Man stands on rubble including a bombed out car in Bethlehem.

Spiritual Peacemaking

Can We Live It?

By Rev. Wanda Gail Campbell (Guest Author)

I’ve found there is widespread misperception regarding spiritual peacemaking. Most people presume that it means one goes out into the world and creates peace where pandemonium seems paramount. Nope-Nooooo way!  According to the teachings from an ancient lineage of peace emissaries, a true spiritual peacemaker learns to reveal peace where it is hidden.

So, where is it hidden? is almost an automatic query. The answer lies within ones own heart as it is truly the only place peace can exist. The world is a mirror for each of us (a teaching of New Thought) and peace can not be observed outside until peace is accepted inside. The challenge, then, becomes to sustain inner peace irrespective of anything that happens externally. Sounds great as rhetoric, right? Living it, of course, is the test.

What better way to practice peace than to visit one of the worlds most conflicted hot spots - the Middle East? I decided to dive in as a living spiritual peacemaker and go to Israel with approximately 60 other like-minded people from around the world. We gathered there to explore spiritual peacemaking first hand and to hopefully receive some auspicious lessons from our leader, James (Jimmy) Twyman. Jimmy is an internationally known figure appropriately dubbed Peace Troubadour. He got his nickname traveling to war zones to successfully hold peace concerts. In fact, we planned a worldwide web peace vigil during our visit to the Holy Land.

Before the scheduled peace vigil we had many places to visit within the old city of Jerusalem and beyond, including the Church of the Nativity, reputed birthplace of history’s greatest spiritual peacemaker, Jeshua/Jesus in Bethlehem. At first we were told that due to unfortunate timing (Yassar Arafat’s death) we would not be allowed to visit Bethlehem at all. This news did not disturb our peaceful hearts as we subscribe to the idea that our thoughts create our experiences and we trust that what is best will happen regardless of our “plans”. We determined to make the effort anyway.

On the actual day of Arafat’s funeral, we trustingly boarded the bus for Bethlehem.  We knew there would be armed guards at specific checkpoints and expected that since our intentions were pure, we would be cleared. First, we would visit Hope Flowers School, a place where Muslim and Jewish children learn conflict resolution and world harmony in conjunction with the traditional educational curriculum.  We planned to leave donated school supplies and monetary contributions then go on the famous church.

Upon arriving at the first checkpoint, the bus was boarded by two Israeli guards - men young enough to be the children of many in our group.  Total silence in a busload of 60ish people was a new and sobering experience for me! The guards appeared a bit stern as they requested, in broken English, to see passports - yes, everyone’s passport. (I guess you can’t be too careful as terrorists might be lurking about in a busload of international characters.) About five rows into the check, Dave, a man from California honestly confessed, “I don’t have my passport with me . . .”   The guard did not look very accepting but before he could respond, Dave whipped out his wallet and said, “Will my American Express card do?” At this point the guard cracked a grin and chuckled. There followed soft laughter and silent sighs of relief around the bus. Before they cleared us through the checkpoint, they asked if we would take pictures of them. Of course we did! We also had a reality check on how challenging it can be to sustain inner peace around people officially designated as peacekeepers sporting submachine guns.

We visited the school walking passed the rubble heap of a bombed out car and the remains of a house bombed within a stone’s throw of the school. Just to think of children living with such reminders day to day could quickly disturb a peaceful heart.

Subsequently, we moved on to disembark in downtown Bethlehem near the Church of the Nativity. We were met by a troop of Palestinian soldiers who said the church was closed to outsiders today - again, due to the funeral. We perused the courtyard and got a short history lesson from George, our constant Israeli guide. Meanwhile, Lucy, who had family-friend connections to one of the church’s resident priests, inquired about him. Suddenly, and seemingly miraculously, we were all invited in through the back door of the church. We were shown the area underground where the infant Jesus was said to have been born. Even though it was early November, we reverently sang Christmas carols in the manger area while Friday mass was conducted in the sanctuary above us. We also chanted peace prayers from around the world. It was, indeed, a holy night and peace never seemed as present as in that sacred moment.

As the afternoon waned, some ventured outside to chat with the Palestinians and accepted the invitation to peer over a stone wall in time to see Arafat’s actual funeral procession. As spiritual peacemakers, we were attuned to the grief experienced in Palestine over the loss of a significant leader and felt the underlying excitement of new peace possibilities as two nations moved towards deeper understanding of ways to live in harmony.