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Music Day Camp 

The deadline to register is May 8th!

.... based on a recent email discussion with some colleagues.

A Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Izzeldin Abuelaish is an infertility specialist who lives in Gaza but works in Israel. The Gaza doctor has been crossing the lines in the sand that
divide Israelis and Palestinians for most of his life--as a physician who treats patients on both sides of the line, as a humanitarian who sees the need for improved health and education for women as the way forward in the Middle East. And, most recently, as the father whose daughters were killed by Israeli soldiers on January 16, 2009, during Israel''s incursion into the Gaza Strip.

It was Izzeldin''s response to this tragedy that made news and won him humanitarian awards around the world. Instead of seeking revenge or sinking into hatred, he called for the people in the region to start talking to each other. His deepest hope is that his daughters will be "the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis."

"I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers." Ephesians 1:16  

.....  okay, here's your next challenge ..... it is spring ..... please prove it!  Please send me your Spring pictures (they don't have to be from this year) so that I can post them on our bulletin board, have them used on the screen before worship and posted to facebook.  I think there should be some great opportunities today!  Thanks, Joni  ([email protected])

Recently I had a very interesting experience - something that had never happened before in my ministry. I had preached a sermon on the topic of the Day of Atonement in Ancient Israel which is described in Leviticus 16. If you want a reminder of the basic outline of the day, you can watch this St. Andrew's Stars version of the story:

The Day of Atonement

In my sermon I put particular emphasis on the Escapegoat portion of the ritual.

(I chose to use the word "Escapegoat" because the word "scapegoat" has taken on a very particular meaning in English. The word was invented by William Tyndale when he made the first translation of the Old Testament into English from the original Hebrew. He meant it to mean "the goat that escaped" but he simply dropped the initial "e" due to the very fluid spelling of the time.)

My suggestion was that the escapegoat ritual provided a means for the people to release some of the negative energy that builds up when people live alongside one another in community. When we live, work and dream side by side, there are always going to be things that happen that hurt or wound or divide. People say things that hurt someone's feelings, people disagree in non-constructive ways, people are unthinking or unfeeling in their dealings with each other.

I think that the escapegoat ritual provided a way to take all of that negative energy that builds up over time and release it - let it go so that people could just start all over again. I think that we all need things like that from time to time.

I liked my sermon. I certainly felt that it helped me to see the passage in a new light and I hoped that it helped some others too.

Shortly afterwards I was leading a group meeting. And I knew that there had been over time some negative energy built up in the group. I won't give any details about it, of course, but it wasn't really anything unusual. It was just the ordinary kinds of feelings that can develop at times when people disagree or sometimes make mistakes in relating to others.

As I prepared for the meeting, I decided to do something that I had never done before. I decided to apply what I had preached directly to a situation.

(Yes, I know that doesn't sound too good. Surely, if I am expecting other people to apply what I preach to their lives, I ought to be doing that regularly too. Why don't I do it all the time! Well, at least I think I'm starting to learn.)

Anyways, I brought out the sheep that we had used to film our Star's video and we passed it around the group and gave everyone the chance to speak what was on their hearts. It was a very good and very meaningful exercise and it did open the door to some healing. The redemptive power of the escapegoat ritual was demonstrated for me and I felt truly blessed to be part of the group. Clearly I need to listen to what I preach more often!

And, yes, I did offer people to dropkick the sheep afterwards but nobody took me up on it!

Scott