Festival of the Resurrection, Easter Sunday

Bishop Younan’s Easter Message of Resurrection
“Sadness Transformed into Easter Hope”

They stood still, looking sad. Luke 24.17

As we have journeyed these 40 days, these Lenten meditations have been full of the sorrows and suffering of Palestinians. Bishop Younan, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church or Jordan and the Holy Land writes of suffering and of the hope. Below is an excerpt. Click here to read the entire letter….

….The resurrection news is that Jesus continues to come into our midst, walks with us, and accompanies us along our road to Emmaus. We often do not recognize the risen Jesus in the stranger who has become our companion. Jesus is there in the ones accompanying us, the young and the old, men and women, people of all nations and ethnicities, people who speak languages so

different from our own. Jesus is there in the other—the one walking with us along the road, the one listening to our stories, the one empathizing with our plight, the one lifting up our eyes to see beyond the present moment….

The good news is that Jesus continues to give us a reason to hope. “We had hoped,” we often say as if the reason for our hopes has died, as if our hopes had been nothing but a fleeting fancy, as if our hopes were blown away with the dust of the ground by the strong April winds. “We had hoped,” we say in despair, and Jesus reminds us that ours is a God of everlasting hope. Jesus directs us to the unfailing promises of God, to read the Scriptures until our hearts burn with excitement and longing, to focus on Jesus’ own teaching that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer, and to rise again, and that he lives in Jerusalem, in the whole Middle East, and to the ends of the earth.

We live in hope, no matter what our circumstances, no matter what the rumors, no matter what the media says to the contrary. We live in hope, because Jesus is alive and with us until the end of the age. We Arab Christians, who received this message of the resurrection so many years ago, now keep the hope alive from generation to generation in order to continue to transform hate and division into a living hope that we might have life, and have it abundantly. And as long as this Middle East Church continues its faithful witness, the world will have a tangible sign of the truth of the resurrection.

The resurrection revives in us the hope that emanates from the cross and the empty tomb. Not a triumphal hope, but a hope that works against the odds. If the resurrection offers us the least expected surprise, so our hope opens the window to a future of surprises full of love and dignity. This is why we continue to affirm our commitment to the two-state solution with a shared Jerusalem for Jews, Muslims, and Christians, for Israelis and Palestinians.

The good news is that Jesus continues to feed us with bread for the journey so that our eyes are opened to the needs of the world and our souls are strengthened to return to Jerusalem. We are no longer standing still, immobilized by our grief and our fears, but hastening on our journey, running with the wind at our backs. We are no longer looking sad, but filled with joy, our mourning songs turned to dancing. The good news is that Jesus has called us to be his witnesses, to proclaim with confidence that Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed.

This is the reason that the Church has a mission today. It has the calling of the resurrection. We are to run back from Emmaus to Jerusalem nourished by the Eucharist and full of hope to join with the whole community of believers. We are to run back to Jerusalem to strengthen those who are sad, who feel confusion, who are uncertain. We are to run back to Jerusalem to remind our sisters and brothers that, the more the darkness of Good Friday seems to hover still over the Middle East, the more we are convinced of the strength of resurrection. We are to continue to run back to Jerusalem to proclaim that Christ is alive in our world today, despite all the odds. He is risen indeed.

Al Masih Qam! Haqan Qam!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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Good Friday, 2012—Stations of the Cross

Good Friday, 2012—Stations of the Cross

Jesus’ way of the cross is something Palestinians know intimately. Every day in the West Bank, Gaza and in Israel, Palestinians suffer at the hands of the governing authorities—standing at the checkpoints; watching their homes being demolished; seeing their sons and daughters, brothers and husbands arrested or killed by Israeli soldiers. This is daily life for Palestinians.

Jesus is condemned to death

Palestinian children gather around the body of Hisham Saad during his funeral in the Gaza Strip, April 4, 2012. According to Palestinian medical sources, Saad was killed by Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the east of Gaza City. (Reuters/Mohammed Salem) http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=474015

Jesus accepts the cross

Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian leader arrested in 2002 for his leadership in the second intifada (the popular uprising against Israel’s occupation) is serving a prison term of five consecutive life sentences. Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery has called him the “Palestinian Mandela.” This week he was placed in solitary confinement for calling for “a large scale popular resistance” against the occupation, based on Israel’s continuing settlement-building. He said the settlements show that Israel is not an honest partner in peace negotiations. The peace process is a sham. http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/04/05/what-marwan-barghouti-really-means-to-palestinians/

Jesus falls the first time

On December 11, 2011, Mustafa Tamimi, participating in the weekly protest in his village of Nabi Saleh was shot in the face with a tear gas canister and died from his wounds. In the photo, taken by other demonstrators, Mustafa is protesting the presence of Israeli soldiers and the theft of village lands for the building of the wall. The red circles show the tear gas canister being fired by an Israeli soldier from inside the armored vehicle. http://972mag.com/mustafa-tamimi-a-murder-captured-on-camera/29459/

Jesus meets his mother

Hana Shalabi, imprisoned again in December, began a hunger strike to protest Israel’s practice of administrative detention. In this photo, her mother holds a poster supporting her. She and Hana’s father also participated in the hunger strike. Hana was released last week—not to her home and her family, but exiled to Gaza for three years. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17582868

Simon of Cyrene carries the cross

Vittorio Arigoni was one of many international activists who come to Palestine to support the popular movement against Israel’s occupation and theft of land. He had dedicated his life to Palestinian freedom and he was kidnapped and killed a year ago, in Gaza. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13088630

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Lisa teaches English at Dar al-Kalima (school) in Bethlehem, a ministry of the Christmas Lutheran Church. In the midst of suffering and humiliation that the children of Bethlehem and their families experience daily, Dar al-Kalima teaches the children skills they will be able to use as leaders of Palestine, giving them self-confidence and hope for the future.

