Waving or Drowning?

The Voice: New Testament

I've been a fan of The Voice series since they started to produce collaborations on individual books of the Bible, so needless to say I jumped at the chance to review their latest release, the entire New Testament. Contributing writers include Chris Seay, Lauren Winner, Brian McLaren, Greg Garrett, David B. Capes, and others.

Four key characteristics describe The Voice project:

1. Holistic: Considers heart, soul and mind
2. Beautiful: Achieves literary and artistic excellence
3. Sensitive: Respects cultural shifts and the need for accuracy
4. Balanced: Includes theologically diverse scholars and writers

No, this isn't your Grandma's King James Version, and that fact alone is bound to alarm some folks. But this collaboration between Thomas Nelson and the Ecclesia Bible Society has managed to produce "a fresh expression of the timeless narrative known as the Bible", and I love it. An impressive list of scholars are utilized to ensure the accuracy of the translation, but it is the addition of writers, musicians and other artists to the team that really sets The Voice apart and renders it a truly unique rendering of Scripture. The Voice uses a clear format to indicate translation and elaboration, and a screenplay structure makes the experience of reading dialogue very real and exciting. While this will not replace the need for other translations of Scripture, The Voice is a fantastic tool to further your appreciation of and experience in studying and living our God's Story.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book as a freebie from Thomas Nelson Publishers as a participant in their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. As part of that program I commit to a review, positive, negative or indifferent. This one is decidedly positive!

"Attention per Million Corpses"

Now there's a new morbid statistic which should get our attention.

This morning's column from Nick Kristof is rather sobering, to say the least.

Here's how it opens:

Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric civil war being waged here is the most lethal conflict since World War II and has claimed at least 30 times as many lives as the Haiti earthquake.

Yet no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response.

Thinking primarily of the church, this takes me right back to the assertion I made earlier in Some Random Thoughts on Haiti, Life, and the World. While we're reviewing, throw in a little Unequivocal Avoidance, and I think we have a picture of selective mercy that is becoming increasing clear.

And I haven't even mentioned the Palestinian conflict yet.

Go, See, and Tell... With Hope

Two quotes, via Ekklesia, that I will try to keep in the forefront of my mind as I process the trip and move forward:

"Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."
- Henri Nouwen

"Anyone who tells the truth cynically is lying."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Road Ahead

I'm sitting in the lounge in Toronto, slowly working my home.

I'm working on a list of subjects I want to write about over the next few weeks as a response to our last 10 days in the West Bank, and I'm looking forward to getting to it. If our remarkable little group (I'm not sure how I made it on the list, but I'm not complaining!) has its way, you are going to be hearing a lot more about this issue over the coming months. The church has for too long swallowed the prevailing narrative about Israel's policies in the occupied territories without question. I'm not saying you have to change your mind, but you do have to seek the truth, and we're going to do our best to give it to you.

In the meantime, two of Brian's posts from Palestine made it onto the Sojourners blog.

More later. Homeward bound.

Names and Faces

As I pack up today I wanted to point you to a couple other blogs you may be interested in tracking with. Dave Gibbons has been a great member of our group, and I should have given you his link earlier. Dave has been blogging here, so take some time to read through his thoughts.

A couple of days ago we met new friends at Sabeel - the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. There we heard from the great theologian Naim Ateek... what a privilege. A few folks sat in on the meeting with us, including Keas Keasler, who has been blogging about his experiences here. 

Finally, I've been uploading photos to my Flickr site. They're largely unedited, but you may want to check some of them out. 

I'm looking forward to processing much of the last 10 days out on the blog once I get home.

Stop Smiling

Brian has posted on some fascinating and important interactions we had yesterday. Read that post for a little more context on what follows, but a lot of our conversation yesterday centered around the influence the US has here, and how our American friends need to apply pressure, not just rhetoric, to force the Israelis to do something on the Palestinian issue.

When asked what "we" as Americans could do when we get home to help, an older, fascinating Israeli gentleman who organizes refusniks made this profound remark:

"Tell your President to stop smiling."

My roomie Greg has also posted again. Greg is a journalist who joined us directly from Iraq (along with Shane Claiborne - that's a whole other story) and he's been interviewing people that we've had the privilege to meet with. Read his post on Brian's blog here.

