Traveling to Palestine
I have not been updating my blog since last October when I traveled with a group of members from Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, MN to South Africa. A lot has changed in my family’s life this past year as we now find ourselves in Wooster, OH where I am the Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church.
One of the aspects of ministry at Westminster is its legacy of peacemaking locally and around the world. Westminster has three Peace Initiatives; locally dealing with the environment, nationally dealing with issues surrounding immigration, and internationally we are in partnership with St. George’s Melkite Greek Catholic Church, in Zababdeh, Palestine.
For someone who grew up In South Africa as part of the oppressor, it is a moving experience to serve a church that is in solidarity with the oppressed in Palestine. In many ways the stories of my blog “There Is No Wall” continue as I find myself traveling through Palestine, facing the occupation of a people, and seeing myself in the fear of the Israeli soldiers. It is in the midst of oppression that I once again continue my own journey of healing, digging deep within myself to find those places that reject, that exclude, and that fear, as it is fear that keeps us from living our lives as people who truly are set free.
This picture of our traveling group was taken at Mt Nebo in Jordon on the day before we entered Palestine. In the back from left to right are Don Gordon, Cheryl Weiss, myself and in the front are Sue-min Lee, Nahida Gordon, and Sami Halaby, Nahida’s older brother (Both Nahida and Sami are American Palestinians).
Tags: occupation, Palestine
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