August 10, 2009

Middle East study team receives letter from GA Moderators

The timing of your visit is providential

Several of the members of the General Assembly Middle East study team have been to the Middle East numerous times. Some have engaged in mission service, academic study, and inter-religious dialogue in the region. Some even have family roots there.

But the upcoming trip to the region later this month will be the first and only time they will travel there together as the team charged by the 218th General Assembly (2008) to "prepare a comprehensive study, with recommendations, that is focused on Israel Palestine within the complex context of the Middle East."

The Reverend Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008), and Elder Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church  (U.S.A.), have sent a letter to the team in advance of the two-week trip.

Reyes-Chow and Ufford-Chase write, "The timing of your visit is providential in light of President Obama’s speech in Cairo, addressed particularly to the Muslim world, and what appear to be increased expectations by the Obama administration on both Israelis and Palestinians regarding the steps necessary to achieve a just peace."

The moderators stress the importance of visiting with "all parties whose contributions are necessary 'to foster justice, improve interfaith relations, and nurture the building of peace toward a secure and viable future for all,' as the GA action states."

They write, "This implies a broad range of conversation partners within both the Palestinian and Israeli communities."

"Your careful listening to the full range of perspectives will contribute to peacemaking and interfaith understanding as well as to the fulfillment of your mandate."

The team’s itinerary includes stops in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. The trip will be the second time the team has met since its inception. Their first gathering was in Washington, D.C., in April

"Our first meeting was to gain a common understanding of the current situation in the Middle East," said the Reverend Ron Shive (Salem Presbytery), who chairs the team. “The trip will help us see firsthand what daily life is like ‘on the ground’ for those who live in the region.”

Appointed by the current and previous past two moderators of the General Assembly, the other team members in addition to Shive are the Reverends Susan R. Andrews (Hudson River Presbytery), John Huffman (Los Ranchos Presbytery), Rebecca Reyes (New Hope Presbytery), Marthame Sanders (Greater Atlanta Presbytery), and Byron Shafer (New York City Presbytery) and elders Frederic W. Bush (Los Ranchos Presbytery), Nahida H. Gordon (Muskingum Valley Presbytery), and Lucy Janjigian (Palisades Presbytery).

Staffing the team are the Reverends Christian Iosso (coordinator, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy) and Victor Makari (coordinator, Middle East, Asia Minor, Jinishian Memorial Program, General Assembly Mission Council), elder Douglas Dicks (regional liaison to Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, General Assembly Mission Council), and the Reverend Kerry Clements (director, Communication, Development, and Technology, Office of the General Assembly).

The team will meet one final time in November to prepare their report to the 219th General Assembly (2010), which will meet next July in Minneapolis.

The full text of the July 28, 2009, letter from Reyes-Chow and Ufford-Chase to the team and to the Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, and Elder Linda Valentine, executive director, General Assembly Mission Council:

We are pleased to hear that you will be going to the Middle East in August and will visit several countries in addition to Israel/Palestine. This should help fulfill the General Assembly assignment that you “prepare a comprehensive study, with recommendations, that is focused on Israel/Palestine within the complex context of the Middle East.” The timing of your visit is providential in light of President Obama’s speech in Cairo, addressed particularly to the Muslim world, and what appear to be increased expectations by the Obama administration on both Israelis and Palestinians regarding the steps necessary to achieve a just peace.

These developments make it all the more imperative that you visit with all parties whose contributions are necessary “to foster justice, improve interfaith relations, and nurture the building of peace toward a secure and viable future for all,” as the GA action states. This implies a broad range of conversation partners within both the Palestinian and Israeli communities. We trust that you will be prudent in all these encounters, recognizing that no one is able to manage all the outcomes of such meetings. Your careful listening to the full range of perspectives will contribute to peacemaking and interfaith understanding as well as to the fulfillment of your mandate.

We are encouraged to hear that Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons may be with you for some of the trip. We hope that he will have the opportunity to meet with leaders from within as many diverse communities as possible.

Our prayers are with you as you move from cities to settlements, from Beirut to Jerusalem, from cosmopolitan neighborhoods to refugee camps, from government offices to places of resistance. May the God of Peace, who is made known to us in Jesus Christ, accompany your every step and give you open hearts and clear vision as you journey forth.