Praying

A gruesome terrorist attack during Holy Week feels especially evil. I pray:

God of grace and peace,
we pray for the city of Brussels
and the people of Belgium.

Help and heal the wounded,
receive the dying into your embrace,
and comfort those who mourn.

Strengthen rescue and relief workers
who protect and provide for others
in the midst of crisis and chaos. 

Give leaders the wisdom and determination
to understand the causes of hatred
and prevent it from gaining force.

Put an end to all violence and war,
and restrain the impulse
to use injustice to seek justice. 

Continue to pour out your mercy
upon the victims of violence in Bangladesh;
Istanbul, Turkey; Peshawar, Pakistan;
and all the places we forget or ignore. 

Surround us all with your grace
and bring peace to our weary world.
This we pray in Jesus’ name.

Gradye Parsons
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly 

Heath Rada
Moderator of the 221st General Assembly (2014) 

Tony De La Rosa
Interim Executive Director, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Book Review: Walter Brueggemann. Chosen? Reading the Bible Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Walter Brueggemann. Chosen?

In preparation for my participation on the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program's 'Mosaic of Peace' study tour to Israel and Palestine this April, we have been provided with a reading list. Brueggemann's small book is at the top of the list. With all his experience as a teacher in the church and with his vast expertise as a student of the Bible, Brueggemann helps me to name something that is crucially important. This point is crucially important for our general and overall understanding of the Bible. This point is specifically vital when we ponder the complex issues of the Middle East. Simply put, we cannot and should not make a direct, unquestioned link between then and now. We must respect the interpretive distance. We cannot simply transfer and connect convictions about the biblical Israel with the modern state of Israel. Doing so is a misuse of the Bible.

In Brueggemann's words:

"It will not do for Christian readers of the Bible to reduce the Bible to an ideological prop for the state of Israel, as though support for Israel were a final outcome of biblical testimony." 

And also . . .

"It is my hope that the Christian community in the United States will cease to appeal to the Bible as a direct support for the state of Israel and will have the courage to deal with the political realities without being cowed by accusations of anti-Semitism."   

I look forward to visiting the Holy Land for the first time. I seek to travel with an open heart, an open mind and a deep commitment to prayer.

Report to the Presbytery of Carlisle February 2016

Bridging the Great Divide: Israel and Palestine

As citizens of the world who seek peace, as American Christians and as Presbyterians it is vital that we continue to pray for and seek to understand the difficult and multifaceted concerns of the Middle East. Our beautiful Psalm 122 encourages us to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem “. Our meeting of the General Assembly in June 2016 will, once again, consider important recommendations concerning our church’s response to these concerns.

At the meeting of our Presbytery this Tuesday, February 23, the Rev. Dr. Bill Harter distributed an important, new resource concerning the Middle East and our Presbyterian response. The resource is provided by the organization Presbyterians for Middle East Peace and is titled, Two States for Two Peoples.  This resource is available electronically at their website, pfmep.org.

For me, it is vital that we make every effort, when we ponder these profoundly difficult issues, to seek balance and a multiplicity of perspectives and viewpoints. Thus I also suggest that we ponder the work and the perspective of the PC(USA) Israel Palestine Mission Network. Their website is viewed at israelpalestinemissionnetwork.org. An important resource is available there: the study document Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide was written by the Mission Network for our congregations.

As Christians today it is also important to consider a viewpoint from Christians in the Middle East. An important document is Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth, available electronically at http://www.kairospalestine.ps/, which was written by a group of Palestinian Christians. This has been an influential statement which has provoked wide discussion and strong responses across the spectrum.  There is now a Wikipedia page on Kairos Palestine which includes a brief description of some of the volatile debate and divisions around this document in the North American Churches.

For American Presbyterians, a helpful theological resource is Walter Brueggemann’s Chosen? In this short book, which includes study questions for church groups, Brueggemann brings his expertise as an Old Testament scholar into dialogue with these contentious issues today.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   ‘May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
   and security within your towers.’
For the sake of my relatives and friends
   I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
   I will seek your good.   - Psalm 122: 6-9.

Book Review: Diana Butler Bass, Grounded, 2015

Book Review: Diana Butler Bass, Grounded: Finding God in the World: A Spiritual Revolution. 2015.

I have been a fan and an avid student of Diana Butler Bass since the days when her popular book, Christianity for the Rest of Us traveled through my church circles with enthusiastic popularity. But now she has left me behind. I do not know for sure where she went. But she left the church. I am church! My abiding spiritual life, blessed by a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, is fully alive in and through the institutional church. I am committed to fighting for the vitality, the effectiveness and the vibrant future of the institutional church. The church embodies my spiritual life. But now, in my reading of her new book Grounded, Diana Butler Bass has abandoned me and the institutional church. She has moved, as a result of her “third conversion”, to some strange place that is, I guess, more aligned with Karen Armstrong’s Charter of Compassion than it is with my stodgy Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

She writes in her Conclusion this paragraph that for me lacks the nuance and sophistication that I found in her works. I find this to be a remarkably simplistic summary of things:

“The old God, the one believed in, preached and celebrated, and served in conventional religious institutions, is fading from view. And a new God, one of intimate longing and infinite love, experienced and proclaimed by seers and prophets through the ages, has risen just over the horizon. It is a new spiritual day.”

