Thursday, March 6: Stephanie Curry

Habakkuk 3:17-18. Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to GOD. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on GOD’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength.

I lived in Anchorage for seven years during the 1980’s and was fascinated by the blend of races and cultures. Indigenous Natives, Asians, African Americans, European Americans, Latinos, Polynesians, and Texans.  The oil industry was booming bringing with it an influx of oil and gas professionals, mostly from Texas. I became friends with one such person, a petroleum engineer, in a Bible study I attended. Born and raised in Texas, he rattled off euphemisms and pithy southern phrases easily.

My favorite was “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.”

For me, Lent is a time to pay closer attention to “the well”. In her book A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent, Sarah Parsons says Lent is an annual invitation to create a spacious place in our lives to draw closer to God. More specifically, it is a chance to identify the obstructions that keep us from God. She writes, “Lent gives us a chance to look at such obstructions and to move them gently away so that we can come closer to the Love that gives us life, the Love whose triumph we will celebrate on Easter morning.”

Making space in my schedule to draw closer to God is easier than making space in the noisy workshop of my soul. Those annoying obstructions for me include the rancorous voices of self-criticism and doubt, and a very disgruntled attitude toward God regarding my biggest challenge, multiple sclerosis. Those are my orchards of bloomless fruit trees, stunted wheat fields, and empty stockyards Habakkuk describes in the verses above. 

This Lenten season I cannot tackle all the obstructions in my life that prevent a closer walk with God. I can however, make space in my life to name and choose one, and open my mind to Light’s gentle guidance, allowing God to purify the well waters of my soul as only Love can do. My desire is to name then surrender that one obstruction with no expectations or mental gymnastics about the outcome. I know from experience that God is faithful, can be trusted, and Love triumphs. The well waters of my soul also know this, not by experience; I just know.

So, no matter the circumstances in and around me, the pure waters of praise and joy can and will rise up “in my bucket” as a song to Lord of living water.        

                                                          

 — Stephanie Curry

Introduction to the Lenten Devotional: The Rev. Karen Haig

For Christians, Lent is a time set apart. Forty full, rich and long days to reflect and to pray, to look within, to seek out and explore the things in our lives that create distance between God and ourselves. Lent is a time to listen carefully and to discern what it is that God is calling us into. What might we take on, or let go of, in order to more freely love God, our neighbors and ourselves?

We offer you the St. Thomas Lenten Devotional and invite you to spend some time each day reflecting on Holy Scripture with our St. Thomas community. These reflections have been written with great care and attention by the people of our community, and they offer us an opportunity to move more deeply into our relationships with God, with one another and with ourselves.  My heartfelt thanks to all who prayed and pondered and wrote so beautifully from the riches of their own lives, to make this booklet happen. This little devotional is a great gift to us all, and it has been my privilege to have had a hand in bringing it to you. I invite you to use it to pray with, and to come closer into community by coming to know a bit more of the people who have written these reflections. May this Lent be an especially rich and holy season for us all.

- Faithfully, Karen†

Ash Wednesday, March 5: Bishop Greg Rickel

Matthew 6:21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is a most quoted scripture and one that is often misquoted. You will hear people often transpose the “treasure” and the “heart.” It works either way, but transposing it does have a nuance. I think Jesus knew what he was doing when he stated it the correct way, for where your treasure is, there you heart will be also. Lent is a time to discern such things. Where is your treasure? And of course, before you might know that, you may have to answer, what is your treasure? A very wise spiritual director once told me that most people are not qualified to answer that question for themselves. We have this built in denial to our reality, which more or less leads us not to be honest with ourselves. My spiritual director said, instead, ask those who truly love you. Get them to be honest. They will be able to see where your treasure is. I remember once, of the many times, my son played the role of spiritual director. He rather jokingly said that he wondered if he might get an appointment on my schedule. 

Now that is truth. 