Jesus falls the second time

Mahmoud Zakut was shot dead on March 30, in a Land Day protest of several thousand people on the Gaza border with Israel, when dozens of youths walked towards the border fence. After firing warning shots, Israeli troops opened fire on the crowd, killing Mahmoud and wounding 37 others. Watch a USA Today news report.

Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

A weekly sit-in by the families of Palestinian political prisons inside Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) http://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/in-pictures-gaza-rally-welcomes-hana-shalabi.html

Jesus falls the third time

The suffering of Palestinians is so often described in shootings, beatings, imprisonment—but daily deprivations are probably the most damaging to the people. Israel controls the importation of diesel oil to fuel the generators for Gaza’s electric power. http://www.pri.org/stories/world/middle-east/gaza-residents-granted-temporary-reprieve-from-fuel-crisis-but-shortages-still-loom-9288.html

Jesus is stripped of His garments

When Hana Shalabi was arrested in December, she reports that she was strip searched by a male Israeli soldier and an afidavit filed with her lawyer documents her humiliation. http://gazatvnews.com/2012/03/hana-shalabi-on-hunger-strike-for-22-days/

Jesus is nailed to the cross

Most every day in Palestine, someone is arrested and imprisoned by Israeli soldiers. After the prisoner exchange that released 477 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, there were still 5300 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, including 22 elected legislators. Photo: parents of Ibrahim, who was arrested in June, 2010 for throwing stones in the village of Beit Ummar.

Jesus dies on the cross

Palestinians die almost daily in the West Bank and Gaza. Juliano MerKhamis was killed April 4, 2011 http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-actor-juliano-mer-khamis-shot-dead-in-jenin-1.354044

A year later, on the anniversary of his death—The UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory called Wednesday for the murderer of Juliano Mer-Khamis to be brought to justice. "On the first anniversary of the murder," Maxwell Gaylard said he would remember Mer-Khamis as a "visionary and courageous peacemaker and a champion of culture and freedom of expression". He called "upon all concerned authorities to intensify the efforts to bring his murderers to justice." http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=473921

Jesus’ body is removed from the cross

Photo shows Hana Shalabi being treated by paramedics upon her arrival in Gaza. She was released from Israeli prison after her hunger strike. http://www.smh.com.au/world/palestinian-prisoner-released-after-hunger-strike-protest-20120402-1w8p3.html

Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered with incense

This artwork on Israel’s security wall in Bethlehem makes a statement about the link between Palestinian suffering and American ideals and values, and between Palestinian oppression and US military aid to Israel.

Holy Week Greeting from Taybeh, Palestine

[Raised in Denver, Dr. Maria Khoury returned to the family village of Taybeh, Palestine, with her husband after the Oslo Accords in 1993. They wanted to boost the economy and raise their children with centuries-old Palestinian Christian values and traditions. Today’s meditation consists of excerpts from her Holy Week greeting from Taybeh. Read the entire message on her blog.]

Reflecting upon my favorite champions of the Church is the easiest of all tasks while I am sitting in the middle of the wilderness. However, it has turned into a lifelong journey to understand these holy people of God and to even attempt to be like them in the smallest way.

As I mentioned many times, I live in a world that has other champions, and this month, the local Palestinian female hero is Hana Al-Shalaby, who has gone way beyond 35 days on hunger strike and near death to protest her unlawful kidnapping and being held in “administrative detention” by the Israeli army.

As much as I try not to be of this world but to live in this world, and survive my own strange world, the evil one continues to play with my mind. When I feel extra sorry for myself for living in the middle of nowhere, I just stare down at the Jordan Valley where St. Mary of Egypt spent more than forty years of her life seeking forgiveness from God, and I figure, if she survived having absolutely no materialist things, maybe I can somehow manage with running water only twice a week, unstable electricity, and total occupation with no freedom of movement whatsoever. I am sure we are all familiar that one must suffer to know God and to gain gifts of the holy spirit.

Since I live in the highest mountain region of Palestine, the West Bank of the Jordan River, not only do I see the Jordan Valley but so many other things like the lights shining at night from Jerusalem reminding me that Christ is the True Light of the world with the promise of eternal life. His holy resurrection took place in this holy city where ongoing bloodshed, hostility, and violence continue until this day. However, Christ always reminds us of true justice, and He always stood with the oppressed. Thus, we, as Christian people, remain peaceful and wait for a just peace.

…..Most people know the story of St. Mary of Egypt well since she walked the streets of Alexandria because she left her parents when she was twelve and sold her body for pleasure and money, but in today’s Middle East culture, she would have been a victim of honor killing for bringing shame to her family. She did not come to the Holy Land for a spiritual experience but saw pilgrims getting on the boat for the Holy Land and came just for the fun of it. Little did she know at possibly eighteen years of age that this would be the life-changing experience she never planned. If God is working in your life, I bet you are doing so many things you never planned on doing.

Did she ever think that she would be a spiritual ambassador? My children still cannot believe it, and they become adults. I remember every April 1^st the joke was, "ok, Mom, if St. Mary of Egypt is really a saint, why did the Church assign her to be remembered on April Fools’ Day?" Well, so goes the conversation again of trying to look down and see the Jordan Valley with a vision not of what we were, but of what we want to be in this lifetime and for eternity. Not sure I have taught my children to be faithful servants of God, but surely this is what St. Mary of Egypt has taught me. I do not know how she lived in the middle of no man's land without absolutely anything, but the grace of God was sufficient for her…..

May we be enlightened to recognize our Lord and Savior and partake of the Bread of Life as St. Mary of Egypt. May this holy resurrection we are about to experience at the glorious Pascha be a life-changing experience for all of us to know the truth. St. Sophronius indicated that God will work amazing miracles and generously bestow gifts on those who turn to Him with faith, who hear, read, and seek light for themselves in the story of St. Mary of Egypt, surely for me, the ultimate champion in reflecting forgiveness….

