Reflections on the Meeting of the 2016 General Assembly: Part Three

When We Gather at the Table: A PC(USA) Snapshot. Item 04- Report

            Many of us will remember that General Assembly Moderator Heath Rada, during his years of service since 2014, initiated a church wide “conversation”. This project became a comprehensive survey seeking input from across the church; in the end 3,427 Presbyterians participated. A full report has been written, summarized and provided to the Way Forward Committee at this year’s General Assembly.

            The concluding section of the report identified several “segments” or “clusters” within our church. “While these ‘clusters’ are informal and fluid, their identification may aid us in viewing the diversity within the PC(USA).” This discussion is interesting, giving us a helpful snapshot of our church today:

Segment 1: Purposeful Progressives (35%)

Segment 2: Disappointed and Discerning (19%)

Segment 3: Family Facilitators (15%)

Segment 4: Rooted and Resolute (10%)

Segment 5: Not categorized (21%)

            With which cluster do you associate? Within the church, do you regularly have serious conversation with people from other clusters? Do you consider this kind of wild diversity within the membership of our church a good thing for our common life, or a burden?

            The full report, including descriptions and definitions for each of these Segments is included in When We Gather At The Table, found as Item 04-Report within the Way Forward Committee on PC-Biz.

Reflections on the meeting of the 2016 General Assembly: Part Two

The Israel Palestine Conflict:

Once again the Israel Palestine conflict will be an important topic and action item at this year's General Assembly. The General Assembly is receiving a lengthy report from the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy titled, "Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace".

Our Church has advocated for the traditional "two-state" solution to this conflict for many years. But Israel's action on the ground in the West Bank has evoked some deep skepticism about whether the "two-state" solution is still a viable option. The report coming to this year's Assembly articulates some of the issues which call into question the viability of the "two-state" solution. This paragraph from page two of the report is important:

"Israel's policy trajectory of continued settlements and brutal occupation is deeply troubling. Not only does it make a two-state solution increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to achieve, but the emerging, de facto single state's systematic violation of Palestinian rights and democratic values is eroding Israel's moral legitimacy. This has presented a growing crisis for a church that has historically supported Israel as a homeland for Jews, and we note growing divisions in the US Jewish community as well."

There is a Committee at this year's General Assembly focused on Middle East issues (Committee 8). The Advisory Committee's report will be considered by this Committee; it is action item 08-06 and is now available for review on PC-Biz.

Encouraging a Ministry of Support for Refugees.

     Her name is Marwee; she is not a category.

                We talked with a woman. It was not any woman. We talked with an African woman. It was not any African woman. We talked with a Moslem African woman. She was not any Moslem from Africa. We talked with a Moslem African woman who spent years living in a refugee camp in Uganda. She is not a category. Categories cannot smile. Her face burst into a bright smile when we asked to see a photograph of her husband and young daughter who are still in the refugee camp waiting and waiting and waiting to move through the United States immigration process.

                We talked with a refugee. It was not any refugee. She is a very grateful, strong willed and resilient Moslem African woman whose beloved father owned a business. There was fighting between rival warlords. They lived in a home, on a city street in Mogadishu, Somalia. The fighting was outside their door. Her father was killed. He was her father, not a category or a statistic or a number.

Her mother loved her; loved her hard. Her mother loved her so hard she insisted that she leave; leave their home; leave their city; leave their country. Her mother’s hard love did not want her beautiful, smiling daughter married off by force to one of the many soldiers outside their door who sought young girls with smiles. Her mother could not make the journey; she stayed behind in their home; she died. Her beautiful, smiling daughter never saw her again.    

Her name is Marwee. She is a smiling, smart Moslem African refugee who has two kids with her in a small, neat apartment in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She praises the abundant support from Church World Service. She is not a category. Her young son has a soccer ball. He is not a category either.

