The Transcendent Power of Story

David Lamarre-Vincent

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

What does a career diplomat in Vienna, bus driver in Jerusalem, poor Palestinian homeowner and tour guide have in common? They all ask that American visitors listen to their stories, witness with their eyes and feel with their hearts the reality of life in the Holy Land, then return to the U.S. and simply tell their stories.

No where in the U.S. media does one have the opportunity to find the lived reality of Israeli and Palestinian life. It is not newsworthy. At most one hears of the geopolitics of heads of state and maneuverings in reality and rhetoric.

I came to simply witness the grassroots stories of Israel and Palestine. In only a day themes have merged from a small number of people.

The Security Barrier / Wall of Separation has an overwhelming visceral reality. So also is the moving feeling of standing in the courtyard of a family whose threatened with dispossession as the mother tells her story to young adults from around the world. In virtually the same words, all the regular people we have met simply request that U.S. guests tell their story.

The diplomat, bus driver, home owner all express equal powerlessness over their lives except the power of telling their story, having that story carried and told and retold.

Peace in the Holy Land is both near and far away.  It is far away from Oslo Accords, Camp David Peace Process and U.N. resolutions. It is as near as people meeting people and telling the truth of their lives in stories. The man from Nazareth two thousand years ago taught through stories. His Father taught through reconciling redemptive action in His son’s life, death and resurrection. The transcendent story continues to be told in the words and lives of simple people in the Holy Land seeking a way to peace and dignity in their lives.