Pax Christi South

Abraham, Martin, John….and Bobby.
Where have they all gone?
Today, we commemorate the death of Martin Luther King. Forty years have passed since this assassination. Within in span of five years we lost John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby
Kennedy. America was in turmoil. Our leaders and our hopes and dreams had been snuffed out. We doubted that the promise of Camelot would ever reappear. Continue Reading �

Pierced and crucified
Because you cried,
“Repent and believe the Good News.”

Pierced and crucified
Because you cried,
“Peter, put up your sword.” Continue Reading �

Sea of Galilee
Synagogue in Capernaum
Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
Al Masih Qam! He Haqan Qam! (Arabic)
The Easter message is loud and clear. In the reading for Monday, the women are hurrying away from the tomb. Matthew says that they went away with awe and great joy. Awe—a sense of wonder—enables us to grasp the inner meaning of events. Joy the quintessential Christian virtue. In fact, Bernard Häring, the late great moral theologian, says that joy is the cornerstone of Christian witness. They were filled with awe and joy (not violent shock and awe!) because their nonviolent teacher had conquered sin and death. Continue Reading �

My heart was heavy yesterday. All day long I was thinking about our trip to Israel Palestine and the many wonderful, spirit-filled people we had met there. Then Joan told me that the Israelis had refused to allow our West Bank Christian brothers and sisters to enter Jerusalem to celebrate the passion and death of Jesus. My mind immediately went back to our visit with an American Jewish settler in Efrata. In claiming his right to live in the Holy land (actually to illegally live in occupied territory in contravention of international law and two United Nation’s resolutions), the settler vehemently decried the fact that the Jews had been barred from access to their sacred sites for so long. Now they are barring Christians from their sacred sites. The oppressed become the oppressors!
I sent emails to Melkite Archbishop Elias Chacour from Ibillin, Abuna Raed from Taybeh (Ephraim), Rev. Mitri Raheb from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Christmas in Bethlehem, and the family we shared a meal with in Beit Sahour. I also sent a letter detailing the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people to my congressional delegation, the three presidential candidates and Secretary of State Rice. Continue Reading �

Reuters. Jerusalem. April 25, 33.
Our correspondents in Jerusalem report that a little known carpenter turned preacher-healer was executed like a common criminal. Jesus, from the backwater Galilean village of Nazareth, was pronounced dead on the cross around noon on the eve of the Passover Sabbath. Continue Reading �

This olive tree is in this picture is in the Garden. From the Garden, you can look down across the Kedron Valley and see the old walled city of Jerusalem. On the other side of the Mount of Olives (now separated by the WALL) is the city of Bethany. Jesus wept in Bethany over the death of his friend Lazarus. Near the Garden of Gethsemane is the Dominus Flavit Chapel built in the shape of a tear drop. It was here that Jesus also wept. He wept because Jerusalem did not know the God of Peace.
Continue Reading �

God calls Abraham to leave families, friends and country. God will lead him to a different place. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain. He takes them to a different place as he is transfigured before them.
Life is a journey. Peter has a different idea. Let us build tents here and stay where we are comfortable. Today Peter would say, “Jesus, let us stay in our comfort zone.” God does not like comfort zones. God is constantly calling us forth to new life, new adventures, new ways of seeing and being. Continue Reading �

The readings for the first Wednesday in Lent focus on Jonah. I have The Inclusive Bible which comes in 4 volumes. I finally found the book of Jonah in the Prophets volume. And rightly so. Jonah was prophet. He initially tried to shirk his calling and ended up in the belly of the whale. He was well aware that he might have to pay the price for proclaiming the word of God.
Johan finally enters the sinful city of Nineveh. He simply said, “Only forty more days and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.” To his utter amazement, the people and their rulers heeded the word of God and repented. They came to their senses. They prayed and fasted. They repented. Continue Reading �

There is an icy frost deep-down things.
It cold chills and renders inert
The clouds of compassion
Which should warm the dark-filled night.
Chilled to the masses’ misery
It rests couch-comfortable
Sating every selfish want-whim
With comfort food and new toys. Continue Reading �

It is not unusual in discussions among sincere Christians for someone to state, “As long as there are human beings there will be war.” Statements like this get the attention of Christian peacemakers.
Conservative Christian evangelicals tend to support the war. They—Islamic terrorists—are numerous and are out to destroy us. We must destroy them over there before they destroy us over here. It’s a holy war, albeit a crusade against the Islamofacists—whatever that means. Sound familiar? Some of these Christians welcome war because it will hasten the rapture. Whatever happened to the God of Peace and his Only Begotten? Continue Reading �