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The Delegation:
Dr. Thelma Chambers-Young,
Chair; Progressive National Baptist Convention; Mrs. Sandra Ann Pyke
Anthony, African Methodist Episcopal Church; Ms. Linda Ann Bales,
director of the Population Project of the General Board of Church and
Society, United Methodist Church; Rev. Dr. Rhashell Debra Hunter,
director of the Racial, Ethnic and Women's Ministries Program,
Presbyterian Church (USA); Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of
the Washington Office, Presbyterian Church (USA); Ms. Shirley Ann
Nichols, member of the Coordinating Cabinet of the Presbyterian Women,
Presbyterian Church (USA); Rev. Lois Martha Powell, team leader of
Justice and Witness Ministries for Human Rights, United Church of Christ;
Rev. Susan Gwen Turley, Swedenborgian Church; Ms. Arlene Connie
Tyler, president of the Women’s Department, Progressive National
Baptist Convention, Inc.; Dr. Iva Elaine Carruthers, Proctor
Conference, United Church of Christ; Rev. Andrea Lucille Clark,
assistant pastor, Antioch Baptist Church, Tulsa, Okla., (National Baptist
Convention); Ms. Angelita Clifton, student, Drew Theological
Seminary, American Baptist Churches USA; Rev. NaShieka Dawn Knight,
associate minister, Greater St. John (Baptist) Church, Upper Marlboro,
Md.; Rev. Jacqueline Y. Lynch, associate minister, Saint Matthew's
Community AME Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church; Ms. Deborah
Leah Stapleton, lay minister, Fountain Baptist Church (Summit, N.J.)
and a student at Drew Seminary.
National Council
of Churches staff :
Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos
Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell
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| "I hope
we will hear the concerns of women in the region and stand in
solidarity with our sisters and brothers who are caught in the
middle of the conflict."
Dr. Thelma Chambers-Young, delegation
chair
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Daily
Report of the National Council of Churches' delegation of women church
leaders to the Middle East
What do you See?
Rev. NaShieka D. Knight
These
are the words recorded in the Book of Jeremiah (1:4-11): Now the
word of the Lord came to
me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you
were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Then I said, "Ah, Lord God!
Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the
Lord said to me, "Do not
say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and
you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I
am with you to deliver you, says the
Lord." Then the
Lord put out his hand and
touched my mouth, and the Lord
said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I
appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull
down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
Sitting on the plane in route to Amman, these are the thoughts with
which I grappled. Driven by a sense of divine urging, I agreed to
participate with this delegation, but felt inadequately prepared. What
could I offer to such a cadre of religious leaders and how would I
participate in the ensuing dialogue? Initially I thought to give myself
a crash course in Arab-Israeli politics, but decided that it was better
to go as a clean slate, rather than construct a socio-political lens
through which to view the happenings around me. So I went, ill-equipped,
insecure, but open, sure of only one thing…this was indeed my
assignment.
God
utters these words to Jeremiah, the words that every person engaged in
the “living out” of faith longs to hear, “I knew you, I set you, I
appointed you.” Gently guiding the Prophet with words of confirmation
and assurance, God leads him to a place of confidence and asks the
million dollar question, “What do you see?” Sure that God had beckoned
me to this place for this time and acknowledging that He had uniquely
positioned me in a space that others will only dream about, I heard Him
ask, “What do you see?” They say that the senses are interdependent.
Perhaps that’s why the things that I’ve seen are more about sound than
sight.
We
spent two weeks listening to, watching, and studying the persecution of
a people, the usurping of its power, the seizing of its possessions, and
the intentional dismembering of its communities. I heard stories of
children (of the powerless) stoned by children (of those in power) while
walking to school. I listened to women speak about sisters giving birth
at military checkpoints because they were forbidden by soldiers to
travel to local hospitals. Elderly women and men are made to stand in
the sweltering heat for hours at checkpoints while teenage soldiers
search for erroneous documentation. An entire nation of people carries
an ethnicity card in their pocket. Homes are demolished to make way for
settlement communities on property seized by the government, leaving
entire villages displaced. It was enough to make one weep. Yet, in one
of our last meetings in Jerusalem, our host, a spokesperson from the
Israeli Prime Minister’s office, attempted to explain unapologetically
the legitimacies of the usurpation, seizure, and dismemberment. Beneath
his defense of the tyrannical policies of Big Brother, I heard the
echoes of another voice.
In 1
Samuel 15, Saul was king over Israel and was given explicit instructions
from the Lord for dealing with Agag and the Amalekites, but his (and his
people’s) execution of the instructions were skewed and consequently
misapplied. When confronted by the Prophet Samuel, he proclaimed his
obedience to the Word of the Lord. To which Samuel inquired, “What then
is this bleating of the sheep in my ears?” Much like the mismanagement
of the Word of the Lord in Saul’s day, the instructions of the Lord to
the people of today have been grossly misapprehended. I hate to be an
unappreciative guest, but Mr. Host, I’ve heard this song before and just
as in the last rendition, between every line and note, I still hear
weeping sheep.
God’s
sheep are crying out for truth. Someone is proclaiming another truth,
but the sheep are still weeping. So, what do I see? I see a hand. It’s a
hand of power and of privilege and it is attempting to muzzle the
bleating of God’s sheep. This hand wants to silence the truth, but if no
one else hears the weeping, God hears it. (If it means anything to God,
I’ve heard it too.) Woe to the power that places its hand on the mouth
of God’s sheep!
In
chapters 13 and 14 of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus warns his disciples to
be preservers of truth, to remember what they had seen and heard, and to
rehearse it. Continue to tell this story until it becomes entwined in
the very fabric of their being. For, there would be many replicas of the
truth, because the enemies of God are always in search of opportunities
to betray him, by corrupting his message or silencing his sheep. The
disciples are called to be guardians of God’s truth.
So
what is the truth? I don’t know, but I’ve seen the untruth and this
proclamation can not be muzzled. When families are restricted from
building homes and lives to perpetuate the generations; when accessing
healthcare, employment and education mean harassment from armed guards
and inhumane treatment at checkpoints; and when people are confined to
their homes like mice in cages: this does not look like God’s truth.
When unholy alliances conspire together and contaminate holy places so
that terror reigns in the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, this does
not look like the truth. When the words of a loving, compassionate,
merciful God are used to oppress and marginalize, someone has hijacked
the truth. When we speak of peace but build giant walls that restrict
movement based on race and ethnicity, our words become weapons of
untruth. If only Big Brother knew that prisons of captivity often
masquerade as fortresses of security.
The
final leg of the journey was troubling. I had to unpack/repack my
suitcases several times at Tel Aviv airport (so that the security
officers could view my brochures); it seemed that someone was afraid
that the truth might escape in my suitcase. Frustrated, angry, and ready
to toss out all of the literature I had acquired, I heard the muffled
cries of God’s sheep, and their collective voices calling out to me:
“How far are you willing to go to be a bearer of the truth? What will
you endure for the sake of the story?” So, I shook it off and am telling
the story.
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