It is a struggle I continue to battle to this day, my treasure is order and response, and getting things done. I can be quite good at that, to the detriment of what, at least I believe is my “treasure.” Perhaps, in this Lent, a good discipline would be to take great stock in what is your treasure, to name it, to maybe even write it down, to make it real, to test it out with those who love you. To compare that list, the one that has the priorities as we think we live them, and the real ones. To do this, is to know your heart.

- The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, Bishop of Olympia

Promised Land or Land of Promise? • Part 4

Peacemaking Role of Healing and Teaching Institutions in Israel/Palestine –St. Thomas connections with the Diocese of Jerusalem

by Mary Pneuman

Palestinian people are known for their hospitality. As a stranger on your first visit, you will be warmly welcomed to their churches and homes with a friendly ahlan wa sahlan. This is promptly followed by an offer of Arabic coffee (strong and unsweetened but laced with cardamom) or sweet tea flavored with sage. But even more welcome than your first visit are your return visits, which reassure your hosts that they have not been forgotten and express solidarity with their samoud, or steadfast determination to remain in their homeland. Each time you witness the work of the institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, it is not hard to see why support of their educational and healthcare ministries is so important in the quest for peace in Israel/Palestine.

For many years, St. Thomas has been developing connections with the people and institutions of the Diocese of Jerusalem, and many readers will recognize some of them from previous visits. Since 1994, St. Thomas parishioners have attended courses or were members of the Womens’ Connection pilgrimage led by George’s College in 2009. Since 1999, four parishioners have worked as volunteers. Since 2006, St. Thomas has hosted Bishop Suheil Dawani and his wife Shafeeqa, along with four Palestinian clergymen visiting the Diocese of Olympia. In 2010 and in 2012, St. Thomas welcomed four Palestinian women and three generations of women from a single Palestinian family. In 2010, a companion relationship was established with the Evangelical Home in Ramallah, West Bank, and the Arab Episcopal School for the blind in Irbid, Jordan. Over the years, Project Outreach has often sent donations to Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.

For members of the recent diocesan pilgrimage (Come and See, Dec/Nov, 2013 ) the Arab Evangelical School and the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center (ETVTC) in the West Bank city of Ramallah (pop. 60,000) offered the first glimpse of the educational institutions. In this traditionally Christian city (where Christians now number about 25% of the population) both serve a large Muslim population. At St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, we met with Fr. Fadi Diab, priest-in-charge of two Episcopal parishes (St. Andrews and Birzeit) and chaplain for 800 K-12 students, and heard from Sr. Najah Rantisi, head of the Evangelical Home, preschool and daycare facilities, located on the campus of the school. Fr. Fadi also oversees the new diabetic clinic at St. Andrews. Some of you will remember this energetic young priest when he spoke at St. Thomas and his previous church in Amman, Jordan.

At the ETVTC, we observed students working on IT, electronic and computer projects as the director, Giovani Anbar, led us on a tour of his middle and high school classrooms. This program serves 380 students who come twice a week with their teachers from private Christian schools, then return to their home schools to apply what they have learned. In addition to the enrichment program, the high school curriculum offers both hospitality and IT streams that lead to diplomas and employment. The center also offers a technological summer camp for children 6-13 and ballet classes for girls 6-16.

In Nablus (pop. 250,000), we met Fr. Ibrahim Nairouz, priest-in-charge of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church and the newer Church of Good Shepherd in the adjacent community of Rafidia. (There, as part of the Womens’ Connection, four St. Thomas women met with him and his parishioners over lunch.) Nablus was the scene of deadly clashes with the Israeli military during the second intifada; old wounds are slow to heal, and bridges need to be built. At St. Philips, Fr. Ibrahim emphasizes understanding and reconciliation in his programs for youth and young families, and in the past two years he has engaged in interfaith dialogue at monthly lunches with sheiks and imams from 50 - 60 area mosques. Recently he has been receiving invitations to attend their daughters’ engagement parties, he said.

In the basement of the St. Philip’s church, Fr. Ibrahim oversees the new Christian National Kindergarten classroom which serves 50 mostly Muslim children from this very poor Old City area. His relish in their progress was apparent as the children showed off their recognition of the English alphabet. So that they can continue to build on their skills, he hopes to add a grade level each year. The children were looking forward to Santa Claus when we were there.

