{"id":1258,"date":"2011-05-10T16:06:11","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T16:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=717"},"modified":"2011-05-10T16:06:11","modified_gmt":"2011-05-10T16:06:11","slug":"on-the-road-to-emmaus-tim-schmucker-may-8-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/?p=1258","title":{"rendered":"On the Road to Emmaus – Tim Schmucker – May 8, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On the Road to Emmaus<\/strong><\/font><\/h2>\n
Luke 24:13-35<\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n

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\u00a0 \u00a0 On the road to\u2026. This past week has seen two momentous \u201cend of the road\u201d events, end of the road meaning both reaching one\u2019s goal and \u201cthe end\u201d of your road. Prime Minister Harper had been on the road toward his coveted majority for five years, and he reached his goal Monday night. Many Canadians responded in disbelief while many others celebrated. And Harper\u2019s \u201cend of the road\u201d meant a very different \u201cend of the road\u201d for the Bloc and Liberal Parties. And the day prior, the United States finally reached the end of the road in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in their 10 year mission to assassinate their #1 Enemy. Of course, having the US military special operations unit reach his hideout compound meant a very different end of the road for Osama bin Laden. Response from the USA public ranged from wild celebrations to thoughtful reflections, from fist pumping jingoism to posting on facebook powerful words from Martin Luther King \u2013 \u201cI will not rejoice in the death of anyone, not even an enemy\u201d \u2013 that quickly went viral, but turned out to be not from King.<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 In any case, these road endings had very different meanings for the various people involved, and for the rest of us. However, \u201cend of the road\u201d is getting ahead of our story\u2026. On the Road to\u2026. Today\u2019s lectionary passage is about both being on<\/u> the road and at the end<\/u> of the road. Luke 24, last chapter.\u00a013<\/sup>Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,<\/em> 14<\/sup>and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, <\/em>16<\/sup>but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.<\/em>\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Thousands of sermons are being preached today about being blind to Jesus, and then seeing him, sermons about recognising the resurrected Christ through a personal encounter with him. The Luke chapter 24 story is beautifully simple and then powerful in its application. Two men are walking home from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Sunday, the day after the Sabbath. They are completely confused. Their lives have just been turned upside down over the death of a dear friend whom they had hoped was the Messiah. In addition, they\u2019ve just that day heard bizarre tales being told about him, that the tomb is empty, that he is alive. They can\u2019t figure it all out. Nothing makes sense. Along the way they meet a stranger who inquires about their conversation and who proceeds to clarify everything \u2013 first through his explanation of Scripture, then through his personal way of breaking bread. Suddenly, everything is clear. They see the Risen Christ.<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 This morning\u2019s sermon is a bit different. You see, I was on that road last month, the Road to Emmaus. Literally. \u00a013<\/sup>Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus \u2026<\/em> 14<\/sup>and talking with each other about all these things that had happened\u2026.\u00a0<\/em><\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Now on a day last month, 12 of us from Ontario were going to a Jewish park, in the area of the first century village of Emmaus, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We were talking with each other about all these things that had happened, all the things that we had heard about in Palestine, in Bethlehem, in Hebron. While we were talking and discussing, others came near to us. But we were confused; we had heard so much about the decades-long Israeli Occupation of Palestinian lands and the suffering of the Palestinian people. We couldn\u2019t comprehend all that we were seeing, all that we were hearing. Our eyes were kept from seeing the truth in all its completeness. How much truth could our eyes recognise? On the road to the Jewish Park, were we even aware that we were actually in the Palestinian West Bank, not Israel?<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 17<\/sup>And he said to them, \u201cWhat are you discussing with each other while you walk along?\u201d They stood still, looking sad. 18<\/sup>Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, \u201cAre you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 We 12 from Ontario arrived at the Park. A beautiful suburban park to spend an outing with family and friends. And cars, vans, and buses were unloading Jewish families who were arriving for precisely that purpose. But our guide came near to us and said to us: \u201cdo you not know where you are?