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theopentable · 3 years

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Christ Meets us in Our Locked-Up Places

John 20:19

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

The resurrected Jesus, in the gospel of John, appears to the frightened disciples alone, isolated in their rooms (John 20:19-31). They are literally locked in their fear. Isn’t that what fear does? Fear imprisons us.

It is into this setting that the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples. When Jesus appears in that room of fear he greeted his disciples by saying, ‘Peace be with you.’

Padraig O’Tuama, reflecting on the observations of a Taize monk invites us to consider the words ‘Peace Be With You’ that the resurrected Jesus says to his followers:

‘The Taize brother said that, in a real sense, we can read that as ‘Hello’. After all, it’s the standard greeting in Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic…The disciples were there, in fear, in an upper room, locked away, and suddenly the one they had abandoned and perhaps the one they most feared to be with them was with them, and he said hello. Hello to you in this locked room.’[1]

Hello.

I remember reading this passage while we were in lockdown because of the pandemic. I remember how powerful it was holding to the truth that Jesus meets us in our places of fear and anxiety saying, “Hello to you in this locked room.”

At this time I swear there were millions of caterpillars in cocoons inspiring us with their cocoon-wisdom and cocoon-hope – fixing our imaginations and our spirits on this miraculous process of becoming. Everyone seemed to be sharing photos of caterpillars in cocoons. People celebrated cocooning creatures hanging from their plants. Maybe it was one small way Christ was meeting us in our locked rooms, still providing opportunities for our own transformation, even in those strange and difficult times.

Christ continues to meet us in our places of fear. Christ meets us in our places of anguish. Christ meets us in the resentment trapped inside our tensed-up bodies. Christ meets us even in our hatred. Christ meets us in the hell of our lives. There is nowhere we can go to flee from Divine Love. Christ offers peace. Love offers presence. We are drawn by the Holy Spirit us into divine communion, into renewal. The Spirit pours out the love of God into our hearts and the seeds of our transformation are sewn. Hello to you in whatever place you find yourself.

For reflection and practice:

· What kind of room do you find yourself in at the moment? A room of fear? A house of love? Something else? Say “hello” to your current circumstances.

· Imagine Christ coming to be with you in whatever place you happen to be right now. Think about Christ’s eyes. What do you imagine you would notice in his eyes? As Christ greets you with peace, what do you imagine the sound of his voice would sound like? How do you think it would make you feel?

· What has your experience of the pandemic been like?

· Consider the caterpillar. Spend some time contemplating this process of becoming. Who might you be becoming?

Offer the gift of presence to another this week. Invite them to share their experience with you this week.

[1] Padraig O Tuama, In the Shelter, pp.10-11

#Easter #Gospel of John #Resurrection #transformation

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gyls21yctf · 2 years

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Review of Yemen’s Political Instability, 2015-

An extract of a publication by the University of Sana’a titled: Review of Yemen’s Political Instability

Recent Developments

On the 18th of September 2015, Houthi rebels clashed with Al-Islah militiamen in Sana'a, and in 3 days, they advanced deep into the city, capturing the government headquarters. In a flash, Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen, has fallen into the hands of the Houthi rebels due to the lack of military intervention who supported the revolution and unsuccessful attempts to stop the Houthi forces. However, they did not stop there.

On the 20th of January 2015, having control over the capital city, forces loyal to the Houthis even attacked President Hadi’s presidential palace. In fear of the further escalation of violence witnessed in the present Civil War, President Hadi, in the name of self-preservation, tendered his resignation in hopes that political tensions will ease despite being under house arrest. Demands for economic development, greater autonomy for Houthi controlled regions and the end to petty corruption have also been on the rise.

A photo of President Hadi with a Saudi Prince taken by a news reporter of the news outlet: Middle East Eye

On the 21st of February 2015, there has also been speculation of President Hadi fleeing house arrest and residing in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, although the legitimacy of such reports remain in question. Yet, in just a month after announcing his resignation, President Hadi has rescinded his resignation as President, and further denounced the Houthi insurgency as an illegitimate and violent movement, claiming his government to be the “constitutional” one.

