Easter Alert
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
This ”extra” issue of our CFOS Bulletin features material explicitly for Holy Week. We draw your attention, in particular, to several CFOS videos which are especially relevant to this holy time. A blessed Easter to our readers.
Kairos Palestine Easter Alert
Kairos Palestine has just released its Easter Alert for 2024. This alert includes updates on the current realities in Gaza, as well as a meditation by Latin Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah. It also pleads for prayer, advocacy and action to end the genocidal war on Gaza and the longstanding occupation and oppression of all the Palestinian territories. It urges supporters around the world to donate to the work of three organizations working to relieve the suffering of the people of Gaza:
the Middle East Council of Churches, Department of the Palestinian Refugees (MECC-DSPR),
Ma’an Development Center,
and SOS Children’s Villages Palestine.
Rifat Kassis of Kairos Palestine writes:
“We thank God for friends around the globe who are demonstrating in the streets, risking arrest for their acts of civil disobedience, repeatedly confronting their elected representatives demanding a permanent ceasefire, the free flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, an end to Israel’s occupation, and the Palestinian right to self-determination. We implore you to continue this work and witness.”
Update on Easter Vigil for Gaza
Sabeel will be hosting an Easter worship service on Holy Saturday, entitled Easter Vigil for Gaza. Featuring a sermon by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, it will take place on Saturday March 30 at 9 PM Palestine time or 3 PM Eastern. Please note the time change from what was earlier announced. If you have not already registered for the Zoom event, you can still register here.
CFOS Videos for Holy Week
Holy Week Reflection with Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
A six-minute meditation from Holy Week 2023 by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, founded on Luke 19.41-42, where Jesus weeps on seeing Jerusalem. Jerusalem still does not appear to recognize the things that make for peace: not a false peace based on military might, but spiritual peace that comes through faith in the God of hope and mercy, and an empty tomb.
Holy Thursday Contemplative Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
A follow-up meditation to that of Munther Isaac from Holy Week 2023, from Luke 19.41, where Jesus laments upon overlooking Jerusalem. A powerful thirteen-minute reflection on Jerusalem then and now, with music, song, text, voice-over, and meditative silence, all to footage of ancient green-gray olive trees in Gethsemane. A companion piece to the Reflection by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac.
A seven-minute slide-show experience of the 2022 Palm Sunday walk of some 12,000 pilgrims following the route ascribed to Jesus from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem. Prepared and narrated by Rev. Steven Berube, Board member of Canadian Friends of Sabeel.
Virtual Tour of the Mount of Olives
A thirteen-minute video prepared in 2022 in lieu of a planned CFOS tour cancelled because Israeli authorities would not issue a visa to our intended Palestinian guide, Saleem Anfous. Commentary with footage of Jesus’ Palm Sunday route from Bethany into old Jerusalem. Sites include: the church commemorating where Jesus wept on viewing Jerusalem, the upper room of the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane and Church of Agony, the steps to Mount Zion where the soldiers dragged him after Judas’s betraying kiss, and the sculpture commemorating Peter’s triple denial.
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Canadian Friends of Sabeel is a national ecumenical response to the call of Palestinian Christians for solidarity. Through education and engagement, we support the struggle for equality in justice, freedom, and human rights of Palestinians living under apartheid and the illegal Israeli military occupation. With partners around the world, we work non-violently for a just and durable peace for Palestinians and Israelis.
We amplify the voices of our Palestinian partners and encourage you to join the weekly Sabeel wave of prayers and the weekly gatherings with KumiNow.