\u201d So he led us off the beaten trail, past the signs that said \u201cdo not pass\u201d, and showed us the remnants, the rubble, the remains of the three Palestinian villages that had thrived there for a millennium until 1967 when Israel destroyed them in the war to expand their territory. And the fact of their existence has been blotted out \u2013 out of Jewish Israeli history books by fiat, off of signs by quasi-sanctioned vandalism. So millions of Israelis and Jews do not know the things that took place there in those days.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 And many Canadians don\u2019t either. The name of this park in the Occupied West Bank, Palestinian land, built over top of destroyed Palestinian villages, is \u201cCanada Park\u201d. \u201cCanada Park\u201d \u00a0– a national park established and maintained by the Jewish National Fund of Canada, with fund-raising here in Canada focusing on planting trees to reforest Israel. Never mind that the Park is in the Palestinian West Bank. No mention of the destroyed Palestinian villages the trees are being planted on top of, \u00a0while the former residents are still refugees 35 years later. Never mind that these Palestinian refugees still hold titles to the land. And to culminate the travesty, the road leading to the park is named the John Diefenbaker Parkway, former Prime Minister, who opened the Park in 1975. Indeed, there are many, both in Israel and Canada, \u201cwho do not know the things that have taken place there in these days?\u201d<\/em><\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 So too, on the Road to Emmaus that Sunday two millennia ago. Those two disciples couldn\u2019t see the profound truth of \u201cthe things that had taken place.\u201d They just couldn\u2019t recognise them or him.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 On the Road to Emmaus the two disciples were also confused. Luke says that \u201cthey stood still, looking sad.\u201d I also stood still, feeling incredibly sad, and troubled. I was in Jerusalem and had just spent two hours in Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial and Museum. The displays are so graphic that children under ten years of age are
\n not permitted to enter. The Museum documents the development of hatred toward the Jews in the Christian world, and then the rise of Hitler and Nazism in post-World War One Germany. Anti-Semitism was part of Hitler\u2019s program, culminating in the horrific concentration camps of the 1940s. In the museum I trembled as I gazed upon a very large model of an Auschwitz\u2019s gas chamber with thousands of people lining up to enter, with hundreds already inside. To say that it was emotionally overwhelming is an understatement. How can one comprehend genocide? Six million humans murdered, while the world wrung its hands in inaction, while the Church was essentially silent. Unspeakable horror. The Jews call it their \u201cshoah\u201d, a Hebrew word meaning \u201ccatastrophe\u201d. [pause]<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Earlier that day, Ali took us on the road through of the Old City of Jerusalem. He told us about the \u201cNakba\u201d, the word Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian) use for the invasion and destruction of Palestinian lands and homes along with the murder of thousands and the displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians by Jews setting up the State of Israel. Nakba is Arabic for \u201cCatastrophe\u201d. Ali told us that the removal of Palestinians from their lands and homes continues to this day. He pointed out where Orthodox Jewish settlers are taking over Palestinian homes, at times building an additional floor on top of a centuries old Palestinian home. He spoke clearly of the oppression and humiliation the Palestinians suffer daily at the hands of the Israeli occupation apparatus. At the end of the tour, Ali told us he had been political prisoner, jailed in 1968 until 1985 when Israel released him in a political prisoner exchange. Palestine: an occupied land and people.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 The Shoah (the Jewish Holocaust or Catastrophe) ended in 1945. The Nakba (the Palestinian Catastrophe) started in 1948. From Shoah to Nakba in three years??!!. How??? How, O God, can a people who suffered so terribly much turn around and immediately begin to inflict suffering on others? Like the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, I simply stood still, paralysed, feeling incredibly sad and deeply troubled.<\/font><\/div>\n