On the 25th of March 2015, Saudi Arabia has stepped into the political and military fray of the Yemeni Civil War, commencing “Operation Decisive Storm” with airstrike campaigns conducted against Houthi strongholds, resulting in medical infrastructure being severely damaged, water being contaminated and scarce, and widespread famine among the civilian population.

On the 15th of April 2015, Houthi forces, backed by former President Saleh’s loyalists, had swept into the Taiz governorate and captured strategic locations within the city. Little resistance was encountered.

#yemenincrisis

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newstfionline · 6 years

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U.S. allies have killed thousands of Yemeni civilians from the air.

After 22 died at a wedding, one village asks, ‘Why us?’

By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, July 26, 2018

RAQAH, Yemen--The ground where the wedding tent once stood was covered with children’s slippers, broken musical instruments, pieces of festive clothing and other detritus of destroyed lives. Teeth, still attached to the jawbone, lay near some tattered decorations.

An airstrike hit the wedding in this remote mountain village on April 23, killing 22 civilians including eight children, and injuring dozens, according to interviews with 17 villagers in late May. More than three years into Yemen’s civil war, over 16,000 civilians have been killed and injured, the vast majority by airstrikes, the U.N. human rights office estimates, adding that the figures are likely to be far higher. The deaths are continuing unabated, with as many as hundreds of casualties per month, despite assurances by a U.S.-backed regional coalition to better protect civilians amid mounting criticism within the United States and the international community.

That coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is backing Yemen’s exiled government in its conflict against rebels known as the Houthis, who dominate the capital and the north. The United States is playing an essential role in the war, supporting the coalition with intelligence, refueling, technical assistance, and billions of dollars in bombs and other weaponry.

The coalition is the only actor in the conflict that uses war planes, mostly American- and British-made fighter jets. The airstrikes have struck hospitals, schools, markets, motels, migrant boats, gas stations, even funeral gatherings, raising questions about the coalition’s ability to abide by humanitarian laws that calls for civilians to be safeguarded.

A month after the airstrike in Raqah, the destruction on the ground remained eerily preserved. The lives of the survivors, however, had been forever altered.

“We lost our minds that day,” said Amna Yahya, the groom’s mother. “I still can’t comprehend what happened. Why us?”

The growing civilian casualties across Yemen have led to widespread denouncement of the U.S. role and calls in Congress to halt or regulate American weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally in the Middle East. Despite the concern, President Trump announced $110 billion in new arms sales last year to the kingdom, weapons that most analysts expect will be used in Yemen.

In the hours following the airstrike in Raqah, local media published photos, provided by the Houthis, showing the bomb was a GBU-12 Paveway II precision-guided bomb, manufactured by Raytheon, the Massachusetts-based defense contractor, according to Bellingcat, an investigative website.

Visits to other bombed sites by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch confirm that American-made munitions, including banned cluster bombs and Paveway bombs, have been used in attacks that have killed and injured civilians. The Post saw remnants of U.S.-made bombs in the capital, Sanaa, and in the southwestern city of Taiz.

After the Senate narrowly approved a $510 million first installment of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia last June, the kingdom said it would launch a training program to reduce accidental targeting of civilians. But in the year since that announcement, civilian deaths were 7 percent more than the year prior, U.N. data shows. In April alone, there were 236 civilians killed and 238 injured--the deadliest month this year so far.

A U.N. report last month found 1,316 Yemeni children were killed or injured last year, and that more than half of the casualties resulted from airstrikes.

A Saudi government official disputed the U.N. figures and said the coalition is “implementing the highest standard measures to prevent civilian casualties,” including “continuous training” of its staff and efforts to improve rules of engagement.

Human rights activists welcome such efforts but say the coalition’s probing of the aftermath of airstrikes remains hollow. “There is no genuine follow-up on their international human rights obligations and their commitment to respecting humanitarian laws,” said Rasha Mohamed, Yemen researcher for Amnesty International.

Raqah is in a rugged region in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah. The sprawling village of about 700 residents is about a three-hour drive from the provincial capital, a place so remote that to reach it requires crossing dry river beds and driving up goat paths.

The civil war that emerged from the political chaos that followed the 2011 Arab Spring revolts hardly touched the villagers, mostly farmers and herders. Many supported former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted in 2012. But even after the Houthis swept into Sanaa and pushed out the internationally recognized government, the conflict never came to their area, villagers said.

