Remembering Our Values When We Need Them Most

Siblings, Sisters, and Brothers-

Last Wednesday morning, I had a long meeting with our CPC Palestine/Israel Network (PIN). Thursday afternoon, I met with the UCC PIN, a grass-roots network of people throughout the UCC who care about justice in Palestine and Israel. Friday, I had a long phone call with a dear friend who is Jewish and who has spent her entire life naming and fighting against injustice, including in Israel and Palestine. 

All of us in these meetings found ourselves spiraling and ping-ponging between emotions of deep grief, rage, and despair. Over and over, I heard people say things like, "I feel so muddled. I can't think straight. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do."

At times like this, when our heads are spinning, we can try to remember what we knew to be true when we were clear-headed. Here are a few things I'm holding onto:

There are no monsters. There are only people who hurt others. The things that have been done in Israel and Gaza in the past few weeks are horrifying and unjustifiable. In order to carry out these atrocities, people have had to disconnect their natural inclination toward compassion. If, in response, we find ourselves calling them monsters, or if we find ourselves justifying their actions, we are beginning to disconnect our own capacity for compassion. We must seek to understand, and we must always seek justice, but we must never reach for dehumanizing language or justify intentionally harming civilians. Especially in moments like this, it's important to remember our opponents are people. 

God's peace is a just peace. The CPC has declared itself a Just Peace Conference. We believe there can be no true peace without justice. Therefore, we know God wants both Palestinians and Israelis to be able to live in their homes secure and free from oppression. This means we must struggle against the antisemitism that has poisoned our world for 3,000 years, and been championed by Christians for at least 1,800 years. We must also oppose the seventy-five years of displacement and oppression of the Palestinian people who were driven from their homes and now live in apartheid conditions under the military occupation of Israel. God's peace is bigger and deeper than either of these things, and God's peace requires us to seek a just world for all. 

We are not called to save the whole world, but we are called to love the people closest to us. In moments like this, it's easy to feel impotent and despairing. We are struggling against forces that are thousands of years old, and against warring governments that spend billions of dollars, and marshal military technologies that boggle the mind and could literally destroy the planet. However, we are not alone. It's true that I cannot save the world, but I can love the people I feel closest to. In fact, I must continue loving them, and trust that others are loving the people closest to them. In the midst of this tragedy, I'm deeply grateful for the members of our CPC PIN who have been raising the voices of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian peacemakers on both sides of the wall for years, and who stay in the struggle. We can join with them and others to call for a ceasefire and negotiations toward a just peace. I'm deeply grateful for our interfaith partners who love one another and hold each other in our shared pain, even when ancient poisons seek to destroy our relationships. I truly believe if we keep loving those we can reach, together we can love the whole world. 

As you seek a way forward in these muddled times, here are some places you can go for resources:

The CPC resolution to take the apartheid-free pledge, which was passed at the last Annual Gathering, has lots of background regarding the situation in Palestine and Israel. The CPC PIN also provided this list of resources at Annual Gathering. 

Our Global Ministries has created this page with ongoing and updated resources and statements. It includes this action alert with steps you can take with your representatives. 

The  UCC PIN website has lots of great historical information and a newsletter you can sign up for. 

Here is a page of resources from the National Council of Jewish Women to help you dismantle antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other dehumanizing ideologies like white supremacy. 

As always, thank you for being the church God needs for this place and this time. 

Blessings, 

Tyler