Immersion Day 11: Last Day

On our last day, we began with a meeting at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  Some of the information we received from varying organizations was redundant, but hearing the same figures over and over impressed upon me the reality.  These were not skewed statistics molded by radical liberal groups.  Especially hearing this from the U.N., such a reputable source in our world.  

Above:  Briefing from U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). (at United Nations) 

We then headed to the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, a Christian Zionist organization.  Our meeting was a essentially a sermon full of proof-texting.  The man who met with us pulled biblical quotations out to prove that God wants the Jews to return to Israel and has a special love for them.  It was a string of proof-texting mental cartwheels that disregarded biblical context.  I suppose we expected as much.  Christian Zionism holds that the world's Jews must return to Jerusalem before the second coming.  It's a strange theology that essentially wants all the Jews in the holy land so they can die in the apocalypse (unless they convert).  It is a damaging theology based in supercessionist values and an ignorant reading of the Bible.

Above:  (at القدس - Jerusalem)  Met with a Christian Zionist organization today. I struggle with what to say about that other than: you can proof-text anything.

Our last meeting was with the Rt. Rev. Dr. Munib Younan, Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land Free.  We had a conversation over a meal as he took a moment away from a conference he was participating in.  His holiness blew me away. I didn’t get a picture of him or the facility, but I was impressed by his commitment to justice. I am always uplifted by ministers who live the path of Jesus with such commitment.

Above:  "My dream is to have a summer school outside Bethlehem.  Every time we have a summer school, it's inside these walls.  I just want to go outside, be free, and have lots of room to play.  Just forget the wall, forget our prison.  When I grow up I'm going to be a creator.  I hope to have the power to change the wall and create it into something else.  Something that is harmless, that doesn't hurt people or imprison them."

In some of my communities, I often hear things like, “dream big.” It is such a tragedy to see what small dreams children in Palestine have. They dream of the simple things that many of us take for granted. So while we dream of peace, I hope that those of us capable of more than dreaming will do our part to make this world the kind of place where no child, no matter their religion, language, gender, or the color of their skin, has to dream of forgetting a wall.

Above:  Groupie with “the illustrious” Peter, our fearless leader, and some of the group.  (at East Jerusalem) 

After our final dinner, a few of us went to have a drink and Shisha:

Above:  Finally made it to “shisha.” Last night in the West Bank. (at East Jerusalem)

Google’s auto-awesome video of my trip to Jordan and Palestine.