Thoughts from Beverly Good

BEVERLY GOOD TAKES PART IN ISRAEL SUMMER SEMINAR

Beverly Good, one of our pastoral associates, was privileged to participate in an interfaith group’s study tour of Israel from July 26 through August 2^nd. The Tour, sponsored and underwritten by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, gathered religious leaders from several communities to savor some of the most ancient sites in Israel and to listen and learn from many perspectives about the challenges and opportunities facing contemporary Israel. Among the participants, were the following leaders who joined Beverly from Lexington: Rev. Paul Schupe from Hancock Church, UCC, Rev. Sally Thacher from Pilgrim Church, UCC, Pastor Bryan and Karen Wilkerson from Grace Chapel and Rabbi David Lerner from Temple Emunah. Also enjoying the experience were three priests from the Archdiocese: Fr. John MacInnis, Fr. James O’Driscoll and Fr. Sean Maher. We asked Beverly to share some “highlights” of the trip…

When I accepted the chance to go to Israel, I thought that the trip’s strongest effect on me would be that when I heard of geographical places in Scripture, my eyes would get that special light I often see in the eyes of those who’ve been there. And, surely, that has happened to me. Now, when I hear (or read) the Scriptures, I can picture the Lake of Tiberias, the Mount of Beatitudes, the Sea of Galilee. We stopped at the Mt. Scopus Promenade on entering into Jerusalem to recite a traditional blessing as we looked over the city. We visited Old Jerusalem, both the Jewish Quarter and the Christian Quarter. We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and prayed the Stations on the Via Dolorosa. We went to the Western Wall, and prayed there. Many of us prayed Shabbat, and then all of us celebrated Shabbat dinner with rabinnical students from the US. A whole morning at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum—not long enough! And, yes, those places were amazing, and being there with a group so diverse (Rabbi Bill Hamilton said he admired “How faith dances in all of you.”) was a lovely, long exercise in good listening and respectful truth-speaking.

The surprise for me, though, was in the people we met in Israel, and the amazing stories they shared with us. When we went to Misgav Am, a northern Israel kibbutz and army outpost, we met Ari, from Cleveland, who fought in six wars. As we looked over the border to southern Lebanon, he told us his story. As did Nadia Ismail, a Muslim Israeli citizen; Col. Benzi Gruber, deputy commander in the Israeli army; two young men, one Arab, one Israeli, who are both executive directors of One Voice, a group that advocates for peace, and a husband and wife journalist team from America. They all spoke from their own reality, and our group heard each one’s truth. But, the stories don’t always match up. What one person (or group) sees as aggression, the other names self-defense. I am convinced it is in the telling of the narratives that people can come to awareness of the larger picture. Since we’ve come home, face-to-face meetings have been scheduled to work toward peace. Remarkable! May God bless these efforts in marvelous ways!