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Christ's Reconciliaion—
Dare We Live It?
A Question for the Children of Abraham
in the Middle East
by Najla Kassab
Religion in a War Context
My two daughters woke up in the middle of the night frightened by the loud noises that interrupted our sleep. We were at home alone while my husband was traveling. “Mum, who would play with fireworks at this time?” asked the younger child. I stayed silent and tried to calm my fear so the girls would not be afraid. This was the first time my children experienced such a loud noise, aside from celebrations. We rushed into a safe room in our house and I tried to calm them. “It is OK,” I said. “Just wait and things will be fine.” But the sound continued and we had to carry our mattresses to the corridor and stay the night there. Next morning things were calm and the children, who kept insisting on knowing who interrupted our night, went to school and came home with a new piece of information. “It is the Jews,” the older one said. “My friends at school said that Israel is the one who did this.” The story we tried to keep from our two daughters was revealed to them.
We had been hoping that our children would not have to go through what we had to go through as children of war. We have tried for a few years to keep our children from the news, the violence and the prejudices that war brings to the life of children, but we failed. With one incident—Israel bombing the electrical plant in Beirut—it all changed. My older daughter started to ask questions about how far Israel is from Beirut: Did we think they will do this again? How can we be sure this will not happen again? At a time when we were hoping that peace would be achieved and our children would have the chance to enjoy peace and reconciliation, one incident spoiled their innocence and invited our young ones to start formulating prejudices. One single incident was enough to build walls of fear, suspicion and judgment.
Unfortunately, encountering other religions in the Middle East is wrapped in a war context that hinders a clear understanding of those religions. Despite having no contact with Jews in our daily life and growing up with Muslims, still, preformed ideas about other religions creep into our homes through daily stories
of war.
Jesus' Example of Reconciliation
In the midst of the prejudices that are heaped on people in the Middle East, and in the world, how is it possible to live in reconciliation among religions? How can we move away from our judgments on other religions, and from prejudgments that hinder our vision, to encounter the beauty of each religion, the beauty of another Muslim, Jew or Christian?
Najla Kassab, a graduate of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, is the first woman to be granted a preaching license in the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon. She is the director of the Christian Education Department in the synod.
In the May/June 2005 issue of Horizons, Najla answers these questions from the context of the Middle East, offering details on the steps toward reconciliation.
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