Dear friends of peace and understanding,
I am in Israel and Palestine along with Anna, Ghassan, Chris, and Katie, for the next two weeks to bring people of different religions and different cultures together to find our common areas of connections and to promote understanding. This work is quite difficult now because of the violent and heartbreaking situation in Syria. The level of tension is far greater than in the past, and the possibility that violence will spread creates a cloud of fear here, which is palpable and ever-present.
I am requesting that all who can please pray for us in whatever way is natural to you. So much of this work must be done by the collective prayer and visioning of those who desire peace and understanding as our world evolves to become a global community rather than an unharmonious collection of super egos.
If you wish, certainly you can support this work by contributing financially as well. We have spent all of our resources to create powerful events in the coming two weeks. Some of the most hopeful events here will be a family forum day, a women’s program day, and a day of educating and training Israeli and Palestinian youth in the ways of peace. We most importantly will listen to the sorrows and fears of many, we will be a living example of the harmonious unity of diverse religions and cultures, as well as a voice of hope for the future. All this will culminate in a Peace Summit, where 150 prominent Holy Land religious leaders of the major faiths here will come together for a day of creating a living presence for peace, visioning for the future, and affirming our unity in our diversity.
As we accomplish one bit of our program, we discover so many new areas where our work can be done. Whatever we have will never be enough, but we must persevere until the word peace is firmly present in all hearts.