Solidarity
How will you follow Jesus’ lead to be in solidarity with those who challenge empire?
Baruch 5:1
“Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.”
I dream of a day when the city of Jerusalem will be free from sorrow and affliction and at peace. I can’t write Daily Ripples for the Advent week of Peace and not talk about Palestine. I just can’t.
It was the movement for Palestinian liberation that began my deconstruction from evangelicalism and my movement towards a theological framework that was progressive. I was 20 and a missionary in an evangelical para-church organization and I met some Palestinians. I heard their stories. I learned about their histories. And I saw Jesus in their witness.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem (a town that still exists in the West Bank), under foreign occupation, was the subject of a genocidal hunt, lived a life that challenged the rule of empire, and was put to death by imperial forces.
Once I saw Jesus through that lens, I couldn’t not see him in solidarity with every person living under foreign occupation, experiencing genocide, challenging empire and being put to death for it.
Even though I have a degree in the history and politics of the Middle East and a graduate degree in social justice and ethics, I don’t know the exact specifics of how we get to that day when Jerusalem is robed in the beauty of the glory of God. But I do know, for damn sure, that it starts with ending the genocide in Palestine.
How will you follow Jesus’ lead to be in solidarity with those who challenge empire?