They said they would often see and hear war planes and unmanned drones fly above their huts, but they never felt threatened. They had nothing to do, they said, with the Shiite Houthis or Iran, which is backing the rebels.

“There are no Houthis here,” said Yahya Ahmed, a villager whose nephew was killed in the airstrike. “Did you see any checkpoints in our area?”

Across northern Yemen, rebel checkpoints are ubiquitous. But in and around Raqah, there were none. Nor were there were any visible signs of military activity. Villagers said there were no military bases in the area and none of their men were fighting with the rebels.

The only time they had seen rebels in recent memory was the morning after the airstrike, when some Houthis officials arrived to assess the damage.

“We refused to join the Houthis,” said Mohammed Yahya, the groom’s uncle. “One side says, ‘God is Great.’ The other side says, ‘God is Great.’ We don’t know who is right.”

The wedding of Yahya Jaffer and his bride, Fatma, began auspiciously enough. They were both 20 years old, both from the al-Musabi tribe. Like their parents and grandparents, they were marrying within their community. They are cousins.

The families had spent much of their savings on the wedding. A large white tent was erected in front of their home. More than 150 guests drank soft drinks and water and feasted on lamb and other delicacies. A group of local folkloric dancers and musicians entertained, according to the recollections of villagers present at the event.

Many villagers said they heard two planes circling above their homes throughout that day, as well as just before the attack.

“An hour later, one of them hit us,” Amna Yahya said.

It was shortly after 10 p.m. By then, most parents and the elderly had left the wedding. The youth clapped to the rhythm of drums and lutes. Some sang, others chanted, as the dancers skipped and leaped in celebration. Then, a thunderous sound.

“I saw a flash of red, and I lost consciousness,” Jaffer recalled. “When I woke up, I heard people screaming in pain. People had lost arms and legs. There was blood everywhere.”

Those who could searched through the rubble for survivors, pulling them to safety. Others struggled to find the dead: Most were coated by ash or torn into pieces.

The only way Aitan Suwaed said he recognized his 17-year-old son, Hamdi, was “from his clothes, the parts that weren’t burnt.”

The 22 fatalities included 12 of the dancers, four musicians and six villagers, including one who played the lute. Most of the children killed were in the dance troupe.

The dancers all belonged to the Muhamasheen, Yemen’s most marginalized ethnic group. Performing at weddings was among the few jobs they could find.

For 10 of them, only pieces of their bodies were found, so they are buried in two mass graves. “It’s all my family,” said Ahmed Rifaei, 37, a dancer who survived.

The living, too, are in bad shape.

Some of Raqah’s residents have lost their hearing. Children have lost limbs, while others carry shrapnel from the missile inside their bodies. The nearest hospital is in the provincial capital, and most villagers cannot afford the three-hour journey.

Yahya Ahmed not only lost his nephew. His wife, Noora, was four months pregnant. When she heard the bombing, she started screaming uncontrollably. The next morning, she had a miscarriage, he said.

Other women and children in the village report having nightmares where they relive the bombing. One woman was in such shock that she feared leaving her bed. Whenever she needed to go to the bathroom, her relatives carried her. Other villagers said they now sleep outside their houses at night out of concern their homes would be targeted by airstrikes.

“What happened to us, happened to everyone in the village,” said Amna Yahya. “Everyone is full of fear.”

Many are also filled with anger, not just at the Saudi-led coalition, but at the United States. “If it wasn’t for the American aircraft, Saudi Arabia would never strike Yemen,” said Mohammed Yahya, the groom’s uncle. “America gives them weapons, and the Saudis hit us.”

Some villagers have fled to other areas rather than risk being targeted by another airstrike. But the vast majority don’t have that option, including the bride and groom. With their family house destroyed, Jaffer and Allam live in their animal shed, next to cows and goats, their abode reeking of hay and animal urine. They are married in principle but not legally: They can no longer afford to pay for their wedding certificate. So it hasn’t been signed by the local marriage official.

On a chair in the shed is the white traditional Yemeni robe that Jaffer wore at his wedding. It is now bloodstained. He has no intention of cleaning it.

