Palestine and Israel - Veneable Dr Pamela Nesbit's visit

I am enjoying seeing Pamela Nesbit's photos on Facebook with her visit to Israel and Palestine as part of a peacemaking pilgrimage with the Lombard Mennonite Peace Fellowship. The Venerable Dr Pamela Nesbit is the Archdeacon Emerita of the Diocese of Pennsylvania and Vice-President of DOTAC.

I love this photo of Pamela celebrating communion wtih Fr Michael Fincher at the Ecce Home church in Jerusalem.

She writes about her experience in Jerusalem: "This is such a small city, with many people coming home here to be close to their God. Across the differences in face and feature and clothing and head covering you see people with so many expressions of faith and languages in which to express them. The one thing we all have in common is passion. All this religious and ethnic passion squeezed into one sacred place feels like a teapot on the boil. Here, more than any place I have ever been, it seems clear to me that humankind has a choice. We can either embrace our tribal differences and hate and destroy one another. Or we can see and love all these differences as expressions of our essential oneness and love one another. Here in this beautiful city there is no other way. I am inexpressibly grateful for having been able see Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem".

While it is a very long time since I have been to Israel and Palestine, I am deeply connected through the EAPPI program - Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, a program of the World Council of Churches. At the end of January 2019 I will spend a few days as part of the national training team for the next group of EAPPI volunteers in Australia.

Sabeel 'Wave of Prayer' for 24th January 2019
The Great March of Return continued on Friday, the 18th of January. Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) reported that 45 children have been killed in Gaza since March 30th.
Lord, we pray for a breakthrough in the peace talks and an end to this pitiless siege of Gaza. Comfort those families who have lost children and cast your protecting grace over all children in Gaza. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
Riyad al-Malki, the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Palestinian Authority, stated that this year Palestine will assume the presidency of the Group of 77 and China, to negotiate development issues in the U.N. Palestine has been a non-member observer state in the U.N. since 2012. It intends to re-submit its application for full membership of the U.N. at the end of this year’s mandate.
Dear Lord, we pray for strength and steadfastness for those working in organisations like the U.N., who devote their lives to challenging injustice and oppression. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
Students have been returning to school after their mid-year vacation. Many pupils in the occupied territories face obstacles to their access to education. Some students experience abuse from Israeli settlers on their way to and from school, others face delays at checkpoints, while others are subjected to frequent searches on their school bus journeys.
Lord, we pray for the students as they go back to school, that they would continue to value their education. For those who face further difficulties, may they find the determination to complete their studies and use their qualifications to help their local communities. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
Human Rights Watch criticised the Palestinian Authority for restricting online freedom of speech and arresting dissidents.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that when you came into the world, we received your grace and truth, (John 1:17). Help us to stand firm and challenge the suppression of truth by those in authority. Lord in your mercy…hear our prayers.
On Sunday, the 13th of January, a group of Israeli settlers destroyed nearly a thousand tree saplings in Burqa, west of the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus. The saplings were being cultivated to transform the land around Burqa into a nature reserve.
Lord, we pray that these frequent acts of vandalism by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank would cease. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
This week Kumi Now focuses on the work of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, (PASSIA) and Israel’s violations of international law in East Jerusalem. The Kumi Now action asks you to write to your local politicians, challenging them to hold the Israeli government to account for the human rights abuses it perpetrates on Palestinians.
Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, you will establish your kingdom with justice and righteousness, (Isaiah 9:6-7). Help us to pray in faith for those who seek to address injustice and to speak truth to those who govern us. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

Whole and Reconciled: Gospel, Church, and Mission in a Fractured World

Whole and Reconciled : Gospel, Church, and Mission in a Fractured World
By (author) Al Tizon
Foreward by Ruth Padilla deBorst, Afterword by Ronald J. Sider
Releaased October 2018

The ministry of reconciliation is the new whole in holistic ministry. It must be if the Christian mission is to remain relevant in our increasingly fractured world. This book offers a fresh treatment of holistic ministry that takes the role of reconciliation seriously, rethinking the meaning of the gospel, the nature of the church, and the practice of mission in light of globalization, post-Christendom, and postcolonialism. It also includes theological and practical resources for effectively engaging in evangelism, compassion and justice, and reconciliation ministries.

