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Watch video of Presbyterian Symposium on Land and the Bible

 

A symposium entitled “Bible, Land, and our Theological Challenge: A Presbyterian Conversation” was held in October with key speakers presenting views on biblical perspectives on the land and the Palestinian-Israeli situation.   See the schedule of speakers below and watch the video.

9:00AM Welcome, introductions, statement of purpose, prayer  
9:30AM-10:20AM “Kairos Palestine and Interfaith Relations in North America” Rev. Dr. Said Ailabouni,ELCA Pastor, La Grange IL, Former director of ELCA office on the Middle East
10:30AM-11:20AM “Biblical interpretation and Old Testament Land Theology Today” Rev. Dr. Eugene March,Old Testament Profesor Emeritus, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
11:30AM-12:20PM “Biblical interpretation and New Testament Land Theology Today” Rev. Dr. Gary Burge,Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College and Graduate School
12:30PM Lunch and discussion: catered in the Presbyterian Center. Registration includes cost of lunch.  
1:45PM – 4:30PM Panel Discussion Moderator: Darrell Yeaney, former university Campus Minister in Kansas, California and Iowa; Founder with his wife Sue of the Congressional Accompaniment Project to Israel/PalestineSpeakers: Said Ailabouni, Gene March, Gary Burge(see above)National Staff:Rev. Dr. Christian T. Iosso, Coordinator, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (PCUSA)Rev. Dr. Charles A. Wiley, III, Interim Director, Theology & Worship, PC(USA)IPMN members:Rev. Katherine Cunningham, Co-Executive Director, New Horizons Associates, Counseling and Consultation, New Jersey; a past moderator of the Committee on the Office of the GA; Vice Moderator of IPMN.Professor Nahida Halaby Gordon, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, moderator of the National Middle East Presbyterian Caucus, officer and member of the Steering Committee of IPMNRev. Dr. Donald Wagner, Research Professor for Interfaith Engagement, Eastern Mennonite University and former Professor and Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies North Park University, Chicago, ILRev. Raafat L. Zaki, Transitional Synod Executive, Synod of the Covenant. He was educated in the Middle East, Asia, & the USA and has held three pastorates, two GAMC positions, and two synod positions.

 

U.S. Church Leaders Respond to Jerusalem Heads of Churches

The Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall in Jerusalem on a hotly-contested spot of land in East Jerusalem.

Today, church leaders in the United States made public their response to the communique issued by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem regarding the current status of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both documents were produced in September.

In their statement, the U.S. heads of churches, in the context of the Arab Spring, “recognize the complex and difficult situation regarding the current and future realities of the Middle East.” Beyond developments in the region, however, the church leaders voice their dismay “that the Obama administration has actively opposed Palestinian efforts to achieve a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through appeal to the United Nations.”

Click below for the full text of each communication (in PDF format):

Sept. 12, 2011 – Communique from the Heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem

Sept. 30, 2011 – Response to Communique by Heads of Churches in the United States

CWA Action on Palestinian Kairos Document & Bishop Younan’s Response

The following action was passed by the 2011 Churchwide Assembly (CWA) at its meeting in Orlando by a vote of 868-73. This action is in line with the original strategy for engagement in Israel and Palestine adopted in 2005. It is a call to receive, share and prayfully consider the voices of our Palestinian brothers and sisters and contained in the Kairos Palestine document.

Action of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
Passed August 18, 2011

To receive with gratitude the memorials of the Northeastern Pennsylvania, Lower Susquehanna, and Metropolitan Washington, D.C., synods related to investment for positive change in Palestine;
To encourage members, congregations, synods, and agencies of this church to:

  1. seek ways to achieve a deeper understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the perspectives of other faith communities, and receive, read, and discuss the Kairos Palestine document as an “authentic word from our brothers and sisters in the Palestinian Christian community” that “warrants our respect and attentiveness”;
  2. affirm this church’s commitment to non-violent responses to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the Peace Not Walls campaign’s efforts toward strengthening accompaniment, awareness-building, and advocacy; and
  3. consider making positive economic investments in those Palestinian projects and businesses that peacefully strengthen the economic and social fabric of Palestinian society;

To commend the policy, “ELCA Economic Social Criteria Investment Screens,” to the members, congregations, synods, and agencies of this church; and

To decline to undertake a review of the investment of funds managed within the ELCA but to commend these recommendations to the Office of the Treasurer, the Office of the Secretary, the Congregational and Synodical Mission unit, the Mission Advancement unit, and the ELCA Board of Pensions for consideration.