“I will keep this to always remember what happened,” he said.

#Yemen #Saudi airstrikes in Yemen

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khalilhumam · 4 years

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Collaborating through crisis

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/collaborating-through-crisis/

Collaborating through crisis

Sameeha Shiban (PHP Officer) at hygiene kit distribution in Alkoba IDP Camp, Taiz, Yemen. Photo credit: Wael Algadi

The exceptional circumstances caused by the pandemic have called for an exceptional response. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, we have been harnessing our networks and collaborating with our private-sector partners such as Unilever, Burberry and ASOS to respond to the unique consequences of the crisis. We are fortunate to be met with generous support from many of our existing partners, such as the Co-operative Bank, Oak Foundation and Ahmad Tea. But with charity shop closures, event cancellations, and the economic struggles faced by many of our supporters themselves, opportunities to generate the required funds for our projects have been significantly reduced. COVID-19 has pushed us, and our partners, beyond our usual approach to programmes and emergency responses. Through this crisis we have cultivated new partnerships which have allowed us to help those most affected by the virus, and maintain our existing work with those who need help most.

Unilever and DFID: expanding an existing partnership for a long-term response

Five years ago, Oxfam and Unilever’s health soap Lifebuoy partnered to create ‘Mum’s Magic Hands‘ (MMH), an innovative handwashing behaviour change programme. Building on Oxfam’s expertise in public health and humanitarian response and Lifebuoy’s behaviour change and marketing expertise, Mum’s Magic Hands uses story-telling, interactivity and emotional nudges to encourage handwashing with soap at key times for caregivers, their families and communities. Since the programme’s inception, it has reached thousands of participants, including in the aftermath of disasters like earthquakes and flooding. With its emphasis on handwashing to limit the spread of disease, Mum’s Magic Hands has now been adapted for use as part of Oxfam’s COVID-19 response around the world. This includes our 12-month programme in Nepal and the Philippines to positively impact the hygiene and health behaviours of over 525,000 people. This was part of the joint initiative between the UK Department for International Development and Unilever to form a coalition of international NGOs to tackle the spread of coronavirus. Targeting the most vulnerable regions of Nepal and the Philippines, Oxfam and our local partners will deliver Mum’s Magic Hands to local communities, alongside the installation of handwashing facilities and wider communication of health and hygiene information. This will be through social media, local radio and mobile messaging. Through Mum’s Magic Hands, we’ll also be shining a light on the roles of men and women in caregiving. This will help improve gender norms from the community to the regional level and promote gender-inclusive health policy in the long-term. Through the Unilever-DFID coalition, we’re able to combine skills and resources across the public and private sector to enable more scalability than any organisation would be able to achieve alone. For example, thanks to Unilever’s influence, several other NGOs are going to be using MMH as part of their COVID-19 response.

Burberry: Sharing resources for immediate solutions

Earlier this year, many of the worst effects of the pandemic were being felt in Italy. This is one of the regions which our partner the Burberry Foundation operates. In quick response, Burberry used their expertise in manufacturing to repurpose their existing equipment and produce PPE masks to contribute to the COVID-19 response. These were distributed not only in Italy, but around the world. Oxfam’s logistics and channels were used to help deliver the PPE to where it was needed most. Burberry PPE has now been used in the frontline responses of many organisations, including the NHS, the Red Cross and Oxfam. In May, Oxfam Italy received 2,000 PPE masks to support their frontline COVID-19 response in country. These masks were distributed to a large hospital in Florence, Careggi, which Oxfam were supporting. In June, Oxfam teams in Asia received 40,000 PPE masks from Burberry to support their COVID-19 community outreach. The masks are benefitting families, street cleaners, and vulnerable groups including refugees and asylum seekers. The distribution was funded through contributions from Burberry themselves. They set up a fund through The Burberry Foundation, within which staff and suppliers could contribute towards COVID-19 relief efforts and could fund emergency PPE distributions. This partnership was not only a creative use of Burberry’s skills, and our resources, but demonstrative of the company’s generosity.