Two peoples. One land. Two peoples who desperately need peace and security. After the afternoon in the Holocaust Museum, I understood more viscerally the Jewish people\u2019s deep need for security, for a safe place. And no where was their need for security better expressed than in our conversation with Ary\u2019el, a Jewish Zionist settler.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 First a word about settlements, where the settlers live. These settlements are Jewish invasions of Palestinian land in the West Bank, and have been declared illegal by the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. Yet they continue to increase exponentially, year after year. They\u2019re built strategically on Palestinian land and are provocative, inflammatory reminders of Israel\u2019s military occupation of Palestinian land. The strategic placement of settlements, and their connection by roads Palestinians are not allowed to use, cause them to isolate nearby Palestinian communities from one another, and effectively choke off local Palestinian economies. Palestine is being chopped up into separate islands.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Back to Ary\u2019el, the Jewish settler. He\u2019s a friendly hospitable guy. We had coffee together in his living room, his small children scurrying around. He\u2019s also very articulate and passionate about \u201cThe Land of Israel\u201d and his people\u2019s deep desire for security. He insisted that this land belonged to Jews, not to Palestinians. Ary\u2019el said that as they occupy the land, they still want peace, but \u201cI don\u2019t know what will bring peace. We have the obligation to protect ourselves, our children. When we know that someone is going to attack us, we need to kill first. This is from the oral Torah.\u201d Umm, I guess we\u2019d have to call that \u201cfirst strike\u201d theology. Ary\u2019el also blamed the Palestinians for all the violence. \u201cOnly a very few Palestinians want peace,\u201d he insisted. \u201c95% of them want all Jews to be killed. I carry a weapon. We have to protect ourselves. We have 2000 years of history of people wanting to kill us. Trust in God? Yes, but we have to act.\u201d [Our MCC colleague Bassem, a Palestinian Christian whose people have called that land \u201chome\u201d since Jesus\u2019 time, was visibly troubled.]<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 In some ways, Ary\u2019el is like the followers of Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. They have a problem with seeing, they can\u2019t recognise truth. Ary\u2019el\u2019s eyes were kept from recognizing all these things that were happening. He couldn\u2019t see how his people\u2019s invasion and occupation of Palestinian land was causing such pain, suffering and injustice. He couldn\u2019t see that, in his people\u2019s search for security, they, victims of the most horrific genocide ever, had become the perpetrators.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Yet on the Road to Emmaus there were bright glimmers of clarity, clear glimpses of hope. We visited Atuwani, a small Palestinian village near Ary\u2019el\u2019s illegal settlement. Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained a constant presence there since 2004. We spoke with Hafez, a Palestinian shepherd and community leader, who told us of the aggressive and violent settlers who try to drive them from their ancestral lands with beatings, attacks, building and road destruction, and more. Story after story. Then he shared about his and his community\u2019s non-violent responses and nonviolent resistance. He said that \u201cNon-violent resistance is like a tree: it needs to be watered every day. If you don\u2019t, it will die. This is what we are doing. This for all who believe in peace and justice. You can<\/strong> make changes without violence.\u201d<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 I was deeply moved. But why non-violence?, I asked him. And Hafez told us this story. \u201cMy biggest influence is my mother, she is 80. Eight years ago, when she was 72, she was attacked by settlers, they injured her badly. I was busy in a village meeting; she was with the sheep, up the hill. People came toward me screaming. I ran to where three settlers were beating up my mother on the ground. One armed settler yelled at me to go back. He pointed his gun at me and shot at me, at my feet\u2026. For me as a human, seeing my mother being beaten, I couldn\u2019t even think. I was crazy. In five minutes, the security forces came. We took my mother to hospital. I began to think: \u2018I have to get revenge.\u2019 Then my mother came back from hospital. She said to me \u2018I know what you are thinking. Is it worth it? If you go in this way, you\u2019ll destroy yourself and your family.\u2019 So I thought a lot about this. She made me promise to not go in the way of revenge. My mother\u2019s way is the good way. When my mother talked to me, I realized I want to live in peace. The future is peace. And we have to start to make peace. Like the tree, non-violence is something we have to live and water each day.\u201d\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Listening to Hafez, my thoughts go to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24, how when their eyes were opened, and they recognized him \u2026 and they said to each other, \u201cWere not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?\u201d My heart was burning within me while Hafez was talking to us on the road in Atuwani, while he was opening the truth to us. My heart burned with the truth of his deep commitment to justice and peace through non-violent means.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 And Hafez\u2019s witness helped us Ontarians as we dea