Before leaving Nablus, we stopped at St. Luke’s Hospital, a 50-bed full-service institution with 800 inpatient admissions per month. There we saw compassionate care in spite of the ongoing need for equipment and facility upgrades. The attending nurse was pleased to point out their two new incubators, both in use. When we stopped by the room of an eight-year-old boy on life support from the age of three after a near-drowning accident, our guide asked us to pray for him there. St. Luke’s is a charity hospital, where $40-50 per day is charged to those who can pay. The hospital is hoping to expand operations by developing a neurosurgery specialty to take referrals from other area hospitals.

Not far from Nablus, we stopped at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in the market town of Zababdeh (pop. 4000). Zababdeh has a 2/3 majority Christian population and is surrounded by olive groves, productive farm land and small rural villages. We were greeted by Deacon Salim Dawani, who is about to be ordained priest. Fr. Nael Abu Rahmoun, whom we met there in 2009, has since been transferred to Christ Church, Nazareth. At St. Matthew’s, efforts are underway to build a small library and computer lab for the large number of parish youth and children. Located in the lower level of the church is Penman Clinic, an outpatient clinic, testing lab and pharmacy that serves 12 nearby villages and is the only source of primary care in the region. Staffed by one visiting doctor (who comes once a week), a pharmacist and two nurses, the clinic also provides dental care when a dentist is available. The women of the parish welcomed us with a savory hot lunch of musakhan (chicken, onions, and pita bread seasoned with sumac). Janet Ghannam, our guest at St. Thomas in 2010 and now volunteer secretary at St. Matthew’s, sent her greetings.

East Jerusalem (part of the West Bank) is home to the Princess Basma Center for Disabled Children. Betty Majaj, who recently retired from 30 years as the director, led our tour through this exemplary institution. Founded in 1965 and run by Lutheran World Federation, it has been overseen by Diocese of Jerusalem since 2000 and has become a comprehensive national referral center for the evaluation, rehabilitation and education of children and adults with special needs, the support and education of their families, and advocacy for the disabled.

Princess Basma Center was a pioneer in establishing an inclusive educational program in 1987 and now provides integrated programs for over 650 K-12 students (about one-sixth of them with significant physical or neurological disabilities). In 1999, a program for severely hearing impaired children was added, followed in 2011 by the only program for autistic children living in Palestine. This program provides a Snoezelen room – or controlled multisensory environment – for children with autism, developmental disabilities, or brain injury. A sheltered workshop for developmentally disabled adults is also on-site.

To maximize care for the greatest number, Basma Center provides a 2-3 week residency to empower and train mothers in therapeutic techniques that can be applied at home, and rehabilitation outreach teams are sent to other communities in the West Bank. In meeting special needs, this center is a striking example of the creativity and synergy that can come from scarcity, both in financial and structural resources. There was little question that Princess Basma’s innovative educational practices (mainstreaming, parent collaboration and training, and community outreach) compare favorably with more heavily subsidized institutions in the US.

Also in East Jerusalem, we stopped briefly at St. George’s School for Boys. This school provides high quality education and an environment of respect and tolerance for differences – out of about 800 boys from K-12, Muslim students greatly outnumber Christians. Most of the graduates of St. George’s go on to universities in the West Bank or other countries and hopefully can return if they leave. Phoebe Griswold, former president of the American Friends for the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, noted that recess is spent in a playground the “size of a postage stamp,” while “just around the corner other boys are throwing rocks and getting arrested.” There is a waiting list for admission.

Leaving the West Bank for Israel, we visited with Fr. Nael Abu Rahmoun at Christ Church, Nazareth and Christ School, a K-12 educational institution that serves about 1300 students. Christ School is open to all in this multi-faith city, which has the largest concentration of Palestinian citizens (both Christian and Muslim) in Israel. Classes are taught in Arabic, Hebrew and English, and students educated in Christian schools have consistently obtained the highest pass-rates on state matriculation exams, a requirement for university entry. This year will see the 18th class to graduate.

