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"How long shall I cry for help and you
will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence" and you will not save?
Destruction and violence are before me …the law becomes slack and
justice never prevails." Habakkuk 1: 2(b),(b),4(a)
As I sit in Jerusalem watching the military actions and fighting in
Lebanon and Gaza and the West Bank, I feel disorientated. I don't know
where I am. I am not sure if I am in a state of shock, stunned by
surprise, or simply overwhelmed by the enormity of what is going on. It
is a time for deep reflection emerging from the ever-growing suffering
and destruction.
I ask myself why this is happening. What in fact will be achieved at the
end of the day, beyond the obvious: more destruction, more fear, more
hatred, more anger and more retaliation on every side? There is no easy
answer to this question. We see the people of Haifa and the Galilee
fleeing their homes in search of refuge and burying their dead. We see
the funerals in Gaza and the children sleeping hungry in the streets. We
see a Lebanon which was beginning to stand on its own feet after years
of civil war and conflict once again reduced to rubble with a flood of
refugees and displaced persons. In my suffering, I ask "Why?", as I see
blood pooled in the streets without justification?
I am not looking for analytical answers as my heart cries out. I am
looking for moral and spiritual answers. Is it not time to move from the
logic of war,self-justifying violence and acts of terror? Is it not time
for world leaders to repent – to admit that they have failed to bring a
just peace and then to humbly change course?
Instead of life-giving repentance we hear deadly lip service to a false
peace: we are battered by initiative after initiative after initiative
which die unfulfilled. I ask where is the repentance that will allow
justice to stand and which will liberate all nations from hatred and
fear.
It is time to see beyond the smoke and fire that assaults us from every
headline, so that the powerful can move from behind their misplaced
self-interest and hear the cries of our children and see the blood shed
in the street. The Scriptures are clear, demanding
"Justice and only justice…" if we are to live ( Deut 16:20). The prophet
Ezekiel, shares God's word where he sees justice denied, condemning
rulers bent on shedding blood and treating people with contempt while
extorting the land and dignity from the people. (Ezekiel 22: 3-9)
At this time, with the blood soaked specter of dominance and triumph
hovering over all of us I fear, as much as I have ever feared anything,
that the only "winner" will be political and religious extremism. If we
don't change our course and allow ourselves to take the path of justice
we will hand over our future to extremists who seek death-laden
solutions which will usher in the end of history.
Because there seems to be no will to repent, I am with the psalmist
crying "out of the
depths", I sit in Jerusalem and my heart is torn to shreds. I feel
powerless.
But in those depths, the question persists and will not leave me alone:
is there no way that justice can roll like a mighty river in this Holy
Land? Can we not know righteousness like an ever-flowing stream?
Knowing the presence of the God of Life in all things calling us to
abundant life, I can only cry out that this war must serve to unite all
parties to think differently, to act differently – to stop all military
operations, to overcome hatred, to end the vicious cycle of retaliation,
to ensure that no more human life is taken. It is time to negotiate
around the unsolved and urgent core issue: The Israeli –Palestinian
conflict. Justice will be served and the conflict ended when we achieve
a shared Jerusalem, the respect of the rights of the refugees, two
states living side by side in peace and security according to
international law. Now is the time to serve justice with action, not
words or plans or maps. Such is the path to peace and reconciliation in
the Middle East.
This war judges the International Community: in the lowering of the
standard of justice, human rights and dignity; in affirming violence as
the path to resolving differences ; in creating the conditions which
have pushed the Arab Christian community to the brink. The international
community is accountable to justice for all people, nothing less. The
shed blood is a judgment on their failure and is an opportunity to
repent and do what is right.
In confronting overwhelming violence and injustice churches are called
continue, to paraphrase Dietrich Bonhoeffer, to act boldly to be the
guardians of humanity. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writing from a jail
cell reminded the religious leaders of his day that the time was always
ripe to do what is right.
This is a moral, spiritual and political crisis of global proportions.
As a Lutheran Bishop my plea is for all Christians to commit themselves
to prayer and fasting to seek God's empowerment in addressing the call
to repent and seek justice. This includes urging Christians to go beyond
their excellent relief and emergency work to secure the future for a
just peace. As a Palestinian mindful of the value of all human life I
call on all people of conscience and faith to join in this spiritual act
of prayerful fasting so that we can change our hearts and minds and act
for an enduring peace. The prophet Isaiah reminds us: " Is not this the
fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs
of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free…" (Isaiah 58:6)
We must reject the idea that we can fight our way to peace and
security…we cannot!
The Holy Scriptures insist that there is a "time for every season under
heaven." Is this not the time, the "kairos moment" for Israel,
Palestine, the United States, Europe, The Arab countries and all others
to repent and say we did not hear the Lord's voice lifting up " justice
and only justice". Instead we see a world where we allow injustice to
prevail at a gut-wrenching cost of human life, freedom and dignity.
In the depths of despair of unremitting destruction and blood shed, we
hear God's promise:" Behold I am making all things new." That includes
us and the leaders of the world who can "do a new thing" – repent and
seek justice and only justice so all can live…and live abundantly.
Jerusalem July 24, 2006
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