CPTnet
8 December 2007
CHICAGO/TORONTO: "Hope under Occupation" CPT Lectionary Reflections for
Advent, Year A

[The following is third in a series of Advent reflections incorporating
experiences of Christian Peacemaker Teams and based on readings from the
Revised Common Lectionary, Year A.]

Third Sunday in Advent, 2007

Focus: Palestine

Readings: Isaiah 35: 1-6,10; Psalm 145:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Hope under Occupation

by Paulette Schroeder

"The desert and the parched land will exult: the steppe will rejoice and
bloom."

"...say to those who are frightened; Be strong, fear not!"

"You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm..."

John sent his disciples to Jesus with this question: "Are you the one who is
to come, or should we look for another?"

On this third Sunday of Advent, we in the Catholic tradition and in some
other Christian traditions robe our presiders in pink. We likewise light
the pink candle on the Advent wreath. We announce "JOY and HOPE" in the
midst of waiting for God's dream to overtake our world, waiting for our
Messiah to usher in the Kingdom of God. Hope is sure. The Holy One does
not disappoint. The Long Awaited One knows our distress, our plight and
will sustain us, come to us and deliver us.

I traveled with CPT's Palestine/Israel delegation in November 2005. When I
arrived home in early December, I had a sense, I think, of what those folks
must have felt who, for many years before Jesus, waited for an end to the
Roman Occupation. They had experienced the oppressiveness of "no voice," of
huge taxes imposed upon them, of slave labor and little recompense, of huge
disparity in the economics of the land. They felt the heel of the
oppressor. They yearned for deliverance.

So too go the lives of many Palestinians today. They have little voice in
world politics. They have limited access to international media since the
main news services go through Jerusalem's censoring. The 3.5 million people
bear the brand of "terrorists" in the minds of so many people; yet, the
families I had the privilege to meet were perhaps the most hospitable people
I have ever encountered. Hospitality is a MUST in the Arab household.

While in the West Bank I heard the story of our guide who lives in the
Deheisheh Refugee Camp. He spoke of his work with Badil, a center that
works for refugee rights and refugee participation. One in three refugees
worldwide is Palestinian and approximately three-quarters of the Palestinian
people are refugees or displaced. Badil works to bring back freedom of
movement and ownership of the land for the refugees. For sixty years now
Deheisheh and other camps have housed the refugees who fled or were forced
from their farms and dwellings in 1948 when the United Nations invited the
Jews to come back to Palestine. At this time, life was snuffed out of 675
towns and villages. The United Nations then formed the nation of Israel
with the Israelis owning one section of the country and the Palestinians
pushed into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Surrounded by his children and wife, our guide spoke likewise of the
tremendous fear built up in the children of the camp--whose education is
interfered with by house searches and by worries whether they'll get to
school that day or whether their older brothers and sisters will be allowed
to go to college. The perpetual fear of harassment from the Israeli
military squelches many dreams. He and his wife spoke of worrisome phone
calls to their household. Military detentions of the youth and men,
unpredictable curfews in the camp which often result in imprisonment for
anyone breaking the curfew, horrible infrastructure for water, electricity,
and garbage disposal, crowded conditions for extended families all make camp
conditions truly dismal, discouraging. "Oh when will You deliver us, O
Yahweh?"

In the midst of such conditions, while trying to provide as well as possible
for their families, the Palestinian people in the camps and beyond the camps
continue to hope for better times for their children and for their country.
Through organizations like Wi'am, the Palestinian Conflict Resolution
Center; through elementary schools like Hope Flowers which educates Muslim
and Christian together; and through the help of Israeli organizations
working with the Palestinian people to stop the occupation of the Israeli
government in Palestinian lands, the Palestinians display the hope urged by
Isaiah and James. The results perhaps appear minuscule in the midst of so
much personal and familial suffering, but families like the ones I stayed
with for two of my ten nights show a tremendous hope and resiliency. The
lives of their children, and justice for all their people demand continued
hard work, persistence in the struggle. They will work and they will wait
for as long as they need to.

I also saw resistance of the people in little villages like Abud where the
Palestinians were protesting the confiscation of more of their farmland for
the Israeli government to build the separation barrier. I saw this same
resistance and desire for justice too in another small village close to
Jerusalem. Here the villagers had found it almost impossible to harvest
their crops or to graze their sheep without interference from the residents
of the neighboring Israeli settlements. These people show active,
faith-filled nonviolent resistance. They continually put one step ahead of
the other in persistence: with the settlers, with the courts, with the
military.

Endurance and patience, active resistance to all injustice during the
waiting for a new order of justice, great prayer and solidarity with like
minded people of faith--the readings today encourage all these attitudes and
characteristics within us. Let us all go forward trusting, enduring in our
efforts and struggle for justice. We know we are on the way for and with
God's people.

Prayer: Living God, God of All, strengthen us in Your Word this day. Help
us claim Your Spirit within ourselves. Buoy us up through the prayer and
efforts of each other. Toughen our resolve to stay in the struggle. Please
teach us how to relieve our brothers and sisters of their burdens in every
way possible. Teach us Your Way. Amen.