To Be Water
Deal, Kathleen Gunton
Kathleen Gunton Deal TO Be Water an element of everything making music out of stones God's idea after light filling three-fourths of the world silent, yet needed solvent to cleanse and give...
...Jerusalem does not need to have an international status, but rather a local status guaranteed by the international community...
...a family based on mutual respect and mutual recognition of the dignity given equally by God to every person and people...
...Ecumenism also means the revelation of myself to others as I am, not as they would like me to be, or even as I suppose they may want me to be...
...Ecumenism means listening to a brother or sister as they tell me who they are, as they truly are and not just as I may want them to be...
...The Church of Jerusalem lives in a situation of political conflict between the peoples of the region, but also in a situation of ongoing reconciliation and peacemaking...
...Any single political authority could find itself one day or the other at war with other countries, as has been the case until now between Israelis and Palestinians and Arab countries...
...Kathleen Gunton Deal TO Be Water an element of everything making music out of stones God's idea after light filling three-fourths of the world silent, yet needed solvent to cleanse and give delight vestige of grace to mingle with wine to ascend mad come again, Ecumenism is faithfulness to one's own identity and to God's grace...
...The vocation of the Church of Jerusalem, like the vocation of the Holy Land itself, is universal and ecumenical...
...One cannot be uprooted or separated from one's own history...
...Therefore, five components are essential to Jerusalem and have to be taken clearly and equally into consideration: two peoples, Palestinian and Israeli, and three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam...
...In such a case, Jerusalem will offer free access to friends but be inaccessible to enemies, as it was in the past and it is now...
...But the past should also provide lessons of tolerance and love and not be a return to old arguments and the opening of old wounds...
...If we want to give Jerusalem permanent stability so that it will cease to be a cause for war, it should have a special status which responds to the five essential components mentioned above, namely two peoples and three religions...
...For two thousand years, Jerusalem has been a source of continuous wars because it was always governed by one political authority corresponding to one religion, either Christian, Muslim, or, as today, Jewish...
...Today, because of security reasons, Jerusalem is not accessible to all Arabs, whether Christians or Muslims in Arab countries, or even the inhabitants of the surrounding Occupied Territories in the West Bank...
...Jerusalem is holy for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam...
...All five components-Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Christians, and Muslims-all of them should feel equally at home in Jerusalem, having an equal share in the same rights and responsibilities...
...It lives in a situation of dialogue and ecumenism, among Christians themselves and with Judaism and Islam...
...All those who love this land, including the peoples who live there, should work toward this reconciliation and toward the creation of one family...
...Within the city two peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, have political rights and are presently in dispute...
...Diversity will always remain one of its essential features...
...It is the city of Jesus Christ, the city where the mystery of Redemption took place, the city of the Cross, the Resurrection, and Pentecost...
...This special status should be designed and put in place by the local Israeli and Palestinian authorities, with participation by the local church...
...No one should be excluded from Jerusalem...
...Moreover, Jerusalem should have a special status in order to remain open to everyone at all times, whether in war or peace...
...In November 1994, the Christian leaders of Jerusalem published a memorandum on the Christian significance of Jerusalem and their vision for a future stable city which should be and remain a city of peace...
...If Jerusalem continues to be governed by only one political authority, that means that the one who remains outside will nourish in his soul and heart the desire to come back and to enter Jerusalem again through war and violence...
...As is the case with dialogue with Islam or Judaism, ecumenism cannot consist in superficial concessions or in disguising the differences which divide us...
...Everyone who lives there-Christians, Muslims, and Jews-have to find their way to a life worthy of their land, in order to constitute the one reconciled family of the Holy Land, despite all the differences of creed or national identity...
...Therefore, ecumenism should be a fraternal walk in the present and ultimately lead to the desire for a common vision for the future, with a plan of action to undertake...
...Ecumenism also needs to take history into consideration...
...It could be the historical privilege of Israel to give to Jerusalem today this special status, and thereby to give the Holy City a genuine and permanent stability, allowing the five components, two peoples and three religions, to share equally in it...
...For Christians, Jerusalem is the city of its roots where everything began, where ultimately every church and every Christian was born...
Vol. 123 • January 1996 • No. 1
