March 4, 2008
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Nanjing, China. I have just received an email from Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) in Israel. The email outlined a petition that is being signed by Israelis and Palestinians. They request international support but not international signatures. The petition calls for an immediate ceasefire on both sides of the border of Gaza. It says that this war is between Israelis and Palestinians and therefore the petition signatures must come from the people who are inflicting suffering on one another. The rest of the world is asked to bring pressure on Hamas to stop their rocket launching into Israel. We are being asked to bring pressure on Israel to stop denying basic human rights to Palestinians in Gaza. (Basic human rights such as food and medical care.)
When I served as an ecumenical accompanier in Palestine and Israel in 2005, I was part of the team stationed in Jerusalem. Our task was to interface with both Israeli and Palestinian peace groups. In doing this over a three-month period I came to understanding the peace—or lack of peace—in Jerusalem as an icon for the world. What happens in the world happens in Jerusalem. What happens in Jerusalem happens in the world. If humanity could manage to have peace in Jerusalem, then that peace would spread out in ripples to all of the earth and the earth’s inhabitants.
I continue to believe that there is truth to Jerusalem being an icon. For me, I suspect it is because Jesus Christ was born in the West Bank in Bethlehem, grew up in the Galilee in Nazareth and died and was raised from the dead in Jerusalem. Because the Christ, who is the center of my triune faith, was God among us in this specific place on earth, Jerusalem is the center of what ripples out to the world. In a sense, I suppose, groups like Rabbis for Human Rights are the prophetic voices that God has sent again to afflict those who are in power, and comfort those who are afflicted.
It is Sunday evening here in Nanjing. Last Friday I participated in an activity on the branch campus of the China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) where I teach. This activity was very uncomfortable for me and has given me pause to reflect that the ripples that move out from Jerusalem may be different in appearance from culture to culture. The core of the suffering in Jerusalem is the core of the suffering in every other place on earth—while the Kin-dom of God is already here with us, we await the completion and fulfillment of that Kin-dom in peace, justice, and mercy for all human beings. The suffering in Jerusalem is a violent suffering caused by an oppressive occupation being inflicted upon a powerless people for the gain of a country that is filled with fear. The suffering that I saw in the activity at CPU last Friday is suffering of a different kind, but still the core is the same. There is not yet equality and equal justice for all human beings. The core takes on different forms depending on the context where suffering or inequality are experienced. I realized this as I read the letter from RHR.
Two students from the CPU will be sent to the University of Arizona in Tucson to study for a year. CPU will pay for this. Eleven students applied for this year of study abroad, and only two of them can go. I was asked to be a part of the team of people to decide who should go.
I found this to be very uncomfortable. I was part of the English-speaking team, which consisted of me, another foreign teacher on the campus, and four Chinese colleagues from the English Department. We were free to ask whatever questions we felt were important for deeming who would be best suited for this opportunity.
Whoever is chosen to go to Arizona will have a life-changing experience. Their worldviews will be challenged and possibly transformed. They will be in the United States during a heated presidential election. They will be in an English-speaking context that will be an enormous benefit to increasing their ability to converse and learn in their classes and also in their participation in campus life. Spending a year in an English-speaking context will also make an enormous difference in their futures here in China.
So far, this probably doesn’t sound so difficult. CPU is sending two students off to the United States to provide them with a learning abroad experience. That’s great! The problem for me was that I saw a particular pattern emerging, one that I have seen before in students in my classes.
The pattern that I saw emerge was that the students whose parents have been affluent enough to send them abroad for any length of time are the ones who appeared to be the most suitable for sending to Arizona. Their English was usually better and they were more articulate and confident.
How are the students from less affluent backgrounds going to get the opportunities that will increase their options in life? The playing field is not level. The students who are well on their way to having confidence and ability are the most likely to be selected for further opportunities. What about the students who have just as much worth and value, simply by virtue of being human beings made in the image of God, and yet will not have the same chance for a more hopeful future?
I began asking the students questions like, “How will a cross-cultural experience be helpful in your future work?” China is beginning to experience a growing immigrant population of Koreans, Filipinos, and Japanese. I was hoping to help make a connection for the students between having an experience abroad of their own and possible work with immigrant populations in their own country. Maybe they will make that connection at a later time. Many of them are interested in working for multi-national companies, and certainly this experience would be helpful in achieving that goal.
I do not have answers or solutions to the issues that my Chinese students face. I do hope to broaden their understanding of the world. I do hope to help them learn English well and to provide them with opportunities to spend time with me—shopping or other ways—in order that they have some sustained interaction with a foreigner. Many of my students are afraid of trying to carry on a conversation with me because they feel that their English is not good enough. I often end up spending more time with the more advanced English speakers because they are the one who will approach me. I pray that as the problems become clearer to me the ways that I can be a part of the solution will become just as clear. I can’t send nine students to Arizona to study, but there are things that I do here to help make the playing field more level. Please pray with me that I will have the sensitivity to understand how to help the students. Please pray with me that through me Jesus can meet the students in their places of greatest need.
I look around the world more often now because I have seen firsthand many places of suffering and pain. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem because I believe that if there is peace there, there will be peace in many other places. I also pray for that peace because the Israeli and Palestinian people are children of God, made in the image of God, and they are worthy of peace.
I have come to understand more deeply in the depths of my own soul that we all suffer from the same pain as human beings. We suffer from sin sickness. We inflict terrible pain on one another because we ourselves are in pain.
The prophet Micah gave us a “simple” sentence on how to overcome our pain and sickness. He told us what it is that the Lord requires of us: “To act justly and to have mercy and to walk humbly with our God.”
I cannot take away the pain and injustice. I can only within my own life act justly, have mercy, and every day pray to walk humbly with our God. I can watch for the places of injustice and then watch for the ways that Jesus is asking me to allow myself to be a vessel for his justice and mercy. In being used by God I can contribute to world peace the only way that I know how. The triune God revealed what God is like through the humanity of Jesus. In Jesus, God was revealed to us. Jesus lived in a specific location on earth, a place of great love and great pain. Jesus showed us that living in relationship with other people, loving God, ourselves, and our neighbors is what God is like. This is the only way I know to contribute to world peace. It is a humble way. One day at a time I try to walk with my God and ask that Jesus work through me in the lives of other people.
Please pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the healing of the world. Please pray for the equality of opportunities for all of God’s children. Please pray for me as I work in Nanjing and do my best to address the inequalities that I encounter.
In Christ,
Debbie
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 99 |
