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Like Dew in a Dry Land: Reconciliation in the Middle East

By Lisa Loden


Musalaha Ministries is the only faith-based reconciliation
ministry in Israel that intentionally brings Arab Christians
from the Palestinian territories and Gaza together with Arab
Israeli Christians and Messianic Jews.

The story of humanity’s redemption, restoration and reconciliation after sin and brokenness is the meta-narrative of scripture. It is in this context that both testaments speak of the importance God places on the unity of his redeemed people. Unity is neither an abstract doctrine nor an unattainable dream; it is the standard to which God’s diverse people are both called and empowered to live.

Like a scarlet cord, the theme of unity weaves through the Bible, culminating in Paul’s revelation of the “one new man” in the letter to the Ephesians and embodied in the multi-cultural throng from every family, tribe and tongue gathered together to worship the Lamb in Revelation 7. The brokenness caused by sin is finally healed and humanity is fully reconciled to God and to one another. One of the fruits of this reconciliation is unity.

Part of sin’s pervasive legacy is humanity’s seemingly inherent tendency to separate into warring factions. The gospel message is intended to overcome the enmity of sectarianism and division while maintaining the integrity and uniqueness of multiculturalism. As individuality is retained in the redeemed individual’s relationship with God, so is the uniqueness of diverse cultures preserved (Revelation 7:9). Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his disciples in John 17:20-23 is not a cry for uniformity, but is rather a prayer that through the harmonious relationships among the disciples, paralleling the relationships within the Godhead, God’s love would become visible to the world.

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Lisa Loden is a co-founder of the Messianic congregation Beit Asaph in Israel. From 2002-2007 she served as director of the Caspari Center for Biblical and Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. She is also chair of the local board of Christian Witness to Israel, serves on the Musalaha Reconciliation Ministries advisory board and is a member of the international board of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism. Loden has lived in Israel since 1974.