Why do we think in categories so quickly, so easily and so dismissively? American and African; Christian and Moslem, black and white, citizen and refugee, rich and poor, male and female, us and them. Categories do not smile. Neighbors are not categories.

Jesus said, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” 

Reflections on the meeting of the General Assembly 2016, Part 1:

Directory for Worship

Coming forward to the General Assembly this year is a full revision of the Directory for Worship, which is part of our Book of Order. This recommendation is coming from the Mission Agency at the direction of the 2014 General Assembly.

I have not seen much discussion of this proposal. I do not expect this question to be controversial or divisive. But this is a constitutional question and if it passes the General Assembly we will be voting on this recommendation in our presbytery.

I have not yet studied every paragraph on the proposed new Directory for Worship. But I enjoy and appreciate this new paragraph at the beginning:

W-1.0102 Grace and Gratitude

God acts with grace; we respond with gratitude. God claims us as beloved children; we proclaim God's saving love. God redeems us from sin and death; we rejoice in the gift of new life. This rhythm of divine action and human response - found throughout Scripture, human history and everyday events - shapes all of Christian faith, life, and worship. 

You can find the proposed new Directory for Worship on PC-Biz as action item 14-04. It will be first considered by Committee 14: Theological Issues and Institutions.

Reflections on Israel and Palestine: Part Seven

The Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb is the senior pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, Palestine. During our study tour in Israel and Palestine we visited his church, worshiped with them on Sunday morning, and enjoyed a fabulous meal. Rev. Raheb only had a few minutes to greet our team before leaving on an international trip. But his new book has been compelling and powerful; it may be one of the most important books I have studied this year. This book, and especially his understanding of history, challenges me, and our church. 

Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible Through Palestinian Eyes , (2014).

Quoted from Chapter 1: History and the Biblical Story

“As a Palestinian, the history of my country can be traced from primeval times until the present. For Palestinians, the Romans were not the last empire. Our history continued after the Romans with the Byzantines (332), Arabs (637), Tartars (1040), Crusaders (1099), Ayyubides (1187), Tartars (1244), Mamluks (1291), Mongols (1401), Ottomans (1516), British (1914) and Israelis (1948/ 1967), to name just the main occupiers. . .

. . . In looking at the myriad works on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all start at some point in the late nineteenth century with the beginning of the Zionist movement. Scholars have studied every conceivable aspect of this conflict. And yet all of these studies are done in historic isolation. They lack that historic depth of the centuries and, while they focus on the uniqueness of the current conflict, they fail to see it as part of an ongoing pattern. This historic disconnect leads to false political analyses, for which the Palestinians are paying a high price. . . .

. . . Yet, I also see how the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, struggles to find a faithful response to various and recurring empires. I understand sacred history to be one response to the secular histories of brutal empires. As powerful empires continue to be a recurrent theme in the history of Palestine, the question of God remains crucial, and faith is both challenged and engaged.”

My Question:

Mitri Raheb offers a compelling understanding of history, and the study of history, which takes into account the full chronological sweep of the generations.

But this understanding of history is directly opposed to an understanding of history which supposes a bold, theological connection between the Genesis covenant with Abraham and modern Israel’s status as a nation-state, indeed, an expanding nation-state which increasingly includes the Palestinian’s land. This understanding of history jumps from the biblical narrative of Genesis to the modern state of Israel. This conceptual jump, in Mitri Raheb’s opinion, makes the Palestinians “theologically invisible.”

In this example, a commitment to mutual forbearance , a foundational Presbyterian doctrine, completely breaks down. Both of these different views of history, and the consequences of these views, cannot be legitimate and acceptable.

Yet, these opposing views co-exist in our church. How should we respond?

Report to the Presbytery May 24, 2016

 "The Big Church"

I have a children’s sermon which I have used in many of our churches when I lead worship. I call it the “Big Church”. After some introductions, I ask the children to name a country, any country in the world. They will usually say Canada, Mexico or maybe China or Germany. Then I ask, “Do you think there are any churches in that country?” I ask for the name of another country. Do you think there are any churches in that country? The answer is, of course, yes. There are churches in every country of the world. That is what I call the Big Church.

