Reply to the many responses to David Gushee’s and Glen Stassen’s Open Letter to Christian Zionists

David Gushee and Glen Stassen

Thank you so much for paying our letter the honor of your responses, pro and con. Healthy dialogue is important for the healing we need in the Middle East and here at home.

The point of our letter was to challenge biblically the claim of Christian Zionists that God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis says all the land should belong to Israel. We were hoping for dialogue on the clear meaning of the biblical covenant with Abraham. Our claim is that misconstruing the biblical teaching is misleading many Christian Zionists to support settlements on Palestinian land that are unjust, that violate God’s will as well as international law, and that cause dangerous hostility against Israel. We ask responses to focus on the biblical teaching.

Paranoia evanghelica a alergiei la semnul crucii

Manu si Dyo ne informeaza despre o noua revarsare de paranoia fundamentalista pe blogurile evanghelicilor romani. De data aceasta este vorba de Vladimir Pustan, care, Doamne iarta-l! si-a facut (din nou) cruce. Si Cristian Ionescu nu ezita sa-l puna cu curaj la stilpul infamiei (unul dintre hobby-urile pastorului din Chicago)

Daca cumva fura din banii sponsorilor americani (un caz absolut ipotetic si, sunt sigur, implauzibil!) sau, Doamne fereste,  se culca cu vreo sora de credinta, alta decit sotia lui, era iertat, mai devreme sau mai tirziu. Se intimpla si la case mai mari. Dar sa-si faca cruce – se stie, de la Tertulian citire, semnul dracului (ortodox) – asa ceva nu se poate ierta nici in veacul acesta, nici in cel viitor  (la veacurile evanghelice, mai inghesuite, ma refer, desigur, nu la escatologia biblica, cea pentru oameni normali).

Releasing the power of the Gospel in Armenia

Map of Armenia (in orange) and the surrounding region

[The presentation below was prepared for a recent meeting at the World Vision US headquarters in Seattle, Wa.]

I come from an area of the world that witnessed the birth of the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Like in many places in the Unites States, faith is an essential component of the day to day living of our people. That does not mean, however, that the faith of Christians in our region is really mature, nor that it informs every aspect of their life. God, in his grace, is using World Vision at this particular time of history to witness to Christ and the transforming power of His Gospel in the life of individuals and communities. I would like to share with you today some glimpses from what God is doing these days in Armenia.

Do We Stand Together? American Jewish Identity and Voices of Dissent

Do We Stand Together? American Jewish Identity and Voices of Dissent.

A matter to ponder.

Martin Marty – World Vision Foreign Aid

Sightings

November 14, 2011

While polarization marks and blights politics in America today, and while popular culture, commerce, and religion are afflicted with the all-or-nothing ideologies and practices that prevent the citizenry from meeting the challenges which only intensify as seasons pass, here and there and now and then Sightings spies counter-signs. While the media focus on conflict among and within religious communities, those who take the longer view can find occasions for inspiration. That I so often find such signs in publications like The Economist or The Wall Street Journal surprises some readers and perhaps needs some explaining now and then.

A half century ago the company of historians with whom I hung out began to speak of a “two-party system” in American Protestantism and, for that matter in Catholicism and other communities. Then and ever since, the parties kept redefining themselves, drawing revised lines, seeking and finding new causes, new enemies, and new friends. The lines hardened for decades when “the Christian Right” faced off against religious expressions of “the New Left.” My work often took me to places where expectations imprisoned imaginations. Sometimes invited to mainly-evangelical conferences, I would be introduced as “the non-evangelical guest at this year’s meeting.” I would remind others that, among other things, I was the only participant who belonged to a church body which had the word “evangelical” in its very name. Enough about that.

Advent in Art 2011 – First Sunday

Federico Barocci, The Annunciation

Luke 1: 26-38 [The Message] In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: “Good morning ! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, beautiful inside and out! God be with you.” She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: you will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great, be called ‘Son of the Highest.’ The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; he will rule Jacob’s house forever – no end, ever, to his kingdom.” Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Yes, I see it all now….” Then the angel left her.

