My apologies for the way Topica has been handling the sending of the Wednesday Weekly. I'm still looking for the perfect system, so feel free to offer suggestions. A quick check of the mailing list showed over 13% of you had not been receiving my end of the bargain when you promised to pray for us. :*-) I realize, too, that part of the glitch may be due to your mail servers seeing the Wednesday Weekly as that old Hormel lunch meat <g>.

Along those lines comes a quote from one of this week's e-mails. I hope you find it useful, too:

Sometimes we find our world shaken from the challenges that come with emotional hardship. It can be devastating. We can feel helpless when our world is shaken emotionally by disunity that puts relationships on edge.

In the steps to stability that God outlines for us, we find a strong call to live in unity with one another.

"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews 12:15).

When your world is shaken by emotional turmoil, keep these steps in mind. Guard your heart from harboring a bitter root. God tells us that it will show up when we least expect it and cause no end of trouble.

Be on your guard to keep unity in the relationships in your life. Bitterness cannot take root without first planting the seed of hurt and watering resentment. Watch for this cycle that begins in the heart.

* HURT -- We all experience it and we often cause it. When we find our heart has been bruised by hurt we can choose our response.  

--We can let it go, knowing the heart of the offending person was not set on causing us pain.

--We can choose to forgive even if the offender meant to hurt us.

--We can nurse the hurt in our heart and allow it to grow. This choice begins a destructive cycle.

*RESENTMENT WILL BE THE RESULT-- When resentment is left to stew in our heart it becomes a filter for all interactions with the other person. This must be dealt with before God and sometimes with the other person. If left, resentment will smolder.

* ANGER IS THE RESULT. Anger can manifest itself in many different ways. Harsh talk, depression, general meanness, blocked communication and even violence can be signs of an inward anger. Left alone it will continue to grow.

--Intervention is often needed here to discover what has caused the hurt and resentment that continues to fester.

*  BITTERNESS is the result of anger not dealt with. Bitterness will show up at unexpected times and in hurtful ways. Relationships will become tarnished and the cycle of hurt will begin all over again in the lives of others.

God calls us to unity. Deal with hurt as soon as it happens. Go first to God and if He directs you, then go to the other person. Clean it up and get rid of it. The cost of disunity is much too high.

If hurt has grown into resentment, acknowledge it and ask God to help you defuse it in your heart. Consider talking to a trusted friend who will pray with you and for you.

If anger is causing tension in your life or if bitterness has soured your soul, seek out a counselor who can help you work through the steps to forgiveness and who will pray with you and for you.

God's desire is for your heart to be free. Acknowledge hurt when it happens and choose your response carefully. God will be your rock and your help as you work it through.

Father in Heaven,

I need Your help to deal with the hurts that come my way. Show me how to let Your grace flow through me. Show me how to discern the heart of the one causing the hurt. When their heart is not set against me, help me to be able to release the hurt to You. When someone is set to hurt me, help me to be filled with Your grace and to forgive. Keep me mindful of this cycle that builds toward a bitter root. Give me grace to live in unity by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Replace the sandpaper in my relationships with the oil of Your Spirit.   In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Romans 1:16 is still appropriate in light of this article.

Here are three more Baptist Press articles I thought you'd appreciate:

* Southern Seminary journal examines Mormon challenge to Christianity.

* Caner: God of Christianity not the same as Allah.

* Land: Evangelical majority supports Israel's Gaza withdrawal.

What do you say we all go ahead and cancel global debt so we can switch over to an instant debit card? How about a day's wages for a day's food? Think you'd lose the card? How about putting it in you hand or forehead? 

+ Scott was looking forward to a week of tying up loose ends before hosting a volunteer computer workshop team and could have used your intercession to see that those errands didn't interfere with the Main Thing... wow, it seems those loose ends were tough to track down (and still are); however, they did not interfere with my focus on why I'm really here, so thank you for praying!

+ Shirin had found a new avenue for exercise and wanted to be used as His mouthpiece for the ladies He brings into her life. You prayed that this be so... Shirin writes, "Thank you for praying with me. I have met a few ladies and friendships are slowly developing. I also pray for the people who will be using the equipment after me and those who have used it before me."

+ Jasmine was grieving over losing a friend at school due to a transfer, so you prayed she would learn to cope properly... she's doing better, and several of you shared similar stories! Thank you for making an empathetic difference in Jasmine's life!

<T H I S  W E E K><

<>< Pray that the coming volunteer computer team will be used of God to "fix" all those annoying glitches.

<>< Shirin, Jasmine and some local believers are planning to go to the Girls Home. Please pray with them that through songs, games and stories that the gospel will be shared clearly and that the girls will open their hearts to the Lord.

<>< Jasmine asks for prayer for her performance with some other first grade girls on Thursday evening. They will be singing and doing the traditional Palestine dance known as the debka.

>< Pray for the Turks of Turkey.>

CALENDAR UPDATES

<If you're not receiving our bimonthly snail-mail newsletter, let us know so we can send it to you!><

21, Remember to pray for the ladies attending the Bible Study in the Old City of Jerusalem to know Jesus personally or to grow in their faith.

