Jews, Conflict and Culture-Carl Moeller

It is hard to describe the tension in the air and in the spirits of Americans at the time of this broadcast. After three months we were tiring of the shutdown caused by the virus called Corona, perhaps even more tired of the endless pundits discussing reopening the country, when the air got sucked out of the room by the senseless murder of George Floyd on May 25 and then the protests turned to riots and the pundits kept going and going and I’m tired even describing it. It’s been painful.I’ve really have had to focus to keep myself from losing my serenity during this time. How easy it would be to get wound up over big issues of which I have no control. People I talk to all have a lot of opinions about the virus, about race, about authorities and bias as virtue signaling has taken over Facebook, family groups and almost all public discourse. I’m tired, but it got me thinking.What would it be like if this stress didn’t go away? What would it be like to live daily under conditions where events outside of your control might impose at any moment in dramatic ways? As I often do, I went to the Bible and soon I was thinking about that land where so much of Bible played out. In my lifetime, I can’t think of a place more synonymous with conflict and stress and charges of bigotry and bias and international virtue signaling than the Middle East. One might even think that “Powder Keg” is defined as the number one adjective for Middle East.So lets calm things down, if you are following my clear train of thought (virus, shut down, pundits, George Floyd, Middle East), now let’s add church into the equation. If you grew up in a Church you probably heard some teaching about Israel and some attempt to apply that to the modern day. Some churches are just go-go Israel, the Jews are God’s people and we need to stand behind them not matter what. God said so. It’s in the Bible.Other churches find the connection between modern Israel and Ancient Israel a stretch at best and have far more empathy for the causes of the Palestinians. But know this, no matter what you heard emphasized, it probably didn’t come with a lot of flexibility toward the other viewpoint.But let’s get more personal yet. If you came from a churched family, What were you told about Jews growing up? And then in the news, in the very back pages, at the very bottom was an announcement which you may have overlooked. The Joshua Fund hired a new Executive Director. Paul, I bet you missed it. Well you may not know that guy or The Joshua Fund and we are going to correct that right now.Welcome Dr. Carl Moeller to Church Hurts And.churchhurtsand.org