Crisis in the Middle East – A Talkback Session
Led by Rev Charles Rush
July 30, 2006
John 8: 1-11 and Matthew 7: 1-5
[ Audio
(mp3, 5Mb) ]
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At our worship service on July 30 in place of a sermon we
held a discussion of the worsening crisis in the Middle East following Israel's
invasion of Lebanon. In Rev. Rush's
words:
“This Sunday during the morning worship service we will have a
talk back session on the rising chaos in the Middle East. We will begin with a
few statements from various faith communities in response to the invasion of
Lebanon and then we will open the floor for comments and questions. On
occasions like this, we come together not so much in the spirit of seeking
definitive answers but in the hope that the Spirit of God moves among us in
such a way that we have a richer and wiser collective approach to the situation
than any one of us has individually. Since the situation is rife with moral and
spiritual complexity, this will certainly be our primary focus. We want to know
what you have been reading and thinking as we collectively seek better
understanding together on how to pray going forward.”
We reproduce here the statements and prayers that were read that morning.
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service began with the reading
of a prayer by The Rev John Thomas, General
Minister and President of the United Church of Christ --
"A Prayer for the Middle East at a Time of War" (July 19, 2006):
You did not make us, O God, to
die in bomb craters or to huddle through the night in basement shelters. You made us to play under olive trees and
cedars and to sleep soundly with animal toys and gentle lovers. Lord, have mercy.
You did not make us, O God, to
hold hostages for barter or to rain deadly fury on innocent children and
beautiful coast lands. You made us, O
God, to welcome strangers and to cherish all creation. Christ, have mercy.
You did not make us, O God, to
oppress in the name of security or to kill in the name of justice. You made us, O God, to find security in
justice and to risk life in the name of peace. Lord, have mercy.
While leaders in Tel Aviv and Damascus, Tehran, Washington, and
southern Lebanon pander to ancient fears, claim the mantle of righteous victim,
and pursue their little empires in the name of gods of their own devising, the
people of Lebanon and northern Israel are made captive to fear, true victims
whose only advocate is You. Save us
from self-justifying histories and from moral equations that excuse our
folly. Search our hearts for our own
complicity. Spare us from pious prayers
that neglect the prophet's angry cry.
Let us speak a resounding “no” to this warring madness and thus unmake
our ways of death, so that we may be made more and more into your image.
Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.
Next, the scripture passages that were read that morning:
Matthew 7:1-5 – Don't Condemn Others
(New Living Translation)
"Stop judging others, and
you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others,
it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in
your friend's eye when you have a log
in your own? How can you think of
saying, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see
past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite!
First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well
enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.
John 8:1-11 – A Woman Caught in Adultery
(New Living Translation)
Jesus returned to the Mount of
Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd
soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the
teachers of religious law and Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in the
act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
"Teacher," they said to
Jesus, "this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of
Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"
They were trying to trap him into
saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote
in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up
again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned
throw the first stones!" Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one,
beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd
with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your
accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
"No, Lord," she said.
And Jesus said, "Neither do
I. Go and sin no more."
Finally, an excerpt from a press
release from the UCC which reports on a statement issued jointly by The Rev.
John Thomas and The Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte, Executive Minister of the UCC
Wider Church Ministries.
“We are dismayed at the audacity
of both Israel and Hezbollah to commit to continued violence. We are troubled that the U.S. leadership has
sent advance-shipments of bombs to re-arm Israel and encouraged Israel to take
due time to bomb Hezbollah despite the disproportionate impact on the Lebanese
people and landscape. We are troubled by those in the U.S. Congress who call
for a wider war with Syria and Iran…
“We are especially distraught
that some in leadership twist the label Christian, and use the name of the
Prince of Peace, to assert that this violence is ordained and justified because
their biblical lens views Israel in an apocalyptic drama and any criticism as
blasphemy…
“We mourn the death of all those
killed in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza, and despair for the lives and land
indelibly scarred by the violence… All sides must stop the killing and
devastation.”
This was followed by a dialog among church members and Revs. Rush and Yarborough.
© 2006
Charles Rush.
All rights reserved.
