On Belay: Blessed Are The Peacemakers

I am incredibly excited to add a new Blogger to my rotation. I met Shelby Mathis while our husbands were stationed together in the Azores, and she has also come and worked on our farm! She will be posting every Monday!

Blessed Are The Peacemakers

Next week marks three years since I first boarded a plane bound for Ben Gurion, bound for the Holy Land, bound for a journey I didn’t know I was asking to take.

How I ended up on the plane isn’t a long story. A friend asked if I’d go work with her in Palestine, and I said yes. I didn’t agree because I had a deep, holistic view of the conflict there. I didn’t agree because I had a pilgrim’s obligation to see the holy places of my Christian faith. I simply said yes. Because Jesus said to simply love God and love others. Because blessed are the peacemakers. Because I am called an ambassador and entrusted the message of reconciliation. Yes.

I arrived at immigration and was questioned: who do you know? Where will you stay? What will you do? As it was my first visit, I said I’d see the holy sites. As far as any official itinerary went, it was a tour of the churches, the Garden, the Mounts. It felt true, but I sensed it wouldn’t be. I may have arrived ignorant, reactive, and in it primarily for the passport stamps, but when you go to see sacred places and you discover holy faces and stories and real suffering instead, you don’t get avoid conviction or leave unchanged.

To read the rest of this essay, jump over to Beirut and Beyond's blog where I take a look back on my experiences in Palestine.

Climb on,

Shelby