Who’s Influencing Who?

Having been born in the late 1950’s and observing my parents and grandparents, their identity was heavily formed by how they related to their larger communities of family, friends, city and nation.  They saw themselves as an extension of those communities and at all cost those communities were to be preserved.  Personal sacrifice for the good of the community was seen as an honorable endeavor.  During the two World Wars, when they felt their communities were threatened, they signed up by the millions ready to die for the sake of the greater good.  Even at the start of the 1960’s, US President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural speech, uttered these now famous words “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

I first became interested in the teachings of Jesus in the mid 1970’s and even at that time when one came into to the Kingdom of God you laid all at the foot of the cross.  Soon I began to notice a developing trend in the world around me…the beginning of all things “self.”  There was self-actualization, self-awareness, self-definition, self-determination, self-development, self-discovery, self-efficacy, self- empowerment, self-esteem, self-growth, self-help, even a magazine called Self!  I have continued to observe as the decades have passed how American culture has become increasingly narcissistic and self-centered.  Andy Warhol, said in 1968 "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”  YouTube is the new breeding ground for aspiring famous wannabe’s driven by the need to be seen and admired.  We no longer see ourselves as an extension of our greater communities, but as self-preserving “ego” pack rats.  Our unspoken motto is “it’s all about me!”

This same cultural shift is apparent within the Christian community.  In 2009, when my book “Saving Zimbabwe” was being printed, we decided to set foot inside a Christian bookstore for the first time in years.  Given the book was about people laying their lives down for the sake of others in Zimbabwe, we were curious as to where the book might fit in the stores.  The first thing we came across was a bookrack with the Top 20 Selling Christian Books.  As we perused down through all the titles, we suddenly realized that most all were either self-help books or books about how to get something from God.  It suddenly hit me how much of a paradigm shift there has been in my lifetime.  We are no longer there for God, He is there for us!  He exists for our benefit.  We have now become the center of the universe and all that is, exists for us!  I soon realized there was “no room in the inn.” Our book had no place to lie in the world of the self-centered Christian.

We woke to the sounds of the city of Jerusalem this morning.  While lying in bed, we reflected on the fact we had slept on land where Abraham, David and Jesus had walked.  Empires and armies for millennia have gone to war over these rocky hills.  We were at the vortex of three major religions all vying for supremacy.  These mammoth religious Teutonic plates rub against each other every moment of every day making little progress in dislodging the other.  The history here is rich with traditions that go back thousands of years which form entrenched paradigms that make peace an almost impossible dream. At the moment there is an uneasy calm in the air.  One senses though the wrong insult or provocation would send the whole place up into an escalating chaos and conflict.  Passions, especially anger run deep here and acts of violence are never far out of reach.  One has to walk very carefully through this religious and political minefield.  I have more questions than answers and find it frustrating to have friends on both sides of the equation.  It’s a bit like when friends divorce and try to force you to pick sides.  I don’t want to!

 After a breakfast of humus, dried fruit and juice we headed out early for Mt. Moriah.  The Temple Mount (Har haBáyith) is only open for a few hours in the morning and afternoon and you are not allowed inside The Dome of the Rock.  This was a big change from when I was last here in 1986. Then we were actually allowed inside the dome.  I even took photos!  Religious politics play a huge role in the change of policy.  Nonetheless, the outside views on and around the dome are stunning.  We arrived at just after 9 AM and there was already a fairly long line.  As we made our way closer to security, one of the guards asked us if we were a part of a tour.  When we responded “no” he pulled us out of line and escorted us straight to the front of the line…nice!  After all of our bags were cleared, we walked up an ascending wood walkway right past the Western (Wailing) Wall.  The view down was quite interesting as we observed a Bar Mitzvah and religious men arguing while others were intently praying. 

As you enter the mount area, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is on the right and up the stone steps to the left, through arches, is the stunning view of the golden Dome of the Rock one of the more iconic images of Jerusalem.  I was captivated by the ancient columns, beautiful archways and of course the spectacular blue and gold color of the dome building.   As we walked around even the outlying buildings are amazing and the views east toward the Mt of Olives spectacular!   At 11AM they started chasing us off the mount as Muslim prayers were about to begin.  From there we headed to the various markets where I had an “Abraham in Egypt/ Gen. 12” experience!  Apparently my beautiful wife was “fair in the eyes” of the males here in Jerusalem.  She was getting proposals at every turn.  I started to think if this continues I may have to claim she is my sister as Abraham did with Sarah.  Of course she wasn’t appreciating the attention and kept asking me to stay close.  I started singing the lyrics to a Paul Simon song “will you be my bodyguard.”  As we meandered through the streets her Indian pedigree kicked in and she started to bargain with the vendors.  If you come here, remember to take 50% of the first price offered.  From there you start to bargain and volume purchases do help bring the individual costs down.  For whatever reason, today was a particularly low day and vendors were aggressive in wanting to do business.   We covered the Jewish, Muslim and Christian quarters and our weary bodies had just about had enough and were ready to head back to Tel Aviv.  This was until we came across the Tower of David!