\nlt with other burnings within us. Our hearts were, by the end of our time in Palestine\/Israel, burning with passion. And even with anger at times. I have just barely begun to share with you about the suffering of the Palestinian people. I haven\u2019t even talked about the infamous Wall, the so-called \u201cSecurity Wall\u201d; Palestinians call it the \u201cSeparation Wall\u201d or even the \u201cApartheid Wall.\u201d Built ostensibly for security reasons to keep Palestinians out of Israel,built mostly on Palestinian land, its 700+ kilometres effectively isolate Palestinian people from one another, and from such fundamental necessities as water, education, and medical care. For many, it also blocks access to their jobs and to their olive groves. Nor have I shared about the demolition of Palestinian homes that the Israeli government carries out frequently as a means of harassment, intimidation, and ultimately, of land grabs.\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 And so when our hearts burned with righteous rage, we remembered Hafez\u2019s witness to the non-violent, hate-less walk toward justice. At our final debriefing the last night there, the elder statesman of our Team, a gentle Old Colony Mennonite man, said simply: “I do not want to take any hatred home.” Hafez and others gave us powerful invitations to intercept our tendency to hate, with the opportunity to love, to respond to violence, hate and oppression, not in kind, but with the opposite. Hafez \u2013 a Palestinian Muslim is deeply committed to walk the same path that Jesus took – the non-violent walk toward justice \u2013 and so on the road to Atuwani, our hearts burned within us while Hafez opened the truth to us.<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 On the Road to Emmaus…. The Jewish people have very legitimate security concerns. God knows how they as a people are deeply deeply traumatised. Ary\u2019el said it best \u201cWe have 2000 years of history of people wanting to kill us.\u201d Still, their prophets – our prophets! \u2013 call them to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with our God. And the greatest Jewish prophet of all \u2013 Jesus the Christ – refused to resort to violence in order to make things right. On the road to Emmaus, those two disciples didn\u2019t recognise him because \u2013 and I know, you\u2019ve heard me say this many times over the past 15 years, and indeed Derek and Christopher cut me off when I begin to remind them, saying \u201cyes Dad, we know\u201d \u2013 those two followers didn\u2019t recognise Jesus because Jesus chose to go the cross rather than use violence to force the change he sought. Many of Jesus\u2019 disciples expected a Messiah as a political redeemer who would achieve victory through the use of force and power. So they didn\u2019t \/ couldn\u2019t see Jesus because he didn\u2019t fit their expectations. \u00a0Vs 21 \u201cBut we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.\u201d But Jesus refused to achieve victory with shock and awe. Instead, he went and got himself killed. So they didn\u2019t recognise him there on the Road to Emmaus. \u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 In the just-released movie about the Norse god \u201cThor\u201d, the wise old king Odin instructs his sons that a good king never seeks war, but is always ready for war to protect his kingdom, to defend peace. Jesus – the son of man, the son of God – refused to buy into that myth that says violence will make things right, that military force provides security and establishes peace. Ultimately it\u2019s the Way of the Cross that triumphs. The Cross was not and is not the end of the Road. We celebrate that every year at Easter \u2013 we are living in the Resurrection. On the Road to Emmaus, we do recognise Jesus! And our hearts burn with the truth he has shown!<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 I invite you to walk the Road to Emmaus. To choose love over hate, understanding over stereotypes, friendship over violence. Let\u2019s walk the Road to Emmaus, here next Sunday. Next Sunday our worship service will be in Kew Gardens Park, just down the road to the east. Next Sunday the Road to Emmaus will be Queen Street. There we will gather with our sisters and brothers of Muslim and Jewish faith to worship together. To get to know each other a bit. An interfaith service. Ary\u2019el, the Jewish Zionist settler, was theoretically my enemy, but drinking coffee together we became friends. We parted with the words \u201cbrother\u201d. I cannot hate him. May we too have the same experience as Jesus\u2019 followers on the Road to Emmaus: 31<\/sup>Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; \u2026.32<\/sup>They said to each other, \u201cWere not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?\u201d \u00a0\t<\/span> \u00a0 \u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 On the Road to Emmaus. Amen!<\/font><\/div>\n
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Addendum to 8 May 2011 sermon \u201cOn the Road to Emmaus\u201d.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Tim Schmucker, 11 May 2011\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