ASOS: a new partnership for our COVID-19 Response Fund

Our Coronavirus Emergency Response Appeal has received huge support from both individuals, organisations, and additionally, from a new partnership with the online fashion retailer, ASOS. As face coverings have become an ‘essential’ item for millions of people, demand for face masks in every style has increased. During June and July, ASOS committed to donating £1 for every face-covering they sold to our Coronavirus appeal. Every face-covering purchased from ASOS would not only help to protect the wearer but also support vulnerable communities around the world. The partnership originally aimed to raise £75,000 but this was soon exceeded and the final amount total was £230,000. In real terms, this could help Oxfam to provide 23,000 hygiene kits containing life-saving items for families. Until a vaccine is created and rolled out globally, improved sanitation will be crucial in limiting the impact of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable communities. As such, the funds donated to Oxfam through the ASOS partnership will be invaluable.

COVID-19 has caused challenges and uncertainty for every sector. By finding new ways to work together, we have been able to generate innovative responses to a pandemic which demands them. Expanding and reshaping our existing partnerships, and even creating new ones, has allowed us to find ways to collaborate effectively through the crisis.

Author

Katie McLean

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khabrisala · 4 years

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Yemen records first coronavirus case in Taiz as virus spreads

DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemen on Friday reported its first coronavirus case in Taiz governorate, raising the number of diagnosed infections to seven with two deaths in the war-torn country that lacks medical care.

The United Nations says it fears the…

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fear-not-beloved · 7 years

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Lord Jesus Christ your light shines within us. Let not my doubts nor my darkness speak to me. Lord Jesus Christ your light shines within us. Let my heart always welcome your love || Taize Community Photo: my Community. Orange Park, FL ☺️🌴🙋

#msf #personal #community

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riyadhvision · 6 years

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Large number of Saleh loyalists join Yemen’s legitimate forces in Marib

Smoke billows behind a building in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on December 3, 2017, during clashes between Houthi rebels and supporters of Yemeni ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

:: Large groups of Ali Abdullah Saleh loyalists have joined legitimacy brigades in Marib while Ibb tribes called on the Yemenis to avenge from Houthi militias after they killed the former president on Monday.

Taiz command…

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#ALI ABDULLAH SALEH #MARIB #SALEH LOYALISTS #SANAA #Yemen

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deimevena · 4 years

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More photos from the Taize winter meeting for young adults in Wroclaw 28 12 2019 - 01 01 2020

#Taize #New year #Wroclaw #photography

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vinayv224 · 4 years

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Vox Sentences: Trump wins some, loses some

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Trump’s legal battles against House Democrats continue; Yemen sees dengue fever outbreak.

Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.

Trump and House Dems trade blows in court

President Donald Trump’s week began with a court loss and a court win: a federal judge ruled a former White House official cannot ignore a congressional subpoena, as Trump instructed him to do; while the Supreme Court said Trump’s accounting firm doesn’t have to turn over the president’s tax returns to Congress. [Lawfare / Gordon Ahl]

Monday, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled former White House counsel Don McGahn must testify before Congress. McGahn was subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee in May to testify and submit evidence regarding allegations he’d been instructed to fire special counsel Robert Muller. [New York Times / Charlie Savage]

The Trump administration argued McGahn did not have to submit to the subpoena because he has “absolute testimonial immunity” as a former presidential aide, but Jackson rejected this argument. [Politico / Darren Samuelsohn]

But this decision doesn’t mean McGahn — or other White House officials who have ignored congressional subpoenas — will be testifying anytime soon: The Trump administration announced Tuesday it’s appealing the decision, leaving the matter in the hands of the Supreme Court. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

In a Supreme Court action that has already gone Trump’s way, justices granted the president a stay in his ongoing battle with the House Oversight Committee over his financial records. [Roll Call / Todd Ruger]

The stay means that although a federal appeals court ruled in October that Trump has to turn over his financial records — which likely include his tax returns — the documents must remain with his accounting firm. For now. [Wall Street Journal / Brent Kendall]

The stay also mandated Trump’s lawyers file paperwork for the justices to hear the case by December 5, essentially fast-tracking it — the Supreme Court could issue a final ruling on the matter as early as next June. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

Dengue fever breaks out in Yemen

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says Yemen is experiencing a severe dengue fever outbreak. [Al Jazeera]