God of all grace and goodness, we thank you for your saints, who show us your way. Amen.

To Jerusalem

"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him...and kill him; and after three days he will rise." - Mark 10:32-34

Holy Week marks the beginning of an especially difficult time for Palestinian Christians living in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Traditions for this week include worship at the holy sites of Jesus’ death and resurrection and processions in Jerusalem. But permits are required to leave the West Bank--and few are granted. So Christians are separated from one another and families cannot be together for the holidays. Palm Sunday in Bethlehem.

Because Christians are a small minority of Palestinians, Americans often wonder whether Muslims discriminate against them. On March 9, the Wall Street Journal carried an Op Ed piece by Israel’s ambassador to the US Michael Oren, who claimed that Muslims are forcing Christians to leave Palestine and that Israel has been so good to Palestinian Christians that their numbers are actually increasing. The claims he made are ludicrous, as this Holy Week letter by Palestinian Christian leaders shows:

As Christian leaders in Palestine, we were appalled by the baseless allegations you published in the Wall Street Journal on March 9. Your attempt to blame the difficult reality that Palestinian Christians face on Palestinian Muslims is a shameful manipulation of the facts intended to mask the damage that Israel has done to our community.

As has been stated in our Kairos document, we Palestinian Christians declare that “the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is a sin against God and humanity because it deprives Palestinians of their basic human rights, bestowed by God.”

The Israeli occupation is the primary reason why so many members of the oldest Christian communities in the world have left the holy land, Palestine.

Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights began in 1967, the Israeli government has confiscated thousands of acres of land owned by Christian Palestinians to build settlements Israel now calls “neighborhoods.” These settlements have divided Bethlehem and Jerusalem for the first time in the two millennia since Jesus walked between these holy cities.

Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem have been hardest hit by this land grab policy.

The Israeli government has demolished the homes of hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied city and revoked the residency rights of thousands more, while promoting foreign immigration to the ever-expanding illegal settlements throughout our occupied homeland.

Your claim, Mr Oren, that the Christian population in Israel has grown is disingenuous.

In fact, the percentage of Christians in the area began to decrease in 1948 when the creation of Israel caused a large portion of the Palestinian Christian population to become refugees.

The exaggerated growth of the Christian population in Israel that you claim is due primarily to the immigration of Russian Christians whom Israel was unable to distinguish from the Jewish immigrants pouring into the country after the fall of the Soviet Union. It is not due to any accommodation for the indigenous Palestinian Christian population, which is victim to an ongoing displacement policy implemented by your government.

It is also misleading to suggest that the occupation does not dramatically affect the day-to-day lives of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Palestinian use of airspace, telecommunications, and critical resources like water are all ultimately subject to Israeli control. We cannot move between our cities or travel abroad without crossing an Israeli checkpoint.

Israel’s matrix of control has cost our economy dearly and it dramatically limits the opportunities available to our youth. In 2010 alone, the cost of the occupation to the Palestinian economy was almost $7 billion, 85 percent of our GDP.

Our Holy Bible says, "'Peace, peace' when there is no peace" (Jer. 6:14). We seek a just and lasting peace. But to achieve peace, Mr Oren, your government must recognize the reality your occupation has created.

Our reality is one of occupation, oppression and loss. We endure your government’s assault on our natural and basic right to worship and its policy of exile and division between our communities.

Contrary to your erroneous claims, we assert that Palestinians are one people enduring Israel’s relentless occupation and suffering, together, from its oppressive practices.

We are united in our conviction that we deserve to enjoy the rights to which all people are entitled. Christian and Muslim Palestinians have struggled for freedom together for over 60 years. We intend to continue that tradition.

Ending Israeli occupation is the only way for Palestinians -- Christians and Muslims -- to enjoy a life of prosperity and progress. It is also the surest way to secure a continued Christian presence in this, our holy land.

Sunday of the Passion-Mark 14: Riots Among the People!

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday – Mark
Mark 14.1-15.47

Riots Among the People!

The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; for they said, ‘Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.’ (Mk 14.2)

Today, March 30, is Land Day—commemorating the day in 1976 when Palestinians launched a mass strike to protest Israel’s plan to confiscate Palestinians’ lands for the expansion of Israeli settlements. Israel’s announcement stated that the land would be expropriated for "security and settlement purposes," to create a Jewish majority in the northern Galilee.

The Palestinians who remained inside Israel after the armistice in 1949, became citizens of Israel. They were mostly involved in agriculture and their lands were important to their identity and their livelihood. In 1950 Israel had passed the Absentees’ Property Law, which transferred the property rights of absentee owners to a government-appointed Custodian of Absentee Property, effectively legalizing the confiscation of lands belonging to the Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel in 1948. It also provided for the seizure of lands owned by Palestinians who were internally displaced—those who were forced from their homes and villages, and found refuge within Israel, but were never allowed to return to their homes.

On March 29, 1976, when they heard about the strike, Israel imposed a nighttime curfew on several Palestinian villages and sent 4000 soldiers with tanks into the villages.

The general strike marked a moment of pride for Palestinians. Palestinians protested in villages from the Galilee in the north to the Negev in the south. Solidarity protests were organized in the West Bank, Gaza and in refugee camps in Lebanon. On that day six unarmed demonstrators were killed, including three women. About 100 were injured and many more arrested.

Read more about Land Day in an editorial in today’s Haaretz newspaper by two Palestinians (one I met with on a Sabeel delegation in 2008).

