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Where the River Bends: Considering Forgiveness in the Lives of Prisoners

Where the River Bends: Considering Forgiveness in the Lives of Prisoners

Letters from “Apartheid Street”: A Christian Peacemaker in Occupied Palestine

Letters from “Apartheid Street”: A Christian Peacemaker in Occupied Palestine

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Stories & Snapshots

As a writer, I've learned that when the Muse comes whispering, you stop what you're doing and follow her promptings...even if that's at 10pm and you've just made yourself a New York Sour. She never promised to be convenient.
#writing #books #is10toolateforwhiskey #dumbquestion #muse

Sometimes book writing is quite lonely; other times, it's just the best.
#dog #dogs #author #writersofinstagram #writing #books #terrier #terriersofinstagram

Hey everyone! I made a new website! Link is in my bio. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Tonight, @bittysky and I drink #cabsauv from the @taybehwinery in memory of #nakbaday. On this day 69 years ago, the day after #Israel declared its independence, the surrounding #Arab states invaded and a #war began. During that war, and during the Zionists' ethnic cleansing program the months before, over 750,000 #Palestinians were #displaced. Their descendants are the second largest #refugee population in the world, behind #Syrians. The #Jewish Zionists, in seeking a homeland to belong to, displaced Palestinians from the homeland they belonged to. Everyone needs belonging. Everyone needs safety. Tonight we prayed for a #world where one person's safety and belonging didn't come at the price of another's.
#drinking #wine #memory #palestine

Sometimes your book signing is well attended; sometimes it's not. Tonight was the latter.
#atleastifounddundermifflin

I've lived a full life. I found Dunder Mifflin.
#theoffice

My improvised standing desk to put the final touches on my talk. #pbl2017 #malibu

Sometimes she wins awards at universities, and sometimes she just wants the turbulence to chill the $#%* out.
#lovemywife

Tonight, my exceptional wife @bittysky received the Wimberly School of Religion's Distinguished Alumna of the Year award at Oklahoma City University. They spoke of her ingenuity, creativity, passion, leadership, and commitment. They told us of her academic success, work with children in the local church, and outstanding accomplishments at the United Methodist Publishing House. I was so proud and privileged to sit quietly and admire her well-deserved recognition. She's remarkable.

These #wildflowers must be #holy...cause they are near a #monastery.
Photo credit: @bittysky

Decided it was finally time to read #colummccann since I'm soon to launch @narrative4movingstories in Tennessee.

When all you want to do is have dinner with your grandmother and you can't figure out why she suddenly started text-yelling.
#grandmatexts #whyissheyelling #howdoiturnthecapslockoff #blessherheart

Sometimes, you are just planning to spend a quiet Sunday morning at home with your wife and pups, recovering from jet lag. Other times, a friend texts and says that picketers are protesting a church that is partnering with a non profit to build a tiny village for people experiencing homelessness, and wonders if you can come to church in solidarity.
Hello to unexpected gatherings. Hello to solidarity. Hello to opposition. Hello to moving forward anyway.
@opentablenashville #housingendshomelessness #homes #homeless #gospel #community #solidarity #ithinkjesuswouldbeheretoo

I have landed back in #Nashville after finishing my 10th trip to #Israel and #Palestine. Thanks to those who followed my posts!

I loved him for what he said and how he said it. Abdelfattah Abusrour grew up in Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. His people had been driven from their homes in the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948, and he was born a refugee in exile.
He told us that his resistance to Israel does not stem from anti-Jewish sentiment. "We are not born with genes to hate Jews. We do not tolerate occupation and oppression. That's it. Whoever it is. Everyone here has claim to the land. But no one can say 'it's only for us.'" Abdelfattah went abroad for a time but returned home to be with his people suffering under occupation. He decided to start a cultural center in the Aida refugee camp of his youth. "This is for me part of the beautiful resistance. It started with a theater, with a philosophy of resistance through beautiful acts of humanity. We are not born with genes of violence and hate. We are born to share, love, and make this world a better world. We are resisting through acts of art, education, and culture, showing how to save lives, to inspire hope. We do not have the luxury of despair." But despair is so easy in this place. "We are fed up burying our children," he said. "No parent wants to bury their child. We want to give every possibility for these young people to grow up and change the world without thinking that the only way is to carry a gun, or to blow up themselves, or burn themselves--but to stay alive. To celebrate life and not death. We want to see the potential of our children living for Palestine, not dying for Palestine. I don’t want to die for my country. I want to live for my country."
---
When Abdelfattah went abroad in the 80s to study, France initially designated him a Jordanian refugee under Israeli mandate. "No," he insisted. "I'm a Palestinian refugee under Israeli occupation." The next day they returned with his country-of-origin status: TO BE DETERMINED.
#ThisTooIsPalestine #JustTellTheTruth #palestine #israel

In #Nazi Germany, the Star of David was used to mark the homes and businesses of Jews. The symbol made it easy to identify who to cleanse. Today, in the #WestBank city of Hebron, Israeli Jewish settlers use the Star of David to mark the former homes of Palestinians that they've successfully removed and now claim. What once was used as a marking of displacement for Jews is now used for Palestinians.
There are different narratives in this city, and in this whole land. For Palestinians, Hebron was occupied by Israel in 1967, and in the late 90s, the city itself--even though it is deep in the West Bank--was divided into Palestinian and Israeli controlled areas. Jewish settlements were built in the heart of the Old City and walls were erected between their settler-only roads and the ones Palestinians are permitted to use. Settlers see Hebron as their liberated city, and they want the Palestinian inhabitants to leave. In the suuq, Palestinians erected fencing overhead to protect them from the rainstorm of trash, liquid, furniture, and human waste that settlers pour from above. And the walls of the Ibrahimi Mosque still splinter with bullet holes from the rifle of Baruch Goldstein, a settler who decided to kill as many praying Muslims as he could in February 1994.
Extremism is not a #Muslim phenomenon.
#ThisTooIsPalestine #JustTellTheTruth #palestine #hebron #terrorism #settlements #israel

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Photo credit: Rex Harsin 2017