The Golan Heights

Once again, a full day in the northern part of Galilee, and far too much to process in one simple post. So let's narrow it down and make it simple: war and peace? Or maybe more accurately, faith and politics?

Today we traveled to the Golan Heights. The history of the Middle East is complicated, to say the least. And one Wikkipedia post won't do that justice. Even so, if you don't remember exactly what this refers to, I encourage you to click on the link above before continuing. It'll help you make sense of the UN peacekeeper on the border with Syria, and the sign post reminding us how far various places often in the news are, and of course the tank.

It's one thing to read about and hear about the disputes over the boundaries and even existence of the State of Israel. There are many sides to consider, including and especially what justice might look like for Palestinians. But of this there is no doubt: the boundaries have been hotly contested for centuries now. And whoever controls the high ground controls water, and land.

Some people prefer their spirituality without religion. The older I get, the less patient I am with that option. It feels like a cop-out to me. The only way to do that is individually and its way easier to do the more privilege we have. We can seek our own  personal enlightenment which I guess is what is meant by "spirituality." But religion (literally "to bind together") requires community and a commitment to do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with God. That requires an enormous amount of effort.

I know why people don't like religion and why some days I am drawn that way myself. But religion is not usually the cause of violence. It gets manipulated and used that way but that's a different conversation. And yes, religions are made up of people who mess things up much of the time. And we get caught up in petty, silly things. All true.

But for each of the Abrahamic traditions, the deeper reality is to seek ways to connect faith and politics so that the Kingdom of God is done on earth as it is in heaven. This is the path not of hate, but of love.

All land is contested; this is why we have gated communities in the United States. But the contestation for land has been going on in this part of the world for very long time. What Christians sometimes tell me that they don't like about the Old Testament are all those battles which are about the land that it is believed has been promised by God. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho because there were people living in Jericho who weren't in on the promise that the land belonged to the Israelites.

There is no such thing as an a-political religious faith. The question is what we do with the realities of life on earth, as people of faith.  The prophets suggest that the work of faithful people is to beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks and to say that in a more modern way to realize a peace dividend as money is diverted from the Defense Department to Agriculture. It means that free education isn't just available at West Point or Annapolis but among those who want to learn sustainable agricultural techniques and build roads and desalination plants.  ( See Micah 4:3, Isaiah 2:4, and Joel 3:10.)

How we get there is a huge challenge. We don't need politically naive people of faith. We need committed people who are, as one rabbi once put it, as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. We need a vision and a willingness to become ambassadors of reconciliation even in a world bent on destruction. One thing is certain: we won't get there if we shy away, or forget the vision and truncate the mission as becoming "spiritual but not religious." The world is too dangerous right now for that.

I posted another photo yesterday on my post, taken at the Mount of the Beatitudes, remembering words spoken by that same rabbi mentioned above; a guy who was shaped as a Jew by Torah and the Prophets, and by being from the northern part of Galilee - a bit further away from the powers-that-be in Jerusalem and Rome or Washington. His words deserve the last word on this post.