Nearly all graduates will go on to college, but most will not be able to attend universities in Israel because there is a 12% quota for acceptance of Arab students. (All Palestinians are considered Arab, even though citizens of Israel.) Although Palestinians represent a quarter of the population, they comprise only eight per cent of the students attending Israeli universities. In addition to quotas, admission and housing preferences are given to students who have served in the Israeli Defense Force, and Palestinians are generally barred from military service. Most graduates will go to Jordan or Hungary – a few to the United States. Some will go to one of the five universities in the West Bank, since Palestinians from Israel are presently allowed to enter the West Bank. (It is against Israeli law for Jewish citizens to enter the West Bank.)

While Israel provides K-12 education for all citizens, schools are segregated; Jewish children attend Jewish schools, and Palestinian children go to Palestinian schools, which are subsidized at a lower per capita level. According to a 2012 report there is a shortage of over 6,000 classrooms and 4,000 teachers in Palestinian communities, including East Jerusalem. Palestinian children who live in Upper Nazareth (a large modern development built on a hill overlooking “old Nazareth”) must go by bus or walk to the schools in Lower Nazareth (which has a 25% majority Palestinian population). Palestinian children are admitted to preschools in Upper Nazareth, which is 80% Jewish.

Discrimination in all its forms compounds the loss of opportunities when it comes to employment and income, and many parents are confronted with a difficult choice. Knowing that a son with a degree in mechanical engineering or accounting may be lucky to find work as an auto mechanic or store clerk, or that a daughter who aspired to be a doctor will be fortunate to have a nursing career, some parents encourage their children to emigrate. Other members of the family often follow them, because political and economic conditions have not improved.

An increase in discriminatory practices in Israel and West Bank communities controlled by Israel does not bode well for peace. Segregation, not dissimilar to that seen in the Southern states of the United States prior to the civil rights movement, promotes mistrust, fear, intolerance, and dehumanization of “the other” and leads to a fortress mentality of “us” against “them.” Through their educational and health care institutions and the Department for Peace, Reconciliation and Interfaith Dialogue, the Diocese of Jerusalem strives to sustain and strengthen the Christian presence. Teaching respect and concern for all people, these institutions provide a voice of moderation and a bridge between their Jewish and Muslim neighbors. They need and deserve our support.

Next: A closer look at the challenges and obstacles facing Christian churches and what we can do to help.

Promised Land or Land of Promise? • Part 3

Christian ministries of the Episcopalians of Israel and Palestine
by Mary Pneuman

Care of the poor, the widow, the sick and the stranger has been a touchstone of Christianity since its earliest days. Jesus calls on us to be merciful to the “the other” when he answers the question who is my neighbor? by commanding us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Since its inception in 1845, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (D of J) has sought to respond to His call. Today, five healthcare ministries provide compassionate inpatient, outpatient and specialty care to all neighbors, regardless of political or religious affiliation or ability to pay. Seventeen educational ministries, which extend from preschool to high school and include special schools for the blind, deaf or disabled, play a vital role in maintaining respect and peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims and helping to reconcile Arabs and Jews.

In late November, thirteen pilgrims from the Diocese of Olympia embarked on an eight day tour to “Come and See” Israel and Palestine with Iyad Qumri, a Palestinian Christian guide with 20 years of experience and licensed to lead tours in Israel. Born in Jerusalem and a graduate of St. George’s School for Boys, he has deep roots in the land, and is the only Episcopalian Christian guide, he said.

In addition to visiting traditional Biblical sites, our group met with Bishop Suheil Dawani and his wife Shafeeqa, seven Arab Palestinian Episcopal clergy and some of their parishioners, and the leaders of ten schools and health care institutions supported by the Diocese of Jerusalem. For a visitor, covering the ground is possible because distances between one point and another In Israel and Palestine are small and there is a “tourist” passage through most of the checkpoints between the two.

