illegal military occupation\u201d after being forced by his superior to kill a child in front of many people\u00a0in order to make an example of him and\u00a0scare his community into compliance. After realizing that this was not a stand-alone event, but a characteristic part of the military culture, as he claims, he began talking to many other men and women who felt that acts like this were wrong too. But they were SCARED\u00a0to talk, and had no one to tell, no one who would listen, care, protect them or act to change the violent and unjust culture. So Yahouda\u00a0started the organization called Breaking the Silence.<\/a><\/p>\n The \u201csilence\u201d is the lack of acknowledgement and conversation in Israel, among the military, politicians and media in particular, about the unjust\u00a0treatment of Palestinians. Breaking the Silence<\/a>\u00a0supports people through their decision to withdraw from the IDF, to document their testimonies of unchecked brutality and killing of innocents, and tries to talk to the press about what is happening. Breaking the Silence<\/a>\u00a0has captured over 1000 testimonies\u00a0(with photos and videos), some of which are on their site)\u00a0of people showing how the military culture is not, in actuality, the security-keeping mission it claims to be. The Israeli equivalent of \u201c60 Minutes\u201d has covered their story and others continue to too, as their message gains traction. The US of course is not picking up these stories, but you can hear them for yourself on Youtube.<\/p>\n Yahouda said that when working on the inside of the military you come to realize that it is common knowledge that the 50 year-long Occupation was actually\u00a0designed<\/em> to be permanent. That the main purpose of the many disruptions to Palestinian life, like\u00a0check-points, regularly breaking into civilian homes, making it illegal to have locks on\u00a0the doors of their homes, or to own any weapon, of course, is not just for security, but\u00a0to intimidate and scare the people inside, including children. The goal, Yahouda said,\u00a0was\u00a0to make life so hard for the Palestinians \u201cthat they all leave or die trying to stay\u201d (which several\u00a0leaders have been quoted saying as well). And that\u00a0you can see this by looking at things like where the check points are built, which, Yahouda says, again, are not as much for Israeli safety, like we are told,\u00a0but for disrupting Palestinian life, like going to work or to the hospital.<\/p>\n For example\u00a0building a check-point between a community of 60,000 Palestinians and their place of employment, turns what was once a 40 minute commute into a 12 hour commute, so they are all now unemployed. So an entire community is made poor, depressed, bitter and angry. In the name of \u201csecurity\u201d a slew of innocent civilians are\u00a0raising children\u00a0with no feeling of security, no safety, no economy, no water, no jobs, no nutrition, no healthcare, and for the thousands in refugee camps, constant supervision by teenage soldiers with automatic weapons from an 80 foot wall, no education and worst of all, NO HOPE for any improvement in their future. They see and experience acts of violence, shame and disempowerment toward them and their parents and only know that they don\u2019t want the same inevitable sentence when they grown up, simply for being born Palestinian. Then these communities are criticized for not making a \u201csuccessful economy\u201d like Israel. And people wonder why their teenage boys get plucked off by extremist groups offering them six figure salaries, power, excitement, a sense of belonging, purpose, hope and \u2026revenge. And the cycle continues.<\/p>\n Yahouda said that one thing that contributes to the problem is that the\u00a0whole Occupation is run by 18 \u2013 19 year old kids who have absolute power<\/em>. It\u2019s something that we here in America have a hard time imagining.\u00a0We think of adult cops or security guards. But they are kids with automatic weapons in civilian areas. And they have serious weapons, like grenade machine guns. I mean, who needs grenade machine guns in civilian areas?<\/em>\u00a0Many\u00a0of these teens have been taught their whole lives that Palestinians are all dangerous, even children are only terrorists waiting to happen.\u00a0So this justifies pre-emptively striking. Yahouda\u00a0told of the story of when the Palestinian president was going to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister and how a 19 year old wouldn\u2019t let him though the check point arbitrarily. How someone just decided that one nationality is so superior to the other that a 19 year old kid in the military has all the power and a Palestinian President has none.<\/p>\n Several times during his sharing about the IDF\u00a0culture of violence Yahouda yelled, \u201cWho the hell gave us the right to do this to these people? Who?!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Yahouda was one of many people we met who were awakened out of a slumber one day, and decided to live the rest of their lives in light of newfound compassion. Israelis and Palestinians have\u00a0been successfully kept separate by physical barriers like huge cement walls (called the Separation Barrier, or Apartheid Wall), and separate roads, communities and policies. But what has kept people separate just as much are the barriers in their minds and hearts. Like fear. \u00a0Most Palestinians and\u00a0Israelis feel afraid of and angry at \u201cthe other\u201d and they live and act out of this fear and anger. But oh the freedom and personal peace of the people I have seen who have somehow chosen to live in a reality not fueled by\u00a0fear, hurt or anger. They\u2019ve chosen a different path, one that is not easy. It\u2019s considered radical, disloyal and invites rejection and even violence from one\u2019s own people. Yet these true peacemakers, they have successfully decided to live in peace and compassion. They are seeking dignity and equal justice for all who share this land.<\/p>\n So many more stories of hope and peace abound. The\u00a0people we met, like Benjamin and Yahouda, are\u00a0my new heroes of Lent. Might that I could lengthen my heart and my courage like they have. They are living lives that have died to a certain part of themselves \u2013 their lower selves, as we might call it. They are being made new,\u00a0resurrected into new people of deep compassion, understanding and forgiveness.\u00a0They\u00a0see\u00a0the \u201cother\u201d around them as being connected to themselves now, and they live in a new light, like\u00a0a coming out of \u00a0tombs so to speak. That\u2019s one journey that I admire and hope to be on myself.\u00a0They are people living in what we Christians might look at each other and\u00a0call \u201cresurrection power\u201d. It seems that they are doing it\u00a0without even knowing it. They are bringing\u00a0in a \u201cnewness of life\u201d that is making the world new, and creating space for people\u00a0to flourish.<\/p>\n I love the humble reminder to live in a posture as one who learns from all,\u00a0when non-Christians show me what it means to embody Christ-like ideals. Such was the case in the journey and stories above. The stories above also remind me to pray for the peace of Israel and Palestine this Lenten season. May peace be lengthened there.<\/p>\n \n<\/p> Here are other amazing\u00a0everyday heroes and peace-makers in Israel-Palestine. Check them out!<\/p>\n Eliyahou (Conservative Jewish peacemaker) and Ibrahim (Palestinian Muslim) of Jerusalem Peacemakers<\/a>\u00a0who work together for peace<\/p>\n Daoud from Tent of Nations<\/a><\/p>\n Yahouda from Breaking the Silence<\/a><\/p>\n Benyamin and Moira from Bereaved Parents Circle<\/a><\/p>\n Mahmoud, in Nablus in Balata Refugee Camp\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n![\"dream\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/106\/2015\/03\/dream.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nurrect hope, life and healing. Incredibly hard stuff.<\/p>\n