Today in countries surrounding Israel, tens of thousands of protesters from all over the world are assembling to march to Jerusalem, to speak out against Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine. Boulder resident Michael Rabb, founder of the CU-divest movement to pressure the University of Colorado to divest funds from businesses benefiting from Israel’s occupation, is entering Israel from Amman. Follow Michael on Twitter: @mrabb

Michael writes: “Inspired by the sit-ins and freedom rides of the civil rights movement, in the USA in the ‘60s, and the Freedom Flotilla that attempted sail to Gaza last year, we intend to exercise our right to travel to Palestine.

Our delegation is responding to the Global March to Jerusalem organizers and Palestinian civil society organizations and peace and human rights activists who have called on civil society organizations and people of conscience around the world to come to Palestine March 30 for a week of fellowship and peace-building.”

If you want to encourage CU to divest, sign the petition: https://sites.google.com/site/cudivest/

God of exiles and freedom movements, give us courage to stand with those who are engaged in non-violent resistance to oppressive governments everywhere. Protect them from harm. Amen.

Being God's Servant

Passion of our Lord/Palm Sunday – Isaiah
Isaiah 51.4-9a

What are the characteristics of God’s suffering servant? What can we learn from this particular portion about the nature of the servanthood God desires? For this is the servanthood Jesus practices………and urges on his followers.

This servant is a teacher, who begins by becoming a learner, because God “wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.” The teacher does not shrink from teaching, but accepts the derision of the people. God stands with the teacher, giving support.

Teachers like Jesus face rejection and mistreatment. Jesus warns his disciples that the world will hate those who speak in his name because the world has rejected Jesus (Jn 15.18-19).

There are many ways to hold power. We see one example in the Roman army—beating, arresting, torturing, crucifying. But God shows us another way. In becoming human and submitting to crucifixion, God shows the power of suffering and death to overcome all other powers.

We think of those who have shown us this power in our lifetime: Gandhi, Mandela, Parks, King. Their example is intimidating, but recognizing their call to servanthood can teach us something about our own call to be servants of God. For we, too, are called to this way of suffering love—we are called to offer ourselves to be used as God’s response to a suffering world…..today, where we live.

Today when I think of the suffering servant, I think of all the Palestinians, Israelis and international supporters who offer their bodies as they seek to change the unjust system that is causing daily suffering. On Good Friday, while we strip our altars, they will be marching to protest the theft of Palestinian land for the wall being built around their cities.

And, especially today, I think of Hana Al-Shalabi, offering her body to change an unjust system of imprisonment. She is in the 41^st day of a hunger strike protesting administrative detention—the Israeli practice of imprisoning political activists without charging them with a crime. [Photo: Hana’s supporters in Gaza City, March 26]

This week her sister Zahra was interviewed by Linah Alsaafin. The interview gives us some glimpses of Hana, after her release from prison in October:

“’We were all filled with immeasurable happiness,’ recounts Zahra. ‘Hana couldn’t believe she was out of prison. We stayed up past midnight on the day she was released, just chatting and laughing so much. She told me stories about life in prison, the types of dinners she’d cook with the other female prisoners, the sanitary conditions of the cells, all in a joking way.’

The four months between October and February were trouble-free days, bursting with dreams and ambitions. Hana loved to socialize and meet with people. She was busy with getting her papers in order to register for university, with her eyes set on enrolling at the American University in Jenin. She wanted to get her driver’s license, and later buy a car. She went on a shopping spree, buying new carpets and curtains for her bedroom, as well as new clothes since she couldn’t stand to wear the ones she owned before her imprisonment. Also she dreamed of getting married and of finding the perfect man to spend the rest of her life with.”

Servant God, you have created us in your image. Open our ears to hear your voice, help us find ways to follow you in your path of peace and reconciliation, and give us courage to risk suffering. Today, be with your servant Hana in her suffering. Amen.

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday - Mark 11

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday
Mark 11.1-11

As worship begins this Sunday, many congregations will re-enact Jesus’ march to Jerusalem in some fashion, often with children waving palms, people singing.

As the writer of Mark’s gospel tells it, Jesus’ entire ministry has been leading to Jerusalem. The crowds have been following Jesus from Galilee, about a hundred miles north. Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem, at the beginning of the Passover, the most sacred festival in the Jewish year, is not a spontaneous event. Jesus has planned the details of this street theater beforehand and send

Jesus did not invent the procession. Everyone was aware of imperial processions—Pontius Pilate the Roman governor riding at the head of the cavalry and soldiers carrying the golden eagles mounted on poles, the grand display of weaponry and the beat of the drums—it happened every year at the beginning of Passover, to bring reinforcements to town to augment the Roman garrison at the Antonia Fortress in case of an uprising. This Passover celebration of freedom from slavery in Egypt was a dangerous time for their new masters.s his disciples to carry out the arrangements he has made.

On this particular Passover, Jesus’ followers line the roadway to welcome Jesus, giving him the reception that royalty and military leaders usually received—the cloaks and leafy branches symbols of royalty and signs of loyalty and praise. Their response is a political statement against the religious and military leaders who were oppressing the people and a sign of the threat that Jesus posed to the good order of the Roman Empire and the religious establishment in Jerusalem.

This week, Palestinians and their supporters around the globe are also preparing for a procession—assembling the people, providing transportation, notifying the press. The march commemorates Land Day March 30, the day in 1976, when Palestinians protested Israel’s plan to confiscate Palestinians’ lands for the expansion of Israeli settlements.

Some of the history: “On 11 March, 1976, the Israeli regime published its expropriation plan to confiscate Palestinians’ lands in order to further expand their illegal settlements and build military training camps. Quite interestingly, on 29 March, they also imposed a curfew in a bid to stop Palestinians from voicing their anger over the confiscation of their lands. However, on 30 March, Palestinian activists called for protests and people took part in demonstrations. Israeli regime’s forces killed at least 6 people and wounded over 100 Palestinians. Hundreds of Palestinians were also arrested.” More….