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Due to the flow and nature of last Sunday\u2019s sermon, I was unable to offer many “response possibilities.” Here are a few more in addition to participating in the interfaith service this coming Sunday.\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

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  1. Develop friendships with Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian) and with Jews living in Ontario.\u00a0 Listen to their stories and ask them what they think are the most important components for building a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East.<\/font><\/li>\n
  2. Consider forming a small group or Sunday School class around the topic of Christian contributions toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.\u00a0 The church’s long history of Anti-Semitism along with support for Christian Zionism have contributed to the insecurity of both Israelis and Palestinians today. What steps can the church take today to make amends?<\/font><\/li>\n
  3. Communicate with your MP (especially if Conservative), cc-ing PM Harper, encouraging them to take a balanced view, and to include the perspective of Palestinian Christians.\u00a0<\/font><\/li>\n
  4. Travel to the Holy Lands, especially Palestine, and spend time with Palestinian Christians. Make inquiries at Mennonite (or other) travel companies, asking how much Palestinian perspective (especially Palestinian Christian) is included in itinerary.<\/font><\/li>\n
  5. Keep informed: MCC Palestine blog, http:\/\/mccpalestine.wordpress.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/span> and CPT\u2019s work, http:\/\/www.cpt.org\/work\/palestine<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/li>\n
  6. Reading materials:\u00a0<\/font>\n
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    • Sonia Weaver’s book, “What is Palestine-Israel?: Answers to Common Questions.<\/span>\u201d Herald Press, 2007. I have several copies. It has an excellen
      \nt resource list. \u00a0<\/font><\/li>\n
    • A statement adopted by the MCC Peace Committee in 2007 (pasted here immediately below):\u00a0<\/font><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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      Mennonite Central Committee Discussion Paper on Palestine-Israel<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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      Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has worked alongside Palestinians for nearly six decades and with Israelis for nearly forty years. After the horrors of the Holocaust, many Jews welcomed the creation of the State of Israel, viewing it as a potential safe haven. The establishment of Israel in 1948, however, went hand in hand with the massive dispossession and displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians. MCC responded in 1949 to this newly created refugee crisis with material assistance and in numerous other ways. Over the ensuing years MCC developed bonds of friendship and partnership with the Palestinian churches, joining them in their ministry. Finally, since Israel\u2019s occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, MCC has supported the dedicated work of both Palestinians and Israelis committed to non-violence and to a future of peace, justice, and reconciliation for both peoples.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      Given MCC\u2019s long history with Palestinians and Israelis, MCC is often asked about its position regarding a future resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Does MCC support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel?\u00a0 Does MCC support the eventual emergence of one state in which Palestinians and Israelis would live together in equality? This statement outlines positions and principles that MCC believes must be considered in any future resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and which guide MCC\u2019s advocacy efforts.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      First<\/strong>, any resolution of the conflict should be judged according to a biblical theology of land and relationships. MCC believes that ultimately land and other natural resources belong to God. \u201cThe land is mine,\u201d says the Lord. \u201cWith me you are but aliens and tenants.\u201d (Lev. 25:23). Biblical promises of land to Abraham and his descendants and narratives of the conquest of the land must understood in light of: God\u2019s admonition to the people to treat \u201calien\u201d others justly, remembering that they had been aliens (e.g. Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:34); the prophetic injunctions to practice justice and righteousness in the land (e.g. Deut. 16:20; Micah 6:8; Zeph. 2:3); and God\u2019s normative self-revelation in Jesus Christ.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      God\u2019s creative Spirit works within history towards a day in which humanity will sit securely under vine and fig tree without fear (Micah 4:4). In his inaugural sermon in Nazareth, Jesus proclaimed the \u201cyear of the Lord\u2019s favor,\u201d the Jubilee year described by the priestly writers of Leviticus in which those dispossessed from the land once more enjoy security in the land (Luke 4:18-19; Lev. 25). In Jesus Christ, dividing walls of hostility are broken down, and enemies are reconciled in one body (Eph. 2:10-20). Christians, therefore, should be concerned about the restoration of the dispossessed, security in the land for all, and conditions which foster and sustain reconciliation.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      Second, <\/strong>MCC laments that the current reality in the Holy Land falls far short of this biblical vision, with neither Palestinian nor Israeli enjoying secure dwellings. Too often Israelis and Palestinians turn to violence in attempts to achieve security and freedom.\u00a0 Israel builds walls and fences on confiscated land and in the process seizes more land and control of water resources, constructs illegal settlements on that land, and confines Palestinians to increasingly smaller parcels of territory with severely restricted movement and bleak economic prospects. These walls and fences might be presented as a security measure, but they create more dispossession and over time increase the insecurity of both peoples. Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons, meanwhile, be they in Israel or in refugee camps in the Occupied Territories, Jordan, Syria, or Lebanon, are forgotten in their exile.\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

