// This is a partial account of a recent conversation I had with two faithful Christians living as aliens here in the land of Israel. My name is not changed, but those here mentioned are changed so that their private identities may be protected. I tried to be the most faithful to what was talked.. just noticed on how hard it must have been for the writes of the Gospels to be faithful to what they saw and experienced. It was a long (maybe 2 hours) conversation and I had to choose the important topics that we talked about to condense it into a readable account. I am partially to blame that the conversation has a dark tone; I guess this is how I saw and interpreted the conversation though I had no intentions to distort the general mood of the talk.
// I asked both Laura and Isaac to comment on this conversation before I shared it. Laura's response was very positive with a 'great memory' comment followed by a more detailed explanation on what she meant by body of Christ; I've added to end of the post her response about the issue. Isaac's response was more like 'your memory darkened the tone of the conversation'. Though he doesn't deny that the account was faithful, he would probably add comments he made made during the missing parts of the conversation and also about positive experiences he had in the church here in Israel to defend a more hopeful view of his time here. I've also added at the end what I understood of a conversation we had after he read this text.
PART 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura: "David, have you been going to the Bible study?"
David: "No..."
Laura: "Neither have I. Are you OK?"
David: "Well.. I haven't been able to connect to church. It's a long story, but I guess the way things are conducted in the Bible study are just a reflection of the things I don't agree in the church. In the church everything seems to be about messianic this messianic that, if you are a Jew you are in, invited to all activities, if not... unless you are here to reach out for them, don't count yourself in."
Laura: "It seems to be the same thing in the catholic community.. even among the Brazilians that come to serve here they seem to have no interest in me or any other non-Arab believer in Israel."
David:" I hate this.. the church here seems to revolve around the whole Arab-Jewish dichotomy, there is nothing in between. Unfortunately I don't know what to do anymore.. actually it's not only me, I've been talking to Isaac almost every week about this and it seems that all the internationals are in some level bothered with this. You, me, Isaac, John, Michael... you name it. Ask me how many of us have been invited to have a meal at a family house after a year attending church?"
Laura: "I share the exact same feeling with the local catholic community here. Do you believe they had a Brazilian party and didn't invite me?! You know what, Isaac should join us in this conversation…"
David: "Isaac!" he says and waves "Come, join us in this conversation; we have already discussed a million times about this.. how to connect to church.. the Bible study…"
Laura: "You should join us!"
David: "Yes, Isaac, maybe this time we can come up with something."
Isaac: "No... we never come up with anything. I'm tired of this already.."
Laura: "Come on Isaac, we need your presence in this."
Isaac: "No no, I'm happy with how things are, I need to go to my office."
David: "Ya sure... you are happy. You already forgot about the account about last Sabbath? You are certainly not being successful in whatever your goal is in church."
Isaac: "I said nothing about success. What I feel is that I serve the church with my best, working, serving and being available, but I receive back a second, third class treatment. The whole thing about last week is just that, the youth was gathered and they ignored me I came bye to wave at them...
and nothing. I am doing my part, that is enough... and about the Bible study…"
Laura: "You should have seen the reaction on our dear Alfred's face when we talked about the Bible study. Pfffff…."
David: "That doesn't sound anything like you are satisfied Isaac. I'm sorry, but that is plain wrong. I don't know what is your purpose in going to church, but for me you can have the best preaching in the world that that won't fulfill its purpose. No, wait! What do you think the purpose is in going to church?"
Isaac: "It is written 'do not forsake the fellowship of the saints' and what you are doing David is not obeying this commandment. You have to come back to church.. I'm tired of saying it to you. For me I just keep believing in the promise that the gates of Hades will not prevail to the church of the Lord.
That’s it…"
David: "Laura? What do you think the purpose is?"
Laura: "If the body of Christ is not present, then the church is empty. It's not the preaching inside four walls that makes it alive, it is the communion with the body of Christ."
David: "You mean through the holly supper right?"
Laura: "Yes, that is the body of Christ"
David: "I think I agree more with you Laura, than with Isaac. But I think the communion with the body of Christ through the holly supper is empty if there is no communion with the body of Christ in the sense of the people that make his church. I prefer a church that has a weak preaching and even a
strange theology about the holly supper than one that has no communion and love among the members.."
PART 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David: "What do you mean that you don't know what happened after the prodigal son came back?"
Isaac: "It wasn't writen.." he said nodding his head "there is no way to know"
David: "I will tell you the continuation, I know how it goes..." he insisted "listen, I will tell the story, and if you don't want to believe in it, you don't need to"
Isaac: "OK" he agreed unwillingly as Laura looked without understanding
David continued: "...the prodigal son came back and was accepted at home with joy by his father. Years pass and the father dies, the eldest son takes charge of the household, he enslaves the servants and kicks away the youngest son... it's not written there, I know... it's simple to see it though, all
you have to do is look at the church. Is this not what is happening?"
Isaac sadly agrees, Laura even more in pain finds no words to disagree either.
David: "If this was not the case of what happens in the household, then why don't people like Angela, full of tattoos, with a sexually immoral life, aren't in the church? These people can't even enter a church without being judged from top to bottom.. come on, I feel bad with the way people look at each other in church!"
