15 January, 2009
Dear Supporters of the Nazareth Project,
We grieve as the war in Gaza continues. The war shows how little healing there has been, and brings now more suffering.
The Nazareth Project’s mission is to support ministries of healing and reconciliation in the Holy Land through health care services. We operate from the core conviction that all people are created in the image of God, and are to be treated with dignity and compassion.
We've spent years working and hoping and praying, helping to build Nazareth Hospital's new building, so we can imagine the pain that our brothers and sisters in Gaza felt when a nearby exploding bomb blew a hole in a wall of Al Ahli, an Anglican hospital there. (In past years, the Nazareth bike ride fundraiser has donated 10% of proceeds to this hospital in Gaza.)
Nazareth Project is sending this appeal for immediate emergency funds for supplies for Al Ahli Hospital. Due to the blockades, they had already been low on supplies before the bombardment began. The hospital director reports that three of their ambulances have been hit by missiles, killing five medical workers.
We have seen up close the terrible suffering that comes with war. Having worked side by side with doctors in the region, we feel grief as we hear about doctors in Gaza losing patients, family members, even their own lives, as they work in spite of great adversity.
We've felt the hopes and dreams and fears and shared in the lives of our Palestinian and Jewish friends in Nazareth, so we feel the awful weight of crushed hopes and dreams and realized fears of Palestinians and Jews in Gaza and Ashdod and the rest of the region. We know up close the terrible pressures that regular people are under as they stand in the middle of a conflict between Hamas and Israel, wanting nothing of politics, or war, just family and work and worship.
As we draft this letter, Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are in desperate need of water and food. Many of its wounded civilians are unable to safely reach medical care, and hundreds of the dead receive no burial. We see the collective punishment of the population in Gaza by way of closing their borders, placing an embargo and now bombing them as immoral. Relief agencies have pulled back, fearing for their own safety. Knowing all this, we feel helpless.
But in our helplessness and our grief, we believe we are not alone, and neither are those who are suffering in the region. There is hope. We are Christians, and we believe God came to bring healing. We are committed to continuing to be His instruments, through the Nazareth Hospital, through our personal relationships, and in other ways. We ask everyone to think of how they, too, can bring healing to the people and politics of the region.
We believe that Jesus brought a radical message of healing, asking us to love our enemies. We are not fit to judge people's hearts, to know who is, or is not, to blame for the evils of war. But we know that war would never be necessary if we could follow God's message, loving our neighbors as ourselves and even our enemies.
We fail, but God brings redemption. Now we pray and work for redemption and rebuilding and healing in the region, at the political level, in communities, in institutions like hospitals and schools and mosques and synagogues and churches, in families, and in hearts.
Please pray with us. Pray to stop the killing. Please pray that the Comforter would comfort the grieving, send laborers to assist the wounded, calm the fears of the terrified, give courage to the righteous, and break the staffs of all on every side who continue to bring destruction against so many helpless. Please pray for relief. Pray that the Church would stand and grieve with those who grieve.
Please urge your elected representatives and voice your concern for what you see happening. Ask them to work for a ceasefire, to stand up for human rights, and to call for medical aid, food, water, and relief workers to be allowed through.
To contribute funds to help Al Ahli Hospital, make checks payable to Nazareth Project, Inc. and write “Gaza hospital relief” in the memo. Or you can donate through our website. Click on Network for Good and select Nazareth Project, Inc. Designate your gift for “Gaza hospital relief”. Your donation will be sent through Nazareth Hospital.
Sincerely,
Robert W. Martin, MD (Chair)
Nelson R. Lehman, MD (Vice Chair)
Marjorie K. Crystle, (Executive Director)
Roy Wert, MD (Secretary/Treasurer)
Rev. S. George Dirghalli (honorary board member)
Rev. Ronald B. Fritts, D. Min. (board member)
Roger K. Glick (board member)
David R. Hiebert (board member)
Darryl L. Landis, MD (board member)
J. Welby Leaman, J.D. (board member)
Winfred J. Miller, C.P.A. (board member)
Ponnuswamy Swamidoss, Ph.D. (board member)
Karen Miller Rauch (staff)
Return to homepage