connections

April 2008 • Vol. 11 Issue 4

Alliance of Baptists • 1328 16th Street NW • Washington, DC 20036www.allianceofbaptists.org • 202.745.7609 • 866.745.7609

A clear voice for Christian freedom, distinctively Baptist and intentionally ecumenical in an interfaith world.

Ghassan (GJ) Tarazi’s family left Palestine in 1948, the year of his birth, and the year that Israel was established. That connection is just one reason that he and his wife Kay are vitally interested in what happens in the Holy Land.

They are members at Ravensworth Baptist Church in Annandale,

VA, where they are part of a Holy Land Peacemak-

ing Group that meets monthly to dis-cuss what

members can do to support justice in Israel

and Palestine. The group focuses on four areas of concern: edu-cation, networking, advocacy and fundraising/support.

“Ravensworth is intentionally working on issues of justice in the Holy Land,” said GJ. “As a Palestinian American, who happens to be a Baptist, I’m encouraged and motivated by what this wonderful Christian community is doing in the occupied Palestinian territories. These efforts are not easy nor are they popular — but they accurately reflect God’s passion for justice in building God’s kingdom on earth.”

The peacemaking group at Ravensworth was formed fol-lowing two church-sponsored trips to the Holy Land, one in 2005 and one in November 2007. “On those trips we saw the

fallacy of thinking there could be peace without justice,” said Ravensworth pastor Steve Hyde. “We saw the daily grinding of the occupation on Palestinians. We met Israeli Jews of great conscience. We were struck by the disparity between what is reported in our media and what we saw going on there. I don’t pretend that we saw all the realitities, but we were deeply moved by the warmth, hospitality and personal dignity of these wonderful people.”

On both trips, the group made it a point to meet with Mitri Raheb at the International Center of Bethlehem, a recipient of Alliance of Baptists Mission Offering funds. (Mitri has also preached at Ravensworth, and Steve has preached at Mitri’s Lutheran church in Bethlehem.)

On the second trip, the group met with peace organiza-tions, such as Parents Circle: Bereaved Families for Reconcili-ation, and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). They carried $3,170 that church members had given to help more than 10 such organizations. “At one meeting, an Israeli and a Palestinian spoke together to tell us their stories of loss of a fam-ily member to the violence in the region,” said Kay Tarazi. “It was a powerful evening for us at the hotel in Jerusalem.”

Ravensworth’s interest in the Middle East began after Sept. 11, 2001. Soon after the tragedy, the church did an intergenerational study called Building a Culture of

GJ Tarazi has written an article

titled “Silent Intifada” which reflects his attitude

about Ravenworth’s work in the Holy Land. It is available on

the resources page of the Alliance web site. Also on the resources page is a pamphlet called “Why

Work for Justice.” Email GJ: gjtarazi@yahoo.com.

Kay and GJ Tarazi, Steve and Jean Hyde and other members of Ravensworth overlooking the old city of Jerusalem.

Peacemaking — Ravensworth-styleAlliance congregation sees Middle East first-hand then looks for ways to work for justice

Social justice and peace issues have long been important at Ravensworth. For example, the church opened its doors to marchers in the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968. To accommodate the needs of the marchers, the baptistry was quickly outfitted for bathing.

(continued on the back page)

Mary Jane Gorman, a member of First Baptist Church

in Greenville, SC, got so many requests for her speaker notes after she presented four brief

meditations at a one-day retreat that she decided to write a book.

The result was Tending Body, Heart, Mind & Soul: Following Jesus in

Caring for Ourselves, published by Abingdon Press and available online through the Alliance Store.“As I considered rewriting

my notes to make handouts, I became more interested in the topic and began to see in the gospels more dimensions of Jesus’ self-care,” she said. “I did not know if I would, or could, write a book. However, I listed and organized all the aspects of how Jesus took care of himself, poured over the gospels and reflected on the stories, and started writing.”

The book, she said, is primarily for laypersons who are interested in serious, thoughtful, but not scholarly, reflection on the man Jesus based on gospel texts.

“The fully human Jesus tended—took care of—himself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually,” Mary Jane said. “By reflecting on and following his example, we can learn

how to tend our own bodies, hearts, minds and souls. This tending is neither a selfish act nor an end in itself. We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Following Jesus’ example in tending ourselves toward our own wholeness helps make us available and prepared to be the persons God has created and called us to be.”