My passion for history and love of archeology kicked in and I dragged my road weary wife into the place.  She hates museums but actually enjoyed this one as it covered the whole history of this area.  When reading the Bible and its description of King David and his conquering of the Jebusites, you tend to get a more glorious idea than reality as to what this town/city looked like then.  When you see the models in the museum you realize more it was David’s son Solomon who really built this hilltop into the glorious city and temple area we imagine.   At night the place is lit up with colored lights and makes for a stunning visual effect.  After our feet said “no more” we walked up to the train station and made the trek back to Tel Aviv and waiting clean sheets.  We were asleep in seconds but our hearts were full from a day of amazing sites, good food and bargains.

After breakfast we decided to walk off the calories we’ve been piling up while here eating all this great food.  While all the stores were closed for Shabbat, café’s and convenience stores remained open.  As we meandered down one of the main shopping streets I started laughing after we had traveled a good ½ mile.  Worldwide, women have the same fetish…shoes!  It seemed every 4^th store was a shoe store and they were all women’s shoes.  Thank goodness they were all closed or we would have not strolled very far and I would have been bored out of my mind.

As we continued our walk I was struck by the amount of Jewish fathers out alone with their children.  Often Dad was on a bike with one child riding in front of him and the other on the back.  As hard working as men are here and the long hours they put in, it was heartwarming to see Dad’s spending quality time with the children.  After heading south for a few miles we turned west and headed for the sea.  Once we got there it looked like the whole of Tel Aviv was out enjoying the sunshine and warm weather.  The seaside was a bustle of activity from young to very old.  The water was a bit cool so no one was swimming just sunning themselves on the fine sand.  I did see two crazy Africans out past the “No Swimming” sign bathing.  I think it was one of those “Lost in Translation” moments.  

As we headed back north towards the hotel from afar we thought we saw people line dancing.  As we got closer we realized that it was Jewish Folk dancing and it was happening outdoors right by the beach.  We stood there for quite awhile mesmerized by the music and jealous we didn’t know the dance steps so we could jump in.  Elizabeth commented that the music and dancing seemed to come from a place deep in their souls.  I enjoyed seeing the joy on people’s faces as they were totally into it!  The whole experience reminded me of the celebration scene in Otto Preminger’s movie “Exodus.”  We then decided to try an Israeli McDonalds for the experience.  This of course put back on all the calories we had just walked off. They had dinner meal choices of “The Big New York” or “The Big Texas” and trust me they were big!  I couldn’t believe the size of the burger.  One thing we did learn…must ask for cheese.

We arrived back at our hotel around 4PM and had not heard a peep from anyone at Elizabeth’s company.  I was bemoaning the fact we are leaving in a few days and my heart was pulling me back to Jerusalem.  OK, it was my camera calling.  When we were here last week it was with Elizabeth’s clients on a tour and the guide kept moving us along.  It was getting irritating as he needed to make sure we saw all the sites and I wanted to take pictures of the people and the culture. Elizabeth disappeared downstairs for awhile and came back asking “how would you like to go to Jerusalem?”  I love my wife!!!  We threw on fresh clothes, packed a small bag and headed out the door for Bus #4 next to the hotel.  After a Sharuot ride to Jerusalem, a train ride to the Damascus Gate and a walk to the Hashimi Hotel here we are.  In fact as I write this Elizabeth is asleep next to me.  I best sign off and get some shuteye as we have adventures in Jerusalem awaiting us in the morning.   

After lunch we strolled along the Yankon River out to the Mediterranean Sea and then south along the seashore on a boardwalk.  It was a lovely time as we walked arm in arm past the stores and restaurants filled with Israelis also out enjoying the 65 degree weather in the middle of winter.  We then came to an outside “kitchen market” filled with fresh produce straight off the farm; meat, fish, wines, cheeses etc.  People were busy purchasing food for Shabbat.  Had we a refrigerator in our room, we saw many things we would have loved to purchase.  As we eventually made it back to the hotel Elizabeth took a nap and I headed to the hotel lobby where the wireless signal is much better.  I’m trying to stay on top of writing, emails and Facebook and took advantage of the down time.

