All of this got me to wondering, as we mark the end of 2024, and look ahead to 2025, how can we sustain ourselves in this struggle for peace, justice, and human rights in spite of the relentless gaslighting, denial, and silencing of Palestinian voices and their allies? How do we embrace the sumud of our Palestinian siblings in a world on fire, a world gone mad, a world that has lost its moral bearings?

Dr. Gabor Maté, a Jewish Canadian psychologist, holocaust survivor, and outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights, appeared on a recent episode of the Christ Hedges podcast to talk about this very question, among other things. In the last ten minutes of the episode, Chris asks Dr. Maté what he would say to those who are feeling demoralized and defeated these days. “It’s been a hard year,” Hedges says, “for those who care about human rights, the rule of law, and the plight of the oppressed… what would you tell people is the most important thing to sustain our own mental health… our own equilibrium, and yet not be silenced?”

Dr. Maté gives three pieces of advice. First, he says, find community. Find others who care about the things you care about, because we can’t do this work alone. Second, he tells listeners to take care of themselves and to practice self-care, because this work is hard.

Finally, Dr, Maté references the words of Rabbi Tarpon— a first century rabbi who is famous for having said, “you are not obliged to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Maté also references the concept of Tikkun Olam (reparing the world), and explains that we are not meant to fix the whole broken world all on our own, but merely to find the shards of light where we can and gather them up.

Dr. Maté says that one could look at Jesus, the Buddha, or other similar figures, and easily come to the conclusion that they failed. “How is loving-kindness going?” Maté asks. “How is forgiving your enemy and turning the other cheek going?” One way of looking at these figures, he says, considering how the world looks now, would be to say that they were massive failures. Another way, however, of looking at these figures and their lives would be to see that they contributed massively to a human project that is a long-term project. “And in our own little ways,” he says, “we can do the same thing.”

How many of us find ourselves despairing because the little we are able to do seems to have no impact? How many of us are disheartened because we've spent the last 15 months relentlessly advocating for a ceasefire and an arms embargo, with very little to show for it? It may feel like we are failing, but the truth is, more people now than ever have had their eyes opened to the injustice that Palestinians face. More people now than ever have been awakened to American complicity in decades of oppression, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and now, genocide. More people now than ever are paying attention, and now that they have seen the truth, they cannot unsee it.

We cannot let our opponents, powerful though they may be, colonize our minds with despair. Rather, let the start of a new year be an opportunity for us to recommit ourselves to the work, knowing that we are not obligated to fix the world all on our own, but neither are we free to desist from doing our part. Maybe it’s enough to contribute what I have to give, trusting that what I have to give combines with what you have to give, and that what we have to give combines with what other communities have to give, and that all together, it means something. We trust that all together, our efforts contribute somehow to a future with less suffering, and a future where there is a free Palestine. We believe this, not in a Pollyanna-ish way, but in a way that can only be described as what it means to hope.

From CodePink: The haunting images of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, walking through the rubble in his white coat before being kidnapped by Israeli forces have sent shockwaves around the world. Dr. Abu Safiya was the last doctor remaining in the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, which has since been burned down by Israeli forces, burning medical staff alive in the process. Israeli forces detained more than 350 people from the hospital, including medics and injured individuals.

We must call on the United States to finally do something: to use its influence and force Israel to immediately release Dr. Abu Safiya and ALL medical personnel in detention, to demand that Israel stop attacking hospitals and healthcare workers and demand that Israel allow the entry of necessary supplies and personnel to serve the sick, injured, and dying in Gaza. Most of all, we must tell Israel to stop the killing! Healthcare is not a crime. Deliberately attacking hospitals, medical staff, and patients is a crime and must be stopped.

Sign the CodePink petition here.

Take Action Through Doctors Against Genocide here.

Gail Doering (she/her) is a recently (September 2024) retired minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  She has been on a journey to seek justice and a personal understanding of the best ways to advocate for a just peace in Palestine since 2012 when she went for the first time to simply “walk where Jesus walked…”  She was forever changed by her encounters which re-oriented her and took her on different Jesus paths than those she had imagined.  Since then, she has led several pilgrimages and witness trips to the region.  She attended a CMEP advocacy training in DC in April 2023 and currently serves on the board of Pilgrims of Ibillin. In February 2024, she traveled with IPMN (now PMN) on a delegation co-sponsored by Sabeel Center in Jerusalem.

In this chapter of her ministry, she is seeking ways to play a role in transitions, by crossing traditional lines and barriers, and immersing herself in the tough conversations of how we as professed followers of a radical, brown-skinned, Palestinian Jew of the 1st Century can be prophets, peacemakers, poets and pundits for a true just peace in Palestine.   

The Rev. John Gregory-Davis (he/him) recently retired from 29 years of co-pastoring with his partner, Susan, the Congregational Church (a spiritually progressive, Open and Affirming, Sanctuary congregation of the United Church of Christ) in Meriden, NH. Having run a shelter for homeless men in Hartford, CT for 8 years before coming to NH, John's passion for social, economic, & racial justice often led him to demonstrate, vigil, and testify in Concord on various legislative initiatives. In addition to serving on various Conference Ministry Teams for many years, John also represented NH as part of the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries for 9 years. 

More recent aspects of John’s ministry with the Meriden Congregational Church include a weekly Black Lives Matter Vigil, hosting a family of Brazilian immigrants for 8 months, leading his congregation in becoming a co-sponsor of the 2021 General Synod Resolution calling for a “Just Peace Between Palestine & Israel,” and becoming an “Apartheid Free” Congregation. John currently lives in South Yarmouth, MA, where he is discerning whence the Spirit may be leading him in this next phase of his life and ministry. 

The Rev. Susie Hayward currently serves as Transitional Associate Minister for Justice Organizing and Adult Faith Formation at Mayflower UCC (soon to be Creekside UCC) in South Minneapolis. Susie came this role with two decades' experience in human rights, peacebuilding, and teaching in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, and Boston. Ordained by the UCC in 2009 to the ministry of religious peacebuilding, she spent fourteen years with the Religion and Inclusive Societies program at the US Institute of Peace where she partnered with religious leaders of different faiths and backgrounds worldwide to transform violence and advance justice.  

More recently, Susie helped build the Religion and Public Life program at Harvard Divinity School. She co-edited the book Women, Religion, and Peacebuilding: Illuminating the Unseen and has published widely in various policy fora, academic journals, and popular media. She serves as an advisor to the Templeton Foundation, as chair of the leadership council at Churches for Middle East Peace, on the board of DC Peace Teams, and as a fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University.  

The Reverend Janet M. Cooper Nelson is Chaplain of the University, Director of the Office of Chaplains and Religious Life and faculty member at Brown University, appointed in 1990 after appointments at Vassar College, Mount Holyoke College, and The Church of Christ at Dartmouth College. As Brown’s Chaplain she leads a multi-faith team of Associate chaplains and oversees the University’s broad circle of Religious Life affiliates who advise student religious organizations. Together they endeavor to ensure that a diversity of belief has voice and vitality throughout the University community. Janet earned degrees at Wellesley College, Tufts University, and Harvard Divinity School.  

Ordained in 1980 by the United Church of Christ her work is anchored in academic settings and examines interfaith collaboration, advocacy, religious identity and literacy, education, ethics and grief. Her recent publications include: Dearly Beloved in the My Neighbor's Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation (2012) edited by Jennifer Howe Peace, Or Rose and Greg Mobley.  

Fred Rogers served as Chief Financial Officer at three different institutions – Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University and Carleton College -- for a total of 35 years before retiring in 2020. Rogers has an interest in international affairs having graduated from the American Community School of Beirut. Rogers returned to the United States to enroll at Carleton and then returned to Lebanon to spend his junior year of college at the American University of Beirut. Rogers graduated from Carleton with a BA in mathematics and went on to complete an MS with distinction from Carnegie Mellon’s School of Urban and Public Affairs, now the Heinz School of Public Policy.  

Over a period of twenty-eight years Rogers served multiple terms as a trustee of the Lebanese American University in Beirut. He served for 6 years as a board member of Anera, a long-standing organization that provides medical supplies, training, education and infrastructure investments for Palestinians. He is a founding board member of LEO, an organization supporting Palestinian college and university students. A resident of Northfield, Minnesota, Fred is an active member and trustee of the United Church of Christ in Northfield. He and his wife, Jenny Hartley, have three grown children and two grandchildren. 

The Rev. Jenny Veninga, Ph.D., is a member of the Heart of Texas Association of the South Central Conference. From 2010-2024, she served as associate professor of religious and theological studies and ecumenical minister at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, teaching courses such as religion and violence, death and dying, collective trauma and memory, and feminist theology. She is currently discerning her next professional chapter with the hope of combining chaplaincy, facilitation, art, and social justice work.  

Her interest in Palestinian identity and working for just peace in the region began in 2016 when she traveled to Palestine with the Palestinian-American Research Center and returned to the region in 2017 to learn about justice organizations in Israel and Palestine, including Sabeel, Wi’am, the Jenin Freedom Theatre, Breaking the Silence, the Tent of Nations, and the YWCA. She has been involved with the Austin for Palestine Coalition on direct action and working to pass a Ceasefire Resolution through the Austin City Council (not passed thus far). She served on PIN from 2020-2021, contributing to the 2021 General Synod Resolution, a “Declaration on the Requirements for a Just Peace Between Palestine and Israel,” and is currently on the Divestment Team. An ardent lover of pugs and snowcones, Jenny takes great joy in her six-year old free-spirited kiddo, Elliott; her partner, Jack Musselman; and their Red-Eared Slider turtle, Elvis.