Five Ways Fort Wayne Can Be For All Who Suffer in the Holy Land
a reflection for any city or YMCA that is moved to pray for the suffering people where Jesus knelt and walked and suffered and prayed...
Friends,
Confession: my experience in the Holy Land this month will be unforgettable, and it’s changing how I see our world and the YMCA.
Our team of five went to be with Peter Nasir and his team at the East Jerusalem YMCA in the West Bank for ten days, but because of the rockets launched by Hamas (as our plane was descending in Tel Aviv) we never got to see him. Instead, we were diverted to the Jerusalem International YMCA in Israel, led by Fadi Suidan.
My friendship with each has deepened significantly. War can do that.
Now here I am at home safe in Fort Wayne, and they are still in a Holy Land with their families and YMCA teams being devastated by terrorism, war and revenge. The suffering there is already past comprehension. Yet what can we do? What can I do for my friends there?
If you’re open to it, I invite you to consider these five ways our YMCA and Greater Fort Wayne can be for all who suffer in the Holy Land (so that you don’t become indifferent, calloused, or lost because of the vengeful violence there…):
1 Way: Be for “your people” – be in solidarity with those you know in the Holy Land (reach out to them via text, social media, phone call – reach out to the YMCAs there if you’re a Y leader or member).
Way 2: Be for nonviolent resistance to evil as a response to vengeful violence in the Holy Land and in Fort Wayne (MLK embodied this brilliantly and sacrificially…)
Way 3. Be for listening to the cries of injustice, to the pleas of mercy, to the begging for peace and let it upset your soul (“the truth will set you free” but it will also make you weep…)
“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” [Letter from James, brother of Jesus, and Bishop of the Jerusalem church, 1:22-27 NIV]
Way 4: Be for a vision of flourishing for all that takes geography, religion, culture, politics, power, love, the sacred, history, hurts, memories, dignity, honor, hope seriously (rather than justifying why things are the way they are, what’s a more caring, respectful, responsible, honest way forward in the Holy Land and Fort Wayne?)
Way 5: Forgive those who sin against you in Fort Wayne, in Indiana, in the USA (the ONLY way to break the cycle of rivalrous vengeful violence is for someone to be the first to forgive – to let go of the grudges as a form of just mercy, a kind of redemptive humility we see in way of Jesus – as much as we want peace in the Holy Land, we ought to take personal responsibility for making peace in our homes and communities as well).
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through the message of my disciples whom I sent, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me…and have loved them even as you have loved me.” [Jesus in his Garden of Gethsemane prayer, the Gospel according to John, 17:20-23, NIV]
If you’re intrigued by these five ways and want to reflect on it more, you can read the full article on my blog timhallman.org and then let’s get coffee and continue the conversation.
Shalom, Salaam, Peace…