"Working for Justice, Praying for Peace, Living in Hope"

John 20.1-18
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord". (John 20.18)

The Resurrection of our Lord, Easter Day
a message from Bishop Mounib Younan, ELCJHL, Jerusalem

“Working for Justice, Praying for Peace, Living in Hope” —these are the words at the very top of the web site for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL)— http://www.elcjhl.org/ . How can this be? I ask—in a land where political and economic realities reveal only suffering and hopelessness?

Bishop Mounib Younan explains in his Easter message: (Below is an excerpt. Read the entire message: http://www.wfn.org/2010/04/msg00011.html)

….Where do we find hope when all seems hopeless? Martin Luther finds it in the very act that brings us into the Christian family: Through baptism, we are restored to a life of hope, or rather to a hope of life. Baptized into life in Christ, our hope comes from our resurrected Lord, who
sustains and renews our hope, enabling us to endure difficulties, vulnerability and weakness. And he not only implants this hope in us but commissions us to carry it to all. This is why we in Jerusalem continue to shout out the message of the early church: the resurrection of Christ is
our sole hope in this world. This has been our message for 2,000 years, and will continue to be our message until Christ returns. For the living Christ will never allow our hope to fade away, for he is a God of hope and wants us to be messengers of hope.

I experienced this deeply this past January at the general assembly of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC) in Beirut, Lebanon. I had gone seeking a word of hope—and I received it, as I listened to the testimonies of our sisters and brothers in Christ in Sudan, in Iran, Iraq and other countries in the Middle East. To me, it seemed as though the risen Lord was commissioning us for a new mission; that, like Mary, we are to revive hope in our fellow disciples by reminding them that the Lord is risen; that, like St. Paul admonishes, we are to strengthen our sisters and brothers in need.

Likewise, my sisters and brothers of FMEEC wanted a word of hope from Jerusalem. I told them how the evangelical message of grace was having an impact in the Middle East. I told them about how we were dialoguing with interfaith partners to bring justice to our region. I told them how the risen Lord gives me hope even in a hopeless situation…..

Likewise, we in the ELCHJL feel we have an important mission in our society. Like Mary, we stay in this land dying for peace and justice. As Jesus called Mary as his apostle of the resurrection, so we Palestinian Christians are called as apostles of hope despite our struggle, despite our hopelessness. Our congregations, schools and centers play an important role in providing hope and developing Palestinian society. Our parishioners’ daily struggle to maintain a Palestinian Christian witness in this land is an encouragement to our many partners and friends all over the world. Our efforts at building bridges between Palestinians and Israelis prepares us to live together peacefully after a political settlement is reached. Our dialogue with Muslims and Jews inspires other Christians to cross borders to build peace in this broken world. As St. Paul says of Jesus, “In his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14b).

Photo: Bishop Younan, socond from left, and other signers of the Kairos Palestine document, calling for churches worldwide to stand with Palesetinian Christians against the occupation.

The resurrection calls us Palestinian Christians, given our current circumstances and our steadfast hope in the victory of life, a special call to impart hope where hopelessness exists in the world. We can encourage persecuted Christians in Asia and Africa; advocate for innocent civilians in war-torn countries like Afghanistan and Iraq; stand up for oppressed minorities like Dalits in India; share our resources with countries like Haiti destroyed by earth quakes. We can facilitate reconciliation between majority and minority populations of Bangladesh, Central America, Burma and Turkey. We can teach people who fear unfamiliar cultures, religions and political realties about celebrating diversity. We can welcome refugees, migrants and trafficked people from among the poor and disempowered around the world. We can share with others the hope that comes from dialogue.

Surely everyone in this justice-deficient land, Israeli and Palestinian alike, longs for the day when they will hear words of peace like those found in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled,
and do not let them be afraid.”

As long as I believe in the risen Christ, despair will never overcome my hope; hopelessness will never overcome my trust in the living Lord. He is commissioning us, like Mary, to go and tell the world that he is risen. And, like Mary, I must not look for hope in a tomb. For Jesus is not there - he is out in the midst of life, beckoning us to follow him in his mission for peace in our beloved country. No, our Lord is not in the tomb, but he is with all of us who long for and work for justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.

May this hope, which began in Jerusalem with the risen Lord and continues in us today, inspire you to boldly say with us and all believers:

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Al Masih Qam! Haqan Qam!

Evening, Palm Sunday, 2010

Luke 19.28-40

“When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples….” (Luke 19.29)

As we lifted palms in church and heard the familiar words of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and shouted “Hosanna!” we were reenacting, as many Christians have done through the centuries, the event that begins the holiest week in the Christian calendar. Each year, Christians from all over the world retrace Jesus’ steps, processing down the Mount of Olives and into the Old City of Jerusalem. Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem and the rest of the West Bank have participated in this procession for many years.

Even in Luke’s account, there are mixed reactions to Jesus and the adulation of the crowds. As they shout for joy and throw their cloaks on the path to welcome him, “some of the Pharisees” are worried and warn that this public acclamation should stop.

