Hope

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A Hopi Elder Speaks

“You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered…

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your Truth.

Create your community.

Be good to each other.

And do not look outside yourself for the leader.”

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, “This could be a good time!”

“There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.

“Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

“The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ‘struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

— Hopi elder, Oraibi,AZ

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Tenacious Hope

Change happens subtly and sporadically. For those who seek peace, progress too often seems elusive, equivocal, ambiguous and vague. All the more reason to shine a bright light on seemingly innocuous developments reported in the middle sections of newspapers. They may very well signal a significant shift in the tectonic plates of our search for an enduring peace.

Yes, there is all the predictable political posturing, official denials and feigned outrage on the surface. But, something significant happened this week and our long-suffering world may have reason for genuine hope.

In conjunction with Yom HoShoah, the Day of Remembrance, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority issued a formal statement calling the Holocaust “the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era” and expressing sympathy with victims’ families.

This is profoundly significant for a number of reasons. Mr. Abbas had been vilified as a Holocaust denier because in his doctoral dissertation, published as a book in 1983, he challenged the number of Jewish victims and argued that Zionists had collaborated with Nazis to propel more people to what would become Israel.

Mr. Abbas had already backtracked from the book, saying in a 2011 interview that he did “not deny the Holocaust” and that he had “heard from the Israelis that there were six million” victims, adding, “I can accept that.” Get this… these words came from someone a senior Israeli minister has denounced as “the most anti-Semitic leader in the world.”

But the statement published on Sunday by the official Palestinian news agency, goes further than Mr. Abbas’ previous retractions, describing the Holocaust as “a reflection of the concept of ethnic discrimination and racism, which the Palestinians strongly reject and act against.” This all has to be profoundly significant and reason for hope.

The center for Holocaust research in Jerusalem, recognized that Mr. Abbas’s statement “might signal a change” from a situation in which “Holocaust denial and revisionism are sadly prevalent in the Arab world.” They appropriately asked that the new approach to be reflected in Palestinian websites, school curriculums and public discourse.

Of course, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had to respond with bravado, bluster and political posturing. He publicly dismissed Mr. Abbas’s overture, telling his cabinet that “Hamas denies the Holocaust even as it attempts to create an additional Holocaust by destroying the State of Israel.” But, clearly, Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli cabinet have recognized the import of Mr. Abbas’s statement in giving such a full-throttle response!

Our political processes are excruciatingly slow and seemingly inept in fostering peace. But there is more at work here! Governments and politicians need not paralyze people of good will. There remains the stubborn, irreconcilable animosity between Palestinians and Israeli officials. Yet, each and all of us have the capacity to foster inter-faith dialogue and understanding.

Perhaps, our greatest God-given hope for peace – in Jerusalem, which means “City of Peace” – resides in Christians, Muslims and Jews around the world learning to value, respect and love one another. If we lead, our leaders will follow!

That would be a profound shift in tectonic plates – one for which we must all pray… and work!

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I am dependent on a fine article by Jodi Rudoren in the New York Times for my information: [link]

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Lest We Ever Forget

Again, we remember!

Yom Hashoah is observed from sundown this evening through sundown tomorrow, April 28. Although it is a Jewish holiday it is both appropriate and salutary that we all pause to mark this occasion. We commemorate a great horror but also celebrate tremendous heroism.

Yom Hashoah remembers the six million Jews – and millions of others as well – who perished in the Holocaust as a result of the actions carried out by Nazi Germany. May we never forget!

Since Yom Hashoah is a relatively new holiday, there are no fixed rules or rituals. Often, Yom Hashoah is observed with candle lighting, speakers, poems, prayers, and singing. This evening at sundown, or anytime before sundown tomorrow, pause…  light a candle… remember!

In the rising of the sun and in its going down,
we remember them.

In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,
we remember them.

In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring,
we remember them.

In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer,
we remember them.

In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn,
we remember them.

In the beginning of the year and when it ends,
we remember them.

When we are weary and in need of strength,
we remember them.

When we are lost and sick at heart,
we remember them.

When we have joys we yearn to share,
we remember them.

So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.

— from the Rabbi’s Manual 1988

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Redeeming Pain

There is more than enough tragedy and suffering to go around. Instant global communication has compounded the impact. For example, outrage at the killing of Jesuit Father Frans van der Lugt in Syria yesterday ricocheted around the world within 24 hours. Such moral outrage is necessary and important – but it can be numbing. All the more reason to celebrate healing, success and grounds for hope!

Thanks to a friend from the Minnesota International Center who shared a [link] to a really powerful piece about forgiveness and reconciliation in Rwanda. Stunning photos accompany disarming profiles of human anguish and triumph – a testimony to healing and hope for what is possible within a generation of the horrific genocide in which 1 million Rwandans were killed.

We have witnessed such reconciliation and reason for hope before. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu provided a mechanism for people to confess their participation in human rights abuses during apartheid and receive amnesty. Some argue that those responsible for the policies of apartheid should have been held criminally liable. But that is not the route chosen by the Nobel Peace laureate archbishop or President Nelson Mandela.

The moral genius of the TRC was the public airing of the painful truth which prevented the violence of apartheid from being buried in the past.  Rev. Marie Fortune warns on her [blog], the Shakespearian advice to “forgive and forget” is too often directed at victims and survivors of violence. “Forgiveness does not come from a position of powerlessness but from a place of empowerment and a degree of safety; forgiveness is never about forgetting the past, but in remembering the past in order to strengthen our efforts not to repeat it.” Justice requires truth-telling and remembering before forgiveness.  We see this in Rwanda.  And, as numbing as it can be, instant worldwide news reporting has the potential to serve this essential purpose.

Coincidentally, David Brooks has a marvelous piece in today’s NYTimes entitled “What Suffering Does” [link]. He is quick to point out, “there is nothing intrinsically ennobling about suffering. Just as failure is sometimes just failure (and not your path to becoming the next Steve Jobs) suffering is sometimes just destructive, to be exited as quickly as possible.” Yet, Brooks celebrates those transcendent survivors who have the capacity to understand their suffering in some larger providence:

It’s at this point that people in the midst of difficulty begin to feel a call. They are not masters of the situation, but neither are they helpless. They can’t determine the course of their pain, but they can participate in responding to it. They often feel an overwhelming moral responsibility to respond well to it. …  

The right response to this sort of pain is not pleasure. It’s holiness. I don’t even mean that in a purely religious sense. It means seeing life as a moral drama, placing the hard experiences in a moral context and trying to redeem something bad by turning it into something sacred.

Recovering from suffering is not like recovering from a disease. Many people don’t come out healed; they come out different. 

Martyrdom in Syria, the hard work of reconciliation in Rwanda, requisite remembering with truth-telling of Marie Fortune, suffering’s ennobling potential cited by David Brooks… wherever we look a world in anguish invites us – desperately needs us – to embrace the paschal drama of Holy Week.