THE WALLS THAT BRING TEARS TO GOD=S EYES

(Preached on Sunday, July 30, 2006)

For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.             -Ephesians 2:14

 

Ruth Edens is a United Church of Christ Global Ministries missionary intern who has been living and working in Beirut, Lebanon since March.  Let me share her experience of the past two weeks in her own words.

AOn Sunday, July 9^th, I left Beirut for Dhou El-Chweir, Mount Lebanon to spend a week as the representative of the U.S. and the United Church of Christ at [an] annual >International Work and Study Camp.=  There were nearly 30 young adult participants representing the U.S., Holland, Germany, Denmark, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, and Lebanon.  This diverse group was to work on breaking down stereotypes and creating dialogue across the cultures and faith communities.  Together only for a week, now we feel like family.  Openly sharing stories of culture and faith, we also witnessed the beginning of this war and were evacuated together. ... 

 

AOn Thursday, July 13^th, we continued on with our plan of visiting Harissah, Byblos and Bourj Hamoud. ...  It was hard to get our minds off of what was taking place in other parts of the country, however it was nice to be temporarily away from the TV and the onslaught of discouraging news.  Everyone came equipped with cell phones and the calls started pouring in.  Frantic parents, concerned friends and colleagues tried to find out how we were and what we were going to do.  When it came time for us to go to Bourj Hamoud, a neighborhood of Beirut, my friends and I decided to go into Hamra >just in case.=  We retrieved passports, laptops, prescriptions, clothing and anything else we could grab.  Hamra Street on most days would be alive with people shopping, sitting in cafes, or taking a walk.  Now most stores and restaurants were closed.  Except for the occasional car, the street was empty.  We gave ourselves 30 minutes to go to our apartments, grab what we wanted and meet so we could travel together back to the group.  It wasn=t until I was standing in my room looking at all my >stuff= that it really struck me.  What is it that I really need?  I quickly went over the worse case scenario with my roommate, how we would communicate and where we would both go.  Standing in the living room, looking at the apartment that I fell in love with back in March, my heart was breaking.  Surely I would wake up with relief from this dream.  We all met up at the ... internet cafe on Hamra street, each sending emails home saying we were O.K.

 

AThursday night was the first time I heard bombing.  It is a sound and memory that divides time.  I was sitting outside, safe in the mountains, hearing the sound of the destruction of the country I have come to love.  I was glad to be with the others.  We needed to help and support each other.  Talking to the Lebanese helped because, sadly, they have memories of war.  They could reassure us that we were fine because the ground would be shaking if the bombs were close.  I didn=t know what to feel after that news, probably sad that they knew this.

 

AIt was hard to decide at the time whether to stay in the safety of the mountains or try to evacuate. ...  Once it was decided that we would be leaving the feeling of uncertainty vanished, but the fear of friends and their safety became more and more real.  Finally we had to say >goodbye= to those who would not be leaving with us.  I can=t explain the feeling and, for me, the actual physical pain that I felt in saying that kind of goodbye.  Life has changed for us all, the >bubble= in which we lived has been destroyed.

 

AOn Saturday, July 15^th, we boarded a bus that took us on the back roads of the mountains to the border of Lebanon and Syria.  When we arrived at the border the road coming from Lebanon was being bombed.  Because of our circuitous route we arrived safely at the border crossing.  We entered the building knowing it could be bombed at any moment.  Fortunately we passed through the Lebanese border crossing quickly.  Once at the Syrian border we easily obtained Syrian visas.  They welcomed us right in.

 

AWe continued on to Damascus, where we had to say goodbye to our Danish friends.  They were able to get a plane leaving the next day to Denmark.  Another >goodbye= that was very difficult for all of us.  We had experienced so much together and became so close that to be separated felt strange. ...

 

AWhen we reached the Jordanian border we had to wait for what felt like hours.  I know that we were there for at least an hour because some of us had to get Jordanian visas before getting in the arrival line.  One of the interesting parts to me was how the Jordanians in our group felt responsible for the rest of us.  Now we were their guests and they wanted to make sure that we were cared for in their country.

 

AAt around 1 or 2 a.m. we arrived at our hotel in Amman.  It had been almost a 12-hour trip, and emotionally draining. ... To me that day had just been about getting through to the next border, sleeping when I could, and making sure that we were all okay....

 

AWe than spent the next day searching for flights for the remaining participants who needed to get home C sad to be looking for flights knowing that more >goodbyes= were in store.  Leaving my friends, I feared that I would forget about what was going on in Lebanon.  Forget the friends that I had left behind.  We all knew that no one else could know what we had gone through together.  We just have to continue to hope that by telling our story, we can help people join us in our commitment to peace for the Lebanese people and for everyone in the region.

 

ANow, traveling with my parents in Turkey, all of my memories of Lebanon are bittersweet.  I know how Lebanon was, the real beauty of it.  Even if I am able to go back to Beirut, it has all been changed.  I don=t know if my friends and colleagues will return.  I know the life I knew there is in some respects over.  So my memories are wonderful but full of sadness.  I also have to admit to feeling guilty.  I know that I shouldn=t, and fear that this somehow sounds ungrateful to those who helped to get me out of Lebanon.  Yet, I know that I was able to leave while others could not.  So that I did leave is hard to cope with.

 

AIn closing I would like to ask all of you to remember all of those being affected by this war.  Please pray for those who are there because there is nowhere else for them to go.  I write because I have a responsibility to share this story: my experience during the evacuation, and the violence that continues.  We all have the choice to sit idle or to work for change.  I believe that there is enough hope and love out there to build a better world.@

 

Our world is filled with walls.

Ruth Edens and friends experienced them C the walls of national boundaries they had to cross three times to find safety, and the walls of hostility that threatened their safety and turned their lives upside down.

Robert Frost was right when he wrote ASomething there is that doesn=t love a wall.@  His farmer neighbor, piling high the rocks on the fence between their property, kept saying, AGood fences make good neighbors.@ 

That is the way the world looks at it.

But walls are actually the symptom of a much deeper illness.

Our inability to accept one another, love one another, and learn to live together as God=s children.

 

The answer has been with us for 2,000 years yet we do not believe and we keep ignoring it.