Not much has changed in the past two thousand years. The procession of palms in Jerusalem—Christians parading through the streets, praising God and marking this holiest of weeks, are still seen as a threat.

Although pilgrims from Ireland, the Philippines and Utah walked in the Jerusalem procession today, most Palestinians from the West Bank were denied entry into Jerusalem. In spite of the efforts of Palestinian church leaders who have been working with Israeli officials for weeks, no permits were given for their congregations to travel to Jerusalem, and Palestinians do not travel anywhere without permits. The five or so miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem have become a divide that cannot be breached.

In Bethlehem today about 150 Palestinian Christians, with their Israeli and Muslim supporters, (along with two donkeys and a horse) did manage to get past the checkpoint. But they were quickly stopped by soldiers who piled out of their jeeps—beating and arresting the marchers. Eleven Palestinians were arrested at the main tourist checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the place our tour buses go through when we visit. (See photo with the palms and the soldiers arresting one of the marchers.) Four Israeli peace activists who were also detained were later released by the Israeli soldiers. See more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/ Read the story from Ma’an news agency: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=272253 ; more details from Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh’s blog: http://www.qumsiyeh.org/rightsblog2010/

Other Palestinians did manage to celebrate Palm Sunday at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. And others walked with palms in the village of Al-Zababdeh near the West Bank town of Jenin (see AP wire photo at top).

Even Jesus would not have been able to walk today from Bethany to Jerusalem. The Israeli security wall cuts off the main road, between Jericho and Jerusalem, the road that goes through Bethany. (photo shows where the wall blocks the Jericho road).

Today we marked Palm Sunday, not only with readings and reenactments of the procession, but also with the reading of the story of Jesus’ passion—the suffering he endured at the hands of the Roman empire, his arrest, the beating, the insults of the soldiers……….

Gracious God, you sent your son to show us your way of liberation and peace. Help us, who call ourselves by his name, to be messengers of peace and reconciliation in your world today. Help us break down the walls that divide us—to find one small thing we can do to bring reconciliation to the places where we live and work. Amen.

Three Brothers, David Wilcox

Today, I invite you to listen to some music by David Wilcox that Pastor Garrett Struessel shared with me. Click here http://www.davidwilcox.com/, scroll down the right side and click on the "play" arrow next to Three Brothers. Close your eyes and listen or come back to this page as you listen and follow the lyrics:

All three brothers love their father,
And he’s brought them here today,
To see these papers and these lawyers,
And divide the old estate.
All three feel that they’re the favorite.
He loves each of them the best.
And these documents he gave them
Will now put them to the test.
So they opened all the writings
That will prove the rightful heir
To this home that they remember
And the right to settle there.

Their own sister is a prisoner;
They don’t see her face to face.
They’ve not heard her song of beauty,
Felt the movement of her grace.

She lives behind those bars of steel
And waits for her release.
Will she die, or will we see Jerusalem in peace?


Each one looks at what he’s given,
And he studies what he’s shown.
They hold their maps that show possession
To this place they call their home.
First they sigth with satisfaction
When they see what’s on their maps.
Each one’s given all he wanted
But the boundaries overlap.
So do you wish us to be brothers?
Father help us understand.
Will we each kill off the others
To claim this same piece of land?
Do you mean there to be hatred
In this place you built to last?
And will faith just die a prisoner
In the dungeon of the past?

She lives behind those bars of steel
And waits for her release.
Will she die, or will we see Jerusalem in peace?

She lives behind these bars of steel
And waits for her release.
Will she die, or will we see Jerusalem in peace?

Jerusalem is sending her voice
From inside the prison of disbelief.
Stand up you people of the one God
To bring about her release.

O Lord our God, you are God alone, God of three peoples. We come before you today, humbled by the generosity of your gifts to us, especially the gift of your holy city, Jerusalem. Help us find the places where your people are sharing this precious gift so that we can join in. Amen.

The photo is of Dominus Flevit, "Jesus Wept," the church at the top of the Mount of Olives, commemorating Jesus' weeping over Jerusalem, Luke 19.41.

Make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem - travel October 17-31, 2009.

Remembering the Sabbath in Jerusalem

Lent 3, Sunday, March 15, 2009
Exodus 20.1-17

“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.”

With our western devotion to liberty and freedom, it is hard to imagine a celebration of the law. Especially for Lutherans, who take great pride in our understanding that God does not value us according to our obedience to the law, but that our relationship with God depends, not on us, but only on God’s mercy and grace, God’s pure gift to us.

So we Lutherans, sometimes too intent on abolishing the law, can learn something from our Jewish neighbors. “Rejoicing in the law” is the theme of a Jewish holy day, Simchat Torah, a holiday which follows Sukkot, in the fall of the year. Simchat Torah is the celebration of the Torah, marking the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of the new cycle. In a year the entire Torah is read, beginning with Genesis 1 and finishing with Deuteronomy 34. This is a joyous occasion for the Jewish community. The scrolls of the Torah are carried in procession around the synagogue with high-spirited dancing and singing—an exuberant celebration of the gift God has given us in the Torah, the rules by which we live our lives. The law is God’s gift to us because it shows us how to live in harmony with God, with our world and with our neighbors. When we live by these rules, we find we are living in peace and contentment. Without the law we would be miserable, living in chaos.

