Day 14 - 40 Days of Prayer - Susan Andrews  

CRYING PEACE, PEACE – WHERE THERE IS NO PEACE
 
Journeying God,
Migrant Christ,
Border-crossing Spirit
 
You are always making something new in us.
You weave together the textures and colors of all cultures and races.
 
You move in us,
          calling us to leave everything behind,
          our homes, families, identities and cultures.
 
No wall is too high or too wide to keep us from your table.
No laws are so strong as to block us away from your Kindom.
 
Walk with us as we find our way to freedom.
Stay with us as we confront the barriers that keep us from your good.
Breathe new life in us as we live into a new creation,
          in which we join you at your most holy table,
          where everyone is welcome.    (author unknowm)
 
Perhaps the most contentious issue before this year’s General Assembly is the report of the Middle East Study Team – Breaking Down the Walls. As a member of that study team, I am aware of the sharp criticism from all sides – and the anxiety that the actions of the Assembly related to this issue may reap headlines that the church simply does not need -  or want. And, in the opinion of Jack Haberer in The Outlook, perhaps the days of submitting thick reports and making passionate political statements need to be put behind us, because this is simply no longer effective as a means toward justice making in such a polarized and complex world. All I know is that serving on this study team is the most difficult task I have ever engaged in at the denominational level. And the raw feelings among the team members continue to be acute.
 
The divide in Israel/Palestine – the hard line of Israeli government policy – the fear and despondency of our Middle Eastern Christian brothers and sisters – the sharp discrepancies between upscale settlements spreading like weeds next to shabby and poorly served Palestinian villages – the fear of moderate Muslims as they sense more radical voices heating up for fresh jihadist terrorism in the name of Allah – ALL of this is more acute and dangerous than our newspapers and television screens are reporting. The situation is urgent, dire, broken, and tense. Where is God in the midst of this mess?  
 
I hope my colleagues in Middle Governing Body leadership will take time to read the report  - particularly Part I (Summary of our findings and Biblical/Theological grounding) and Part II (Recommendations). (The longer Part III is for study only and not for adoption by the Assembly.) 
 
And then be prepared to equip your pastors and leaders with ideas of how to process this report if it should be adopted – particularly with your Jewish colleagues wherever you are.  A small Presbyterian voice cannot affect either Israeli or American government policy. But as followers of the Prince of Peace, we CAN engage our Jewish friends – and open up with those with whom we share biblical values of peace and justice a dialogue about this human rights catastrophe and potentially violent future conflagration.
 
What we heard from all the Palestinian voices in the Middle East – both Muslim and Christian – is that honest conversation with the American Jewish community may be the most effective witness that the PCUSA can make. The very future of our Christian brothers and sisters in the land where Jesus lived, died and rose again may depend upon it.
 
May it be so! 
 
Susan Andrews
Hudson River Presbytery