Support for Israel’s war must end: Terrorism does not excuse genocide

Below is my column in today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune.

One of the great blessings of my life has been the opportunity to make a few different visits to the Holy Land, both to study and participate in archeological work during my undergraduate and graduate studies, and also in the context of a spiritual pilgrimage as a parish priest.

Last year, as my daughter is now old enough to go with us, I began laying plans for another pilgrimage to the Holy Land with members and friends of my parish, St. John’s Episcopal Church. Wanting to plan far enough in advance, we set a date in 2025 and began collecting names of those interested. Within weeks of registration opening, though, Hamas led a terrorist attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the current conflict which has consumed the region and tremendous cost of human life.

The attacks by Hamas in October of last year were by far the worst and deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the modern nation of Israel. A significant motivator for the attack, according to research done by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank, found that Hamas invaded as revenge for what it saw as past attacks by Israel; the continued occupation of the West Bank; the arrest of Hamas leaders; and the isolation and bombing of Gaza.

Just a few years ago, in 2017, Hamas had taken a more moderating turn, even releasing an updated charter that signaled acceptance of a two-state solution as an appropriate temporary measure. It still included some hateful language, but it was a tremendous approvement from their 1988 founding statement. Hamas had even begun to publicly punish anyone who instigated attacks within Gaza that might break the fragile ceasefires in place.

This moderation did not, however, produce any substantive changes from the nation of Israel or the larger global community. Instead, in 2021 and 2022, we saw some of the deadliest years for Palestinians as the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, allowed for an increase in Israeli settlements in the West Bank (contrary to established international law). The settlers themselves increased their attacks on Palestinians in their attempts to gain more land for themselves.

A common refrain from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Civil Rights problem was to say, “Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. And in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?”

While he regularly condemned violence and advocated for nonviolent resistance, King also knew that when people feel unheard and in danger, when it feels like nonviolent resistance produces no survivable solution, that explosions of violence are often the result. And while we can condemn the violence of riots and terrorist attacks like last October, we must ask if there is something the rest of the world is not hearing that has resulted in this violence.

This was clearly a part of what led to the attacks last October. When Hamas official Basem Naim was interviewed after the attack, he said, “We knew there was going to be a violent reaction … But we didn’t choose this road while having other options. We have no options.”

Over the past 16 years, the Gaza strip has become a large prison encampment and not an actual functioning place to live, with 97 percent of the water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption. Over 70 percent of families depend on international aid for their basic needs. Given competition from other terrorist groups, and the increasing right-ward swing of the Israeli government, Hamas has sought to increase its own public image as an Islamist resistance group. It continually seeks to undermine the Palestinian Authority which controls the West Bank (and favors negotiation and cooperation with Israel).

Ironically, both the right-wing forces in the Israeli government and the terrorists at work in Hamas need the other to continue the fight. The terrorism of Hamas has become cover for increased Israeli settlements and horrific attacks on civilians by Israeli soldiers. To wit, the violence of Hamas continues the rightward tilt of Israeli politics. And, of course, the barbarity of the Israeli response fuels the anger and sense of helplessness in the Palestinian people, increasing the view that terrorism is the only way left.

Earlier this week, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees accused Israel of detaining and torturing their staffers in a ploy to get them to make false confessions about the agency’s ties to Hamas. This is not the first time that Israel has sought to discredit United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), but this latest action is perhaps the most brazen. This action follows what we have seen in documentations of abuse of other Palestinian detainees.

On Feb. 29, over 100 people were killed when trying to access humanitarian aid from a truck, with another 760 injured. While Israel claims it was firing into the area in response to looting, witnesses say there is ample evidence that the Israeli soldiers were firing directly into the crowd. The United Nations Security Council met and debated a draft statement which would have blamed Israeli forces for “opening fire” on Palestinian civilians. The motion was supported by all members of the Security Council except one – the United States. The rest of the world sees the horror and genocide in the West Bank and increasingly expresses condemnation, but our country continues to maintain an utterly untenable middle ground.

In response, the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem (which includes Archbishop Hosam Naoum, the leader of my own church in Jerusalem) has published a statement describing the Feb. 29 incident as a “wanton attack,” calling for an immediate ceasefire to enable humanitarian relief, and condemning violence against civilians.

I still hope that I will be able to lead that pilgrimage next summer. (If you might be interested in coming, you can see more details online at http://sjegh.com/pilgrim). If we do go, we will spend time with the Anglican Cathedral and its mission of peacemaking in the region. The current state is wholly untenable, and I cannot imagine it continuing. Something must change. I hope to see that change.