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      Just as Palestinians face insecurity, so do Israeli Jews. A minority of Palestinians rejects ongoing Jewish communal life in the land and sometimes resorts to violent attacks on Israeli military forces and civilians. Israelis, like Palestinians, have known the suffering and loss of death and injury.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      The current reality in the land for Palestinians and Israelis is thus one of dispossession, insecurity, and enmity, rather than landed security and reconciliation. As an organization committed to Christ\u2019s way of peace, MCC deplores all forms of violence, especially attacks against civilians. MCC mourns with all who have lost loved ones in this conflict, and awaits the day when both peoples will live in security in the land.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      Third, <\/strong>MCC believes that all are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27).\u00a0 In the new kingdom inaugurated by God in Jesus Christ, no people are elevated above others or granted privileges at the expense of others (e.g. Gal. 3:28).\u00a0Therefore, MCC rejects any ideology or political program which seeks the expulsion or subordination of either Palestinians or Israelis.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      Fourth, <\/strong>as a Christian organization MCC believes that statehood is not an end in itself. States can sometimes help guarantee basic human rights. Governments, however, are not ultimate authorities, but are judged according to the extent that they deter evil conduct and approve the good (Rom. 13:1-7). Nationalist ideologies which make exclusive connections between particular nations and particular states threaten the rights of those outside the nation, leading to various forms of discrimination and even violence. Statehood is thus not synonymous with justice, nor does it guarantee security and safety for all people. Palestinians have longed for a state in which they might enjoy freedom and security. A Palestinian state in the discontiguous parcels of land demarcated by Israel\u2019s separation wall, however, will not bring either durable justice or security to Palestinians or Israelis.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      Fifth, <\/strong>MCC does not take a final position on the question of whether the best solution to the conflict is two states side-by-side, with the Palestinian state based on the 1949 Armistice Line comprising all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, or one state in which Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal citizenship. MCC works with both Palestinians and Israelis who are committed to nonviolence \u2013 whether they believe that peace, justice, and reconciliation are best secured in the co
      \nntext of a two-state solution, or that this will be best achieved in the framework of one, bi-national state of equal citizenship. MCC is open to participating in coalitions which advocate either for a two-state solution or a one-state solution to the conflict, as long as the proposed solution to the conflict embraces the following principles:\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

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      * A commitment to respect human rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international covenants and conventions.<\/font><\/p>\n

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      *An end to the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as called for by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338;<\/font><\/p>\n

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      *A shared Jerusalem in which the spiritual significance of the city for Christians, Muslims and Jews would be recognized. Jews, Christians, and Muslims should all be able to worship and practice their faiths freely and securely in the land;<\/font><\/p>\n

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      *An end to discriminatory confiscation and distribution of land and water resources, including those practices prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention, and, in accordance with the ruling from the International Court of Justice, the dismantling of the illegal separation wall;<\/font><\/p>\n

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      *Justice and security for Palestinian refugees, as called for by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194.<\/font><\/p>\n

      <\/font><\/p>\n

      Any durable resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, MCC believes, must build upon these principles.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      View Archived Sermons \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Listen to this Sermon \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 On the Road to Emmaus Luke 24:13-35 \u00a0 \u00a0 On the road to\u2026. This past week has seen two momentous \u201cend of the road\u201d events, end of the road meaning both reaching one\u2019s goal and \u201cthe end\u201d of your road. Prime Minister Harper had been on the road toward his coveted majority for five years, and he reached his goal Monday night. Many Canadians responded in disbelief while…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}