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In Memory of Ecumenical delegation who visited Bethlehem On December 7, 2000 in a humanitarian mission for the cause of Justice , Freedom and Peace on Earth . On December 7, 2000 you and the Ecumenical delegation of American church leaders visited the Holy city of Bethlehem and the Middle East to express your solidarity with local churches, and to lend your voices to a growing chorus calling for a peaceful solution to the crisis in the area. Your most significant and meaningful participation was reflected in the candle light vigil at the Manger Square where you walked with lit candles through the streets of Bethlehem. Amidst the dark space, your candles were spots of light that blessed the city with the graceful meaning of support and solidarity. On December 7, 2000 they came in a humanitarian mission for the cause of Justice , Freedom and Peace on Earth . To revive the significance of your mission, the children of Bethlehem and the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem remembered you and the Ecumenical Delegation today by lightening candles for the sake of a revived hope in justice, freedom, and peace. They have lit the candles with love and the greatest hope that the world will finally hear their voices. Their candles were lit in order to resurrect the courage and persistency in the hearts of those who believe in equality, ambivalence, and mercy among humans; par-excellence, hearts like yours. On the same day, the children asked Mrs. Vera Baboun, a mother of five and whom you have visited the demolished garage of her husband, to write a letter in which she expresses our collective need for an indispensable peace. The letter written by Mrs. Baboun : Between hope and faith a conspicuous and acknowledged affinity emerge; both are confessed religious virtues that function against human vulnerability, sense of loss, schisms, bigotry, and strife. Crisis, in its severest sense of grievance and impairment, simultaneously and most ironically, function as a double edged weapon. It melts our differences to retrospectively bring to surface our humane sympathy, and compassionate understanding. In the last past fifty three years, we as Palestinians have congenially experienced the need for faith and hope amidst crisis and calamity. Many have witnessed our strife and you, the church leaders, have been eye witnesses for our suffering. One year has passed, and the ruins you took pictures for are still hideously crammed speaking for themselves and for our vulnerable capability to create a change or to achieve a needed justice. I have asked you all to be our voice; our unheard voice. The voice of children in camps, villages, and cities; in the cities of Nativity and Resurrection where faith and hope were gracefully endowed on humanity . The voice of the martyrs, imprisoned, injured, and the battered. Your voice has a significant echo; it addresses the humane in humanity. It is the voice of God; your God and ours. The same God of truth, love, and forgiveness. A year has passed and we were all waiting to hear the echo of your voices to feel that hope and faith are not simply religious virtues, but the source of a needed light at the end of every dark and gruesome tunnel. We are still waiting, hoping for a better future that we can all together create; undoubtedly, one hand can never clap. Thus, we renew our plea urging you to be our voices, and to join your hands to ours in order to hear the clap of justice, and peace. Mrs. Vera Baboun
May God keep Your for the persecuted people and the sake of people peace and Love. Children of Bethlehem Bethlehem, Palestine To find you candle just look for your name between the candles below and when you find it close you eyes and pray for Peace to prevail in the land of peace . King of Peace give us Peace |
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Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, lights a candle in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. McNish is part of a delegation of American church leaders visiting the Middle East December 7 - 12 to express its solidarity with churches there and to lend their voices to a growing chorus calling for a peaceful solution to the crisis in the area. Photo by Mike DuBose, United Methodist News Service. |