Soon hundreds of Jewish people dressed up for synagogue descended on the hotel.  They soon they were singing, clapping and reading from the Torah.  While I didn’t understand a word of it I enjoyed the whole experience.  After they finished, they filed past me up the stairs to the hotel dining room for a Shabbat meal.  Elizabeth met me in the lobby and we headed back to the coast for dinner.  These Jewish people know how to eat!  The variety is amazing.  Our table was soon filled with so many little dishes of various relishes, egg plant, tomatoes, fried cauliflower, fish and all this before our main dish arrived.  It was a long walk back to the hotel as we were stuffed!

Elizabeth and the company taxi arrived around 1 PM to pick me up and take us south towards Ashdod where the Masu’ot Yitzhak community is located.  Albaad, a wet wipes manufacturer, is located on the Moshav/Kibbutz.  A Mashov is slightly different from a Kibbutz in that it keeps the family unit together and allows for more individuality.  In the old kibbutz model, the children lived separate from their parents and the community owned everything.  The Masu’ot Yitzhak community has evolved into its own expression incorporating elements of each model.  I was excited about the opportunity not only to see behind the scenes of this Jewish community, but meet with Amnon Brodie, the Chairman of Albaad.  Amnon’s family was part of the original group who founded the communities back in 1945 first located in the Judean mountains.  The original families came from Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.  They divided themselves into 5 different kibbutz’s and during the 1948 war, one of the kibbutz’s (Kfar Etzion) was totally overrun and destroyed.  Everyone living on it was killed!  It was a story I knew all too well.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by various Albaad employees excited to see Elizabeth who hadn’t been there in over a year.  Amnon, Boaz (CEO) and others all welcomed us with big smiles.  Amnon had arranged a tour of the community and our guide was a middle aged gentleman named David who was born in London and of course spoke excellent English.  It was an amazing time of interaction as he drove us around and showed us the various aspects of the community.  Besides a wet wipes business, they have a dairy farm; cattle feed plant, chicken hatchery and various other enterprises. I have just completed reading “Start Up Nation” about the entrepreneurial spirit of the Jewish people. There right in front of me I could see it all in action.

As we drove through the various homes and living quarters, we came to a tall sculpture incorporating the base of an old railcar.  Surrounding it was white stone panels with names in Hebrew etched into them.  David explained this was a memorial to all the relatives of family members of the community who had been lost during the Holocaust.  As you might imagine it was sobering.  Soon we were at a second memorial and this one dedicated all the members of the community lost during their service in the IDF, the Israeli military.  As we stood and contemplated, I noticed a mother walking along the road with three young children two of which were in a push cart.  Their cute little faces were leaning over the side of the cart watching us intently.  I was struck by the paradoxes of life and death.  Here we were standing at a memorial for people who had died so these little children could have life!   

While Elizabeth met with the CEO, David and I took a tour of the plant and I witnessed how a wet wipe is produced from raw ingredients to packaged product.  I was intrigued by the whole process.  As we walked along we found ourselves into deep conversations on the evolution of the kibbutz model, what the motivation was to live on a kibbutz and how to keep the most productive from feeling like they are “carrying” the lesser productive.  David was up to the challenge and gave me great insight for future ideas I have which may work in Zimbabwe.

After the tour was complete, Amnon took us to his house to meet his wife Esther.  She is a lovely woman, quiet with understanding eyes. She also works for Albaad in the lab.  She had prepared some pre dinner snacks and over a cup of coffee we got acquainted.  The Brodie’s have 5 children (3 boys, 2 girls) and 8 grandchildren.  They are a blessed family.  Once we finished our coffee they took us to the next town over for dinner.  While I dined on salmon, we had a marvelous time of sharing stories and learning more about each other’s lives.  They were deeply moved by the story of The Community of Reconciliation and fascinated to know they there was a Zimbabwean tribe descended from Jewish priests!  As the evening wound down, I found my heart filled with a sense of gratitude for the kindness they showed us inviting us into their busy lives and sharing their culture with us.

Today was one of the more memorable days of my life!  In fact I need to remember that I’m writing a blog and not a book or this could get rather lengthy.  Elizabeth and I had breakfast together and while she headed north for meetings in Caesarea, I headed east for a meeting in Bethlehem with Sami Awad.  The town where Jesus was born is now located in Palestinian territory which lies behind a great wall which the Israeli’s built reportedly to protect themselves. 