Monday, the European Commission’s humanitarian aid organization counted 10 dead from the disease in the last week in the governorate of Taiz. [AP News / Edith Lederer]

Dengue fever is a virus transmitted by mosquitoes, in a manner similar to the way the insects spread the parasite that causes malaria. Overall, 7,970 cases of dengue have been reported in Taiz alone; there are 3,215 confirmed cases there, with 103 patients under hospital observation. [Asharq Al-Awsat]

ICRC UN observer Robert Mardini noted that this newest outbreak had compounded an already intense cholera epidemic that began ravaging the country last year, as well as an ongoing malaria epidemic. [Washington Post]

Miscellaneous

Four Google employees say they were fired for protesting the company’s involvement with US Border Patrol. [The Guardian / Julia Carrie Wong]

Streaming platform competition will cost companies like Netflix and Disney a collective $16 billion. [Vox / Peter Kafka]

Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, a World Anti-Doping Agency panel recommended Russia should be banned from global sports competitions for the next four years for ignoring doping rules. [New York Times / Tariq Panja]

Trump has Thanksgiving dinner plans in his new home state of Florida. [Miami Herald / David Smiley]

A “bleak” UN report: Countries are far off course in reducing emissions and fighting climate change. [Vox / Umair Irfan]

Verbatim

“The ugliness my jokes help reveal is why I’m so worried about our pluralistic democracies. Demagogues appeal to our worst instincts. Conspiracy theories once confined to the fringe are going mainstream, fueled in part by President Trump.” [An excerpt from actor Sacha Baron Cohen’s op-ed in the Washington Post]

Watch this: How stop animation began

Vox Almanac explores the winged and many-legged beginnings of stop-motion animation. [YouTube / Phil Edwards]

New polls show a slight increase in support for impeachment

Martin Scorsese has spent his entire career searching for God

9 questions about the Hong Kong protests you were too embarrassed to ask

What to know before posting a photo of your kids on social media

Big Tech’s best defense against Elizabeth Warren is that people have more important things to worry about

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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theopentable · 4 years

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Encountering the Risen Christ in Our Isolation

Easter 2

John 20:19-31

It is into this setting that the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples. When Jesus appears in that room of fear he greeted his disciples by saying, ‘Peace be with you.’

Padraig O’Tuama, reflecting on the observations of a Taize monk invites us to consider the words ‘Peace Be With You’ that the resurrected Jesus says to his followers:

“The Taize brother said that, in a real sense, we can read that as ‘Hello’. After all, it’s the standard greeting in Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic…The disciples were there, in fear, in an upper room, locked away, and suddenly the one they had abandoned and perhaps the one they most feared to be with them was with them, and he said hello. Hello to you in this locked room.” (In the Shelter, pp.10-11).

Hello.

Palya.

We are reminded, locked away as we are throughout this pandemic, that the resurrected Jesus meets us in our places of fear and anxiety.

Jesus meets us here and says, “Hello to you in this locked room.”

I just read an article that highlighted that Australian’s are as happy as before the Coronavirus lockdown. Perhaps we’re still waiting for the worst to hit. Perhaps we are remarkably resilient and adaptive. Perhaps there are some beautiful things to come from this time that have not been possible during ‘business as usual.’ Perhaps there are many ways Christ is meeting us in our fear and encountering us in our isolation.

My guess is that you have your really hard days where you get hit with something like feels a lot like grief, or maybe anxiety. There’s so much that’s uncertain in these times. There are fears that are genuine and hard realities that have already come. And yet there is also a unique human solidarity. There’s a slowness that brings something that has often been evasive. Families are spending a lot of time with each other. Our boredom gives rise to play and creativity. We smile at each other more when we see each other. Either the animals are actually reclaiming space in our normal spaces or we’re simply noticing them more. I’ve seen many people share photos of cocoons, their imagination fixed on this process of miraculous transformation that happens for the caterpillar becoming a new creation. Maybe our spirit is fixed on hope at this point. Maybe that’s one small way Christ is meeting us in our locked rooms. Maybe we are holding on to the possibility that our isolation may be our own cocoon; that this strange and difficult time is in part our opportunity for transformation, or as Franciscan Richard Rohr proposes, reality seeking to initiate us.