People are coming from many countries, for a march planned to converge on Jerusalem. Organizers say they are not interested in confrontation with Israeli authorities. Organizers of this year’s march have announced a peaceful, non-violent demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian demand for an end to Israel’s occupation of their lands and with their hope for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. “We are after all not an army, but popular peaceful international forces aiming to show solidarity with Palestine and with Jerusalem,” according to Zahir Al-Birawi, spokesman of the Global March to Jerusalem, which lists Noble Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguire as advisers. Read Israeli reports on the march in the Jerusalem Post and in Israel Today magazine.

God of justice and peace, protect your people as we struggle to live our lives in safety and security. Amen.

Lent 5 - John: Following

Lent 5 – John
John 12.20-33

Whoever serves me must follow me… (Jn 12.26)

I’m troubled by the images I see when I read this passage.

“Some Greeks”—whose simple request “to see Jesus” starts the whole discussion. Jesus’ ministry—the work he is doing, preaching, teaching, healing, standing up for those who are suffering—has attracted people outside his community, the gentiles, the “other.” This frightens the religious leaders and speeds up his timeline, but it also shows that Jesus is not just for the chosen ones. His is a universal message of new life.

But it is also a message of death…a dying grain of wheat that only “bears fruit” when it dies (v 24). “Those who love their life lose it”—not a punishment, but a statement of how life is. The reality of a life too-well-loved is that, lived only for itself, it does not produce any fruit. When it dies nothing is left.

Then I come to “those who hate their life in this world”—these are the ones who have eternal life? These must be the ones whose lives bear fruit—leave something behind when they die, like the grain of wheat which dies, falls to the earth and sprouts again. Like Jesus.

And in the next breath Jesus says, “Whoever serves me must follow me…” (v 26) So this is not a really a story about Jesus, but about us. Living and dying, living life in a way that uses life up, so that new growth sprouts from the dying….

I’m thinking about Hana Shalabi again. Choosing to use her life—all of it—so that she can get a message out to the world: People are dying here in Palestine….look at us! This life we are living—we hate what is happening to us! We are treated as subhuman, humiliated at the checkpoints, arrested without being told why, kept in prison without ever having been convicted of anything. To the Israelis, our lives are worth nothing….but my life has

worth. I will do the only thing I can do behind these bars…..refuse to cooperate in this unjust system in the only way that is left to me…..refusing to eat.

Lying in prison, waiting for her life to end—in pain, mental confusion, debilitating weakness, difficulty breathing. Determined to continue her struggle. Confident that something new will come from her death, that new growth will sprout from her dying. Trusting that God will bring something new from her sacrifice. [Photo: Hana Shalabi's mother holding her picture--Reuters]

What is there for me to learn from this? Who will receive new life from her death?

If you have not done this yet, go to Amnesty International’s action alert and sign the petition for Israel to end its policy of administrative detention.

Gracious God—of those who love their lives too much and of those who hate what their lives have shown them—give us courage to walk where you lead. Amen.

Lent 5 - Hebrews: Obedience through suffering

Hebrews 5.5-10

He learned obedience through what he suffered…. (Heb 5.8)

Arguments about Israel and Palestine often degenerate into questions of who has suffered most. This gets us nowhere. There is plenty of suffering on both sides; it is not a contest anyone wants to win.

Lent requires us to examine suffering. Lent’s 40 days are preparation for a suffering Holy Week Jesus—whipped, mocked, beaten, bones broken, nails driven through his hands and feet.

So, when I read yesterday the report of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel about the effects of Hana Shalabi’s hunger strike on her health—her suffering was what drew my attention. She is in the 34^th day of her hunger strike in opposition to Israel’s policy of administrative detention—imprisonment without being charged with a crime. She began her hunger strike to call the world’s attention to her own imprisonment and the more than 300 other Palestinian prisoners who are being held without being charged with a crime—no trial, no evidence, no clue as to the crime they are alleged to have committed. She is also protesting the degrading and violent conditions of her arrest, interrogation and imprisonment. [Photo-Aljazeera: Despite many in Palestine committing to nonviolence, little attention is paid by Israel or the international community to those starving for justice (EPA)]

Because of her fast, Hana’s life is now threatened. The report from Physicians for Human Rights reports that "she suffers from a low heartbeat rate, low blood sugar, loss of weight, weakness in muscles, yellowing of the eyes and high levels of salt in the blood which [has] affected her kidneys, causing her pain in her sides, especially the left side, as well as pain in chest bones." [Photo-Aljazeera: Despite many in Palestine committing to nonviolence, little attention is paid by Israel or the international community to those starving for justice (EPA)]

UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk writes in Al Jazeera, “Physicians for Human Rights said that Shalabi cannot sleep because of pain; she also suffers dizziness and blurred and occasional loss of vision. Ms Shalabi told Mahameed that she took salt last week, but refused to take any more and is living on two litres of water a day.”

He continues, “The sad yet noble situation of Hana Shalabi is also well expressed by Yael Maron, a spokesperson for the NGO, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel: ‘The story of Hana Shalabi, like that of Khader Adnan before, is, in my opinion, a remarkable example of a struggle that's completely nonviolent towards one's surroundings. It is the last protest a prisoner can make, and I find it brave and inspiring.’"

Some suffering to ponder in this season.

Write in support of Hana: http://freehana.org/

God of the widow and the prisoner, be with Hana and all the Palestinians detained without charges. Help us to follow your words and find ways to minister to prisoners, wherever we are. Amen.

Lent 5 - Jeremiah: Written on our hearts

Lent 5 – Jeremiah
Jeremiah 31.31-34

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts… (Jer 31.33)

How marvelous to know that God has molded God’s desires for us into our very being! What freedom this is for us, knowing that, if we are true to ourselves, true to God’s creative power within us, we will live in harmony with God and with one another. The plans God has for creation will be fulfilled.