WCC expresses concern over human trafficking in Sinai Desert

During the past year thousands of people from North Africa have disappeared in the Sinai Desert region while crossing the border between Egypt and Israel.

“Falling prey to human traffickers, employment scams, harassment, organ thefts and forced deportations, these people face one of the worst human rights violations,” says Fr Mussie Zerai.

Zerai is a Roman Catholic priest from Eritrea, based in Vatican, and spoke recently in a meeting at the World Council of Churches (WCC) offices in Geneva organized by WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

He is the founder of Agenzia Habeshia, a charity for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.

“Churches have been the voice of the voiceless. The ecumenical family has a great responsibility to be engaged in global advocacy on behalf of these people, as their rights are being violated,” said Zerai.

First Sunday of the Advent 2011

Majestas (see here the source and the details on this ikon)

Lessons of the day

• Isaiah 64:1-9
• Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
• 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
• Mark 13:24-37

Otniel Bunaciu – Mesaj de Advent

Bucureşti, 21 noiembrie 2011

Iubiți frați și surori în Hristos,

Primiți vă rog un salut frățesc cu ocazia apropierii sărbătorii nașterii Mântuitorului nostru. În această perioadă ne amintim de dragostea Tatălui care l-a trimis pe Fiul pentru a ne elibera din robia păcatului și îi suntem mulțumitori lui Dumnezeu pentru această revărsare a iubirii divine. Deși anul care se încheie a fost marcat de dezastre naturale cum a fost cutremurul din Japonia, de marile mișcări sociale din țările arabe și de o continuare a crizei economice în întreaga lumea, în calitate de credincioși suntem întăriți prin speranța noastră care este întemeiată în cunoașterea faptului că Dumnezeu domnește asupra lumii și a întregului univers pe care El l-a creat.

Anul trecut am îndemnat în această perioadă, credincioșii din bisericile din Uniunea Baptistă la un timp de așteptare și de pregătire a venirii Domnului (Advent), perioadă în care să ne apropiem de Dumnezeu în rugăciune, post, meditație asupra Cuvântului. Venind împreună ca și copii ai lui Dumnezeu însuflețiți fiind de același Duh al lui Dumnezeu să fim împreună martori ai puterii de transformare a lui Dumnezeu în viețile noastre și în mod deosebit în comunitățile noastre.

Egyptian Christian Ask for Our Prayers

Egyptian Christians request our prayers as Egypt prepares to commence Parliamentary elections on 28th November (the elections are in stages and are scheduled to conclude on 10th March 2012). Within the current context of protest, violence and lack of security, Christians have several specific concerns.

First, Christians are concerned that the pattern of protest and violent response is nurturing an environment of indifference towards violence, including sectarian violence.

The Last Jew in Zagare – NYTimes.com

The Last Jew in Zagare – NYTimes.com.

A painful story to read and learn from.

Israeli army to demolish clean energy supply serving 390 Palestinians

Dear friends,

On 10 November, we received information from the communications officer of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) informing us that the Israeli authorities have decided to cut off the only source of electricity to Imneizil, a Palestinian village in the South Hebron hills. The village had no access to electricity, water and sewage networks due to military restrictions until a Spanish NGO intervened to install solar panels disregarding the army refusal to provide a building permit. The Israeli authorities now intend to tear down a set of solar panels in the south Hebron hills. 390 residents (forty families), a health clinic, and a school will be affected. Paul Raymond, EAPPI communications officer reports that “the solar plant is the village’s only source of electricity”. For more details also see: www.eappi.org

Despite a legal campaign by Rabbis for Human Rights and 39 appeals, the prospects of saving the solar panels remain grim. Lawyers say that the demolition order violates international law. Israeli organization Rabbis for Human Rights launched a legal campaign against the demolition, arguing that the panels did not require a building permit in the first place, and that electricity is a basic humanitarian need.

Celtic Trail – Day 3 – Sunday Worship at Kilbrandon Church

Kilmartin Church

Today is a day of worship with a local congregation. It was a wonderfully refreshing experience to gather with believers at Kilbranden church. About 75 people in a beautiful old stone church with stained glass windows. The service was specifically designed to reflect elements of Celtic traditions. The order of worship included congregational singing; a special solo from one of the Celtic Trail team, while another of the Celtic team played the organ. A presentation of how people from different cultures can get value from one another by appreciating and accepting our differences. 