Mary Jane is a former professor of economics at Furman University in Greenville, and has been a member and supporter of the Alliance since its earliest years. “I was encouraged and thankful to find a like-minded group of Baptists willing to offer an alternative to Southern Baptists,” she said. “Through the years I have respected and appreciated the position and voice of the Alliance on issues of justice and peace, diversity and inclusiveness, theological inquiry and openness, and more.”

This is her first published book, although her church printed and distributed a booklet of meditations she wrote for Lent in 2001. She has a second book called Watching the Disciples: Learning from Their Mistakes, a a Lenten study for adults that is to be published in 2009, also by Abingdon Press.

Chapter titles1. Tending the Body — Food, exercise, rest, healing touch

2. Tending the Heart — Anger, grief, compassion, passion, priorities, relationships

3. Tending the Mind — Exercise, rest, wit, reflection, openness

4. Tending the Soul — Nature, wilderness, forgiveness, prayer, obedience

5. Tending Toward Wholeness — Interconnections

Alliance member Mary Jane Gorman grew up in Columbia, SC, and lived for several years in Chapel Hill, NC, where she was a member of Alliance-affiliated Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church. She has lived in Greenville since 1982.

She earned a B.S. in economics from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina. She and her husband Duncan McArthur have one daughter, Mary, a high school senior.

Tending to ourselves—Alliance author shows how Jesus did it

This newsletter was printed prior to the 2008 Convocation in New Orleans March 28-30. We will have news from the convocation and the board meeting that preceded it in the May issue, or visit the Alliance web site for updates.

on the absence of friends

p e r s p e c t i v e s

financial update at feb. 29ministry budget mission offering

$29,021$25,000

$50,000

$75,000

$100,000

$133,000

$400,000

$505,114

$300,000

$200,000

$100,000

receipts: $44,639 • needed to date: $72,095

Conspicuously absent from this year’s Alliance convocation in New Orleans were representatives

of the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba, our partner in mission and ministry for nearly 20 years. The reason: Our government considers them to be threats to the nation’s security.

Seven years ago, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the U.S. Department of State designated Cuba a terrorist state. By the department’s definition, this means that Cuba either sponsors acts of terror against the United States or harbors terrorists or those planning future attacks. By any definition, the designation of Cuba as a terrorist state

is patently false and demonstrably absurd.

No recent evidence has been put on the table even suggesting that Cuba intends to do harm to our country. Both military and civilian delegations

repeatedly have filed official reports concluding that Cuba harbors no intention to commit terrorist acts. In fact, under terms of an antiquated treaty, Cuba permits our presence at Guantánamo Bay, which we have turned into a massive detention center for many of those in other parts of the world accused of plotting terrorist acts against us. Not one of these is a Cuban. To our collective disgrace, many credible reports indicate we have tortured some of those detained there.

Even more telling is the reality that over the course of the past 46 years our country has financed and sponsored one armed invasion of Cuba for the purpose of overturning the government of Fidel Castro and any number of efforts to assassinate him. That every such effort has failed does not erase the sad truth that by any reasonable assessment, it is the United States that has engaged in repeated acts of hostility against Cuba, some of which have bordered on terror.

This does not mean that during the early years of the Castro era we were not justified in maintaining due diligence to protect our people against potential attack in the form of nuclear warheads buried in Cuban soil and aimed at the United States. Those awful and fear-filled 13 days

in October of 1961 that brought the world to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe are also undeniably a part of our tortured history with Cuba. The responsibility for those warheads and the clear and present danger to the United State they represented lies squarely at the feet of Fidel Castro and his then-Soviet sponsors.

But the Cold War is over. By now it verges on ancient history. Yet still we insist on treating Cuba in Cold War terms.

This includes putting high hurdles in the way of Cuban citizens who wish to visit the U.S., all of whom must be invited and sponsored by people here. This year, our friends from the Fraternity of Baptist Churches could not come because our government’s policies and practices in recent years have made it increasingly difficult for such visitors to obtain visas in a timely fashion.