Too bad this is not always what we see in the world. Because we are suffering, or deeply wounded by the realities of our lives, we do not always act like our true selves—the people God created us to be.

But here Jeremiah is calling us back….to remember who we are—God’s own people, with God’s love in our hearts.

Living in the West Bank, and especially in Gaza, it would be easy to despair, to give up and give in to the lost hopes and dreams of a Palestinian state. The suffering is great. The wounds are deep and unhealed. Some Palestinians protest Israel’s theft of their land. Every Friday in al-Walaja and Bi’lin and Ni’lin and many other Palestinian towns, the people join together to voice their protests of yet another few meters of Israel’s security wall being built on their village lands.

Other Palestinians, mostly young men and boys, throw rocks at the Israeli soldiers driving into their villages in jeeps and armored vehicles. Others fire rockets at Israeli towns near the border with Gaza. When no one listens to your protests, there is immense frustration that builds up and finally explodes in violence.

I deplore the violence of the suicide bomber. Bombings, and other violence, will never bring freedom. A suicide bomber is someone who has given up hope and sees no other way. The suicide bombing is a desperate cry for recognition: “Listen to me!”

When these young people are denied the chance to become the people God created them to be, something dies in them. This hole of death in their hearts distorts what God has written, or maybe God’s words are sucked into that dark hole.

Or maybe they know what God has written in their hearts, but the walls, the barbed wire, the prison bars, the drone attacks, the humiliation and endless uncertainty, prevent themfrom living what God has written. Perhaps they are acting out of post-traumatic stress disorder.

However we describe what is happening in their souls, I can understand why the young men sometimes pick up stones to throw at the soldiers entering their towns in tanks. After all, even if these young men don’t ever throw a stone, chances are they will one day be rousted out of bed in the middle of the night and arrested for stone-throwing anyway.

God has written on all of our hearts. Sometimes I’m too noisy to hear what has been written; sometimes the noise outside keeps me from listening. When I stop, however, the words are there.

What has God written on your heart?

God of all goodness, help us quiet our lives so that we can hear the words you have written on our hearts. Amen.

Lent 4 - John: "SO"

John 3.14-21

For God so loved the world…. (Jn 3.16)

The entire gospel….in six short words. When I was a child, they called this verse “the gospel in a nutshell.” It’s interesting to consider what these words DON’T say:

…God so loved God’s own chosen people.
…God so loved those who believed in God’s son.
…God so loved the USA
Or even….God so loved those who care for the poor and work to end injustice.

No, the writer of John’s gospel is quite clear: God loves the world—all of it. Everything God created—after all, didn’t God pronounce it all “good”?

In verse 17, the writer continues to rave about this all-inclusive love God has.

However, by verse 19, the writer is already losing faith, and qualifies these words: “This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light.” The writer finds it just TOO unbelievable, that God could love even the backslider, the bully, the thief, the embezzler, the murderer, and the oppressor. Sure, God loves the world, but we just cannot imagine that God could REALLY love the undeserving or the intentionally evil.

Those Palestinians lobbing rockets into the towns of southern Israel last week—God loves them too. And (harder for me to acknowledge), God loves the Israeli officials who ordered the drone attacks on people in Gaza; God even loves the people who launched the drone that killed the 12-year-old boy and the grandfather.

God loves the IDF soldier who shackled Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan to the bed when he was on hunger strike protesting Israel’s practice of administrative detention. And the soldier who teased him about hiding food under his pillow.

God loves the IDF soldier who took Hana Shalabi’s blankets from her cell, to try to force her to give up her hunger strike. Administrative detention is the most violent form of detention, because the prisoner does not know what she is being charged with and therefore cannot defend herself, she does not know how long she will be imprisoned, or how soon she will be arrested after she is released. Total powerlessness is her punishment—probably for being an activist in the struggle for her human rights.

And God SO loves even these torturers.

These words are very hard to write, harder to believe.

But this means that God also loves US…. when we injure our neighbors, when we don’t pay attention to the suffering in the world … and even when we buy the drones that kill 12-year-old boys in Gaza.

Now THAT is good news!

Photo shows Israeli Defense Force (IDF-army) soldiers – from file photos, International Middle East Media Center
Read more about Hana Shalabi, her arrests and her hunger strike:
Take action with Amnesty International to end Israel’s practice of administrative detention.

God of amazing mercy and grace, help us in our struggle to do what is good and just. When we fall short, help us to remember your forgiveness so that we can forgive ourselves….and those whose actions we despise. Amen.

Lent 4 - Ephesians: The Desires of Flesh

Lent 4 – Ephesians
Ephesians 2.1-10

…in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses…(Eph 2.3)

When we read “passions of the flesh” we most likely think first of sexual passions. Sex is the ultimate taboo—as we are seeing in this crazy political season that is forcing us to re-defend women’s right to contraception.

But I’d like to suggest that our sexual passions do far less harm to God’s desires for a world of peace and harmony than some of our other passions. What are the “passions of our flesh”—the things we truly cannot live without? The things we give up everything else for?

How about cheap oil? Or cheap electronic gadgets? Or coffee/tea/colas? Or being well-liked? Or financial security? Or safety from terrorists?

I’ve written a lot lately about the Palestinian prisoners being detained by the Israeli military, the ones being held without being charged with a crime. The rights of Palestinians to know why they are being detained and to defend themselves are sacrificed to the god of security.

It’s not only in Israel that human rights are being exchanged for a feeling of safety. Our own Attorney General Eric Holder justified the killing of American citizens in other countries if they are deemed by the President to be a terrorist threat. What happened to due process? Attorney General Holder tells us that the due process guaranteed to criminals in the US is not the same as the due process required when terrorism threatens US citizens. For suspected terrorists, the President’s judgment is all that is needed—this gives him a “license to kill.”

