The wonderfully monickered Zoughbi Zoughbi, director of the fantastic Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre in Bethlehem just sent me this short meditation:
Every homeless refugee, desperate for a bed for a night, understands the agony of Joseph of Bethlehem.
Every frightened teenage girl, pregnant and lost, comprehends the bewilderment of Mary.
Every executive, trying to reconcile commercial realities with moral imperatives, identifies with the local innkeeper.
Every working person, in a daily routine awakening to a sudden reverence for life, experiences the awe of the Judean shepherd.
Every ruler or intellectual, coming to the limit of human power, evinces the humility of the Magi.
Every tyrant who keeps in control by means of ruthless and harsh practices knows the insecure fear of Herod.
Every infant, born on the rubbish heap of a city slum, shares the indignity of the Holy Birth. Bethlehem speaks in many tongues….
Every working person, in a daily routine awakening to a sudden reverence for life, experiences the awe of the Judean shepherd.
Every ruler or intellectual, coming to the limit of human power, evinces the humility of the Magi.
Every tyrant who keeps in control by means of ruthless and harsh practices knows the insecure fear of Herod.
Every infant, born on the rubbish heap of a city slum, shares the indignity of the Holy Birth.
Bethlehem speaks in many tongues….
The work Zoughbi does is amazing. While lobbying for a wider peace in the area, Wi’am also focuses on conflict resolution among individuals and families. Living in the pressure-cooker that is occupied Palestine, with check points and lack of basic resources, and with farms being bull-dozed and homes demolished, the stress takes its toll on family life, and Wi’am are there to help provide mechanisms for these inevitable conflicts to be resolved.
If you’d like to do something amazing this Advent, you could do little better than support their work.