* Shirin writes, "Thank you for your prayers. The next meeting will be on the second day of Ramadan. Please lift up these women to the Father as they participate in many traditions that they know will not lead them or their families closer to the Father."

22-24, Ask God to give the coming computer volunteers a safe passage all the way through their travels.

* Your advance prayers are and will be much appreciated!

25, Pray for someone to have a second birthday.

* We didn't see it today. How about you?

26-27, Continue to pray over Jasmine’s homeschooling and Shirin’s preparation.

* Shirin writes, "Thank you... your prayers are greatly appreciated. Jasmine and I are still looking for a routine that will cover the school material without totally exhausting Jasmine out after a full day of Arabic school."

<>< +++ <>< +++ <>< +++

What Happened in Taybeh?

www.saltfilms.net

September 21, 2005

The small town of Taybeh, located a few miles outside of Ramallah, was recently attacked by a mob from the neighboring town of Deir Jarir. The report below is based on news accounts and conversations we have had with friends in Taybeh, eyewitnesses to the event in question.

For ten years, a Muslim woman named Hiyam from the village of Deir Jarir had been working at a sewing shop in Taybeh owned by a Christian man named Mahadi Khourieh. Thirty-two years old, unmarried and pregnant, Hiyam was found dead from poison on Wednesday, August 31, 2005. According to her family, she committed suicide rather than bring the shame of a child out of wedlock on her family. It is likely, however, that her family forced her to take her own life. The family accused Mahadi Khourieh of being the father, a charge he denied.

On Friday and Saturday, September 2 and 3, the elders of Taybeh went to Deir Jarir to ask for a period of hudna (quiet) while the matter was being investigated. The elders of Deir Jarir refused.

At 10 pm on Saturday, hundreds of young men from Deir Jarir arrived in Taybeh. They set fire to Mahadi Khourieh's home, as well as those belonging to other members of his extended family. All in all, seven houses (home to fourteen families) were torched, but no one was harmed. The families had fled earlier, expecting some kind of retaliation after the calls for hudna failed.

Residents of Taybeh began calling authorities to intervene - Palestinian, Israeli, and American (several residents of Taybeh are dual citizens). The Israelis arrived first in three jeeps, after the first house had been torched, and watched. They did not intervene. The Palestinian police, coming from Ramallah, had to pass through an Israeli checkpoint to arrive in Taybeh. They were held at the checkpoint for three hours. The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem persistently called the Israeli military to allow the police to pass through, an intervention that may have facilitated their eventual passage to Taybeh.

The Palestinian police arrived after midnight and dispersed the crowd, arresting 13 of the young men from Deir Jarir. Major Taybeh institutions, including the three churches, the Taybeh Beer Brewery, and the ruins of the ancient al-Khader church, were untouched.

On Sunday, September 4, the mayor of Ramallah came to Taybeh to investigate. Mahadi Khourieh confessed to an affair, but denied being the father. The elders of Taybeh again went to Deir Jarir to ask for another hudna because of the confession. Elders of other villages, including the mayor of Ramallah, were present. These community leaders all condemned the acts of mob violence in Taybeh. The hudna was agreed to with the following stipulations:

Residents of Taybeh, with the exception of Mahadi Khourieh's two brothers, are allowed to pass through Deir Jarir (the only road out of Taybeh, due to the Israeli closure at the other end of town). The thirteen young men from Deir Jarir are released without charges being filed. The usual penalty to the Khourieh family of $100,000 for such an affair will be waived. In exchange, the extended Khourieh family is responsible for the repair to their homes. After the six-month period of hudna, the two villages, with support from neighboring communities, will begin the work of sulha (reconciliation). In the meantime, police patrols have remained as needed in Taybeh and the Palestinian Authority has "put all its weight" into solving the conflict, according to Taybeh's Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Ra'ed Abusahlia.

The incident itself bears a closer look to understand what is at stake.

Religion

Taybeh is the only completely Christian town in the West Bank, and consequently many immediately assume that this attack was an Islamic anti-Christian pogrom. Some newspapers (including the Jerusalem Post) have reported this as fact. If this had been a pogrom, however, one would have expected that the churches would be torched. As Fr. Ra'ed has said, "The reaction of the people of Deir Jarir would probably have been the same, had the man not been a Christian." Indeed, some Palestinian tribal conflicts among co-religionists have raged for months before calm is restored. In this case, swift condemnation of the mob by other villages in the area, the immediate conflict intervention by these villages, the city of Ramallah, and the Palestinian Authority - all predominantly Muslims - meant that quiet returned in a mere two days.

And yet, the attack has sent nervous shockwaves through Palestinian Christian communities in the Occupied Territories. Some feel the attack is connected to the rise in Islamic militancy in Palestinian society. The centrality of religious identity in Middle Eastern culture, coupled with a rise in Islamic extremism and religiously inciteful language from the West ("crusade against terror," etc.), emphasize that the potential religious consequences of this incident should not be ignored.