Israel does the same. Last Friday, an Israeli strike targeting a car in western Gaza killed the head of the Popular Resistance Committees and a former prisoner released by Israel four years ago. PRC secretary-general Zuhair Qaisi and Mahmoud Hanani were killed in the attack because Israel deemed them a terrorist threat. They were not charged with a crime. They were not given a chance to answer to the charges. They were simply murdered because “someone” decided they were a threat. We will never know if they were guilty of plotting a terrorist attack.

Reports indicate that militants responded these attacks by firing rockets into southern Israel from Gaza. Israel launched several other attacks. Eighteen Palestinians were killed, including a 12-year-old boy and a grandfather; four Israelis were wounded in the rocket attacks. [Photo shows attacks on Gaza on Friday] Read more....

We sigh and wonder what we can do. It all seems so hopeless. Not even Christ defeated the powers during his lifetime. Jesus was defeated by the imperial powers, crucified on their cross. It is only after his death that his resurrection defeats the powers. This is our hope.

God of all creation, we mourn our complicity in needless deaths. Release us from our captivity to our passion for safety and security. Raise us to new life in you; give us courage to abandon our feeble attempts to make ourselves safe from terrorism. Amen.

Lent 4 - Numbers: Protesting in the Wilderness

Lent 4 – Numbers
Numbers 21.4-9

I’ve traveled in the desert where these refugees camped, where they whined about the food, where they conquered towns and amassed wealth in livestock while they waited to enter the Promised Land. Today it’s part of Jordan. The land is dry, barren, blowing dirt and rocks and sand, white plastic bags wind-plastered to the fences by the side of the road, a desolate landscape. I certainly couldn’t see what the camels and goats were munching on. If you don’t have water out there, it’s not an inconvenience; it is death. A slave girl from Egypt’s sophisticated cities, I would have been protesting too.

This odd little story about the snake Moses made is commemorated in a big way in Jordan, at the top of Mt. Nebo, where Moses is believed to have been buried (Deuteronomy 34). At the top of the winding road, there is a church, with ruins of an older Byzantine era church. The statue at the top, where we looked out over the Jordan Valley, is an abstract sculpture of the serpent.

Standing there, at 4000 feet above the Dead Sea, I looked out over the Jordan valley, Jericho, and all of Israel/Palestine, as far north as Mt Hermon. From Mt. Nebo, I could not see any walls—no barbed wire, no army tanks, no checkpoint soldiers with trigger fingers on their AK-47s. I could not see the border between Israel and the West Bank, where the barbed wire cuts the Palestinian villages off from Jericho—all I could see was dry land, desert, and some farms in the valley, the tranquil scene blurred by the haze rising from the Dead Sea.

I couldn’t see the prisons where Palestinians are being held without charge.

Last week, on International Women’s Day, women and men in Palestine marched in protest of the detention of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons, demanding their release. Seven Palestinian women are currently in Israeli prisons. Addameer reports:

• Lina Jarbuni, 36, arrested 18 April 2002, sentenced to 17 years, currently held in Hasharon Prison, from Arrabet al-Batoof, in the Galilee region.
• Wurud Qassem, 20 years old when she was arrested on 4 October 2006; sentenced to 6 years in prison, currently held in Damon Prison. Wurud is from Al-Tira, in the Triangle region, now 25 years old.
• Salwa Hassan was arrested on 19 October 2011, currently in Hasharon prison awaiting trial. She is 53 years old and lives in Hebron. Salwa is married with six children.
• Alaa Jubeh, 17 years old when she was arrested from her home in Hebron on 7 December 2011. She is currently detained in Hasharon prison and has not yet been sentenced. Under Israeli military orders, a Palestinian child’s sentence is decided on the basis of the child’s age at the time of sentencing, and not at the time when the alleged offense was committed. Because Alaa turned 18 on 29 January 2012, she will now be sentenced as an adult.
• Hana Shalabi, 30, was re-arrested in Burqin village, near Jenin, on 16 February 2012, less than four months after being released as part of the prisoner exchange deal on 18 October 2011. Hana had previously spent over two years in administrative detention. She received a six-month administrative detention order on 23 February 2012, which was reduced to four months on 4 March. Hana began an open hunger strike immediately after her arrest, almost a month ago. Currently detained in Hasharon Prison. [Photo: Badia al-Shalabi, mother of hunger striking prisoner Hana al-Shalabi. (Ayman Nobani / APA images)]
• Yusra Qaadan, 30, was arrested on 4 March 2012, while visiting a family member in prison. She is currently detained for interrogation in Beersheva. Yusra is from Qalqilya, married with four children.
• Manal Suwan was arrested on 6 March 2012 and is currently under interrogation in Hasharon Prison. Manal, married and a mother of two, is 31 years old. She is from a village near Qalqilya.

God of wanderers, refugees and prisoners, help us remember those who are locked away, invisible. Embolden us to use our voices to stand up for the powerless—here at home and around the world. Amen.

*****Send an email asking Israel to end its policy of administrative detention and/or calling for the release of women prisoners, to Brigadier General Danny Efroni, Military Advocate General, 6 David Elazar Street Harkiya, Tel Aviv Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526 Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov. This is the simple message I sent: Dear Brig. General Efroni, Please work to end Israel’s policy of holding Palestinians in administrative detention. These political prisoners deserve to see the charges and evidence against them. Please charge them or release them now. I do not want my tax dollars to support these inhumane practices.

Lent 3 - John: Overturning the Tables

Lent 3 – John
John 2.13-22

He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. (Jn 2.15)

How we love this Superhero-Jesus, striding into the hall of power and destroying the structures that prop up the corrupt system! Reading the story today reminds me of the liberation movements rolling across northern Africa, sweeping around the Arabian Peninsula, along the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. It’s like a tidal wave, inundating the entrenched powers.

