Innocence

Yesterday the Red Cross said there is a humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza.

Duh.

Also yesterday, more missles out of Gaza and an air strike into Gaza. More people died.

All this talk about peace lately and we seem to move farther away. As I live here and try to listen carefully, I hear conversations about two kinds of peace. The one we hear most about in the news is the I-have-the-most-weapons-and-there-are-more-of-me-so-you-have-to-do- what-I-tell-you kind of peace. "Sure, I want peace as long as I still have the power."

The other kind of peace is what most folks here want. But even that conversation quickly moves toward blame and recrimination. So many people have been hurt so much for so long. It's completely understandable, but it gets us nowhere does it. We keep blaming, hating, and arguing about who started it, lying to each other, and denying the other's existence. Just making more past that the next generation can recriminate about.

At last Sunday's sermon, we heard about two Greek words that carry so much of the gospel message. Kenosis (Self-emptying) and metanoia (turning in a different direction). When can we empty ourselves of our rancor and bitterness and move in a new direction. When can we say there are no innocents here, not really. We have all behaved badly for a very long time. When can we talk about reconciliation and forgiveness, not just "peace."

Excerpts from Janet Morley's "There is no innocence in prayer":

"I came to your holy land, like Moses to the desert, seeking a pure encounter,
a cleansing, a pilgrimmage,
a new sense of direction.
There are no pure experiences, no unmixed feelings,
no beauty that is not woven with pain.
I wanted truth.
I find several incompatible truths.
My hands are also full of blood:
the blood of my country's history - our promising of one land to two peoples;
the blood of the holocaust
when Christians tried to wipe out Jews.
There is no innocence in prayer,
no innocence in religion,
no innocence in the desert -
just nowhere else to go to avoid the tenacity of evil,
or carrying my share of history, of present pain,
my share in the struggle for peace.
For, if your disciples keep silent,
these stones will cry out loud."