Isaac "OK David, I agree with you... you are right on how the story goes, I can't deny it.. but you are missing the whole mystical nature of it. The mystery of the resurrection! Does not the father resurrect latter to fix all that is wrong into right? The real question is what plot in this story do you want
to take part of? Do you want to be the part of the eldest sons that are fighting against the corruption inside the church or the ones that are corrupting it?"
David: "I am not an eldest son. I am the younger one."
Isaac nods disagreeing.
Laura: "But David! We were all raised up in the church! None of us can call ourselves prodigal sons."
David: "That is where I disagree. The true body of Christ is made of younger sons not elder ones."
Isaac: "No, but why? We are kept in the womb of the church from birth, you can't say that."
David: "We are all sinners departed from God Isaac. That's where we start, not inside the church."
Isaac: "I still think we are called to serve like the eldest son, even if unwillingly. But at the end we are all invited to the same celebration..."
David: "Who received the biggest part? The eldest or the youngest?"
Laura: "The eldest of course! He never spent his inheritance, all that belonged to the father was his!"
David: "Isaac, what do you say? Who received the biggest part?"
Isaac: "I know where you want to go with this... I still think that the right question is what God wants us to do."
David: "OK, you don't need to answer my question.. its fine, but I will nevertheless tell my answer. Who received the biggest part? The servant that was forgiven the biggest or the smallest debt? It is the same question for me.. come on you know the answer to that." David insisted
Isaac: "The youngest receives more forgiveness but the eldest more inheritance"
David: "The eldest receives no inheritance Isaac! Not until he recognizes that the true inheritance that can't be taken away from him is the title of son! It's not about the farm or the house. It's about being a son!"
Laura: "But David, we can't really tell what happened after the youngest son came back ..."
PART 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura: "We have to do something. Guys.. any idea?"
David: "I can't take the responsibility to start something all over again.. Isaac knows the stories I've gone through.. I'm not in a spiritual position to be an example for anyone"
Isaac: "No one is asking that of you David, no one will have you as an example for our faith"
David: "You say that but you, Laura and John came talk to me about the things that aren't right in the Bible study and in the church... didn't you say once 'David, you are our leader.. you cant abandon the cause'?"
Isaac: "That is different.. and Laura, I feel that God is telling me to just keep doing what I am doing.. slowly but steadily once a month.. our prayer meetings... you never know if it will bring any results"
David: "What we do here on campus isn't the matter... we can open a new church here on campus and we still will feel disconnected to the body in Israel. We will go back home after years here and say 'we have made brothers in India, Brazil and US but we have seen no believers in Israel'...
that would be a shame. We... "
Laura: "Yea, I agree with David. And from what we have talked, the same problems that you are describing in the evangelical church are happening in the catholic church. I feel this even with the Brazilians!"
Isaac: "No matter what you say.. I will keep on going to church. I see no other path to take! What else do you expect from me?"
David: "Wow Isaac, I'm sorry to say man but that was so hopeless... 'no other path to take' is not the same thing as 'the right path to take'."
Isaac: "It is hopeless... I don't see hope, I don't think things will get better in church. If you want to hear about church politics and problems inside church, then we will talk… I've seen back at home pastors bribing and killing because of politics in church... but then, what can I do!? This is all I
have, a small dim light in the corner, let me keep it shining"
Laura looks hopelessly to David and Isaac
David: "This sounds like a post-apocalyptic survival conversation. All of this is wrong…"
Laura: "We have to do something. How about we gather for communion? Just watch a movie or share true communion."
David: "I feel like we have all the tools in our hands to make this happen but it just isn't working."
Laura: "YES! We just need to keep trying."
David "Don't be naive Laura, we've been trying to use these instruments for one year. It doesn't take a year for us to learn these things... we all have experience in leading church activities. And it's not like we haven’t been gathering!"
Laura: "Then what!?"
David: "We aren't using the tools properly because people are taking them from our hands."
Laura: "That is a harsh thing to say David.. who would be doing this to us?"
David: "We are in a spiritual war Laura... we can't deny that"
Laura: "Yeeessss.. that is sooo true! Did I tell you about when I was at home? I was cooking and the fire grew so high in a way I never saw before!"
David: "I wasn't even referring to our lives, I was thinking that the front line is failing on our level because it has fallen before us by those that are above us. It feels like doing God's will for the Bible study for example would mean to confront and go against our leadership. We've talked about this before, me and Isaac, right Isaac?"
Isaac: "I don't feel under the leadership that you refer to David. I am praying on how to approach my leader on these issues, but for now I am tired. I will do the same I did before; this won't change what I was doing."
\\ Laura's comment on the body of Christ: "[its not that] the body of Christ is only the Eucharist, as it may have seemed to the reader, though what really motivates me to go to church is essentially the Eucharist, even when I don't take part in the communion, since I believe in the real presence, that is of Jesus in the Shrine, then the best place to pray is with him. That is why I say I go for Him, whatever happens beyond this, with the community are fruits."
\\ What Isaac added in a conversation with me: "what I believe that you missed out in the part that we talked about the prodigal son is that my vision is that what really matters is the will of the father... that's it, if you figure it out, just do the father's will! About my experience in the church I did make one (or maybe more) good friends in church, specifically one of the worship band members. It just seemed that the entirety of my experience in church has been a dark and lonely, you may have heard it this way, but it really wasn't in such a negative way that I said these things."
