Mark 6:7-13
Journeys in the Wilderness: What to Pack
“Jesus ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.” (Mark 6:8-9)
It’s obvious to me that Jesus was a man. Take nothing? No bag? Only 1 tunic? No snacks? Are you for real?! Clearly, it wasn’t Mary Magdalene giving the instructions here.
I’ve been packing for our Israel-Palestine trip for weeks. The pile on our bedroom dresser and White Elephant Sale antique chair is growing by the day. A large lightweight suitcase with fancy, flexible wheels borrowed from a friend, stands empty. We leave on Tuesday so there isn’t much time left to add any more items!
Unlike Jesus’ short list, here’s what’s on mine:
Footwear: 3 pairs including 1 pair of sandals (perfect for the desert) , 1 pair of sneakers and a pair of flip flops for the shower. Check
Pants: comfy jeans, capris, 2 pairs of khakis…Check
For warmth: 1 sweater and windbreaker…the desert can be cold at night …Check
For dinner out one night: 1 skirt…Check
T-shirts and scarves…check…by the way, you can have too many and we’ll need head-covering for entering the mosque…Check
For sunny days, Spf shirt, hat, sunblock and sunglasses…Check
Toothpaste… check!
Cell phone, passport and, sorry Jesus, a money belt. Check!
Of course, that accounting doesn’t include my books the ones I’m going to finish reading on the 12-hour plane ride to Jordan! Or the toys and lovely handmade bags made by our talented Ladies Who Stitch.
I still need to bone up on the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and pack a book of poems by Rumi and my grandfather’s pocket-sized Gospels (which I carry with me on long trips) and add in my favorite St. Francis’ prayer, Make Me a Channel of your Peace.
My blood pressure spikes when I realize, “I’m not ready!”
Take nothing, No-Things certainly no frivolous things …. Jesus commanded the disciples, instructions for the unknown journey before they set out.
In Mark’s passage, after Jesus was “sent out by the Spirit” into the wilderness, (40 days’ worth), Jesus called the disciples and sent them out two by two. (6.7) They would visit people in their homes and villages, open to whatever hospitality might come their way. Middle Eastern hospitality was and still is, legendary. The band of disciples we read about in Mark are given instructions on how to receive hospitality and humbly move on without making a scene when a welcome is not wanted. Writes a poet friend,
See the olives grow
Amidst the boundary lines
Light still shines bright there.
Many of our congregation, many of you, can already imagine what we’ll be experiencing over the next two weeks on this pilgrimage of wilderness, walls and wonder. You may have been among the 450 travelers to date who’ve taken TOL trips over the past 15 years. And, if you haven’t yet had the opportunity to go, you’ve certainly supported local Tree of Life events near and far.
That feels so good to me, knowing you’ll be imagining the journey with us and walking with us in spirit along the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem as well as, and through the winding streets of the Golan Heights. As you well know, we aren’t tourists but go as sojourners and witnesses, friends and neighbors, ambassadors of humble hope. We all go for different reasons, of course, but on Partnership Journeys like these, (and when we travel to Green Grass, South Dakota, Haiti, Mexico, South Africa) we go to listen, learn, and to let our hearts be cracked open.
Writes Jan Richardson, “as Jesus knew, going into the barren and uncomfortable places, isn’t about proving how holy we are, or how tough, or how brave, It’s about letting God draw us into the place where we don’t know everything, don’t HAVE to know everything, indeed may be emptied of everything we think we know.” (www.The Painted Prayerbook.com)
Why go again? I’ve certainly been asked. My first time was back in 2012 and I still remember the spicy taste of fresh Middle Eastern Kafiah on my tongue and the feel of the 26 ft high concrete wall snaking through the West Bank dividing homes, communities and olive groves into terrorized fragments. I remember my own fear as we stood on a Hebron street corner and watched elementary school children being escorted to school under the watchful eye of Christian Peacekeeper Teams (all of whom were made to leave Hebron just last month by the Israeli govt)
With our hearts, minds and whole selves we are saying we shall not forget you, we shall not avert our gaze.
We need only drop our egos and bourgeois comforts (Guilty!) and pack our courage, and willingness to see what the world ignores. Writes the Rev. Dr. William Barber II,
“I want to say, as clearly as I know how, that the humanity and the dignity of any person or people cannot in any way diminish the humanity and dignity of another person or another people. To hold fast to the image of God in every person is to insist that the Palestinian child is as precious as the Jewish child.”