May our spirit be fixed on hope, on the One who meets us in our locked places - the One who greets us with those wounds and makes known to us that our suffering and uncertainty are not the end of the story.

#Easter #pandemic #resurrection #fear #encounter #Christ

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breyeschow · 5 years

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🇫🇷 Day 24 #RCPFrance19 Highlight: Taize, wine, and Wi-Fi — not a bad way to spend the day, though we never quite figured out the tasting process. We could not find a place that would ship or had packaging for luggage checking, so we gave up and just drank some wine at a local wine bar. We also needed Wi-Fi today, so lest you think we are getting too fancy pantsy, we also went to McDonald's — and it costed more than our wine. Lunch out and dinner in before heading back to Lyon tomorrow afternoon. Four more sleeps until home. [Photo and Toast: @abbybpugh] #wineoclock #wine #cluny #macon #france #familyvacation #summervacation #letsgoeverywhere #wanderlust #ilovetravel #adventure #trip #passportready #travelogue #tourist #tourism #travel #travels #travelling #travelpics #instago #aroundtheworld #tourism #ilovetravel #travelgram #instapassport #instagood #instavacation #instatravel — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/30jds5D

#Instagram #IFTTT

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betweenandbeloved · 5 years

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Mountain Tops and Valleys

This city and really this country continue to amaze me with beauty and history. We spent the morning in Jerusalem and then ventured out in the afternoon to the Judean Lowlands. The terrain and landscape changes so drastically around here but it makes the scenery so beautiful.

We started the day by venturing up the Mount of Olives and visiting Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem (which is in the West Bank). We met with Ben, the communications director and an ELCA missionary and Paulina a humanitarian worker and representative for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at the hospital. The hospital focuses on health and education working to train 1000 students each year in 12 different locations and treating over 700 people a day at the hospital. The Lutheran World Federation employes 500 people to help in its endeavor and only 4 of them are not Palestinian.

The hospital not only provides critical health care to the Palestinian people, but it also provides jobs and training opportunities as well. Staff work with patients to help them get travel permits for medical treatment so they can leave Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza to get to the hospital, as well as helping to organize transportation and housing. They do the best they can, but money always falls short of the need. The LWF wants to expand the hospital and treat more Palestinians, but due to recent cuts in funding (cough, Trump, cough), they are having to look for alternative funding from other sources.

How can you support them?! You can donate through the ELCA or you can also stay tuned for more information on a possible fundraiser the ULS students want to do. The Augusta Vitoria Hospital is home to 800 olive trees that help feed the patients and staff but is also used to make olive oil they sell. They didn’t have any in stock so we are hoping to organize a fundraiser to get some olive oil and raise money for the hospital. I’ll let you know if the proposal gets approved!

The campus of the hospital is also home to the Protestant Church of the Ascension which was built in 1907. It is a beautiful church that was a place of pilgrimage for Germans and then came into the hands of the United Nations who used it as a small hospital when the Israeli State was created in 1948. Since then, it has grown into the amazing place it is today. I highly suggest supporting them: https://community.elca.org/augusta-victoria-hospital

We left the hospital and traveled back down the mountain to visit the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus went to pray. We had an appointment to worship in the private garden with the Grotto of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus and the disciples slept (Mark 14:37, Matthew 26:40). It was dark and a little chilly when we entered the garden and joined together in a time of devotion. As we started to sing the Taize song “Stay with me, Remain here with me, Watch and Pray” the clouds parted and the sun shined down on our group, filling me with warmth and pulling me out of the song. I looked up at the sky and the clouds were moving faster, passing by, but not over the sun, while we sang and prayed. It was one of those God moments where I just had to stop and marvel.

We had some time to wander around and pray in the garden which was a truly moving experience. We also had the opportunity to visit the Church of All Nations which is built over the rock where Jesus prayed before he was handed over (Mark 14:35, Matthew 26: 36-40). It was cool to kneel at the rock and touch the place where Jesus may have prayed, but it was also a beautiful reminder that it is okay to cry, that it is okay to question, and that we are called to do all of this in prayer wherever we see fit: a rock, a tree, in church, at home, on a morning walk, in the middle of taking a test.

