Anglican Hospital in Gaza

Al Ahli Arab Hospital brings hope to Palestinians amid Gaza crisis
By Matthew Davies, January 14, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] As the embattled residents of Gaza struggle for survival 18 days into a bloody Israeli military operation, the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City continues to bring some semblance of hope to the local Palestinian community through its commitment to providing critical healthcare services to anyone in need.

One of 37 institutions run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, the hospital has struggled to meet the increased demands on its already-overburdened staff, who have tended to the wounded despite being surrounded by conflict, the challenges of diminishing medical supplies, and their own fatigue.

Please read the whole article here.

[ACNS] Today (Wednesday 14 January 2009) brought more injured and wounded patients to Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, as each of the last 18 days has. One patient who came to Al Ahli recently was Mohan’nad, a 9 year-old boy whose leg was badly injured when a building near his home was damaged. Thankfully, the doctors and staff at Al Ahli were able to save his leg.

But this day also brought hope and much needed assistance for Al Ahli in the form of several trucks filled with medicines, medical supplies, blankets, and food that arrived in convoys coordinated by UNRWA. The hospital to date has received some limited assistance through various aid agencies, but the trucks arriving today represent a huge boost to the hospital’s ability to continue its urgent humanitarian mission of medical care for anyone in need, even under the current dire circumstances. The hospital’s location in the very heart of Gaza City is now placing added responsibility on its work, which is being carried out so bravely and selflessly by the hospital staff.

Read the whole story here.

Bishop Search survey now online

In October 2009 the Diocese of CT will elect its 15th diocesan bishop.

The Search/Nominating Committee is offering two opportunities to hear from Episcopalians in Connecticut. The first, a survey, is online now. It's available in English, Spanish, and French. Click here. The survey closes Jan. 26.

In-person focus groups will be held in February. Details will be available by next week.

The Committee strongly encourages everyone to participate in at least one, if not both of these discovery activities.

PDFs are available to preview the survey or print out for a friend. Some bulletin inserts, text, etc. available also. See related election web pages.

Help is available to anyone who needs assistance in filling out the survey. Computers and help in using them can be found at locations in New Haven, Bridgeport and Norwalk from now through the 23rd.

These include:

+ Fri. Jan. 16, 9 a.m. to noon, St. John's, 768 Fairfield Ave, Bridgeport;
+ Sat. Jan. 17, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., St. Paul's, 60 East Avenue, Norwalk;

+ Fri. Jan, 16 and Mon. Jan. 19 - Fri. Jan. 23, Noon to 1 p.m. and after 3 p.m. (Call first, 203-777-7623), St. Thomas' Church & Day School, 830 Whitney Ave, New Haven;

+ Wed. Jan. 21 - Fri. Jan. 23, 3 p.m. - 6 p.m., St. Luke's/St. Paul's, 594 Kossuth, Bridgeport

MLK Day of Service

Make it a Day On... Not a Day Off!

During the 1950s and ’60s, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized the power of service to strengthen communities and achieve common goals.

Initiated by Congress in 1994, King Day of Service builds on that that legacy by transforming the federal holiday honoring Dr. King into a national day of community service grounded in his teachings of nonviolence and social justice. The aim is to make the holiday a day ON, where people of all ages and backgrounds come together to improve lives, bridge social barriers, and move our nation closer to the “Beloved Community” that Dr. King envisioned. (from the website)

Learn more here.

There is more info. on where you can serve, here.

Episcopalians & the Inauguration

From the AP:

At past inaugurations, ceremonial prayers uttered on behalf of the incoming president drew about as much attention as the flags on the podium. Not this year. Barack Obama's choice of clergy is under scrutiny like no other president-elect before him, alternately outraging Americans on the left and the right as he navigates the minefield of U.S. religion."I can't recall any prayers drawing so much attention," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center who specializes in religion in public life.

Gay advocates assailed Obama, while many conservative Christians were heartened, when he invited the Rev. Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist who opposes gay marriage, to deliver the inaugural invocation on Tuesday.