For example, several key Fraternity leaders are no longer eligible to travel because they have been officers of the Council of Churches of Cuba. Our State Department has decreed that no such person is allowed to travel to the U.S. No public hearings were held before this new policy was implemented; no citizen comment was invited. Before the ban was implemented, prominent religious figures in Cuba were subjected to humiliation verging on taunting by consular officers who demanded that they recite the 66 books of the Bible or name Jesus’ first disciples, to give but two examples of such stupid behavior. Among those so treated, and more than once, was Raúl Suárez, one of the founders of the Fraternity and pastor emeritus of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Havana, a Christian leader beloved in the Alliance and many other religious bodies in this country.

Even those religious leaders in Cuba with no connection to the Council of Churches face daunting odds in their effort to obtain travel visas. The process begins with a one-on-one interview with a consular officer at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, an office that passes for an embassy in a nation with which

we have no diplomatic relations. Fair enough, as such interviews are required at our embassies around the world for all applicants for travel visas. Thankfully these days, most such interviews in Havana are conducted with courtesy and respect.

Provided these applicants are approved by the interviewing consular officer in Havana, their cases then are forwarded to the FBI in Washington for comprehensive security checks which typically require several weeks, if not months, to complete. Even when finally approved for travel, these potential visitors often can’t come because the events to which they were invited long since have passed.

This year, knowing these hurdles could not be jumped in time, especially given the early date of the Alliance convocation, our friends in the Fraternity opted to accept invitations from their sister congregations and hope to come later in the year.

Such practices and the policies behind them are arbitrary, capricious and utterly unreasonable. So are those that prevent ever greater numbers of U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba. As citizens, it is time we demand accountability.

Cuba is not a terrorist state. Our friends in the Fraternity pose no threat to our security. On the contrary, their presence with us, and ours with them, holds the promise of a better day in U.S.-Cuba relations. That must be precisely what our government is against.

by stan hastey

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PAIDPermit #7

Greenville, SC

RetuRn SeRVice ReQueSted

april 2008

chris copeland Minister for Leadership & Congregational Lifechris@allianceofbaptists.org

Stan Hastey Minister for Mission & Ecumenism shastey@allianceofbaptists.org

Mary pawlowski Office Administratormary@allianceofbaptists.org

Phone: 202.745.7609 • Toll-free: 866.745.7609Fax: 202.745.0023www.allianceofbaptists.org

Sue poss Communications Consultanteditor@allianceofbaptists.org864.469.0779

Alliance of baptists1328 16th Street NWWashington, DC 20036

Faith. Teens paired with adults to study the culture, peoples, faiths, and politics of the Middle East, and share their learning with the church.

“This first series led to another and another — we kept on learning,” said Kay. “Mitri told us that the greatest need was for us to see the Middle East for ourselves, that that was more important than sending them money. So we then did our first trip.”

Ravenworth’s connection to the Middle East is just one way it is involved in missions and social justice. It also supports women’s studies in Cuba; the work in Sudan,

another Alliance Mission Offering recipient; and ACCA, a volun-teer community group of more than 25 Protestant and Catholic churches that provides a food pantry, furniture warehouse, trans-portation to medical appointments for persons in need and more.

“Ravensworth is a church where everyone is welcome, where you can grow, serve, and be completely honest with what you think — and still be welcomed and treated with respect,” Kay said.

Ravensworth pastor Steve Hyde with Bethlehem pastor Mitri Raheb. Email Mitri at mraheb@annadwa.org.

Learn more about the International Center of Bethlehem, an Alliance mission offering recipient, at http://annadwa.org/

R A v E N S W O R T H I N F Ohttp://www.rbc-va.org/

703.941.4113Members of Ravensworth are willing

to speak to other Alliance churches about what they have personally experienced in their study of the

Middle East. Some of Ravenworth’s former

pastors include Mahan Siler, Howard Roberts, James Lamkin, Deryl

Fleming,Bill Ratliff and Dan Bagby.

Kay Tarazi, 63, is a retired middle school teacher and counselor who has been a member at Ravensworth since 1970. Ghassan (GJ) teaches at James Madison University in the school of education, is a former middle school principal in the

Annandale area, and has been at Ravensworth since the early 1980s. “We both have had multiple opportunities to interact with students and families from many cultures, as have most of the persons in our congregation,” Kay said.

Ravensworth— (continued from the front page)