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March 18, 2008

All can help change Middle East situation, say Jerusalem church heads

by Judith Sudilovsky
Ecumenical News International

JERUSALEM — Everyone in the Middle East has a role to play in changing the current situation, despite the violence Palestinians and Israelis are facing, church heads in Jerusalem have said in their Easter message.

“We say this to our leaders in Palestine and Israel. The ways used until today to reach security must be changed. If not, we will remain in the same positions in a permanent cycle of violence,” the church leaders said in their message released as Western Christianity prepared to mark Easter, its holiest feast, on March 23.

The message was signed by the heads of 13 churches in Jerusalem including the senior Roman Catholic leader, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Anglican Bishop Suheil Dawani and Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan.

In the same way that Jesus told his disciples the Church would have a specific role to play in the world convincing people of their responsibility to confess their sins, Christians today must also tell others the current situation is part of the world's sin, the church leaders said.

“But [the situation] must also be part of the new power given to us by the Risen Lord,” they said in their message released on March 17. “We have to change the present situation, through the power and strength which he has given us.”

The church leaders invited all to engage in penitence in order to be able to find a way that leads to security and peace.

They thanked Christians worldwide for their prayers and asked that they too take on their responsibility in “restoring the joy of the Resurrection” by requesting their governments to do the same to achieve peace.

“Pray for us as well as for a just and comprehensive peace in this Land,” the church leaders said. “Pray that fear, the main obstacle for peace, will disappear. Pray that people recognize and accept each other, so that the right ways be open before the glory of the Resurrection so that this Land of the Resurrection may enjoy the new life to which God has called it.”