I read here her dismissal of the “conventional religious institutions” like the one I am committed to and serve in. This Great Emergence we are living through is certainly NOT going to happen like this. Our Reformation will not be an instantaneous on-off switch from an old God to a new God. There will be fits and starts, there will death and life, there will be success and failure, there will be new and old all mixed up together, and there are institutions doing fresh, creative, bold new things. Good bye, Diana Butler Bass. I am sorry you have abandoned our team, and walked out of our conventional institutions to live into some ethereal “earthy spirituality.” As for me and mine: We are church!

Book Review: Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me.(2015)

This is an important book, beautifully, poetically and elegantly written. I have white skin. But I did not feel attacked reading this book. I have white skin; I am confused by the "Black Lives Matter" movement. My response, in my own mind, seems to be, "Well, of course!" But that does not feel like an appropriate, public response. I am broken-hearted by the list of official, law enforcement violence against black people. I try to understand this issue of racism which is tearing at the fabric of our society, but I cannot. I have no access, no glimpse, no opportunity to experience the intimate reality of being a black person in America today. (I do not even know if the jargon of "white" and "black" people is still appropriate and correct?)

This book gives me that glimpse. For that I am grateful. I can glimpse, through this book, a bit of how a perceptive black writer views inner-city gangs, broken schools, the Civil Rights Movement of old, police violence. This book is written as an open letter to the author's teenage son. We share the role as the father of a teenage boy; although in vastly different worlds. I feel his love for his son, as I am filled with love for mine.

This comment, from the book, shook me: "But race is the child of racism, not the father."

This challenge, from the book, motivates me: "And I still urge you to struggle. Struggle for the memory of your ancestors. Struggle for wisdom. Struggle for the warmth of The Mecca. Struggle for your grandmother and grandfather, for your name."

I struggle. I pray.

Syrian Refugees

Myths and Facts about Syrian Refugees:

Our Coordinating Council sponsored an excellent conversation concerning the viability of our congregations hosting and supporting refugee families. Our conversation was led by the staff at our International Service Center. As part of their presentation, these facts were offered in response to some of the common myths we hear:

Myths and Facts: Resettling Syrian Refugees

Myth: All Syrian refugees are dangerous.
Fact: 2,234 Syrian refugees have been admitted to the United States since October 1, 2010 (the beginning of fiscal year 2011), and only after the most extensive level of security screening of any category of traveler to the United States. None have been arrested or removed on terrorism charges.
Refugees are not terrorists. Many refugees are victims of terrorists.

Myth: 70% of the Syrian refugees coming to the United States are young, single, adult men.
Fact: Single men unattached to families comprise less than 2% of all Syrian refugee admissions to date. Last fiscal year, 1,682 Syrian refugees were admitted. Roughly 77% of them were women and children. Only 23% were adult men.

Myth: 250,000 Syrians are arriving in the United States imminently.
Fact: This is false. Since the conflict in Syria began in Fiscal Year 2011, the United States has admitted just over 2,200 Syrian refugees. In Fiscal Year 2016, the Administration remains committed to its goal of resettling at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States.

Myth: Syrian refugees receive insufficient security vetting.
Fact: All refugees of all nationalities considered for admission to the United States undergo a rigorous security screening involving multiple federal intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies, such as the National Counterterrorism Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Departments of Homeland Security, State and Defense, in order to ensure that those admitted are not known to pose a threat to our country. The safeguards include biometric (fingerprint) and biographic checks, and an interview by specially trained DHS officers who scrutinize the applicant’s explanation of individual circumstances to ensure the applicant is a bona fide refugee and is not known to present any security concerns to the United States. Mindful of the particular conditions of the Syria crisis, Syrian refugees go through an enhanced level of review.

Myth: It’s impossible to thoroughly vet Syrians, given the ongoing conflict.
Fact: We have, for years, safely admitted smaller numbers of Syrian refugees and we have a great deal of experience screening and admitting larger numbers of refugees from other chaotic environments, including where intelligence holdings are limited. Syrian refugees go through an additional layer of security screening tailored to the particular conditions of the Syrian crisis, the classified details of which have been shared with the U.S. Congress, and we continue to examine options for further enhancements for screening Syrian refugees.

Theological Conversations: Dean K. Thompson "Presbyterian Virtues"

The PC(USA) Office of Theology and Worship has started publishing a series of "Theological Conversations." The paper by Dean K. Thompson in this series titled "Our Presbyterian Virtues" tickled the deep pride I have for our great Presbyterian Church:

What are the Presbyterian virtues: "the life of the mind; enjoyment of the natural creation; humility and self-criticism arising out of the awareness of justification by faith alone; love of the simple life contrasted with a life colored by pomposity; a deep sense of awe before God and the mysteries of the faith; and a strong awareness of our public responsibility." Amen!

See Theological Conversations, Our Presbyterian Virtues by Dean K. Thompson.