With some 7,000 parishioners, the Diocese of Jerusalem has 27 parishes and 30 priests and operates 30 schools, clinics, and specialty rehabilitation centers in four countries. It hires about 1500 employees, both Christian and Muslim; the schools serve some 6400 students; and there are 160 beds in its two hospitals. In addition to liturgical, pastoral and administrative duties in at least one church, nearly every parish priest is in charge of overseeing a healthcare or educational institution. There is no secretarial support or office staff in the parishes, which rely heavily on volunteers.

The steady decrease in the number of Palestinian Christians (from up to 20 percent before Israel became a state to less than 2 percent at present) poses many challenges for the churches. Discriminatory laws, restrictions, and diminished employment and economic opportunities make everyday life difficult and encourage Christian emigration, especially among the young. Christian educational and healthcare institutions play a reconciling role in a land fraught with fear and conflict, and we were inspired (and humbled) by the steadfast faith and hope of those who remain to put their faith into action.

Is it true that the Christians are leaving because of Muslim persecution? Israeli advocates try to show that the minority Christians are being driven out by militant Muslims. On the contrary, as Dr. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University writes in Palestinian Christians—Challenges and Hopes:

"This tradition of good Christian-Moslem relations has evolved through centuries of coexistence and exchange in the cities of Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Ramallah and in the rural areas such as Zababdeh, BirZeit and other towns and villages where Moslems and Christians live side by side and interact in their pursuit of daily pre-occupations and concerns."

Responses to repeated inquiries of both Christians and Muslims in churches, schools and the marketplace firmly point to Israel’s oppressive military occupation as the cause. We share a common culture and language, they tell us—we may have our disagreements, but we are one people.

This conviction was born out again and again during our visit as we observed Christian and Muslim school children working and playing together and Christian and Muslim teachers and caregivers working in unison. Seeing classrooms at the Arab Evangelical school complex in Ramallah, a Christian speech pathologist working with a deaf Muslim child at Princess Basma School for Disabled Children in Jerusalem, or a Muslim nurse caring for a Christian patient at St. Luke’s Hospital in Nablus bears witness to the long tradition of bridging religious divides.

It would be hard to conclude that the preservation of the historic Arab Christian presence and the peacemaking role of faithful Palestinian Christians are not vital to the future stability of the region. To this end, it is most important that Christians everywhere recognize the moral and political issues involved and help to address the causes for the exodus of the “living stones” before it is too late.

Princess Basma Center for Disabled Children, East Jerusalem

Fr. Nairouz and the Christian National Kindergarten, Nablus

Evangelical Technological and Vocational Training Center, Ramallah

Evangelical Technological and Vocational Training Center, Ramallah

Neonatal wing — St. Luke's Hospital, Nablus

Promised Land or Land of Promise? • Part 2

Where are the Christians of the Holy Land?

by Mary Pneuman

On a flight home after a recent visit to the Holy Land, I listened as a fellow passenger enthusiastically described her pilgrimage. After hearing what she had seen, I asked if she had met some of the Christians who live there. “Christians?” she asked in disbelief, “No, we didn’t see any Christians… we saw the places you read about in the Bible.” Although she had visited Bethlehem, she had been on an Israeli tour of the Holy Land and was only vaguely aware of the Christian presence.

Today, most Christians think of the Holy Land as the strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that, in 1948, was divided by the United Nations into the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Historically, the “Holy Land“ covered a much larger part of the modern Middle East and included regions now situated in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt, all of them appearing in the Bible, only with different names and geographical boundaries.

Many Christians, Jews and Muslims of the Middle East share a common ethnic heritage and include the modern descendants of Christians, Jews and other earlier inhabitants of ancient Palestine, where, in a quest for control of fertile land and lucrative trade routes, successive invasions by Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, and Ottoman Turks created a melting pot of many origins. Today, ongoing settlement of Jews from Europe, the old Soviet Union, and Ethiopia continues to create a very diverse ethnic mix.

