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Davida Foy Crabtree Conference Minister |
by Davida Foy Crabtree
HARTFORD (07/18/2006) -- It is quite a commentary on the condition of our nation that political candidates stoop so low as to slander a Church and then attempt to smear the opposition with their affiliation with it. I was tempted not to grace it with a response, but that would not be fair to our 92,000 members in Connecticut.
The United Church of Christ works all around the globe for peace and reconciliation, for sustainable human society, and for the teaching of the good news of God’s love. Our priority is to be present and build long term relationships in the places of most critical need. Rather than send missionaries whose job is to plant UCC churches or to proselytize, we send representatives to serve with and strengthen our mission partners among Christian churches already present.
In the Middle East, our partners are the long-established Christian churches in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Egypt. The Middle East Council of Churches and the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East are our primary connections. We are also in dialogue with Jewish and Muslim leadership so as not to be insular in our perspective.
As Christians, we begin with the premise that God loves all people equally and seeks life with dignity and peace for each and for all. We believe that in order to change life conditions, we have to begin with understanding the experiences that have shaped a person or a people. Thus we are always driving toward the root causes of injustice and war and toward the ways in which we may unwittingly contribute to those root causes. That is why long-term relationships are so important: they build understanding.
The Middle East is fraught with complexity, never more so than now. The United Church of Christ stands united against all forms of terrorism and it has certainly never “justified suicide bombings.” We affirm our Middle East partners’ clear opposition to violence and suicide bombings. We do provide funding to our Palestinian Christian partners as we work together for peace. It is, after all, where Jesus was born and where His witness for peace is needed urgently.