The ten commandments which we read today, then, are not God’s “gottcha!” God’s rules for living are, rather, a gift. These rules are how God provides for our well-being and happiness.

When I was in Jerusalem, I got to participate in another lively celebration, Shabbat, which happens every Friday at the Western Wall, the only remnant of Solomon’s famed temple. Toward sundown on Friday, children, women and men walk from all over Jerusalem, entering the gates of the Old City and making their way to the Wall, where they dance and sing and celebrate the beginning of the Sabbath, another of God’s gifts to them—a time for rest and relaxation—a time set by God in the these commandments we read today. Friday evening Shabbat is a time for bar-mitzvah and bat-mitzvah parties and for family gatherings, a time for Jewish pilgrims to the holy city to pay their respects and make their prayers at the Wall. A time for the joyous gathering of the community. Women gather in circles, singing traditional Jewish songs and dancing. The men do the same. It is a festive time as the shopkeepers close up and the city quietens for the night. It is a brief time of joy and harmony and peace, in a city that is sometimes more known for conflict than peace. The photo shows prayers, written on small pieces of paper and left in the cracks of the Western Wall, the remnant of Solomon's Temple.

Central to the Jewish faith is the understanding that God’s laws are for our benefit and happiness, a gift to us because of God’s great love for us. Earlier that Friday, just before the beginning of the Sabbath, I had walked the streets with the Franciscans on their weekly Stations of the Cross, a Friday ritual commemorating Jesus’ walk through Jerusalem’s streets carrying the cross, on his way to death. Jerusalem is an amazing city, with room enough for three great religions and a multitude of peoples, all of us descendants of Abraham. May we live to honor God’s city and God’s gifts to us.

O God, you desire only what is best for your creation. You give us beautiful gifts of time, your creation and one another. Help us to honor your laws, your gift to us for our happiness, so that, obedient to your laws, we may live lives of peace and find our true freedom. Amen.

Jerusalem: Sign of the Covenant

Lent 2, Sunday, March 8, 2009

Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16

“Your name shall be Abraham…..you shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.”

Walking the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, the pilgrim walks the covenant God made with Abraham—God's promise that he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. The Temple Mount is holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews, all descended from Abraham. Muslims hold that it was from this spot that Mohammad ascended to heaven. Jews venerate it as the place of the Holy of Holies in the Second Temple. Christian pilgrims have come here for almost 2000 years.

As I walked through Jerusalem's suq, the old open-air market, a pilgrim myself, I took in its diverse aromas—the cumin, nutmeg, and cardamom of the spice merchants, the zaatar blended for dipping the bread with olive oil. I tasted its sweetness in the honey, walnuts and figs in the pastries in the next shop. My eyes were dazzled by the brightly painted ceramics, the stone jewelry, the diamonds and gold. The red and black Bedouin embroidery, and the red, orange, blue and purple of the Druze weavings.

Photo: Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and Lutheran Church of the Redeemer at left

Jerusalem is the crown of the covenant God made with Abraham, not because it is the property of the Jews or the Muslims or the Christians, but because it is the place where the “multitude of nations”—the descendants God promised Abraham—live and work together in the old market. Walking across the Old City, I had tea with the jeweler in the Armenian Quarter, bargained for the best price on a stone bracelet in the Arab Quarter, and stood, mouth gaping, at the gold and diamonds in the windows of the jewelers in the Jewish Quarter, all in one afternoon, in the space of less than a mile. In Jerusalem, the covenant—the multitude of nations—is a visible reality; it can be tasted and smelled.

God has been faithful. God has kept the covenant. It is we who have broken it with our scheming for territory; with our weapons delivering death to our enemies, fired by computer from the safety of a control center miles away; with our armies breaking down the doors of homes and dragging sons off to prison.

We have enjoyed God’s promised abundance, but we have forgotten our part of the bargain—we have forgotten that our names, too, have been changed, that in our baptism we are now new people. But even though we have forgotten, God has not. God’s message to Abraham is God’s message to us today. In spite of everything we do to break the covenant…in spite of military occupation, imprisonment, suicide bombings and security barriers, God is faithful to the promise made to Abraham. God keeps the holy city for the multitude of nations.

And the people of Jerusalem today live in the midst of the multitude. Peace groups like B’Tselem Israeli Center for Human Rights, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, the Mothers in Black, Sabeel Christian Palestinian liberation theology movement, and the women of Machsom Watch stand as icons of the multitude of Abraham’s descendants. People from all over the world come to Jerusalem to work for peace—from Israel, Palestine, Europe, the United States, and some have returned from the places they have fled to for safety. God’s promises are everlasting.
O God, we confess that we have forgotten your covenant with us. We repent our unfaithfulness. In this Lenten season, you call us back to your covenant. Strengthen us for the journey. Amen.