Monthly Archives: August 2024

The Berlin State Assembly recently passed a measure to outlaw the use of an inverted red triangle. Maybe you’re aware of this. For me, so much of the world still causes me to say, “I had no idea!” 

Of course the red triangle is used to sell all sorts of products from the satisfying Bass Ale to questionable Guess jeans. Historically, Nazis used a red triangle patch to identify political prisoners, communists in particular. Following WW II, it became a symbol of having defied and survived concentration camps. 

In recent months, it’s gone from a Hamas military targeting tool to a broadly used symbol of support for Palestinians. 

As the German interior ministry ponders a nationwide ban, I’m wondering about the nature of symbols, their evolution, their intended and unintended consequences. 

Certainly no one person gets to determine what a symbol means, but I want a red triangle to signal my wish that no more babies, moms, journalists and other non-combatants have to die in Gaza. I don’t want it to mean hating Jews or targeting Jews. I’m convinced that desiring the former things does not automatically imply the latter. I don’t, in fact, wish ill on any Jews. 

Further, I want a red triangle by my name to encompass the conviction that, yes, the Jews of Israel have a right to defend themselves. But at the same time, the Arabs living in Gaza and the West Bank do not merit extinction. Before they are anyone’s enemies, they are God’s people, designed for his glory.

And here’s the connection that has gutted me today: I’m a tax-paying citizen of the country who has, more than any other, supplied the bombs and bullets to wipe those people off the planet. 

Somewhere right now, an American businessman is wrapping up a fine vacation on a very fine boat that was purchased with the revenue of weapons sold to Israel. Pardon me if I’m tempted to spray paint a red triangle on his hull. 

PS: I said above that I wish ill on no Jew. I do, however, wish Benjamin Netanyahu would lose his role as Israeli prime minister and he’d likely see that as a set back. 

Does death feel nearby for you today? If you’re dealing with a recent or impending death, whether a plant, a puppy or a grandparent, I’m sorry. Death can be brutal. And if it’s your own: Ah, may God give you sense of his nearness. 

When I’m not in the midst of it, I find it fascinating how we deal with death and the dead. We follow the blend of rules and customs, faith and culture we’ve generally agreed on. How does that compare to Muslims around us?

How Muslims deal with death and the dead

• The customs and rituals of death for Muslims tend to be handled more by family and community than by professionals, as they are for many of us.
• Ghusl Mayyit, the ritual cleaning and shrouding of a dead body, is usually carried out by family members who are the same sex as the person who has died. It involves washing. . . in a specific way while maintaining privacy and dignity.
• Ideally, the shrouded body is placed directly in the earth. While most U.S. states do not require a casket or vault, many cemeteries do, making the direct burial value a challenge to keep. Cremation is not endorsed.
• Given that bodies are not embalmed, burial is desired within 24 hours of death.
• While customs vary widely, excessive mourning is generally frowned upon. Because Islamic convictions hold that the end of life on Earth is not the end, wailing and crying can be seen as a lack of faith. 

My friend is leading a memorial service tomorrow. He’ll lean heavily on Paul’s words in I Thess. 4, reminding the mourners that in Jesus, we do “not grieve as others do who have no hope.” 

As a Muslim looks at the grave, there is hope, but it is tenuous. In some schools of thought the grave grows pleasant and comfortable for those who’ve lived well, but increasingly painful and constricting for those who failed to do so. 

Yeah, death is brutal. 

For much of the top half of the planet, these present days mark the return to school. Kids from California to Kamchatka bid a fond adieu to fun, freedom and non-school food. 

They trade the joys of summer for the challenges of school, including sometimes being and other times welcoming new kids. 

Some of those new kids in some of those schools will be Muslim. And some of those will have all of the standard new kid vibes plus they’ll be wearing a hijab or bearing a very non-Jaden/Braden/Caden name. 

If you’re reading this as it drops and your nearby school starts on Monday like it does for my tribe, you’ve got a couple of days to maybe make a difference. If kids owe you respect because you’re way older than them, attention because you’re their teacher or maybe money because you feed and house them, gather them around you. (An open bag of Sour Patch Kids is great bait for my munchkins.) 

Tell them it’s possible there will be a new student or two at their school who is Muslim. You may mention Muslims follow a different faith, but we have some things in common. Share that some students will be weirded out by Muslim kids, but you’d like them to remember this: 

Muslim kids are lit! (They’ll know “lit” is a good thing, even it it isn’t part of your everyday vocabulary.) Proceed to work the acronym: 

L: Loved by God. 

I: Insecure. Of course not all are, but since most kids are insecure the first few days of school, the likelihood is high! Plus the extra stuff.

T: Terrific. You don’t need to be afraid of them. In fact, they might become a really good friend for you and you for them. 

If it’s in your authority to do so, tell them you’ll give them a whole bag of Sour Patch Kids if they set up a play date in the first week of school! 

Feel free to pass this idea along. Cut and paste in your bulletin or post it on the church Facebook page. 

It’s a tough time to be a Christian, love Jesus and love Muslims. 

There’s pressure to support Israel without question, regardless of its actions. There’s pressure to commit to (almost?) any ends in opposition to abortion and immigration. And if you dip into social media, the algorithms will quickly turn the apparent fight up to 11! 

If it’s tough for you, but you’re trying today, thank you. Hang in there. Here are three things that help me: 

1. Throw a ball for a dog. 
2. Marinate in Psalms that admit things are a mess, but God’s got it. Psalm 16, 18 and the ever-popular 46 are good starters. 
3. Ask good and thoughtful questions; of yourself, God and others. 

I don’t know how “good and thoughtful” a question this is, but I’m wondering if Muslims in the U.S. will rally to Kamala Harris. 

Arab-Americans provided instrumental support to President Biden in his push to the White House. His policies on the war in Gaza have now alienated many, calling into question the impact their voices will have on the upcoming election. 

Now they’re waiting to see what stance Harris will take. Will she continue the current party line relative to Israel or will she make an effort to differentiate from her boss’s approach? 

This might be a good question to sensitively pose to a Muslim friend. Let’s keep aware though that many Muslims will have a more deeply emotional connection to the conflict than many Christians. For us, it’s more likely a theological question. For them, it could literally be a family issue. 

As we watch this unfold, let’s join together in asking God that the war in Gaza, which daily threatens to expand, would come to a quick and just conclusion.

Ps. 46.10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations;
I am exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.