*Thankful to have been invited to a Friday Prayer Service focusing on Gaza by Muslim friends in Little Rock.
While it is true that we approach God in different ways… I think we can agree that it is evil to drop bombs on children. I think we can agree that it is evil to collapse buildings on families. I think we can agree that it is evil to create an open-air torture chamber for millions of people. I think we can agree that it is evil to withhold precious resources from hospitals. We can agree on these things because God is so much bigger than our disagreements. You see, we can all agree that God is with the suffering. I think it is important to take it a step further. I believe that the incarnation of God means that God is not just present…but is there embodied in the suffering. When those bombs began to fall on the children of Gaza, God was there. God was one of those children. When the buildings started to collapse on the families of Gaza, God was with them. God was trying to escape. When the occupiers created the open-air prison in Gaza, God was there. God was in the middle of the torture unable to breath. As hospitals run out of resources in Gaza, God is there. God is on a hospital bed begging for medicine. God is there. God is there. God is there. Which means that if we want to be where God is, then we have to find a way to be there too. God declares what you have done to the least of these you have done to me. The nature of God is presence. The nature of love is presence. Presence with the least of these. Presence with the marginalized and oppressed. Presence with the people of Gaza at this very moment. Those who do not stand with the people of Palestine…the people of Gaza…at this very moment of tremendous evil do not know love…they do not know God. I don’t care what they might claim. God is with the least of these. If anyone is still not convinced, one look at the images coming out of Gaza will tell you everything you need to know. These people in these tanks targeting hospitals…these people in planes bombing children…these people on the news declaring the righteousness of their vengeance…do not speak of God or anyone who was lost to the previous terror attacks inflicted on innocent civilians in Israel…because God stands with the least of these…those who the bombs, missiles and bullets are targeting. If you want to know God, know the suffering of the innocent…for God is always there.
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