The tables turned when Obama asked V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, to lead prayers at Sunday's kickoff for the inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial. Gay rights groups rejoiced, while some conservative Christians wrung their hands.

The Inauguration Committee has only released one clergy name so far for the Jan. 21 National Prayer Service that caps the inauguration. The Rev. Sharon Watkins, the first woman president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a Protestant group, will deliver the sermon.

The Associated Press has learned additional details.

A prayer will be offered at the National Cathedral by Ingrid Mattson, the first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. The Islamic Society, based in Indiana, is the nation's largest Muslim group.Three rabbis, representing the three major branches of American Judaism, will also say a prayer at the service, according to officials familiar with the plans. The Jewish clergy are Reform Rabbi David Saperstein, Conservative Rabbi Jerome Epstein and Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, sources said.It is also traditional for the incoming administration to ask the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington to lead a prayer. The Most Rev. Donald Wuerl leads the archdiocese.

And like many incoming presidents before him, Obama will attend a service at St. John's Episcopal Church, dubbed the "Church of the Presidents," before his swearing-in.

Read it all here.

More details here.

Our Presiding Bishop is also participating. Details here

You can see a live webcast of the prayer service starting at 9:30 am on Wednesday, January 21, 2009, here.

Sermon: 1 Epiphany

“When we touch our baptism, we touch our past, but also our present and our future. Whenever and however our baptism took place and however much or little regard has been paid to it since, it is a sign in our flesh of the enduring love of God.” (Daniel Stevick)

On this day when we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, we also remember our own baptism (even if it is what our parents said or simply a date) as we look forward to Luke’s baptism this morning, we think about the baptisms that have taken place here for 202 years, for indeed we touch our past, present and future in baptism and God is in the midst of it all.

Luke is also touching the past for he is wearing his great grandfather’s baptismal gown, Bob wore it 80 years ago and he is wearing his godmother’s cross (and godfather's too) she wore at her christening. Both connect him with the past as he in the present will receive baptism in our font and live that baptism out in his future.

The Past, Present & Future are all wrapped together in baptism. When we think of the past…

We remember that Jesus was baptized like we were. As we imagine the scene with John the Baptist standing near the river, wearing camel’s hair, people are flocking to him, to confess their sins. Several Jewish groups of that time observed some type of ritual baptism, and yet John knows that what he does, his proclamations, his baptisms, are just a beginning, they anticipate the one who is to come, the messiah. His baptism by water for repentance will become the baptism by the Spirit. John prepares the way of the Lord much like his ancestors did from Abraham and Sarah to Moses and Miriam to David and Jeremiah to John the Baptist.

It all comes to fruition when Jesus of Nazareth comes and all that John had anticipated happens; Jesus is baptized. And it is Jesus who sees the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon him and a voice that proclaims, “You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11) It is God’s Spirit who descends that day, anoints Jesus for the mission and ministry that would encompass his life for the rest of his time on earth. And then there is no time to relish in the moment, for then that same Spirit sends Jesus away from his baptism to go and do.

In our own day (present), baptism is our ritual of initiation into God’s community the Church. As our rite says, “In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.” Today, Luke Michael Rosati will be baptized into the household of God. I suspect there will be many more around the world who will be baptized on this day, and God will hear their names presented and it is God who will act by sending the Holy Spirit.

His baptism reminds me that as I looked at the website for oversees chaplains, I saw a wonderful picture of a chaplain in water among the reeds baptizing one of our soldiers in Iraq. This scene from a couple of years ago reminds us that baptism happens in a sacred spot that generations have come to worship in, and happens in the desert in a small body of water in the midst of war. And no matter where that baptism takes place, it is that baptism that propels us into the future.

For the Spirit of God is also sent to rests on us, reminding us that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God. And what we do out of that love, out of being baptized into the household of God is to “confess the faith of Christ crucified and proclaim his resurrection.” Or in the words of St. Francis, we are called to “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

For it is that Spirit that calls us to live out our baptismal lives in this world, where so many people are in need one way or another; helping feed the hungry, soothe the suffering, giving love and hope to those who have neither…

In time Luke will do just that, but for now, it is all of us gathered here, his family, friends and this praying and caring community witnessing to the great love of God by what we do in this world. Or as Mother Teresa put it, “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.” Amen.