In the end, the mob violence in Taybeh evidences the vulnerability felt by minority communities and of the ominous power majority cultures wields. To paraphrase Maria Khoury, wife of Taybeh's mayor, "Muslims attacked us and Muslims saved us." Whether the lines are drawn by race or religion, class or culture, minority existence is tenuous.

Honor Crime

According to the Palestinian constitution, sex and pregnancy outside of marriage are not illegal, even between Christians and Muslims. Unfortunately, in such situations, people often still take matters into their own hands, regardless of the law. Hiyam was likely forced to drink poison by her family to return the family's "honor." At this point it appears that there will be no investigation of her death to see if it was murder, and it is unlikely that there will be any accountability for those responsible. Sadly, Hiyam is not alone. In May, 2005, a Palestinian Christian family in Ramallah carried out an "honor killing" of their daughter for an affair with a young Muslim man. Palestinian society, like many around the world, still has a long way to go to guarantee women's rights.

The situation for women in Palestine, however, is not one of suffocating Taliban-style oppression that many in the U.S. assume. Women play key roles in society. During our time there, we met women lawyers, professors, doctors. Many sectors of Palestinian society strive openly and commendably to raise the issue of women's rights. Ingrained customs and assumptions, however, are difficult to change. Unfortunately, until more progress is made in Palestine and other societies, young women like Hiyam will continue to pay a tragic price.

Rule of Law

In a society where the power of a centralized Palestinian Authority is minimal (and practically absent from most villages), and in which people face severe stresses of poverty, insecurity, and hopelessness in an atmosphere of violence, it is astonishing to us that total chaos has not broken out. Our impression is that the traditional means of conflict resolution are largely responsible for the stability that does exist. These rely on large, close families and community ties to assure a level of care and accountability. Elders and leaders in the entire area are expected to be involved in the resolution of major conflicts between individuals, families, or towns. Although it does not always succeed, the goal of sulha is not so much justice, payment, or calm, but rather reconciliation and restored relationships.

And yet, we can see how this process can fail - fail to prevent mob violence, fail to protect rights of women. One woman's affair is seen as an assault on the entire tribe's honor. The actions of one man are seen as a sin for which his extended family must pay. The perpetrators of violence are set free and the victims receive no aid to pick up the pieces of their lives. A stable Palestinian society must find a way to enforce the rule of law, even when it runs counter to traditional customs and even in the midst of a continual crisis facing its authority.

Occupation

There are those who blame everything that goes wrong in Palestine on the Israelis. We hope that our analysis above shows that, in this incident, there's enough blame to go around, and enough work for all to do. But the continuation of the Occupation plays a key role in all of this. The undermining of the Palestinian Authority makes it more difficult to establish the rule of law. The decision of Israeli soldiers not to intervene to stop the mob and the decision to detain Palestinian police from intervening are breaches of a basic moral code, particularly when Israeli society values the rule of law in its own affairs. This failure simply gives legitimacy to arguments that the Israeli army has little regard for Palestinian life or property.

The role of the U.S. consulate, however, should be commended, as their intervention probably sped the arrival of police, stopping further destruction. The visit by the U.S. Consul to Taybeh soon after is a strong indication that there is American concern for what happened to the residents of Taybeh.

Call to Prayer

"First take the log out of your own eye." - Matthew 7:5

As we look at what happened in Taybeh, we make clear calls for the accountability for those who are responsible for failures of leadership, restraint, and fairness. And yet, the temptation is always there to feed our prideful souls because we are "better than them." This is a temptation we must resist.

Christ reminds us that the faithful response to tragedy must focus on repentance (Luke 13:1-5). Among the many ways we should respond, our first response must be prayerful, and our first prayer must be that of our own accountability, our repentance for wrong and our hope for right relationship with God and our neighbors. We invite you to join in that prayer with us.

For the permeating wounds of slavery.
Gracious God, we humbly beg forgiveness for our complicity.

For wars, dispossessions, lynchings, internment camps, attacks on synagogues and mosques, and other abuses by the powerful.
Gracious God, we humbly beg forgiveness for our complicity.

For failures to protect society's most vulnerable from neglect, exploitation, and natural disaster.
Gracious God, we humbly beg forgiveness for our complicity.

For abuse of women in their homes, workplaces, and communities.
Gracious God, we humbly beg forgiveness for our complicity.

For manipulation and failure to apply the rule of law, in our jails and prisons at home and abroad.
Gracious God, we humbly beg forgiveness for our complicity.

For unfulfilled cries for freedom and liberty by people around the world.
Gracious God, we humbly beg forgiveness for our complicity.

For Hiyam and Mahadi, their families, and all women and men who have had their rights and even lives taken from them.
Loving God, we pray for healing and reconciliation.

For those who perpetrate violence against their families and neighbors.
Loving God, we pray for healing and reconciliation.

For Taybeh, Deir Jarir, and the villages nearby.
Loving God, we pray for healing and reconciliation.

For Israelis and Palestinians.
Loving God, we pray for healing and reconciliation.

For Christians, Muslims, and Jews worldwide.
Loving God, we pray for healing and reconciliation.

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