More than 2,000 years after the birth of Jesus, current estimates place the number of Christians still living in the Middle East at about 14 million, some 10 million of these, Egyptian Coptic Christians. An estimated 170,000 Christians reside in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Episcopalians in the Diocese of Jerusalem, which includes Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria as well as Israel/Palestine, now number only about 6,000. Their numbers continue to dwindle, as is true for all other Christian denominations in Israel/Palestine (Greek, Armenian, Syrian, and Ethiopian Orthodox, Latin and Greek Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, and other Protestant denominations). Today, Christians make up less than 2% of the population, thought to be nearly 20% in 1948, when fifty to sixty thousand became refugees.

Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land have deep roots. They have lived in historic Palestine since the time of Jesus and consider it a sacred place. Many resident Christians, when asked when they converted to Christianity, will say, “My ancestors have been here since the Pentecost—they never left.” Susan Barhoum, wife and daughter of Episcopal priests, has records of her own Christian family dating back to the 4^th century. (Susan, along with her mother and daughter, visited St. Thomas in 2012.)

Do terms such as “Israeli,” “Jewish,” “Christian,” “Arab,” and “Palestinian” refer to ethnicity, culture, religion, nationality, or geopolitics? Can a Palestinian or an Arab be an Israeli? Can someone who is Jewish be Palestinian? Can Christians be both Palestinian and Israeli? Terms are often commingled and confused.

Normally, “Jewish” refers to adherents of Judaism or someone born of a Jewish mother, but recently the term is taking on the mantle of race. “Israel” is the name of an ancient people, a community of faith, and a modern nation. “Palestine” refers to the West Bank and Gaza.

“Israeli” refers to citizens living in Israel, along with all Jewish settlers living in the Palestinian West Bank. About 20% of Israeli citizens are resident Christian or Muslim Palestinians, but Christian and Muslim Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza are not Israeli citizens.  “Palestinian” means anyone who is not Jewish and has come to refer to all non-Jewish residents of both Israel and Palestine.

“Arab” refers to people whose ancestors hailed from the Arabian Peninsula. Now, because of their common Arabic culture and language, all Palestinians are described on their identity cards as Arab. Not all Palestinians trace their ethnic ancestry to Arab lands, and there are Arab Jews who descend from Arab countries such as Iraq or Yemen.

In the Diocese of Jerusalem, an Episcopalian citizen of Israel would be described as an Arab Palestinian Christian Israeli, while an Episcopalian living in the West Bank or Gaza would be called an Arab Christian Palestinian.

In Part 3, learn more about the lives and ministries of Palestinian Episcopalians.

Promised Land or Land of Promise? • Part 1

by Mary Pneuman

All was calm in Bethlehem’s Manger Square as hundreds of Palestinian Christian and Muslim families gathered together around a 30-foot lighted Christmas tree to sing carols and enjoy the beginning of the Advent season. Throngs would come again and again over the next four weeks to share the spirit of Christmas as they prepare to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace,

But most of those awaiting the coming of Christ at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem will not be able travel to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher at Easter to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Bethlehem is located in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, and Jerusalem is off-limits to most West Bankers unless a special permit can be obtained. In fact, many of the Christian holy places, such as Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee (where are located churches that commemorate the Annunciation, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes) fall inside the boundaries of the State of Israel, and most West Bank Palestinians are not allowed to enter or travel freely inside Israel.

The  Christian population of Israel and Palestine now stands at less than 2%, but those who remain cling to the belief that one day justice and peace will come to the Holy Land. Their steadfast faith is their hope. Tourism, once the mainstay of the towns and cities with high concentrations of Christians, has been greatly reduced, but for the indigenous Christians, these ancient Holy places offer testimony to deep and continuous roots in the land, along with reassurance that peace will come in God’s time.

St. Thomas pilgrims, Fred and Mary Pneuman and Marian Woosley, returned recently from a two-week sojourn in the Holy Land with new insights into the contradictions and conflicts which separate the children of Abraham. Some of their observations and what this may mean for Christians everywhere will appear in this blog over the next few weeks.

We invite everyone to join us for a conversation with these pilgrims on two Wednesdays, January 22 and January 29 at 6:30 pm in the Church. [More info...]