Still smiling?

Alive and Well in Jerusalem

Just a quick note to point you to two posts from Brian, which really capture the essence of what we've been seeing and feeling over the past few days.

Today we are back in Jerusalem and will be meeting with several groups working towards peace and justice.

This is not about choosing sides. However, I'll repeat an earlier assertion I've made, and that is that we have been fed a narrative that is simply wrong. It's fiction, if you will. More about that to come I'm sure, but this is a big one: The church in the west must start thinking again, and not simply buy what we are told. From where I'm sitting this morning we are looking very foolish.

(Here's one I took yesterday on the Mount of the Beatitudes. Apparently the pacifists are right: Blessed are the unarmed!)

Do You Know the Way to Bethlehem?

I'm always torn when I travel. I never blog much, preferring to engage fully in what is going on. But at the same time I know that if I don't capture the moment I'll probably lose a lot of it.

Here's a quick snapshot of part of my day yesterday.

I've already mentioned that there are several Banksy's around the West Bank. Yesterday we stopped to get some photos of the one below, which ironically I have posted before, never knowing where the original was located. It's on the side of a gas station in Beth Sahour, just down the road from Bethlehem. Unfortunately the gas trucks didn't cooperate and the image was partially blocked, but we managed to swarm over the area and take several photos anyway.

My new friend Becca and I were the last two taking photos, down behind the truck you can see below. Everyone else finished up and boarded the bus. Assuming everyone was on board, they left. Imagine our surprise as Becca and I rounded the corner to find an empty parking lot! I looked to the three or four guys in front of the station and motioned as if to say, "Where are they?" The pointed down the road, waved, then smiled and shrugged their shoulders. Everyone broke out laughing. As we contemplated our next move, a car leaving the gas station pulled up, and the driver said to us, "They've left you. Jump in."

Becca and I looked at each other and jumped in.

The irony didn't escape either of us. The prevailing tourist dogma tells you not to get off the bus because your life is in danger. At this point in our trip we knew better.

It turns out our new friend Nasar is from Toronto but was here visiting relatives.

We all assumed we would catch the bus on the road. When we didn't, Nasar suggested we go to Nativity Square to see if we could find the group. We didn't. We talked as he drove us around Bethlehem looking either for the bus, or our next stop, which we vaguely remembered. Nasar got on the phone and called his cousin who knew where the center was, and five minutes later we were there. I asked Nasar if I could give him some gas money, to which he replied, "Don't insult me." We took a photo of our new friend, shook hands, and parted ways.

This may seem like a minor thing, but it is symbolic of what we have encountered here. The narrative we are exposed to back home tells us this is a dangerous place, that simply to be here is risky. It goes without saying that the narrative says don't get into cars with strangers, that every Palestinian is a danger. This is not true. It seems the intent of this narrative is to keep us from coming, from seeing, and from abandoning the wrong story we have been told.

(Brian has a new post here.)

        

Almost Live From Bethlehem

In a few moments I'll go to sleep about 100 meters from the grotto where they say Christ was born.

I'm too tired to post, and I don't know what I'd say if I could anyway. Just a reminder to track with Brian's blog to keep track of what we're up to. My new friend Greg Barrett has written a guest post there that you should read. Greg, along with Shane Claiborne, joined us directly from 10 days in Iraq, putting together the pieces.

I'm already suspecting this trip will be more difficult to recover from than my African experiences.

(I've seen 3 Banksy's here already...)

Unequivocal Avoidance

How do I evade Jesus’ teachings?

How is it that after two thousand years of meditation on Jesus, we’ve managed so effectively to avoid most of what he taught so unequivocally? This is true of all the churches. The most we could usually do is emphasize one or the other part of his teaching, and still call ourselves orthodox or “Bible based”.

All of us, for example, have evaded most of the Sermon on the Mount.
All of us have evaded the unmistakable teaching of Jesus on a simple life-style, non-status-seeking, non-greed.
All of us have evaded Jesus’ teaching on non-violence (except for the Amish, the Quakers, and the Mennonites).
All of us have evaded his straightforward teaching on loving our enemy.

Jesus is just too much for all of us!

Richard Rohr, Adapted from Simplicity, pp. 161 - 162