Gratitude for Ministry in Palestine

Written by: Rev. Victor Makari and Sara Makari, who serve the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

Dear Friends in Christ,
As we are in the process of concluding our years of ministry with the UCC/Disciples of Christ in the Holy Land, we approach our final month with profound gratitude for the privilege of life and witness among friends in faith in this part of the world. We reflect with a mixture of deep thankfulness and nostalgia on our years here, and we give thanks to God for your witness and ministry for enabling us to be a channel of mutual communication between the UCC/Disciples and the Church in Palestine.  Without the steadfast faith of those standing along and beside us, our time here would not have been as meaningful.
After 12 years on the ground in Bethlehem and Jerusalem it is not easy to say farewell.  We have been so warmly welcomed from the first and have been given the opportunity to participate in many ways in partnership with the Church in the Holy Land.  As well, we have benefited greatly from the variety of expressions of the ecumenical spirit that defines church life in Israel and Palestine.  We appreciate and will always remember the genuine and gracious hospitality extended to us in church circles and in everyday life as we have lived among the Palestinians.

We are particularly saddened to be retiring and leaving while the brutality of Israel’s occupation is intensifying markedly, the war in Gaza is in its 15 month with no end in sight, war has extended to Lebanon whose people are also suffering greatly, and there is renewed fighting between rebels and government forces in Syria.   We pray along with so many others that fighting in the nightmare of Gaza’s war will stop, and that the present ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah will hold in Lebanon, but we are also realistic. As we prepare to depart we fear, as so many do, that life in occupied Palestine and for the region will grow harsher.

In more than a decade living in Bethlehem we have often been humbled by the fortitude and steadfast faith with which Palestinians face life; both those under military occupation in the occupied West Bank and for Palestinian Israelis living with limited rights as second-class citizens in Israel who face their own difficult set of circumstances.  What Westerners may not realize is that the occupation’s many and diverse tentacles manifest themselves everywhere if one is Palestinian.  People who reside in America or Western Europe cannot fully imagine what it is like to have every aspect of life determined by an occupying power for whom there is no accountability.

Amid a seemingly hopeless political situation, we share with the Palestinian Church in an affirmation of its witness and tenacity. In late November we participated in the establishment of a new ministry and chapel in Bethlehem as part of the Christmas Lutheran Church (one of the six congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land to whom we are seconded).  It was a joyous and positive service. 

As we prepare to depart, among the many aspects of daily life here that we will miss keenly is the personal connection we have forged with neighborhood shopkeepers, bus and taxi drivers, street vendors of all kinds, and other service providers.  Beyond the very real help they render cheerfully we have developed friendships with many of them that span more than a decade.  This element of a personal tie to providers of basic goods and services is often missing in North American society, which is the poorer for that lack.

For the second consecutive year there will be no exuberant outward manifestations of Christmas in Bethlehem because of the violence around us.  We still, however, anticipate and draw strength from the birth of a baby in whom hope for humankind is promised.  May the coming of Jesus bring light to our darkened and weary world.

In the peace and love of Christ,
Victor and Sara Makari

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Victor and Sara Makari’s appointments are made possible by your gifts to Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church’s Wider Mission, and your special gifts.