Joyce is a sprightly 87. She has supported the Christian charity, Book Aid, for over 50 years and stores books in her church in Portsmouth ready for collection. We meet about once a month when I deliver books from Southampton. Every time I visit have to dissuade her from wanting to carry the boxes from my car to her store. In this short interview she told me more about the charity and why it is important to her.
Find our more about the valuable work of Book Aid
The Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group (SWVG) are a group of volunteers who befriend and support asylum seekers and refugees in the Southampton area.
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We are delighted the Revd Mark Battison has joined the International Board of Reference of Peacemaker Trust.
Mark is an ordained Anglican Priest currently working in a half time capacity at St Margaret’s Church in the Diocese and City of Leicester.
He is also the CEO of a Group of companies engaged in the world of technology and robotics.
He is currently Chair of the Board of Sabeel-Kairos and, prior to a long term illness, he was Director of Friends of Sabeel UK for 3 years.
Mark is planning to retire soon and can then devote more of his time to working for justice, freedom and peace for the peoples of Palestine.
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I am delighted to share with you some good news. When God sent the angels to Bethlehem to announce “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” (Luke 2:14), he really meant it! God’s favour and peace is ours if we receive him, like the shepherds who searched for Jesus, like the wise men who worshipped Jesus, and like his parents, Joseph and Mary who served Jesus. That is how we become children of God. That is how we can best celebrate Christmas every day. Continue reading →
The First Sabeel International Gathering took place in Bethlehem 2-7 December.
It is said that theology is like a cross which vertically leads humanity to God, and horizontally leads us to our neighbour. For Palestinian Christians, this link was damaged during the Nakba. Unable to go back to our former theological thinking while struggling to find a way forward. Whether it was Western feelings of guilt, the theology of Christian literalists, or the ideology of Zionism, the bible was used to grant approval to the tragedy of the Palestinian people.
Continue readingHappy memories from February working with the YMCA Joint Advocacy Initiative – Alternative Tourism Group (JAI-ATG) in fields around Bethlehem, supporting Palestinian farmers threatened by encroaching illegal Israel settlements.
Elias D’eis, Executive Director of Holy Land Trust, shared with me recently about their exciting Iktashef Summer Project. To find out more visit Iktashef
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“يسيرون ولا يكلون” “They will run and not grow weary”
November 29, 2019
Meeting in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, we are over 350 persons— women and men, young and old, lay and clergy, Palestinians and friends from all over the world—reaching out to the Church on the Tenth Anniversary of Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth.
Since the launch of A Moment of Truth ten years ago, life in Palestine has rapidly deteriorated under the illegal occupation by the State of Israel. The oppression is more aggressive and brutal. Our imprisoned and besieged sisters and brothers in Gaza, non-violently gathering in the March of Return, were the targets of a bloody and deadly response. Settlements continue to expand. Threats of annexation of the Jordan Valley and the settlements themselves grow without a word of condemnation from the major powers. We are experiencing the continued dispossession of our land, our freedom and our human rights.
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