As the prophet, Micah preached, “What is it the Lord requires but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God. “(Micah 6:8)
When our current group of 23 travelers sets out for the wilderness on Tuesday (our full itinerary is posted along with bios of our group on the bulletin board in the hall leading to coffee), we’ll fly the 12 hours from JFK to Amman, Jordan, and arrive at the first border crossing at the Allenby Bridge. Gulp.
Given the number of Muslim friends traveling in our Interfaith group there are no guarantees all of us will be allowed in. Thanks to David Good’s careful planning, we’ve rehearsed our line-up. Like the disciples sent out by Jesus two by two, we’ll travel through customs the same way- two by two- with our leaders at the front, middle and back. More than likely some of us will be detained. Ghoufran Allababidi, head leader of our trip from the Berlin Mosque, is packing decks of UNO cards for the long wait on the other side should this happen.
We’ll pray no one will be turned back. Inshallah, Inshallah, God willing, so that we might experience the Land of Promise together as hoped.
Once we cross into Israel, we’ll set out for the wilderness landscapes of desert, city and checkpoints in this kingdom of olives, concrete walls and ash. We’ll sleep in Bedouin tents and Palestinian hotels as we go, witnessing to the alternative, often unseen narrative of military occupation that the Palestinians have lived under for over 50 years.
We’ll meet with friends and voices of conscience many of us know well, seeing the beloved faces once again of Dr. Maria Khoury, George, Nadjwah and Mariame Saadeh, and Sahar Vardi, the young Israeli woman incarcerated for her non-violent resistance.
Sharing in the deep grief of Nadia Milleron and her family (who is not traveling with us as expected given her daughter’s death in a plane crash this morning over Nigeria), our group will plant an olive tree in memory of Nadia’s daughter, Samya Rose at Tent of Nations farm.
We’ll also visit with friend, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh at the Natural History Museum of Palestine. We’ll visit schools, Bethlehem and Ben Gurion universities, along with the Diasha Refugee Camp to sing with our musician friends Tamar, his wife, and their 3-year-old son. Together, we’ll offer interfaith prayers at The Sermon on the Mount, accompany our fellow travelers to early dawn prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque and tour the Church of the Nativity.
Many of the places we are visiting have been deleted from any tourism materials by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism since 2009 (who incidentally, licenses any and all tour guides).
So, how do you pack and prepare for a partnership journey like this?
What baggage and preconceived notions can we leave behind?
What can be stripped away?
In many ways, the unforeseen path ahead parallels that of our Lenten journey. Turning inward “to see rightly what is essential to the eye” as we follow the treacherous road to Jerusalem. We are after all, visiting a people living under the cruel military machine of Occupation and Empire. A machine our country spends billions every year supporting still–in spite of the UN Human Rights Violations recognized the world over.
Taking the admonishments of Jesus seriously to pack and tread lightly, we are relying on our hosts in the Negev in Bethlehem in the Golan Heights for so much… lodging and sleep, food and company, and the generous sharing of their storied culture and history.
May it deepen our bonds and shared humanness.
Ultimately, I see us charged with carrying humility and hope in equal measure. We’ll endeavor to honor our hosts and all of those relationships the Tree of Life and our church has so carefully nurtured over the years. It is a privilege and a responsibility. We all are aware of the Three Way Covenant of our church partnership sojourns to learn, be present, and then “go and tell” when we return home again.
Friends, my personal prayer is that we do you all proud…and return with bags full of brave voices listened to, wider hearts, some fine trinkets for Tribal Crafts and a strengthened faith in what can yet still be for the people of that land– and for us.
Writes the apostle Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians, “Finally, put on the whole armor of God…stand firm, then with the belt of truth around your waist…and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” (Ephesians 6:8-10)
Tonight, I’ll hopefully, attempt to zipper my suitcase and maybe stuff in an extra tunic just in case. Remembering all the while the 12thc prayer by Sufi philosopher, Ibn Arabi,:
There was a time I would reject those who were not of my faith. But now, my heart has grown capable of taking on many forms.
It is a pasture for gazelles,
an abbey for monks,
a table for Torah,
Kaaba for the pilgrim.
My religion is love.
Whichever route love’s caravan shall take, that shall be the path of my faith.
Whichever route love’s caravan shall take, that shall be the path of my faith.
Amen!!!!
Laura Fitzpatrick-Nager