WORLD MISSION

 The following is the sermon delivered by Fr.Samuel Barhoum of Holy Family Episcopal Church in Raineh (Nr. Nazareth) Israel. This is the first visit of a proposed twinning between the congregations of both churches.

St. Michael's Church,  

Linlithgow,

Scotland

February 15, 2009

  Good Morning!                                                      

It is a real joy to be with you today as we worship together as one body in Christ. 

I bring you peace and greetings from the people of Holy Family Episcopal Church in Raineh, peace and greetings from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, from the Church and all the people of the Holy Land, where Jesus lived and taught; where He performed miracles and healings, where He suffered and died for our sins rising again in victory so that we may have new life.  From the land where we continue to live the faith and the commission of peace and justice that Jesus gave us.   

Today, I would like to express my feelings to you as a Christian from the Galilee.And I would like to encourage you to come and share your Christian faith of hope and support with our people to maintain the Christian presence and witness in the land of the Holy One. 

I chose the readings this morning, because they relate to our situation as Christians in Israel/Palestine.  

Jesus gave us all a commission on the Mount of Beatitudes when He said, “Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” (v 9).   He did not say, “Blessed are the Peace talkers” He called us to be Peacemakers not Peace talkers.  Peacemakers are called to give more energy and become more involved in the process of peacemaking and not just stand in the sidelines encouraging both sides to make peace and justice, but actually getting your hands ‘dirty’ by getting involved.  

Peace and justice is a condition that cannot be reached unless a person has inner peace, peace with oneself, then peace with God and your fellow human beings.   

Unfortunately, the majority of the world is talking peace and not making peace.  This is because they don't even have inner peace and you can't be a peacemaker unless you have this inner peace. 

The world is always giving instructions on how to make peace, but they are not getting involved.  Peace does not come through waging war; it comes through dialogue and understanding, through forgiveness and love.  

It is not easy for us to live in our homeland as strangers, we face a daily struggle as we live and feel much discrimination, we are forced to look on as others take away our land, property, and our rights as citizens and human beings.  We have difficulty moving from place to place, just like what happened to my Bishop when he tried to enter Gaza on a pastoral visit last week and was turned back.   

As we try to raise our children, the new generation, our investment, we find that our Arab schools suffer from the lack of budgets and weak curriculums, putting our children at a disadvantage at a young age. They then find it hard to get into University to get an education, and then afterwards many are faced with unemployment in spite of being qualified.  You see many families that have immigrated to other parts of the world; families are separated, because they want to find a better life.As Christians in the Holy Land, our Church has a blessed ministry.  Through our institutions, we work with all people in the fields of education and health, both physical and spiritual.   

In our ministry in Raineh, we provide services for all ages, starting from infants in our day-care to Sunday school, Junior High, Youth, Young Adults and women, in addition to ecumenical and interfaith activities.   We try to serve these different sectors of the community. 

I would like to give you an example of how we deal with violence in a nonviolent way, how we respond to hatred with love, through a peace-learning process that we put together. 

This peace-learning process begins at the point of Conflict in which we all live.  

Taking the first step towards resolving this conflict requires us to Pause and Pray.  In this stage, the person stops, relaxes, evaluates the conflict, and prays for inner peace in order to face the conflict.  At this point, the person reaches a level of comfort and gains the wisdom. 

The next step is Forgiveness, which goes hand in hand with love.  In this stage, we start through dialogue to reach reconciliation and understanding. 

As Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer; 'forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us'. 

The result of this process is Peace and Justice, a better future, a better generation and a group of peacemakers. 

Sisters and brothers in Christ, the big question is; Where are the Church and its commission of our situation? We need your support, solidarity, and prayers for real peace that is based on truth and justice.  

Because justice and peace are part of the nature of God Himself and part of His purpose for His people.  

In praying for peace we recognize our inability to establish peace in our own strength.  We need God's help to find and maintain peace in our personal relationships and then in the community.  Because Jesus' gift of peace is not simply the absence of conflict; His gift of peace is a challenge and a change of our relationships with one another and with God.   

We want to commission you as Christ commissioned all of us to be ambassadors of the truth, to stand with us in our struggle for justice and true peace.  And as St. Paul said, we are all the Body of Christ and if one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it, but if one part is praised, then the others share in its happiness.  We too must share in each other’s joys and sorrows (v 26). 

With your solidarity and support, our suffering becomes more bearable because it is shared and it's no longer a heavy burden we have to carry alone. 

We want you to come and visit us, to share in our lives, our suffering and our joy, to help our people know they are not alone, that there are people who hold them up in prayer and work for peace and justice on their behalf. 

We ask you to contact your officials and open their eyes to the situation in our land and guide them towards passing policies that will oblige Israel to work for peace, for justice and equality for the Palestinians and to allow our voices to be heard when we lift them.  

In this, you support our dream of living in a land

Where justice is practiced,

Where human rights are observed,

Where racism does not exist

Where leaders are honest and able

Where politicians listen

We dream of a lot more and believe that God will provide.  

We appreciate your support as we continue our work for peace and justice,Peace and justice that only with Christ can come alive, peace and justice that pass all understanding, an everlasting peace.                            

May God Bless you all,             

 Amen.    

 Blessing 

May the blessing of the God of peace and justice, be with us;

May the blessing of the Son, who weeps the tears of the world's suffering, be with us;

And may the blessing of the Spirit, who inspires us to reconciliation and hope, be with us Now and forever. 

Amen.