I like Catholic television.  If you have cable (which I don’t, but most of my pet sitting clients do!), you’ve probably breezed by it while “flipping”.  I like some of the programming—especially the new music showcase and the reruns of Mother Angelica and the nuns reciting the Holy Rosary.  So I turned to it while watching TV the other day, and instead of the usual programming I’m used to, there was a televised church service being led by John Hagee.You know from a previous blog how I feel about this individual, so I won’t go into that again.  Nevertheless, he was still able to surprise me with his words.  He was preaching about Christians and Jews.  At first I thought this would be good—the church doesn’t have a good history (in my opinion) of reaching out to the Jewish people.  I saw an example of this recently—Alan and I were attending the local Jewish festival.  As we were parking, we saw a guy protesting the celebration; he had a sign that read The Jews killed Jesus.  I was so embarrassed—ideas like that seem to ignore the fact that Jesus himself was a Jew.  But this wasn’t exactly the essence of Hagee’s message—he did address, briefly, the problem of Christian anti-Semitism.  But his real point was about uniting with the Nation of Israel—quite different from recognizing a shared history with the Jews as a people.  His motivation was political.  He is part of a movement called Christians United for Israel.  He was preaching at a church on Capital Hill, with the goal of raising the government’s awareness of this group.  He called for pre-emptive strikes on Iran, as they are a sworn enemy of Israel.  He led the audience in a chant about supporting Israel, and pronounced diplomacy efforts with nations like Iran “brain-dead”.  He called upon Christians and Jews to unite against radical Islam, and called moderate Muslims “silent” against their radical counterparts.  I found all this rhetoric humorous—does Hagee not realize that he, too, is a radical?  Does he not see that he is promoting war, alliances against “enemies”, and nationalism—much as radicals of other faiths do?Finally, he pointed out that we must support Israel if we desire God’s blessings.  Ah…the real reason for uniting.  Not because he loves Jews (I’m sure he does, though), but because he wants something as a result of that relationship.  That’s like entering into a relationship with Jesus to save yourself from “hell”.  It seems so disingenuous.My real concern is the call for war, however.  And in light of wanting God’s blessings, I’d think Hagee would pay more attention to Jesus’ instructions about this kind of thing.  Did Christ not say, “blessed are the peacemakers”?  I think he did.  In fact, he said “you’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight” (Matthew 5, The Message).  Should Christians and Jews unite?  Of course—but it shouldn’t end there.  All people of all faiths should unite, find our commonalities as humans, and work for peace.  Only then will we begin to realize the many blessings God has given us.

Hillel will be gathered downtown near highly traveled areas collecting items to recycle.  Dress warmly and comfortable as it will likely be cold and we will be there for a while.  Exact location may change, and we’ll meet before hand to travel together downtown.  Let us know if you’re interested!

Join us for worship in Fancy Gap Virginia for worship with Fancy Gap Friends Fellowship!  We’ll meet beforehand  around 9AM at Alan & April’s place and combine transportation.  Let us know if you’re interested!

Worship with the Hillel gang!  7PM at April and Alan’s House!

Join us for Worship at Alan and April’s House!