Perhaps A Small Explanation Is In Order

As part of the course which is the basis for this trip, I will need to keep a journal of my experiences and observations during my travels. I’d been contemplating this blog as a way to fulfill that requirement in a user-friendly format and also share the unfolding journey with any interested persons. The first hurdle (of course) was to come up with an appropriate blog title – so I polled several friends and family members for suggestions before ignoring them completely and going with the catchy phrase you see above.

The thing is, we will be traveling not in order to “walk in the steps of the Savior” (though we will walk the Via Delarosa, explore Jerusalem and climb the Mount of Olives). This is not an exploration of the past (though we will visit the Western Wall and the area where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered). This trip is specifically designed to give seminary students a “real life” on the ground understanding of the cultural and political challenges to the peace process between Israel and Palestine. We will be visiting refugee camps and West Bank settlements and ascending the Golan Heights, talking with Jews and Muslims and Christians in a variety of settings. We’ll learn about Jewish-Arab cooperation on GLBTQ issues, and about the “security wall” which has split the countryside.

I may be old enough to remember the Camp David Accords and the Road Map to Peace and several other bits of old political rhetoric – but it seems to me that this puzzle has no clear answers or persuasive sound bites. I’d like to see a lasting, just and equitable peace descend on the Middle East (and the rest of us, thank you very much); but it feels as though we’re searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack, except that haystack has been spread across the dark side of the moon and our space suits are leaking air fast. Until someone brilliant comes along and does something magical, we’re just groping along and hoping for a miracle.