So here it is day three of Chalo, It is super great!!! So much fun to sit with Dana and talk about the old times and who is doing what. I love the chance to reminisce and talk about the good ‘ole days.
Besides that there have been all sorts of learning experiences. One of the most significant things so far for me was watching Hotel Rwanda on the first night. There were a lot of overwhelming feelings that went along with it. I remembered doing a Refugee experience through MCC at Bethany a few years ago. We just went in to the cafeteria and were sitting down for lunch when a whistle blew and without knowing why, we were running. I spent the rest of the day without shoes, standing in the sun, walking for miles, not eating not understanding what was happening. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in the shoes of someone from Rwanda or one of the many other places in our world where these things are happening. To be fearing violence, torture, death, just because my hair is curly, or because I moved into Altona and wasn’t born there.
One of the lines that really stuck out to me was when the journalists had captured some graphic images of the genocide that was happening and the hero thought that for sure now the West would come and help. And the Journalist says something like, “Maybe they’ll come, but most likely people will say, ‘that sucks’ watch the commercials.” It reminded me of Contemporary Thought with Gil. What is the point in watching the news? If we don’t do anything about it, why does it matter? So I watch Hotel Rwanda and I feel helpless, how can we help? What is our response as Christians?
Perhaps the greatest thing we should be doing is praying for the Peace of Christ to reign. If Jesus is the Prince of Peace than we need to pray that He will dwell on earth, in the midst of conflict. I may be helpless, but my God is not! So with all of these thoughts in my mind, I begin to think about the conflict in Lebanon. I have decided that I am sick to death of anyone who says that Israel is God’s people, and that they (Israel) has the right to do whatever they want. Dana was telling me about a 7 year old boy living here in Appleby Drive. He had to move here from Lebanon because a bomb was thrown into their living room. These are not the actions of a child of the Prince of Peace. It is terrorism, it is wrong, it is sinful, and evil. Enough with the rhetoric of war, enough with the justifying the terrorism of Israel with end time prophecies. Instead love, instead let peace reign. We shouldn’t be waiting for the Kingdom of God to come down on some cloud, we should be creating the Kingdom of God NOW!! Forget one day turning our swords into plowshares, and start doing it now!!
So this has been the primary thought in my head. But I have also really been enjoying the Spanish people, going to their church, helping them learn English. It is so awesome, so fun!!! We as a team are having a BLAST! And we are looking forward to seeing what happens as the week continues to pick up! Hard to believe we are over half done!! Well it’s time to go and have our butts whooped by a bunch of Colombian soccer superstars.
3 comments:
Nathan I agree with what you are saying about Israel and how some Christians have responded to what Israel is doing. It horrifies me to think about how people have used certain biblical passages to support such unbiblical actions. The part that really sends chills down my spine is the fact that we have done this so often in the past (cursades, slavery, inquisition, ect). Jack Heppner also wrote about this in his blog http://edgework.ca/
It is great to hear that you are having a good week. I hope (and pray) that the rest of the week will be really good and will continue to strecht you and the team.
I agree completely that what the country of Israel is doing and has been doing for the past while is unexceptable. However I do take some offense to the thought that 'we' have committed similar crimes in the past. I agree that it is important to recognize the past and the history between peoples groups, but if the actions of Israel denote that they are no longer God's people than the actions of 'Christians' in the Crusades should do the same.
Nick, the reason that I say "we" is because these people were calling themselves Christians and the world regarded them as Christians. I do not feel that it is for me to say that they are or are not Christians (I will leave that to God). I will state that they were not acting in a way that was Christ like. The problem with deciding who is a Christian or not is that we make up the rules. Was Luther a Christian (after all he was a racist)? Am I Christian (after all I do not even meet my own standard)? So instead of trying to tell people that they were not Christians I simply say I do not know. And say sorry for the way that those who claim to be Christians use the bible to act in ways that are not godly - including myself.
I do not have the time or space to get into why I am not sure if the Jews are God's special people. I will just say that I do not believe it was because of their actions but rather has to do with Jesus being the true Israel.
Post a Comment