PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM
Isaiah 2:1-4
[Since spoken communication differs from written, some of the grammar and syntax of this transcript may seem awkward in written form. To keep integrity with the spirit of the original delivery, the transcript seeks to stay close to the exact words spoken.]
A little over a year ago, I was in Jerusalem as part of a peacemaking journey in Israel/Palestine, with 14 other travelers. The first day of our journey we found ourselves, like the pilgrims of ancient Israel, walking on a bright sunny day toward the Holy Mountain--if you are Jewish, the Temple Mount; if Muslim, the Haraam al Sharif, the Dome of the Rock.
Imagine for a moment that you are a Jew living in Palestine in the first Century. Worship would have meant something very different for you than how we understand it. For us, we simply go to our conveniently located neighborhood church. For a Palestinian Jew in ancient Israel, truly to worship God meant leaving field and flock, and setting out on the long, costly and arduous uphill journey to Jerusalem, to the Temple, the House of God. The Psalm we used today for the Call to Worship, Psalm 122, is called a "'Psalm of Ascent"' because it probably was sung as a hymn by a band of pilgrims who had made the long journey through the mountains and had finally arrived within the walls of the Holy City.
It's hard for us to imagine the sense of attachment that the ancient Hebrew people had for the city of Jerusalem. From the very beginning, Jerusalem was understood as the center of Yahweh's activity not only to unite Israel as a people, but also to bring peace and reconciliation to all of humankind. Its very name contains the word for peace, salem, from which we get the Hebrew word Shalom and the Arabic word Salaam.
The ancient Prophet Isaiah, whose words we just heard, prophesied that Jerusalem would be the place where God's ultimate intention of peace for all peoples would be accomplished. "'God will judge between the nations, and settle disputes for many peoples; they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks."'
But if you ever manage to travel to the modern city of Jerusalem, and to visit that ancient pilgrimage site--the Temple Mount or Haraam al Sharif--you will realize immediately that far from being a city of peace, Jerusalem is in fact an epicenter (perhaps the epicenter) that fuels much of the world's current conflict and warfare. Indeed, the status of Jerusalem is one of the key "'final status"' issues being discussed in the current peace talks that began this week at Annapolis, Maryland.
If you've been to the Old City of Jerusalem, you know that the very geography of the place bespeaks conflict and dispute. The Dome of the Rock is literally built on top of the ancient remnants of the Jewish temple, what's now called The Wailing Wall. During times of high tension, Jews have been known to shout at Muslims standing on the wall above; Muslims have been known to throw rocks and garbage at the Jewish pilgrims praying at the Wailing Wall below.
Let's be honest, many of the Children of Abraham--Christians, Muslims and Jews--are acting like spoiled brats, arguing over who owns the clubhouse.
I was so struck the day we visited the Temple Mount/Wailing Wall to see young Israeli people, about 13 or 14 years old, fresh from some sort of nationalist camp, who were almost literally wrapping themselves in the Israeli flag, running in a phalanx and singing and shouting nationalist songs--basically claiming this rock for the Jewish people. It made me so sad to see that--the image of those kids wrapped in the flag; so sad to imagine Muslims throwing rocks down at them.
Many these days are making the accusation that modern religion, far from being a force for peace, is a primary, if not the primary, source of conflict in the world today.
Philip Jenkins, an American scholar of religion, claims that when historians look back at this century, they will probably see religion as "'the prime animating and destructive force in human affairs."'
How much blood in the last few centuries have people shed in the name of faith and truth and goodness?
Is it true that religion is killing us?
I, as a person of faith, of course do not think so.
We might begin to respond to this critique by saying this: that any practice that foments human hatred cannot properly be called religion. We might consider whether people are using religion as a cloak for their own nationalist and territorial ambitions, a holy justification for the innate will to power.
Much of the teaching of Jesus himself has to do with how good religion can be used for the purpose of evil. Jesus himself was killed in part by the religious people of his time. Even the devil can quote scripture. The most insidious aspect of evil is that it often co-opts good in service to its cause.
Religion that creates hatred is not religion.
Actually, here's what I believe as a Christian. I believe that Christ came to abolish religion. That's a pretty radical claim, but I'm just going to let it stand there today because I don't have time to say any more; we'll just have to talk about it later. Christ came to abolish the notion that my tribe, my nation, my people, my religion has an exclusive claim to the rock, whether that rock is in Jerusalem, or in heaven. Christ came to abolish that kind of religion.
Jesus said, "'I will destroy this temple, and in three days build it up again."'
You see, Christ is the temple for us; the crucified and risen Christ is that temple symbolizing the hope of unity for all people.
Now more than ever, people of faith--all people of good will--need to pray, and moreover to work, for the peace of Jerusalem if we are to survive the century.
And there's a very tangible way we can do that. Here's what I would urge us to do together--a very tangible way we can work for the peace of Jerusalem is this: to get informed. Study up about why people are fighting over Jerusalem.This year, we are doing a Book Club as a church--sort of modeled after Oprah's Book Club, where she invites everyone to read the same book and then discusses it on the air. This year, we're asking members of the congregation to read a very basic book about why Christians and Muslims and Jews are fighting. It's a book called The Faith Club, written by three moms, a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew who originally came together to write a children's book after 9/11. But they soon realized that before they could write the book, they needed to learn about each other, and each other's religion, and why it is that Christians and Jews and Muslims are in conflict.
I'm asking us all to read that book sometime this year--and then talk about it. In your Fellowship Group, in Create and Relate, in your committee meetings--whatever. But it's a way for us to start a conversation about: what will it take to bring peace to Jerusalem? If we are to survive this century, we need to begin to understand one another. It's at least a first step.
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And of course, today, taking in faith this sacrament is a step toward that, toward peace. Today we come to this table in faith that this is the temple, the temple that is Christ's body; right there on that table in the form of this bread. Today, for us, this is Jerusalem. This table. And there is no territorial dispute over who owns it or who belongs here. Everyone belongs here; in this feast, all religion that divides human beings is abolished; everyone can eat for free, and all are equal in the sight of God.
Here, on this first Sunday in Advent, the one who would bring to us Isaiah's vision of peace is already present. Here swords are already plowshares; spears are pruning hooks, in this great feast among the people of God, which signifies God's ultimate intention for all people.
Come and eat. And pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Amen.
December 2, 2007
The Reverend Jeffrey A. Vamos
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