Chapters topics include:
Globalisation:Mission in a reconfigured world
Post-Christendom:De-centered church and multi-directional mission
Post-Colonialism: Post-colonial mission or bust
Gospel of the Kingdom: The Reconciliation of all Things
Church of the Trinity: Community, Diversity and Reconciliation
Spirituality of Mission: The Church in the Power of the Spirit
Reconciliation and the Great Commission: Peacemaking as Mission

In an interview with Christine Sine, on Godspace, the author Al Tizon says:
"The reality of the increasing fragmentation of the world via racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, tribalism, religiously-motivated violence, as well as senseless violence made me reflect much on the renewed need to see peace and reconciliation as central to the gospel. And the question that inspired the writing was, “Is the church at all in position to bear witness to the good news of peace and reconciliation in Christ in a fragmented and fragmenting world?” I know it is called to be peacemakers and reconcilers, but is it in a position to be so? If not, what must we do to realign ourselves in the Spirit to become what we have been called to be?"

"Peacemaking cannot be relegated to the periphery. It cannot just be the task of pacifist Christians. It cannot be seen as the domain of only those on the left, vegan, Birkenstock fringe. Kingdom peacemaking must be front and center for the whole church as it lives out the Great Commission in the world".

On the decentering of the church, he says:
"The church of the center, that is, a church that shares in the dominant power structure of society, is what is called Christendom. Part of what it means to be living in a post-Christendom world is that the church has been involuntarily pushed out of the center. As such, it has lost its privileged position and has found itself on the margins of society, bereft of the power to inform and shape as it once had. What I’m describing, however, is only the Euro- or white church; churches of color and churches that have emerged from traditionally missionary-receiving countries have never “enjoyed” the center. Black and brown churches have always been on the margins. In a post-Christendom age black, brown, and white churches are all on the margins together, giving us the opportunity to be truly the global mosaic of God’s people serving the poor, proclaiming good news to the lost, and speaking truth to power".

On peacemaking:
"Peacemaking is a non-negotiable of the gospel; it always has been. Our fragmented and fragmenting world simply helps us to see the truth of that. The first step in practicing or making peace in the world is to root out the prejudice, hatred, and violence in our own hearts. As I developed in the book, before reconciliation is a theology, a missiology, or a strategy, it is first and foremost a spirituality. People whose hearts are becoming whole and reconciled in Christ can alone be agents of Christ’s peace and reconciliation in the world. So, practically, let us be a people cultivating hearts of peace as an absolutely necessary step to becoming global peacemakers. Secondly, let us be a people who demonstrate that the peace of Christ works, that it can break down walls between women and men; rich and poor; this tribe and that tribe; and black, brown and white peoples. Let us strive in the Spirit to be the all-tribes-and-nations church today as a signpost of what Revelation 7 depicts in God’s future. Efforts toward a multi-ethnic, multi-tribal, multi-national church demonstrate to the world that peace and reconciliation are possible. Beyond these, I outline six principles in ch. 11 - a heart of peace; the power of relationship; vulnerable dialogue; healing through repentance, forgiveness, and lament; the work of justice; and a commitment to nonviolence - that I believe need to be operational for peace to have a chance in any given conflict. This is peacemaking as mission".

New Year - welcome to 2019

God the eternal rock is with us,
From year’s beginning to its end,
In hard times and in good,
God is with us from year’s beginning to its end.
God almighty is faithful,
Present in each day and every moment,
Drawing close in every act and deed,
God is faithful through all eternity.
God is trustworthy,
Yesterday, today and forever,
Sustaining, enlivening, making all things new,
God the eternal rock is with us this day and evermore.
(Source: Ray Simpson, from ‘Celtic Blessings’)

Let us continue to uphold each other in the joys and sorrows, celebrations and disappointments. In all things, God is with us, sustaining and empowering us to share in God's ministry and mission in the world.