Unfortunately, nothing will change until you and I speak up – no matter our political allegiances – and speak up, insisting that we can no longer support the actions of Israel in response to terrorism. Terrorism is wrong, absolutely, but to answer it with genocide and settlement expansion only escalates the wrong and does nothing to promote healing and a future for all those who call this land holy.

The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.

The stretching experience of Lent

Below is my column in today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune.

Linguistics and the development of languages are subjects that have long interested me. As I studied Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew in college, eventually minoring in both languages, I was fascinated by the way that translation is an imperfect art, how some words cannot be fully translated with the same sense of meaning conveyed in the original languages.

As I continued to study, I also learned how the development of the English language carries many of the same intricacies of meaning. Next week, Wednesday, Feb. 14, most Christians around the world will begin their observance of the Season of Lent.

In most Romance languages, the season is known by some variation of the Latin term Quadragesima, which means fortieth (as in the 40 days before the celebrations of Easter). So, for example, in Spanish the word for Lent is Cuaresma, or in French it is Carême. However, in English we took a different approach to the season. The English word Lent comes from the Old English word lencten, which is related to our current English word “lengthen.” This word lencten was the word used to denote the spring season in Old English because this is the time during which the days noticeably begin to lengthen once more (a change even more noticeable in the British Isles than farther south in Continental Europe). Eventually, it also passed over into the spring liturgical season we now call Lent.

I have long loved this idea that Lent is a season to lengthen, particularly since I developed an appreciation for the importance of yoga and core exercises to maintain a healthy body. To see Lent as a season to lengthen can entirely change the way we might approach the Season of Lent as well. Instead of seeing Lent as a dour season we suffer through, feeling rather bad about ourselves and trying (often unsuccessfully) to use disciplines to mortify the flesh. What if we saw Lent as a time to stretch spiritually? How might that change the way we approach the season?

Take the question of Lenten disciplines, practices you take on or joys you give up during the 40 days. For example, I often abstain from alcohol during Lent. If I view this as a lengthening, a stretching, habit, I’m invited to let this be an exercise in health, stretching past my temptation to reach for a drink at the end of the long day so that I might instead reach elsewhere – toward my family, time spent with friends, or even just a hot cup of tea. Similarly, another good Lenten discipline in the Episcopal Church is to take up one of the Daily Offices (this is particularly given a resource put out by Forward Movement, available at prayer.forwardmovement.org or on your smart device using the “Day by Day” app). While I pray morning prayer each day in the church, Monday through Thursday, at around 9 a.m. (anyone can join me!), I often have found that praying the night prayers of Compline during Lent stretches me spiritually. It reconnects me to God at the end of the day, as I reflect upon what has happened, where I could have done better, and entrust myself to God’s loving care.

And with all of the anger and frustration that is still boiling in Ottawa County, I think this year’s Lent is a good opportunity for any Christian to ask what it might mean to stretch your own understanding of those with whom you disagree. What would it look like to “drop the content” of the argument (just for a moment, as therapists often encourage couples) and get curious about the emotions, the fears and values and even hopes that animate the rhetoric?

For example, if you are a Christian who is fundamentally opposed to Christians like those in my church who will be putting on the second annual Pride Festival this year, might you ask what it feels like to be a queer person of faith in this community? I know you think that people like me are reading the Bible through a cultural lens – but what if the actual cultural lens was the more conservative view, an older understanding of sex and gender that we now know scientifically is fundamentally different than what ancient people understood.

After all, as I told someone who was asking questions about this in my office a few weeks ago, in the end, there are only six verses in the entire Bible that might deal with these questions (and even there, scholarship increasingly casts doubt upon many of those interpretations – you can see more that I’ve written on that online at sjegh.com/affirming essays). On the other hand, there are more than 2,000 verses in Scripture about caring for the stranger (better translated immigrant) orphan, widowed, and impoverished among us. Why aren’t those the ones that occupy the dominant voice in “biblical” Christianity?

So, if you want to lengthen, perhaps try on some different views on sexuality and gender than those with which you were raised. Even better, go out and grab a cup of coffee with a queer Christian. You’ll probably find out you have far more in common than you think.

And lest you think I’m letting myself off the hook, I think that progressives in our community (including myself!) could also benefit by trying to stretch our own perspectives toward those with more conservative views. Could a few conversations with more conservative friends help you identify shared values and find ways to come together around those rather than trying to prove them wrong? I know that’s happened to me more than once. Sure, maybe that might not be possible at the extremes … but I have a hunch there are more shared commitments than many of us realize.