After some beautiful time in the garden, we went back up to the top of the Mount of Olives to a beautiful outlook over all of Jerusalem. This was the view Jesus would have seen when he began his descent down the Palm Sunday path on his way to the city. We then began the descent down the mountain on the Via Dolorosa from the top of the mountain down to the Garden.

I have to say, Jesus was one badass man if he descended down that mountain on an untrained donkey who was walking on palm branches and clothing lining the streets (Luke 19:30); because that was one STEEP hill. I felt like I had to walk leaning backward a little just to keep from tumbling head first down the mountain.

We stopped briefly at the Dominus Flavit Church which means Jesus Wept. It is believed Jesus stopped here just before entering Jerusalem and wept over it (Luke 19:41-44). There was a Mass going on so we couldn’t enter the church, but it had a beautiful view of the skyline of Jerusalem.

When we got to the bottom of the Mount of Olives, we hopped back on the bus to venture to the Joppa Gate into the Christian Quarter of the city where we went to Church of the Redeemer to meet Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). When asked what we could do to support the church, Bishop responded that we can come and visit, meet our siblings in Christ, take time to speak with them and understand that they are the minority in this country but are part of a larger support network of people all over the world who prays with and for them.

The ELCJHL has 7 churches with 6 congregations and 4 schools. German missionaries were the first to discover that the Holy Land is not a good place to try and convert someone from one religion to another, so instead, they tapped into the existing Christian community to find out their needs and discover ways to meet them. The church is not in the business of converting, but rather in the business of comforting and supporting those in need. The members of the ELCJHL grew up Christian, they were not converted. The Bishop mentioned that the weekly attendance at church is not that great unless tensions are high, then the pews are filled.

So, if you’re interested in helping out the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, you can pray, you can give to the Augusta Victoria Hospital, but more importantly, or you can work on planning your next pilgrimage to come and explore the Holy Land. I highly advise it, it’s a pretty amazing experience (if you couldn’t tell from my blogs).

After meeting with the Bishop, we ventured off into the mountains and visited the Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin. We got to visit the Bell Caves which is the quarry where most of the stones for the buildings in the community came from. I have to say, I never thought a quarry could be beautiful, but boy this one was. A couple was even getting professional photos taken in it - that’s how beautiful it was. We ventured into a Sidonian burial site and through another water system, looking at ruins and enjoying some beautiful views of the Judean Lowlands.

We continued from there to the stream at the Valley of Elah where we picked up rocks like the ones David used when he battled Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40). We then ventured up to the top of the hill to look down on where the battle took place and spend some time in learning and devotion.

The Valley of Elah is the transitional area between the coastal plains and the mountains, it was an important trade route and was also halfway between the land of the Israelites (south) and the land of the Philistines (north). Emily gave a great devotion around the idea of mountain top and valley experiences in life. We always want to be on the mountain top, but yet in the valley, we often have the most faith in God. For David, his valley experience of battling Goliath was when he had the most faith in God; but when he got on top of the mountain and was King of Israel, he wasn’t the greatest guy - he lost his faith in God.

Maybe those moments in the valley aren’t as bad as we might think. Maybe we just need to shift our perspective a little as to what those mountain top and valley experiences really are. I would love to say that this trip has been a total mountain top experience, (which it has), but it has also had some moments in the valley; both literally and figuratively. Literally, today I went from the top of the Mount of Olives to the Valley of Eloh. Figuratively though, it’s a little more complex. Sure, it’s amazing and might be a mountain top experience to hear about the great work being done to help the Palestinian people, but learning about why they need help in the first place, is definitely a valley moment.

That doesn’t mean these experiences were bad, it just means they were different, eye-opening, insightful, things I didn’t expect. This trip has been a whirlwind of up and down: beauty obscured by walls, welcoming people hidden behind checkpoints, and conflict just barely beneath the surface everywhere. You can’t think about the Holy Land in Jesus’ time, without acknowledging what it looks like today.

Mountain tops and valleys.

#ipj2019 #the holy land #learn #grow #explore #lutheran #augusta lutheran hospital #LWF #lutheran world federation #seminary #pastor in training #travel seminar

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