Find Your Voice

Dear Church Family:

It is wild here. People, people, people -- the Old City is shoulder to shoulder. It is Succoth, the Festival of Booths, for our Jewish friends, and Ramadan for their Muslim cousins.

Succoth is the time in the year when the way-out-there fringe of the Christian Zionist movement come to Jerusalem as well. Scary bunch, this bunch, and I'm not exaggerating -- not even a little.

These are the folks who believe that the land belongs to the Jewish people, which you might believe as well, but these folks believe that Israel ought to be allowed to do whatever necessary to drive out the ungodly Palestinians -- men, women and children.

In fact, they believe that if Israel is allowed to drive out the ungodly, and then if Israel is allowed to build the 3rd Temple, then Christ would return. Of course, according to Christian Zionism, when Jesus does return it will not be especially good for the Jewish people, but let's take one thing at a time. First, let's hasten Jesus' return, and then we'll let Jesus deliver the bad news to his own people. (If Jesus was still in the grave, he'd be rolling over in it. But the tomb is empty -- thank God!)

I'm standing on the street near where we live and these Christian Zionists are marching around the Old City. There are soldiers everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The soldiers have their backs to the marchers and are facing the people on the walkway across the street. Some of the marchers are armed as well. I learned later that they borrow the guns from Jewish folks and carry them around for a week or so. How sick is this? About as sick as sick gets, and that's the point I'm trying to make. Not all the crazies in the world are of one stripe!

Anyway, I'm standing next to a woman who is holding the hand of a little boy, maybe about 3 or 4. Both are watching this parade of Christians -- carrying crosses, and signs declaring their support of Israel, glaring at the Palestinians, shouting to heaven, calling down fire and brimestone -- and this little guy starts to cry. I kid you not. I hear him before I see him. He starts to cry. He's scared.

You too? I don't know what we are to do. Really, I don't. But we can start by at least acknowledging that we stand against attitudes so prevalent in the world that do not represent the mind of Christ Jesus. We can start there.

We can find a voice to speak against the idea that the world is filled with good guys and bad guys and that you can tell one from the other by their religion or color or ethnicity or gender or whatever.

Do you know who this little kid was looking at? Me. He was looking at me. The people on the street looked to him a lot like me! And here I was standing right next to him. Scared him. Scared me. The thought that we might be mistaken for one of them, scares you too, doesn't it?

Me too.

You too? I don't know what we are to do. Really, I don't. But we can start by at least acknowledging that we stand against attitudes so prevalent in the world that do not represent the mind of Christ Jesus. We can start there.

We can find a voice to speak against the idea that the world is filled with good guys and bad guys and that you can tell one from the other by their religion or color or ethnicity or gender or whatever.

Do you know who this little kid was looking at? Me. He was looking at me. The people on the street looked to him a lot like me!

And here I was standing right next to him. Scared him. Scared me. The thought that we might be mistaken for one of them, scares you too, doesn't it?

Find your voice!

love you,

marlin and marcella vis [from Vis's Journal, http://www.marlinsallyvis.typepad.com/]