Sermon: January 4

"Herod represents the dark side of the gospel. He reminds us that Jesus didn't enter a world of sparkly Christmas cards or a world of warm spiritual sentiment. Jesus enters a world of real pain, of serious dysfunction, a world of brokenness and political oppression. Jesus was born an outcast, a homeless person, a refugee." (Joy Carroll Wallis) That is how one Anglican priest puts it…

In 6 BC, Rome was the occupying power in the land of Israel. Caesar Augustus was on the thrown, the first Roman emperor that unified the empire. Herod the Great ruled the land of Judea. He was King because Rome put him there. He was distrusted and disliked by the population because of his connections to Rome. In the midst of this, God comes to us and Jesus is born. We remember that he was born not among family & friends, but in a stable with animals. The holy family are outcasts and would become refugees. And if that wasn't enough, that God would come to us, be with us, even in the worst of circumstances, outsiders come to visit. Wise men from the East come looking for the child who was to be born.

Wise men, magi, we are given such little information about them, they are steeped in mystery (legends abound). But this we know. They are gentiles and they have come to pay homage to the newborn king. Can you imagine Herod's surprise? His fear and anger over one who could supplant his role as king? He wants to know about this child and he wants the wise men to report back to him when they know where he is, so he too can pay homage. But of course, we know that is the last thing he would do. The wise men continue their search, they follow the star and are overwhelmed with joy when they find Mary & Joseph and Jesus. The wise men kneel down before the baby Jesus and offer their gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh, and having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they go home by another road. And often we end our reading there but there is more to the story.

For Joseph is likewise warned in a dream to leave Bethlehem and flee to Egypt for Herod wants to destroy Jesus. And again Joseph listens to the dream, he protects his family and they escape to Egypt just in time. For Matthew then tells us of the slaughter of the innocents, males 2 years old and younger in the region of Bethlehem ordered killed by Herod after Herod did not hear from the wise men. Thankfully his murderous reign comes to an end, and Mary & Joseph who are refugees in the land of Egypt return with Jesus and make their home in Nazareth in Galilee after Herod's death.

Herod is not a cuddly character we embrace and we often forget his role in that first Christmas, but He reminds us that the world that Jesus was born into, is the same world we live in now. War, death, murder, political infighting, take place now as they did then. And innocent people are often caught in the middle. Sadly we watch as the innocents get hurt in Israel’s battle with Hamas in Gaza.

But we know that God intercedes on our behalf in the best and worst of times; even with the power of Rome & Herod in place, God comes to us in a helpless baby in their midst. He is not recognized except for some outsiders, he is forced to flee from Bethlehem because his life is threatened, he is a refugee in a country and will find no home until Herod is dead. Where is the star that we follow? Where does our faith call us to use our gifts? Not only within our community of faith, but in the world too...

To use our gifts to help those in need, in our own town (Monroe Food Pantry – now 150 families) or the help we give to families who are refugees who have come to our country or refugees displaced by war and terror in Sudan, we are called to pray, to lift up and give our voice and our actions to help those in need, to see Christ in this world through the lives of the children and how they suffer, and to stand up against the Herod's of this world.

For Christmas is more than our coming to the manger to pay homage, it is also how we give our gifts to the world in the name of the one who was a refugee, who was terrorized and threatened, who died at the hands of politics and power. It is offering our gifts to the Christ Child in our midst today...

For when the song of the angels is stilled
when the star in the sky is gone
when the kings and princes are home
when the shepherds are back with their flocks
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost
to heal the broken
to feed the hungry
to release the prisoner
to rebuild the nations
to bring peace among the people
to make music in the heart.
(Howard Thurman)

Our Christmas festivities are nearing the end, but our work of Christmas has just begun. Let us journey and find the Christ child knowing it may lead us not to palaces or to places of quiet, but to refugee camps, war zones, ghettos, places of poverty and areas of destruction. Let us help shed the light of Christ to those who walk in darkness today. Because today we celebrate the Light that has come into the world for all people, and the darkness has not and will not overcome it. Amen.

