No Kneading Necessary

I’ve enjoyed baking for as long as I can remember. Since I was little I would watch my mom cook, I would read cookbooks, and I would try my own inventions in the kitchen. I clearly remember watching her knead dough for bread, rolls, and pizza crust. She would show me just how to fold and press, using the heel of my hand. Fold again, 90 degree turn, press again.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post called Kneading Perspective. In short, I said that my perspective on what’s happening here in the region is like a lump of dough that has been mixed but not kneaded. If I “put it in the oven” early it would come out dense and flat – edible, but not ideal.

Today I stopped by the bakery across from our house to pick up some bread dough – a couple of pounds for a quarter. As I came home and portioned it out to freeze, I couldn’t help but think: This is so easy. And cheap. No kneading necessary. Granted, it’s not the best dough. The small bakery uses it for their basic flatbreads. It’s a simple mixture made with water, flour, yeast, and oil – nothing special. It’s not like the bread I make at home.

My host country is seated in the midst of a lot of conflict. People murmured when Da’esh (the Arabic acronym for the group that recently invaded Iraq) gained a voice in the region. I was comfortable asking people for their opinions on the topic, because, even though the conflict is close in proximity, most people weren’t personally affected by it. However, the current escalation of conflict between Hamas and Israel is a different story. Close to 50% of my neighbors are of Palestinian descent. This conflict is close to home – closer, in fact, than the very homes they live in here.

Arab culture is saturated with historical thinking – perhaps not ancient history, but the history that their parents and grandparents lived. For my neighbors, two dates bear the blame for all of the current conflict: 1948 and 1967. I don’t intend to give a history lesson, so I’ll let my readers discover on their own how a million Palestinians (both Christian and Muslim) where affected those two years.

I’ve struggled over and over the last few weeks to come to a “bottom line” on the conflict that is happening. Most (if not all) media sources only acknowledge one side of the story – portraying one group as the victim and the other as the unjust attacker. Granted, both sides of the story are out there, they’re just not coming from any one source.

I feel more and more like that lump of dough. When I read an article and my perspective is pressed and folded. Then I hear someone’s life story and the lump of dough is turned 90 degrees, pressed, and folded from the other side. One side says, We have to look at who started this whole mess. The other side says, It’s more important who will end it. Both sides reluctantly acknowledge that there’s not really a solution. And my heart is tired of being kneaded. I wish I could just embrace pre-kneaded perspective like I can buy pre-kneaded dough just outside of my house. But somehow I know that this process is still important for me.

“What do you think of what’s going on in Gaza?” asked my taxi driver today, after he realized that I could converse in Arabic. I responded with a generic, yet genuine, answer: “It’s very difficult, and it’s very sad. What do you think?” He didn’t say anything that I hadn’t heard before. We entered my neighborhood, and I knew my time was short.

“I think,” I told him, “there is only one solution.” He looked at me in his rearview mirror, waiting for an answer, so I continued. “The only solution is love for enemies and forgiveness.”

“Yes…” he said, “…but that’s very difficult.”

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:27-31

Let’s commit to prayer – that both Israelis and Palestinians will meet the Master who calls them to do the impossible. Let’s commit to being peacemakers through our intercession and loving words rather than attacking one side or the other. Let’s recognize that we, too, are called to love our enemies – and as Believers we have the Spirit of Him who said with His last breath, Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing…