Dear Friends,
Greetings of love and peace.
The setting sun is highlighting the bare branches of the leafless trees outside my window.
I have spent this day:
- Struggling with numbers for URI’s 2013 budget – as always, it’s much easier to create the expense side of the budget; much more difficult to create an income picture to match expenses.
- Consulting with GC Chair Kiran Bali about next week’s Finance and Operations Committee and Standing Committee meetings, a conversation that, of course, included discussion of the budget, as well as many other issues.
- Handling an array of other issues as the day advanced, and…
- Frequently consulting the Internet in search of what I prayed would be breaking news of a ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
A few minutes ago, I read the news of announcement by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr of a ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Tomorrow is the annual Thanksgiving Day holiday here in the U.S.
My first and early thanksgiving is for this critical step away from violence. I give thanks for the leaders of so many nations who have made this effort an overriding priority. I give thanks for the Palestinian and Israeli leaders who somehow found the wisdom and courage to stop the violence so that innocent civilians are not threatened by bombs and rockets. I give thanks for our dear URI colleagues and all others in the Middle East committed to forging a path to a peaceful, just and sustainable future.
The message issued earlier this week by the Standing Committee stated three objectives:
Therefore, in solidarity with these innocent civilians, we demand:
An immediate end to all violence that puts innocent civilians at risk.
An immediate resumption of a meaningful peace process that does not stop short of a negotiated and implemented settlement meeting the legitimate needs of the peoples of both sides in this conflict to live in peace and security, with the power to determine their own destinies, while respecting the inherent rights and dignities of one another.
That the international community take all actions necessary, collectively through the UN and as individual nations, to suspend any actions that help fuel this violence, to take all necessary actions to address the suffering of innocent civilians, and to support a meaningful peace process and an enduring peace.
The first objective has been accomplished.
May all the parties involved in this conflict, directly or indirectly, build on this accomplishment with greater resolve to work to fulfill the second and third objectives. May this turning away from violence mark a new depth of commitment by all parties to surrender to the tender path toward a just and enduring peace.
That would be a cause for generation upon generation of Thanksgiving. May it be.
Wherever you are in the world, I thank you for your leadership and service through URI. And I wish you the great joy that comes from giving thanks.
Love,
Charles
The Rev Canon Charles P. Gibbs, Executive Director