Over the past year, people who have suffered decades of corrupt, cruel and ruthless dictators, have poured into the streets, determined to overturn the powerful. Their weapons? Twitter….and shouting, singing, banners and posters, marching with arms raised, dancing—all fueled by the energy of pent-up frustrations, so long repressed.

In the Superhero movies, the camera pulls away as the crowds cheer and the credits start rolling. We stand up, put on our coats and file out of the theater, satisfied that the villains have gotten their due.

It has been a year now for some of these revolutions and, as we have seen, even after the tyrants are ousted, there is no happily-ever-after. In real life, the cameras keep rolling and the reporters keep chronicling…..the armies unwilling to give up control, the political parties fighting among themselves, the jockeying for power, the postponed elections, the attacks on churches and mosques.

We are easily distracted and the temples we create so quickly become something neither we nor God intended—like the marketplace of the moneychangers. Our plans begin well enough, but we are soon derailed.

Jesus has called us to follow him. What tables need to be turned over in our own temples? Laws that permit prisoners to be detained without being charged?

In this story, Jesus reminds us that our schemes are not the end of the story. Resurrection does not depend on us. All Jesus asks is that we follow him—love God and one another, care for the neighbor.

This week in Bethlehem, at the Jacir Palace Hotel, wherw I stayed last fall, the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference hosted 600 Christian evangelicals, mostly from the US. The participants included Rev. Joel Hunter, the spiritual adviser to US President Barack Obama. The conference was sponsored by Bethlehem Bible College. Although the stereotype of Christian evangelicals includes a belief in the rapture, and a generally Christian Zionist perspective, the discussions at this conference showed that these assumptions are being challenged. The participants engaged in theological discussions, visited with local Palestinian Christians and witnessed the realities of life in the West Bank.

The conference included topics like Biblical Hope, Biblical Justice, Christian Zionism, Theology of the Land, Non-Violence, Peacemaking and the Church, and Reconciliation.Read more about their experience….. This is no super-hero solution, ushering in an era of peace in the Middle East, but these conversations with the “other” are a small step which will help the participants care for their neighbors—especially the new neighbors they met this week. [Photo is a billboard across the street from the Jacir Palace Hotel.]

God of the frustrated, the desperate and the hopeless, help us build temples that carry on your ministry with the poor, the marginalized, the outcast, the hungry, the prisoner. Help us recognize the tables we need to overturn, and help us stay focused on the ministry you started. Amen.

Lent 3 - Corinthians: Our Foolish Wisdom

Lent 3 – 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 1.18-25
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Cor 1.20)

Human wisdom: if we put the proper policies and safeguards in place, and if we have the most weapons, we CAN keep ourselves safe and secure.

God’s wisdom: we cannot save ourselves; only God can do (has done) that.

From the very moment of birth, we all are perishing. But God broke into our world—as one of those babies—and saved us from the power of death. Baptism is the sign.

Human wisdom: arrest those we think are terrorists and hold them, even if we don’t have proof of their crime—just in case. Try them in a military court—they might not be convicted if they were tried in a civilian court. We may wonder if this is really justice, but Attorney General Eric Holder assures us that if someone poses “an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States,” and if “capture is not feasible,” most likely because the suspect is in another country, then it is OK for the president to order this suspected terrorist to be killed. The due process that is required for a criminal defendant in the U.S. is not necessary when terrorism threatens.

307 Palestinian political prisoners are being held in Israeli prisons—held under “administrative detention,” without any charges filed against them. Because someone has decided they are terrorists—presenting the evidence secretly to a judge. The prisoner cannot see the charges or the evidence against him/her. The prisoner’s lawyer cannot see the charges or the evidence to prepare a defense.

All Palestinians arrested by Israel are tried in military courts—whether they are Israeli citizens or citizens of the Palestinian Authority. There are two court systems—Israelis are tried in civilian courts; Palestinians are tried in military courts. It’s the law.

Hana Al-Shalabi is protesting this inequality. Since her arrest in her village of Burqin, near Jenin, in the West Bank on February 16, she has been on a hunger strike, protesting all “administrative detentions.” Her parents have joined her in her hunger strike; they are my age.

In October, she had been released from prison as part of the prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Four months later she has been re-arrested. Fifty soldiers, with their dogs, broke into her parents’ home to arrest her—after raiding her brother’s home.

While President Obama was addressing AIPAC on Monday, expressing his strong support for the State of Israel, Hana was lying in an Israeli prison, not knowing why she was arrested and unable to defend herself because she has not been charged with a crime. She spent seven days in solitary confinement as punishment for the hunger strike. Today marks the 21st day—her health is deteriorating and she is weak. [Photo shows protester holding posters supporting her] See more…

Addameer (Prisoner Support and Human Rights Organization) and Physicians for Human Rights/Israel have issued a joint appeal to the international community to intervene with Israel: “to immediately facilitate medical visits to Hana Shalabi, unconditionally release Hana Shalabi and cease the use of administrative detention, and to conduct serious and independent investigation into the assault of Hana Shalabi and end its practice of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we Christians believe that have been saved—for what? For Hana, and for all of us, there is death. But that is not the end of the story; out of death new life emerges.

God of the outcast and the prisoner, your prophets and your son have taught us how to love the stranger. Help us follow. In the name of your son, Amen.

*****To protest Israel’s policy of administrative detention, send a letter to Israeli officials protesting the policy of administrative detention and asking for her release. (Scroll up on the page to read more about her case.) Write to your own elected representatives urging them to pressure Israel to release Hana Shalabi and to put an end to the unjust, arbitrary and cruel system of incarceration without trial.