Lent 1 - 1 Peter - Made Alive in the Spirit

1 Peter 3.18-22

He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit… (1Peter 3.18)

Last week Israeli armed forces bulldozed a community center in Silwan, East Jerusalem, a “cultural cafe,” built as a space for children in the community to gather, with a sports field in front of the cafe.

A couple of years ago when I was at Augusta Victoria Hospital (Lutheran World Federatio

n), Pastor Mark Brown showed us how little space there is for children to play in East Jerusalem.

Silwan is a neighborhood on the Palestinian side of the Green Line, which separates West and East Jerusalem. It is thought to be the site of King David’s city. In the past few years, Israeli settlers have been moving into the area, purchasing or squatting in buildings for the purpose of establishing a Jewish presence in East Jerusalem. (In spite of international protests, in 1967, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, which it had captured in the Six Day War. Israel does views Jerusalem as a unified city).

Israelis have also established archaeological digs in Silwan, hoping to find evidence of Jewish presence. These digs have been criticized for the sloppy way the digging has been carried out. Because the digging is being done solely for the purpose of proving a Jewish right to the land, other artifacts are being carelessly destroyed.

The Israeli human rights organization, B’tSelem has published a report on the Israeli army’s harassment and arrest of Palestinian teenagers in Silwan.

The cafe was a unique project (read about the building of the cafe and field last December) to provide a much-needed space for children to play and for youth and adults to gather. Its purpose was also to protect the land from being stolen by violent Israeli settlers or turned into a parking lot by the Jerusalem Municipality. It was a cooperative effort of the Madaa Center and the Middle East Children’s Association (MECA, a US organization).

The community and the staff of Madaa Center are determined to rebuild the café. They invite us: “With your help, we can support the residents of Silwan in demanding their right to live and build on their land.” Their goal is to complete a new café in time for a Mothers' Day Celebration on March 21, 2012 (Mothers' Day is celebrated across Arab countries on this date).

MECA has made a commitment to raise $15,000 for this project by February 29, 2012.

You can help in two ways:

• Make an emergency contribution to rebuild
• Send a letter to Israeli officials responsible for this demolition. The Madaa Center in Silwan tells us it is important that official bodies know there is support and vigilance from the international community.

Life emerging from death, every day in East Jerusalem, whether it is rebuilding a playground or protesting eviction―a Lent-Easter journey.

God of David and Abraham, your people are suffering in the land you have made holy. Open our minds and hearts to their plight. Show us your spirit, alive in the land today, and make us partners in the life your spirit breathes into your people. In the name of your son, who died and rose to new life. Amen.

Lent 1 - Never again...

Genesis 9.8-17

...never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. (Gen 9.11)

God’s creation, pronounced “good” in the first chapter of Genesis has run amuck. Humans have broken all the rules; violence is everywhere; the world is quickly turning to chaos once again. God reacts by destroying everything God has created, saving only a remnant, so that they can make a fresh start. And after the destruction, God vows “never again” to destroy the creation.

We are still determined to destroy God’s good creation--killing our brothers for oil, ruining the land and the waters with our nuclear accidents, stealing resources from other countries. We are still doing our best to return the earth to the chaos God tamed in Genesis 1.

In past weeks, there has been much speculation about Israel attacking nuclear installations in Iran. I didn’t know until earlier this month that the US has 45 military bases surrounding Iran (see graphic from http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30504.htm ). Did you know about this?

Time for another flood, I think.

But God has already tried this, and God repented. “Never again….” God has new plans for us, plans born, not of anger, but of love and compassion. God left us the rainbow to remind us of God’s love, our reason for hope in the midst of the chaos we are creating.

The Lutherans of the Holy Land today are God’s rainbow, a sign of hope in a region of deep despair. They are a sign of love in a city hemmed in by hate. They are a sign of order in a chaotic region of the world. The new college sits atop one of Bethlehem’s many hills. The design of the building is grand and open, unlike the barbed wire and concrete walls that enclose the city. These Palestinian Lutherans are one sign that God has not given up on humanity, that God still has plans for us, plans for good, for health and well-being.

Yet President Obama’s 2013 budget includes another $3 billion in aid to Israel’s military.

God looked on the destruction of the flood and repented. If God can repent—turning from destruction to tender care for God’s own creation—what might we do to repent in this Lenten season? What can we do that will be a sign of God’s rainbow promise?

