Sept 8, 2022

Hello from the Holy Land.

Kim And I cannot believe that after years of planning and postponement due to, we are actually in Israel.

We left Ottawa Airport on Wednesday September 7th at 2:00pm, and got to Tel Aviv on Thursday September 8th at 3:30pm. Even despite the 7 hour difference in time zone, we spent most of our first day in airports and on airplanes.

When we got to Tel Aviv we hoped on a bus and headed for our Hotel -another 2 hours 30 minutes away. On the way, we saw a few interesting things. Perhaps the one I ponder the most was driving by the West Bank and seeing the wall that has been constructed all around it. Our tour guide pointed out to us that how a people names something says a great deal about how they see it. The Israelis call it a Security Wall, The Arabs and Palestinians call it a Separation Wall.

From a faith perspective, who do you think has it right? Can we claim to know God’s will so much that we can unequivocally say which group of God’s children nailed it when they named a wall. The answer, I believe, is no. The fact that each group identifies the wall in different ways suggest that there is an element of God’s truth in both names. Maybe the existence of both names being used to cause division among these two nations makes God shake the almighty head and proclaim: You’re both right. Now, can we kiss and make up so we can all go home in peace?

Sometimes all God’s children focus so hard are what they know to be true, they fail to see the light of God’s hope in the words they use to name a wall: Security and Separation. I see God generating a new hope for peaceful conversations with these two words now being used to divide. They are not negative concepts in this context. They are positive words that just might help two distinct nations find a better way - to coexist separate and secure from one another. My prayer to God is that some day this may be.

Well fatigue has kicked in, my friends.

Until tomorrow...peace be with you all.

Rev. Ed.