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.