Gracious God, you have promised never to give up on your creation. Help us, your chosen people, to be a sign of your rainbow promise amid all the chaos we have created. In the name of the son you sent to save us from our disordered appetites and selfish desires. Amen.

Is not this the fast that I choose: to let the oppressed go free....

Join me in a fast for Khader Adnan - sundown tonight to sundown Saturday--

Jewish Voice for Peace and Ta’anit Tzedek: Jewish Fast for Gaza are calling for a one day fast (from sunrise to sunset) on Friday, February 17, 2012 in solidarity with Khader Adnan, who today is in his 61st day of a hunger strike.

Ash Wednesday - No Palestinian Gandhi?

Ash Wednesday - the Fast that I choose
Isaiah 58.1-12

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice
to undo the thongs of the yoke
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke. (Is 58.6)

OK, I know that Ash Wednesday is NEXT week, but by then it may be too late.

Westerners often lament that there is no Palestinian Gandhi. I wonder if they know about Khader Adnan, who has been held in an Israeli prison without being charged with any crime, since December 17. During that time he has been beaten, forced to sit shackled to a chair in painful positions, humiliated by his guards, his religion insulted. But still there are no charges against him.

Incarceration without trial is called “Administrative Detention.” Other countries also practice this, including the United States, but human rights groups protest the practice--being held without charges and trial is a denial of human rights. International law allows for administrative detention only in the most extreme cases, for people who pose a threat, when there is no other way to prevent danger. Over the years Israel has held thousands of Palestinians in Administrative Detention, for periods of several months, to several years. At the end of 2011, there were more than 300 Palestinians being held in Administrative Detention, including 21 elected members of the Palestinian legislative council and one child (age 16-18) (B’Tselem).

Adnan has been on a hunger strike--now for more than 58 days--to protest the violence he is experiencing in detention and the failure of the Israelis to charge him and other detainees. Doctors from Physicians for Human Rights have examined him and warned him and the Israeli prison system of the risk of death. They explained in graphic terms that the body cannot survive without water and that a hunger strike lasting more than 45 days causes damage to the body’s organs.

Anat Litvin, director of PHR Israel’s Prisoners & Detainees Department, states: “The fact that a person does not know when his detention will end nor the nature of the accusations brought against him, makes administrative detention unbearable, and similar to torture. Adnan’s hunger strike is clearly endangering his life, but should be also seen as a legitimate protest of a man trying to keep his dignity in face of gross abuse of his basic rights as a human being.”

Amnesty International has called on the Israeli government to charge him or release him.

Adnan has written, "I hereby assert that I am confronting the occupiers not for my own sake as an individual, but for the sake of thousands of prisoners who are being deprived of their simplest human rights while the world and international community look on.” More….

Read more about Adnan’s struggle for his human rights...

Is not this the fast that I choose…..to loose the bonds of injustice…..?

Gracious God, as we reflect on our mortality this Ash Wednesday, we remember Khader Adnan. You have given us abundant riches of freedom and opportunity. Help us use these gifts to loose the bonds of injustice for those who live in bondage.. Amen.

Email President Obama to protest his imprisonment: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Email Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu: http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Public+Applications/PublicApplications/
Email Secretary of State HIllary Rodham Clinton: http://contact-us.state.gov/app/ask/session/L3RpbWUvMTMyOTMyMDI0MC9zaWQvbnQzZGlNUWs%3D

A sample message: Please release Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, or charge him with a crime. He is protesting his imprisonment with a hunger strike and he is near death. Torturing Palestinians will not bring peace.

A Lenten Geography, 2012

When I began this project, three years ago, I did not realize that after I had cycled through all three years of the lectionary...returning in 2012 to Year B, that life on the ground would be worse for Palestinians than it was in 2008. As Pastor Mitri Raheb of Christmas Lutheran Church has pointed out, there is no reason for optimism that the injustices against the Palestinians will end. But he and the people of Bethlehem find hope...... in God's faithfulness and promises of abundant life, in the people who are working to create a life of hope for the people who live behind the 27-foot-high wall in Bethlehem. So, although I am tempted to despair, their hope buoys me and carries me forward, aware that God's time is not our time, and, as the grafitti on the wall proclaims: "Nothing Lasts Forever!"

Watch for three posts each week during Lent--based on the three texts for the following Sunday.