Why I'm going to Christ at the Checkpoint 2024
Why am I going to Christ at the Checkpoint (CATC) 2024? On the one hand, this is a simple question to answer. I’m going to CATC because I have accepted the invitation to journey to the other side of the wall to stand in solidarity with Palestinians.
On the other hand, the answer requires a bit of personal history. Just over two years ago, if anyone asked me about my opinion on Israel and Palestine, I would not have had an answer. I had no opinion. I didn’t grow up with a specific theology connected to the land or the Jewish people, and I wasn’t interested in the region’s politics. I had a sense that the area was dangerous, but nothing more concrete than that.
As part of my MA in Theology and Culture at St. Stephen’s University, I had the opportunity to visit the region twice in a span of two months. The first trip was mostly spent in Israel on a fairly traditional Holy Land pilgrimage. In contrast, the second trip was primarily spent in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), studying at the Bethlehem Institute of Peace and Justice at Bethlehem Bible College. Those studies culminated with attending Christ at the Checkpoint 2022.
My experiences in the OPT two years ago changed my life. While there, I was challenged by Palestinian Christians to not just come and see but to go and tell. I have tried to take that challenge seriously. Since then, I have dedicated much of my life to researching Palestinian Christianity and to raising awareness for those who are like I was and know next to nothing about the ongoing, decades-long injustices happening in Palestine.
So, why am I going to Christ at the Checkpoint? Beyond standing in solidarity with Palestinians in these dark days, I believe that this event has the power to change lives, just as it did mine. This time, my wife and one of my children are coming with me. I pray that a passion will be ignited in them, just as it was in me, to “come and see, and go and tell.”
