Sharing the Improbable

The following is a blog post written this summer
during a Liberation Theology conference in the Holy
Land put on by Sabeel, a Palestinian Liberation Theology
organization based in Jerusalem. Allan is a United
Church member living in Banff and also a member of the
General Council Executive.

How do you share the improbable (I’d say im-
possible, but I’ve seen it, so it’s real)? So much of the
world I’ve been exposed to is completely foreign to my
reality that I’m not sure I can even comprehend it,
never mind share it. But, I’ll try.
The Holy Land is an incredibly beautiful place.
The landscape around Jerusalem is a testament to
God’s creative magic. More than that, there is some-
thing special about this place that defies my under-
standing. I don’t know that I can describe it in words,
but there is a feeling deep inside me, one that I get in
Jerusalem, one that I get few other places. I share this
because it is the backdrop where the stories of the Holy
Land take place, both those of the past and those of the
future.
While the backdrop is unbelievably beautiful,
the stories themselves are plainly unbelievable. I could
share stories of things I’ve heard, and things I have
seen, that even I have trouble believing myself. But,
seeing as I’m not sure I believe them, I will keep them
to myself for now.
What I can share, because I can’t deny its real-
ity, no matter how much I may want to, is the extreme
prejudice that is blatantly obvious everywhere we go.
This morning, on our way out of Bethlehem, we saw the
piles of taxies on each side of the checkpoint waiting to
take people to their destinations; not because the peo-
ple here are incapable of driving themselves, but be-
cause Palestinians in Bethlehem are not allowed to
drive to Jerusalem. Instead, they have to walk through
a Giant Checkpoint. We were told that people start lin-
ing up at 3:30 in the morning in order to get to work on
time even though the checkpoint doesn’t open until 6
am.
For me as middle class Canadian, it is so incredi-
bly foreign that because of completely uncontrollable
circumstances (ethnic origin) a single person, never
mind thousands of people, would not be allowed to
drive themselves 10 minutes to work. It is completely
ridiculous. I can think of no other words to describe it.
And this from a country that claims to be a part of the
‘western world’ and shares ‘western’ values!
Being in the land where Christ was made
known, I can’t help but wonder how his message has
been so tragically lost. It’s not as if the stories aren’t
remembered. Millions of people visit the Holy Land
each year to see where Christ walked, to listen to the
story of his life. But I wonder if they are perhaps listen-
ing to the words without hearing the story.
-Allan Buckingham