June 22, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s a beautiful spring morning here in Jerusalem, and the weather has warmed up, turning the green hills to brown here where we live on the Mount of Olives. We are not likely to see rain again for four months. We’re thankful for the cool mornings that let us ease into the day!

In the last month we have said farewell to a number of expatriate friends who are either completing terms of service here, or moving on to serve in other countries. Long terms of service are rare here due to the stress and instability of the political situation. One departing friend said that many leave feeling heart-wrenching grief that the vision that brought them to this place was never fully realized. Instead, a sense of helplessness overtakes the original conviction that the service they came to do would effect any change in this continually deteriorating environment.

Mount of Olives neighborhood of Jerusalem where we live.

Our friends’ remark became a springboard for evaluation as we think about our call here. One question people ask when they find out we live and work in Jerusalem is what a day in our life is like—our activities and surroundings, and another has to do with why we would intentionally place ourselves in a tense and insecure environment when for the most part it is human nature to seek a higher level of comfort and safety.

While we live with some of the conveniences Americans take for granted, simply living is often more labor intensive outside the United States. We’re thankful that here much of what we do at home is similar to what we would do anywhere else, only with fewer bells and whistles.

Church of the Ascension on the campus where we live.

For the sake of logistics and economy our office is in our home—this is both bane and blessing! Work hours become blurred, as does the workweek, but at least we don’t have to go far to the office! Our location is especially helpful because we do not have a vehicle. Traffic can be a problem, however, as we fight to get to the coffee first. While the bulk of our work involves writing and interpreting our life and observations, we still have many meetings with network organizations and others outside the office.

Attending meetings can take an entire day, requiring the use of numerous taxis and buses to reach our destination. Because we live in a central location we usually only have one checkpoint crossing in either direction. We try to schedule as many meetings as possible when we go to Bethlehem or Ramallah.

We spend part of our day reading about the changing situation. If you try to stay current with the volatile conditions here, you’ll probably agree that if you read ten sources you’ll find ten different opinions.

The difficulty we find in our work as companion facilitators of the Presbyterian Hunger Program to this network is striking a balance between interpreting the church’s intentions for the program while keeping paternalism at bay so that the members can take ownership of the network. They once expressed that it is highly unusual in this culture for network unification to take place from outside. Traditionally, unification would occur from within—through family ties or complimentary programs.

Because each organization is a dynamic and busy enterprise in its own right, scheduling activities of the network must remain flexible. They are always impacted by the current social and political condition around us. For instance, this week we can’t go to the West Bank because of the volatile conditions spilling over from Gaza. We are learning to employ patience and adjust our agenda to respect members’ other obligations and needs.

Then there are times when events spin out of control, demanding our active prayers, letters to inform and solicit the support of our U.S. contacts, and accompaniment to our colleagues and friends in their struggles.

Our original vision of what we could do here has been tested and refined in the growing acknowledgement that we are in for a marathon and not a sprint! Yet we believe, with Martin Luther King, that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. If it weren’t for our conviction that the God is at work building God’s Kingdom, we would feel the same helplessness that our departed colleagues felt. Our job then, is simply to have faith and trust in that which we cannot see.

In a conflict so deeply dividing, the Church has an incredible opportunity to serve as the conduit for change. Whether we are impelled to be the voice for the unheard by our political, religious, or humanitarian beliefs, they are all means to the same end—one of peace and justice for all parties.

Pray with us, and take an active part in seeking harmony in the Middle East.

Please send us your e-mail address. Only a limited number of our newsletters go out by hard copy, and the others are sent by email. They can also be accessed on our home page on the PC(USA)’s Mission Connections Web site.

Grace and Peace,

Terry and Michele

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 170