I headed out on my journey from the hotel in a pouring rainstorm!  Fortunately the hotel was handing out free umbrellas though they were the cheap Chinese versions which easily turn inside out in the slightest breeze.  I made my way to Bus #16 heading to the Central Tel Aviv bus station.  I asked the driver to tell me when we were there as I had no idea what it looked like.  After about 20 minutes I heard an American voice call out “sir we are here!”  I was surprised to look up and see an older American gentleman talking to me.  As we departed the bus he asked me where I was headed and I said Bethlehem via Jerusalem.  He then asked how I was planning on getting there.  I told him I was going to catch a “sherut” which is an Israeli taxi van.  He had planned on taking the bus but decided to join me on the ride.  We walked around the station and inquired until we found a sherut bound for Jerusalem.  On the ride we swapped stories and I learned he was from Boston and lived in Israel 6 months out of the year while his wife taught at one of the universities here.

Once we got to Jerusalem he needed to catch another taxi to get to his destination and told me to jump in as he was going right past the Damascus gate where I needed to jump on Bus #21 to Bethlehem.  After a 5 minute ride we arrived and I tried to cover part of the fare but he refused to take my money saying it was the least he could do for a stranger.  Kindness is a wonderful attribute and he certainly set the tone for the rest on my day.  I located bus #21 and board it.  I soon found myself surrounded by Muslim women with their heads covered staring at me wondering what I was doing on “their” bus.  As the bus made its way to Bethlehem I was texting with Eilda who works at the Holy Land Trust and who has been my main point of contact to arrange this meeting.  I was fascinated listening to the ring tones on the Muslim women’s phones as we drove along in the driving rain.  Soon we were at the border and the bus stopped while Israeli soldiers boarded the bus. Guns hanging down in front of them, they checked our passports and documents.  After about 5 minutes they escorted 4 teenage boys off the bus and sent them back to Israel for some reason. 

Another 20 minutes later we were at the Bab Zqaq stop and I exited while looking around for Eilda’s car.  She was parked across the street in front of a roasted chicken restaurant.  After greeting each other we made our way over to the office of the Holy Land Trust, the organization Sami started on 1998.  Sami was there to greet me with a big smile on his face and we had a few laughs about the fact that while he had lived in Kansas City and still had family there, I had to come halfway around the world to meet him!  He then told me he wanted to make good use of our time and had asked some of his staff to join us while I shared my story.  For the next two hours we went on a deeply moving journey as we laughed and cried together sharing our painful and yet God directed experiences.  They then treated me to a Palestinian lunch and Sami and I headed out afterward for a tour of the city.

It was sad really.  I felt like I was in the movie “Escape from New York” were they walled off Manhattan and turned it into a giant penal colony.  As we drove along the tall grey concrete wall that separated the two lands my heart was saddened by the fact these precious brothers and sisters were imprisoned here.  Sami can’t even go to Jerusalem and he’s a US citizen!  We had a very candid conversation as we drove along.  What impressed me about Sami was not only his use of non-violence to make his point, but his object critique of the situation seeing the weakness, corruptness and arrogance on the part of both Palestinians and Israeli’s. He, like I do, believes the teachings of Jesus hold the key to peace and reconciliation in the region.  As we drove around we also stopped by the Bethlehem Bible College which was founded by his father Dr. Bishara Awad in 1979.  His uncle Alex, who is Dean of Students, greeted us and soon the four of us were sharing a cup of coffee.  I was deeply impressed by the stature and yet humility of these great men of God.  They are committed to raising up a generation of godly Palestinians committed to peace and the principles of the Kingdom of God.  I can see why some in the Messianic community are scared of them as the more people are made aware, the more the stereotype of all Palestinians being terrorists is broken.

I was sad to leave but needed to get back to the other side and get to Caesarea where I could reconnect with Elizabeth.  I jumped back on Bus #21 and headed back over the border, going through the same drill at the checkpoint and was dropped off at the Damascus gate.  As I walked around to the Jaffa gate the damp cold penetrated my bones and I stepped up my pace to keep warm.  Once I got to where I was going I couldn’t find a single sharut and revved up plan B.  I took a taxi to the train station and headed to Caesarea via Tel Aviv. For whatever reason I didn’t see a single person on the train all the way to Tel Aviv.  As I sat there in the silence I was overcome with emotion at all that had just transpired.  My heart was knit with these men.  I understood not only their plight but their journey.  They even invited me back in March for their “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference to share my story with other Evangelical leaders from around the world! “Oh God what are you up to, you have knit my heart with those who are often seen as on the “wrong” side of the equation.”  As the train meandered along, I found myself lost in thought for hours.  I finally arrived at the Caesarea train station to be met by the relieved eyes of the love of my life.  She gave me a big hug kiss and headed back to the hotel to catch up with each other’s lives. I felt as though I had lived a whole life one in one day!