So, try to stretch yourself this season, no matter where you find yourself spiritually or politically. And if you’ve sort of lost touch with church in the years following the pandemic, this is a great time to reconnect. After all, stretching in community is best, because then there is someone to catch you when you fall.

The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.

Competing celebrations of January 6: Insurrection or Epiphany

Below is my column in today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune.

The other day, I read somewhere in social media that January 6 has become a “high holy day” for those on the far-right of our country who praise the patriotism of the Capitol Insurrection that occurred three years ago on Jan. 6, 2021.

I was surprised to read that because the author clearly didn’t know that January 6 is already a high holy day – in the Christian religion at least. Coming after the Twelve Days of Christmas (which run from December 25 to January 5), we arrive on January 6 to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

Though it is often neglected in contemporary Christianity, the Feast of the Epiphany is actually more ancient than the other incarnational feast, that of Christmas. There are references to Epiphany as a celebration of Christ’s baptism as early as the second century. By the fourth century, it had become a mainstream practice in Christianity. It was in the late fourth century that the celebration of Christ’s birth on Christmas Day began to be celebrated. Christmas didn’t fully overshadow Epiphany until the early middle ages.

Originally, Epiphany on January 6 was a double celebration. It was both a celebration of Christ’s birth, but also of his baptism in the Jordan river. You can see that in the way the feast is celebrated in Christianity. In western Christianity, Epiphany has developed primarily as a commemoration of the visit of the magi to the Christ Child. (This is why many nativity scenes in churches don’t have magi when you come on Christmas – but if you look around, you can often find them hidden on windowsills, making their way as the follow the star in the east). In eastern Christianity, the emphasis of the Epiphany is still the celebration of Christ’s baptism, where the heavens broke open and Christ was declared the beloved son of God.

In my own Anglican tradition of Christianity, always eager to embrace the middle way, we celebrate the magi on January 6 and the baptism on the following Sunday after January 6. Indeed, you’re welcome to join us for the Epiphany celebrations on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. It’s a small but solemn chanted service which includes incense (one of the gifts of the magi). And then the next day, on January 7, we will celebrate the Feast of Christ’s Baptism at our 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. liturgy.

Three years ago, when I was finalizing my own preparations for the evening’s Epiphany celebrations, I was sitting at my computer when news started appearing that the rally then-president Trump was holding to protest the election had transformed into an assault and invasion on the Capitol building. I led online prayers, using the great litany and supplication in our prayer book (an ancient rite intended for use especially in times of war, or of national anxiety, or of disaster)

One of the most painful parts of the experience for me, as a Christian and priest, was the numerous symbols of Christianity that were scattered throughout the invading crowd. To see people joining hands in a prayer circle while others in the same group assaulted police officers was shocking. A new Washington Post–University of Maryland poll has indicated that while most Americans have not bought into the revised narrative of the Insurrection that President Trump has sought to spin, fewer Republicans now believe those who stormed the Capitol were mostly violent or that Trump bears responsibility for the events. This is not true throughout the Republican party as polls also indicate that a majority of Republicans believe punishments for those who participated in the insurrection have either been fair (37 percent) or not harsh enough (17 percent).

And while January 6 will likely live in infamy as a stain upon our country for most Americans, I do hope that the idea of it being a day to celebrate will certainly fade away soon. This is particular true for those in our country who are followers of Jesus Christ. Would that Christians instead turned to the lessons of their own Christian holiday on January 6.

After all, on the Epiphany we celebrate that the first people outside of Israel to witness and worship Christ were not Jews from another country, but were pagan astrologers from Persia! Epiphany is about how in Christ the light and love of God has been spread abroad to all people, it is no longer the property of the few or the chosen. And after the magi visit, of course, they have to return home by another way because King Herod is worried that the Christ Child is a threat to his own political power.

And so, on Epiphany, we have the all-embracing light of God celebrated, even as the political and religious powers of this world use violence to maintain control. Perhaps that truth can be a reminder to

Christians everywhere to be wary of those who cling to political power, who will use violence and intimidation to achieve their ends. Instead, those who choose to follow the Prince of Peace know that true change comes through the power of love unleashed in a broken world. And it is the light of that love that should draw us to worship – but also to be those who work peacefully and yet with passion and conviction so that this love, peace, and justice can be a reality for every human being in this world.

The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.