From Revenge to Reconciliation – The Story of Aziz Abu Sarah

Aziz is a dear friend. He is a man of peace and love in a land of war and hate.

How much hate is around there you can easily gather from the hateful/painful comments to this video on YouTube.

Aziz organised the last tour of Israel/Palestine that I have organised for my team in October.

I hope some day I will be able to take some of my close friends there, to see with their own eyes the complex reality of this (not so) holy land..

Celtic Trail – Day 2 – From Oban to Dunadd, Brandon’s Seat and Kilmartin

The day began with the team meeting for breakfast at the hotel then packing the minivan for our trek to Dunadd, the seat of Kings.

Ehud Barak: Iranian Nuclear Program Not Really About Israel

The classic definition of a campaign gaffe is when a politician inadvertently speaks a truth that will hurt him politically. The first George Bush committed a gaffe when he said that the idea that cutting taxes would increase government revenue was “voodoo economics.” Similarly, it was a gaffe when Barack Obama said that insecure right-wingers “cling” to religion and guns. In other words, a gaffe is a politically inconvenient truth.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak gaffed big time this week. In fact, this gaffe is even more colossal than when he said back in 1999 that if he were a stateless young Palestinian, he would “have joined one of the terror organizations.”

Walter Rauschenbusch – Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Thanksgiving Day Prayer
by Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918)

For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

Celtic Trail – Day 1 – From Glasgow to Oban

Part of our group. Rev Robert Calvert, our trail leader, Presbyterian pastor in Rotterdam,
is second from the right. First from the right is Kati, my World Vision colleague.

The day began by meeting up with team leader Robert Calvert and a team of 13 people for a Celtic Trail tour and study of Celtic Christianity. The class met at the airport in Glasgow Scotland and travelled by minibus to Oban on the northwest coast of Scotland, about three hours drive from Glasgow.

US AID Freeze Is ‘Punishing’ Disabled Children in West Bank

Press Release from BibleLands.

The narrative that says that ‘the-Palestinians’-decision-to-go-to-the-UN-is-a-form-of-diplomatic-terrorism-that-cannot-go-unpunished,’ cultivated for months by the AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Israeli diplomats, and most of the American Jewish and right-wing Christian community, has firmly taken root.

Love Wins – An Orthodox View

This is a remarkable way of explaining the Gospel with chairs.

Author is Steve Robinson. He is also author of the podcast Our Life in Christ.

Thanks to Clark Bailey, Facebook friend, for this link.

World Airline Traffic (24-Hour Time Lapse Video)

Egypt’s Remarkable Prayer Gathering – UPDATE

November 18, 2011

Dr. Wafik Wahba, Associate Professor of Global Christianity

An estimated 70,000 Egyptian Christians gathered on November 11, 2011 for praise, worship, and prayer at St. Simon Church in Cairo while millions around the globe followed the event live on TV and the Internet. This was a significant event: It was the largest Christian gathering in the modern history of Egypt; it brought together, for the first time, all Christian denominations: Coptic Orthodox, Catholics, and all branches of Protestant and Evangelical Christians. The prayer meeting that started at 6:00 PM continued uninterrupted till 6:00 AM the following day!

The focal point of the gathering was repentance and forgiveness. The leaders of all churches came together in unprecedented unity to lead thousands of people in worship and prayer for Egypt: “We are here to rend our hearts before the Lord and repent for all our sins,” said one priest as he reflected on Joel chapter 2. Before leading the people in prayers of repentance he reminded all church leaders, Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” – Joel 2:17. Another priest prayed for the healing of the land and for God’s intervention to save the country from a disastrous famine as the Nile is drying up at alarming rate. The powerful time of praise and worship focused on God’s glory being declared, once again, over the land of Egypt with several songs on the theme of “Blessing Egypt”. One of the highlights of the event was a prayer of dedication, wherein the country and its people were covenanted to the Lord to live a consecrated life.