Prayers for Peace & so much more on the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Prayer for Peace

Almighty God, kindle, we beseech thee, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with thy wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquillity thy dominion may increase till the earth is filled with the knowledge of thy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Episcopal Relief & Development Supports Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza

Since the recent upsurge on December 27th, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has left more than 550 people dead, and 2,500 injured. Episcopal Relief & Development's partner, the Ahli Arab Hospital, reports devastating civilian casualties and a rising death toll in Gaza City.

During this time of crisis, Episcopal Relief & Development remains in close contact with its partner the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. Episcopal Relief & Development has responded to an urgent appeal from the Diocese by sending initial emergency funds to the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.

"We continue to monitor the needs of the Diocese of Jerusalem and are preparing to send additional emergency funds. Please pray for the people of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Ahi Arab Hospital as they risk their own lives to provide lifesaving emergency care to people injured in the ongoing conflict" said Rob Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & development.

Ahli Arab Hospital, located at the heart of Gaza City, has treated more than 100 injured civilians since the beginning of the December attacks. The hospital continues to provide essential emergency health care to injured civilians. Ahli Arab Hospital has not turned anyone away despite increasingly dire conditions. The staff and volunteers at the hospital desperately need medicine and emergency supplies to continue their life saving work.

"We join Episcopalians around the world in a prayer for peace," said Radtke.

Donate here.

Presiding Bishop Speaks Out About Attacks on Gaza
By: The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori - Date Posted: 12/29/2008

Yesterday afternoon in New York, outside the Episcopal Church Center, a demonstration took place in front of the Israeli consulate. The demonstrators included orthodox Jews. All were calling for an immediate end to the attacks in Gaza. I join my voice to theirs and those of many others around the world, challenging the Israeli government to call a halt to this wholly disproportionate escalation of violence. I challenge the Palestinian forces to end their rocket attacks on Israelis. I further urge the United States government to use its influence to get these parties back to the negotiating table and end this senseless killing. President-elect Obama needs to be part of this initiative, which demands his attention now and is likely to do so through his early months in office. I urge a comprehensive response to these attacks. Innocent lives are being lost throughout the land we all call Holy, and as Christians remember the coming of the Prince of Peace, we ache for the absence of peace in the land of his birth.

Immediate attention should focus on vital humanitarian assistance to the suffocating people of Gaza. In March of this year, I spent a day in Gaza visiting religious and community leaders and the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. Since that visit, the situation, which was already devastating, has only worsened, with supplies of food, fuel, power, and medical supplies either cut off or indefinitely delayed. Our hospital must now try to treat the wounded under the most impossible circumstances.

I ask all people of faith to join with the Episcopalians in Jerusalem who this Sunday dispensed with their usual worship services and spent their time in prayer for those who are the objects of this violence. I pray for leaders who will seek a just peace for all in the Middle East, knowing that its achievement will only come when they have the courage to act boldly. But they must do so now, before the violence escalates further. It is only through a just and lasting peace that the hope of the ages can be fulfilled, that hope which we mark in the birth of a babe in Bethlehem.

The Presiding Bishop Calls for Immediate Ceasefire
By: The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori - Date Posted: 1/5/2009

We are deeply saddened by the first-hand reports we are receiving from Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza about the casualties they are treating under the most horrific circumstances. Not only do they lack basic medical supplies, but with windows blown out they are even struggling to keep patients warm. The high number of civilian deaths and injuries, which continue to include noncombatants, women, and children, will only prolong the violence years into the future. Israel’s disproportionate response to the rockets being fired into its cities may well encourage violence beyond Gaza and Israel. The first steps toward peace will only come if all parties unite behind an immediate ceasefire. Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded the world that “an eye for an eye soon leaves the whole world blind.” May we seek to end this blinding violence.