St. Augustine’s Episcopal Peace Fellowship and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island are co-sponsoring a community presentation, “For Palestine, the stones cry out for justice and peace!”
The event will be held at 6:30-8:30 p.m., on Tuesday, June 11 at St. Augustine’s Campbell Hall located at 5217 Honeymoon Bay in Freeland.
The presenters will be retired Episcopal pastors Christy Close Erskine and Jack Erskine. The Erskines will be joined by Randy Urmston, chairperson of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia’s Bishop’s Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land.
In February, the Erskines were part of a 23-member delegation consisting of pastors, lay people and activists representing 12 different denominations. The delegation was organized to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, bear witness to the Israel-Hamas crisis and return to Washington, D.C. for two days of advocacy with political leaders.
In five days, the delegation visited 17 different Palestinian organizations working for non-violent solutions.
“Every organization we met with condemned the atrocities of Oct. 7 while also recognizing that there are ongoing atrocities to the Palestinian people that have been going on for decades and are currently escalating in the West Bank,” Christy Close Erskine said.
The delegation asked one question to each leader they met with, “What message do you want us to take back to our government and church leaders?” With photos and stories they will share what the delegation learned, what they observed and what each of us can do to advocate for permanent justice and peace in the Holy Land.
The Erskines acknowledge that “Israel has a right for self-determination and to defend itself and that Palestine has a right for self-determination and to defend itself. Part of what the communities of faith and the international community can do is insist that there are equal rights under the law for both Israelis and Palestinians, then let the two countries figure out how to best lead their people.”
The Erskines sum up the goals of their presentation: “Mostly we are attempting to create safe spaces for communities to better understand the reality of the Palestinian perspective. As Christians, it’s important to discuss our complicity in this war as it is in large part our tax dollars that are supporting the death and destruction of tens of thousands of people. This type of conversation is always strengthened when it is an ecumenical, interfaith dialogue so we’re hopeful that will be able to happen on Whidbey.”
The June 11 community event is a follow-up to a Whidbey visit last August by Fr. Fadi Diab and his family from Ramallah, Palestine. Fadi is the priest at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ramallah. That visit culminated in a community presentation on the plight of Palestinians which includes Palestinian Christians. St. Augustine’s Episcopal Peace Fellowship is honored to again be selected by the Bishop’s Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land for a community dialogue and is pleased to have the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island as partners in this venture.
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island and St. Augustine’s-in-the-Woods Episcopal Church, while not necessarily endorsing opinions that may be expressed in this presentation, fully support the spirit of furthering education of all aspects of the difficult but important conflict in Gaza.
