Friday, January 13, 2006
An emailer notes some remarkable material on the Presbyterian Church(USA)'s prayer page for their "Peacemaking Program." This page demonstrates some of the serious flaws in using theology and trying to bend it to specific political goals. Using scripture to beat the Jews over the head has a long, storied and wicked history. It took the Catholic Church millenia to realize and renounce the danger, and here is a supposedly humanitarian Protestant denomination forgetting all that history and unleashing this demon again.
Take this one, for instance: Litany of Stones
Some in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, then the stones would shout out." (Adapted from Luke 19:39-40)
Huda and Fayez, in tears, survey the rubble of their demolished home
... And the stones will cry out
Jawdi, in anger, watches his hillside orchard being bulldozed for a settlement
... And the stones will cry out
Abdel, returning home with bread for the family during curfew, is stopped by soldiers
... And the stones will cry out
Rashad shows his passengers the stone thrown through the bus window by settlers
... And the stones will cry out
Musa drives over rough trails to work because his village is blockaded from the highway
... And the stones will cry out
Yusra's school has been taken over by the soldiers. Now there's a tank in the schoolyard
... And the stones will cry out
Hisham cannot pass the checkpoint on the bypass road because he is Palestinian...
... And the stones will cry out
Very early in the morning on the first day of the week the women went to the tomb. They said to each other, "Who will roll away the stone?" (Adapted from Mark 16:2-3)
From the despair of demolished hopes
...Who will roll away the stone?
From the powerlessness of land confiscation
...Who will roll away the stone?
From the imprisonment of 24 hour curfew
...Who will roll away the stone?
From the fear of violence on the roads
...Who will roll away the stone?
From the suffocation of villages under siege
...Who will roll away the stone?
From the cruelty of school closures
...Who will roll away the stone?
From the tomb of the occupation
...Who will roll away the stone?
Aside from being an obvious 'Prayer for the Palestinian Political Narrative,' the imagery here is recognizable and dangerous. Who put the stone in front of the tomb? The Jews, of course. This is the type of imagery that Dexter Van Zile of the Judeo-Christian Alliance has rightfully condemned when used by representatives of Sabeel (and in fact there are several prayers on the page prepared for Sabeel events). There's a page full of it at the PC(USA).
Note the Prayers of Intercession:
...We pray for the Palestinian people that their cause will be solved with justice, impartiality and love...
A prayer for the Jewish people...? Note that the prayer For Jews makes no mention of peace for Jews in their land.
There are, of course, Prayers for those whose Homes have been Demolished (also created for a Sabeel conference). Prayers 'for those whose loved ones were murdered by suicide bombers, snipers, stone-throwers and other jihadis' (as my emailer puts it) would have been thoughtful.
Their one choice for a reading from the Old Testament?
Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power. They covet fields, and seize them; houses and they take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance.
(Hear this you) who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong! Its rulers give judgement for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, "Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us"...
Nice. Nothing like picking a passage that chastises the wicked, greedy Jews. Haven't we seen this before in other contexts?