Middle East Viewed from Space

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Chris Rice – 7 Lessons from a Post-Communist Landscape

In October 2011 Chris Rice and Gann Herman, from Duke Center for Reconciliation have visited Romania in a reconciliation tour. Then, together, we have visited Poland, aiming to understand what are the needs for reconciliation in post-communist lands.

In a recent blog post, Chris shares 7 lessons they have learned on this trip. Here they are:

Lesson 1:  The unfinished business of “post-communism”

Lesson 2:  Redemption must touch Russia

Lesson 3:  Intergenerational conflict and secularization

Early Morning in North Korea

From the blog of my friend Chris Rice, Duke Center for Reconciliation:

I just returned from 8 astonishing days in North Korea, based in Pyongyang and traveling across the southern countryside and cities. Many powerful moments of hope amidst the reality described in this photo in Time magazine. The caption reads: “October 5, 2011. A portrait of Kim Il Sung, founder of the communist regime in North Korea, beams from a government building at 6 a.m. in the pariah state’s capital, Pyongyang. Soon the entire city would be awakened by propaganda songs blaring from the loudspeakers.”

 

Moshe Dayan’s Widow Ruth: Zionist Dream Has Run Its Course – The Daily Beast

Moshe Dayan’s Widow Ruth: Zionist Dream Has Run Its Course – The Daily Beast.

Here is a very interesting interview with Ruth Dayan. Here is a quote:

“I long for the old Israel, where I traveled alone to Gaza the day after we won the 1956 war. Moshe was already a war hero, known to Israelis and Arabs alike. When I met the Palestinian mayor, I introduced myself as Ruth Dayan. The mayor almost had a heart attack.” She giggles. “His aides fled the scene. He cautiously asked me what my business was, and I replied that I wanted to see their rugs. He was astonished. ‘Rugs?’ he asked me. I was the head of Maskit at the time, a chain of arts-and-crafts stores. We were employing Bulgarian immigrants, and I wanted to include Arabs. I hired Arabs all over the country to make rugs and other merchandise. It was about living together, working together, creating a bridge. Today we use foreign labor to work in Israel because Palestinians are not allowed. And this continuous expansion of the settlements everywhere—I cannot accept it. I cannot tolerate this deterioration in the territories and the roadblocks everywhere. And that horrible wall! It’s not right.”

Today’s News from Cairo and a request for prayer

Monday, November 21, 2011 6:03 AM

Beloved friends and prayer partners,

Thank you for your emails and concern for the situation in Egypt at present, we greatly appreciate and need your continued, persistent prayer for our country!

We are all fine, the church building is fine, but many of our church members have been very close to the conflict in the last two days in downtown Cairo. Last night, as the conflict between the demonstrators and the Egyptian army escalated and became extremely violent, we opened the church building to be used as a clinic to treat the wounded. Tens of people came and received
treatment from various doctors, and many of our church members were there to help as needed.

Martin E. Marty – Tea and Occupy

 

                                      Tea Party vs Occupy Wall Street

Twice in the last four years I have spied Benton Harbor, Michigan, a once flourishing factory town that has suffered all manner of ills: bad leadership, racial conflicts, and more. Its downtown is ghostly. The most devastating blow occurred when Whirlpool abandoned it and its workers some years ago. Friday’s Wall Street Journal has a déjà vu inspiring headline: “As Whirlpool Exits, Job Hunts Begin.” This time the victim is Ft. Smith, Arkansas. It shows “Grit Among Loss” and has “A Knack for Marketing Area’s Low Costs to Manufacturers.” Applause, please, seconded by tears.

James R. Hagerty tells how in 1962 the city held a parade welcoming Whirlpool, but now the company announced it will close in mid 2012, stranding more than 1,000 workers, noting “sluggish demand” in the American market. Note: “The fault wasn’t with Fort Smith or its workers,” a Whirlpool spokesperson insists, “It is a great work force.” Stop here: what follows is not an analysis of markets and management; better informed people can and do comment on such. The interest here is in “the great work force” that is left behind in much political discourse but more often thought of among religious commentators. What goes on?