Response of Bishop Munib Younan to Churchwide Assembly Action

Dear friends in the ELCA,

Thank you for your continued and reaffirmed commitment of the ELCA to justice in Palestine and Israel. The ELCA has been a faithful accompanier on the journey, and the passionate work and witness of our companions strengthens us.

As the ELCA moves forward from this Assembly action, I urge the ELCA to remain careful in its decisions as to how it chooses to promote peace. As you know, it is not always the loudest voice that elicits the greatest change. Sometimes it is the patient and perseverant who bring about great change through diligent but quiet work.

I encourage the ELCA to invest in clear and accessible resources for ELCA congregations that encourage awareness-building, accompaniment and advocacy at the individual and personal level.

I encourage the ELCA to continue to advocate for synodical, congregational and personal visits to the Holy Land to witness the situation first-hand, to visit with us, their Lutheran sisters and brothers and to be a part of the deep roots and broad mission of the ELCJHL.

I also encourage the ELCA to continue its support of the ELCJHL, its ministries and its mission, and to continue its investment in education through the ELCJHL Schools.

So that, together in awareness-building, accompaniment, and advocacy, we continue our work toward lasting peace based on justice for all.

Your Brother in Christ,

Bishop Munib A. Younan
Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

Holy Land Youth Mission – Peacemaking in the Streets

Holy Land Youth Mission 2011

Palestinian young women meet bar mitzvah celebrators on the streets of Brighton, Michigan.

On the way home one night, we passed this interesting set of young people. We asked if we could take a picture with them.  Afterwards Martha inquired about their costumes and found that they were celebrating a bar mitzvah.  She let them know that the “beautiful girls” (their words not ours) they just had their picture taken with were Palestinian. At first there was silence, then a “no way, here in Brighton?  My mom’s gonna flip out!”  They all went merrily on their way. 

Perhaps this is how peace begins, when we all realize that we are all just teenagers living our lives and we’re in this together on the same streets.  Just another God moment on the streets of Brighton as part of our Bridges Not Walls program!

From Lisa Jeffreys, Coordinator of the Holy Land Youth Mission 2011  
 
The Holy Land Youth Mission was begun years ago when leaders in the Southeast Michigan Synod decided to take youth there to visit the young people of our companion, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.  They then brought Palestinians here the next year, and several   exchanges have occurred.  The 8 young Palestinians just completed three weeks with the Southeast Michigan Synod and are safely home.  They attended camps, visited churches, told their stories and had lots of fun and deep conversation.  Plans are underway to bring Palestinian youth to the next youth gathering so they can illustrate what faith and life are like for Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land.   See photos or check out their facebook page at 2011 Mission Trip.   

Pressure for a Viable Peace Plan

On Apirl 19, the Los Angeles Times printed a report detailing growing international pressure on the State of Israel to produce a viable proposal that would renew negotiations toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. The plan will most likely be unveiled in a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. This policy speech might be delivered before a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

One might think that a speech signaling a different Israeli approach to peace-building with Palestinian neighbors might best be delivered to an audience of Palestinians. Or, at least, that such a speech might be delivered in Israel.

Here in Chicago, “The Friendly Confines” refers to Wrigley Field, home of the ever-hopeful Cubs. It seems that for PM Netanyahu, there is no friendlier place on earth than the U.S. Congress. The likelihood that this speech will be delivered in the U.S. to a U.S. audience should give U.S. citizens a clue about their government’s role in perpetuating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its preference for Israeli perspectives.

Whenever the speech might be delivered, details of the “Netanyahu Plan” are being leaked to elicit response. Yesterday, in response to some unofficial details, Palestinian Anglican Christian and Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Hanan Ashrawi, said that the plan already seems to be little more than “a reinvention of Israel’s occupation.”

Christians in the United States should be careful, then, when Netanyahu’s speech is finally delivered. Some will hail him as a courageous leader for peace. Others will criticize him for giving too much away to the Palestinians. But watch carefully about details of where the speech is made. Why should it be assumed that an oration about Palestinians which cannot bear being recited to Palestinians would come close to addressing their most basic needs? If such a speech is indeed given in the chamber of our country’s legislative branch — to an audience of our elected representatives — how will we be implicated in what will follow?

Palestinian Christians Issue Kairos Document

An ecumenical group of Palestinian Christians, including the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, issued The Kairos Palestine Document: A moment of truth – A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering. The document is a word of hope to Palestinian Christians and a challenge for churches worldwide to work towards ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands as well as a call to re-examine theologies that support the Israeli occupation.

To read the document visit the Kairos Palestine website.

For more information check out the Peace Not Walls page The Palestinian Kairos Document.