Why is it that our view is so short? Often when we say Church, we only mean our congregation. Of if we are thinking about anything larger, we may be only thinking of the Church in the United States. I heard a sermon recently which was built on the premise that the Church, that is how it was named, the Church is in decline. My friends, nothing could be further from the truth. The Church is on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit. What I call the Global Church or the Universal Church, or what our Book of Confessions calls the Visible Church is growing very quickly in many, probably most, parts of the world, in many different cultures and in many different styles. When we have this idea that the church is in decline, we are only referring to a very small part of the Church, that part in the United States and in Western Europe generally. Did you know that the Presbyterian Churches in both Brazil and Mexico are larger than our PC(USA)? Did you know that the largest missionary movement in the world today does not involve Americans? The largest missionary movement in the world today is South Korean Christians reaching out into China.

We have a special opportunity to open our ears and open our hearts and listen to a word from the Presbyterian Church in Egypt. My friend, Hunter Farrell, the Director of our World Mission program, considers the Reformed Church in Egypt to be our greatest mission success. In the era of the great missionary movement, Presbyterians from our Church in the United States planted the Presbyterian Church in Egypt. Please be attentive to and open your hearts to Rev. Ashraf Beshay.  

Reflections on Israel and Palestine, Part Six:

Kairos Palestine

When I try to reflect theologically on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict given my, many new insights from our study tour, I find myself returning again to the Kairos document. This bold Christian statement of faith has, it seems, fallen out of our attention over the years since its release in 2009. We were blessed during our study tour to meet with several of the Palestinian leaders who wrote and are now advocating for Kairos Palestine. They maintain a website at http://www.kairospalestine.ps/ and easily found via Google.

Section Four of the Kairos document is titled "Love", and has provoked some of the strongest backlash and criticism in American Church circles. The Kairos document connects "love" and "resistance." This is a difficult word, which we in the U.S. need to consider deeply. Copied here are several paragraphs of Section Four. But it is crucial to read the whole document and understand its internal flow and connections. Nonetheless these two sentences from Section Four have provoked widespread criticism:  

The aggression against the Palestinian people which is the Israeli occupation, is an evil that must be resisted.

 The roots of "terrorism" are in the human injustice committed and in the evil of the occupation.

* * * *

Resistance

4.2 This word is clear. Love is the commandment of Christ our Lord to us and it includes both friends and enemies. This must be clear when we find ourselves in circumstances where we must resist evil of whatever kind.

4.2.1 Love is seeing the face of God in every human being. Every person is my brother or my sister. However, seeing the face of God in everyone does not mean accepting evil or aggression on their part. Rather, this love seeks to correct the evil and stop the aggression.

The aggression against the Palestinian people which is the Israeli occupation, is an evil that must be resisted. It is an evil and a sin that must be resisted and removed. Primary responsibility for this rests with the Palestinians themselves suffering occupation. Christian love invites us to resist it. However, love puts an end to evil by walking in the ways of justice. Responsibility lies also with the international community, because international law regulates relations between peoples today. Finally responsibility lies with the perpetrators of the injustice; they must liberate themselves from the evil that is in them and the injustice they have imposed on others. . . .

4.3 Through our love, we will overcome injustices and establish foundations for a new society both for us and for our opponents. Our future and their future are one. Either the cycle of violence that destroys both of us or peace that will benefit both. We call on Israel to give up its injustice towards us, not to twist the truth of reality of the occupation by pretending that it is a battle against terrorism. The roots of "terrorism" are in the human injustice committed and in the evil of the occupation. These must be removed if there be a sincere intention to remove "terrorism". We call on the people of Israel to be our partners in peace and not in the cycle of interminable violence. Let us resist evil together, the evil of occupation and the infernal cycle of violence.


"Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem."