Silence is complicity
January 2, 2024
This letter comes almost three months into Israel’s war on Gaza. Many credible voices (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the United Nations – to name a few) claim this war to be a war of ethnic cleansing. Indeed, maybe even a stronger word like “genocide” might be closer to the truth.
Least you think these words are exaggeration, let some of the numbers sink in. In a territory of over two million people, well over twenty thousand Gazans are dead…the majority children and women…and almost all of them non-combatants. That number is twenty times the number of Israelis killed on October seventh. Eighty-five percent of Gazans are internally displaced, i.e. homeless, while Israel basically and intentionally, makes the Gazan territory physically uninhabitable for return. And while the destruction of a whole Gazan strip continues, the Israeli government is also actively soliciting other nations, mostly nations in Africa, South America, and Middle East, to essentially deport to, or “take in,” Palestinians from their homeland. And while this strategy of forced removal from the land is not new, polls say that up to eighty percent of Israeli citizens support this wholesale deportation concept. (I can only wonder what role collective Jewish trauma combined with ethno-nationalism and military power plays into this irony).
This being said, I am deeply grateful for the strong, moral Jewish voices, as well as other voices – faith-based or secular. These voices cry out for the world to stand against this moral travesty. (And yes, as U.S. citizens we all have to acknowledge that our own nation was founded on the same grotesque practice of destruction and removal of whole peoples – for which we have yet to make restitution. But that still does not give us a pass from speaking to what is happening now).
So do we all just stand with our internal angst and say to ourselves, “How tragic! Such is the world!”? It may be an overused slogan, but it is always true… “silence is complicity.” So, let us speak and act in whatever capacity we can. Speak out to those you know. Write your governmental representatives. Boycott Israeli products. Align yourself with other moral voices, especially those coming from our Jewish and Palestinian brothers and sisters.
With each passing day the genocide continues. It is time for all sides to lay aside the weapons of war and instead make room for talk of lasting peace. For that to happen there first must be a ceasefire. And second, there must be a way to have talks (truth and reconciliation style) that lead to a contextualized understanding of the collective traumas which are at the root of Middle Eastern violence. i.e. neither the brutal attacks from Hamas on October seventh, nor the terrible reaction from Israel, happened in a vacuum. There needs to be a broad national effort for deep listening and truth-telling whereby the deep and generational pain from all sides is heard and understood (again, the truth and reconciliation work done decades ago in South Africa is a model of what can happen). And finally, from out of such deep listening, there might then be hope for a strategy to move forward, crafted under the biblical notion that everyone deserves to “live under their own vine and fig tree, in peace and unafraid.” But first the dropping of bombs and the firing of missiles must end!
As a person of faith, I know that such a world beyond fear and vengeance is possible! Indeed, it is the only world worth living for!
Rev. Gary Jewell
(pastor of Community Congregational United Church of Christ, Pullman, Washington)
Blue Christmas/Longest Night Service
December 12, 2023
The holiday season is here! That time between Thanksgiving and New Years when our ears pick up ubiquitous, sentimental songs played over store sound systems declaring that “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” That may, or may not be true, but one thing is true (at least for us in the northern hemisphere) this time of year is also the darkest time of the year. We are approaching winter solstice when the sun is lowest on the horizon; the sky is dark by 4:30 p.m.; the nights and days are cold and grey….and our thoughts too may be somewhat cold and grey. When it comes to the heaviness of the dark and the cold, we might wish we could just hibernate through it all till warmth and light return. Or maybe migrate south like artic terns and humpbacks. But for most of us those options aren’t practical. There may be no escape accept to do good self-care – however you define it.
Besides the biological effect of darkness on our moods, psychologically we may feel profound loneliness, even in good company. Family and friends gather, while that one beloved family member is painfully absent…maybe through death, maybe through estrangement, maybe through illness. In the wake of such longings and loss, solstice gives us the opportunity to stand on the edge of the earth’s rhythm of turning and name reality for what it is. Sadness, loss, hope, struggle, fear, hope, despair, gratitude, hope, fragility….did I mention hope? If there is one word that this time of year challenges us to consider it is the word hope.
Hope, when one thinks deeply about it, is a deep and innate longing we carry. The poet, Emily Dickenson, famously wrote, “Hope is a thing with feathers/That perches in the soul/and sings the tune without the words/and never stops at all.” Perhaps there is something within the human psyche that requires a sense of hope in order to thrive….or even to live at all. A need “that perches in the soul.” And if that is true, we best hold onto what crumbs (or loaves) of hope we have.
But still, what is hope? A desire for a better future? A longing for home? An insistence that one has a right to exist? A sense that one’s life matters? A conviction that one is a part of some great mysterious force that beckons toward unity and love? Variations on all of those things, perhaps. And because our planet will soon be turning toward greater warmth and light, solstice is the natural moment to be reminded that dark seasons aren’t permanent. The sun returns. The warmth and light of spring is sure to come.
During this time of the longest of nights many of our religious traditions (e.g. Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanza) hold some kind of sacred observance. These traditions call us toward a light that does not turn away in despair when we look at awful situations. And there are many…. the war in Gaza and Ukraine, the alarming voices of rising fascism, the destruction of the biosphere, the injustice of wealth disparity. (That’s just the short list). There are indeed dark realities – global and personal – that play into our feelings of anxiety and depression. All the reason to gather with others who are feeling the same chills of world weariness. All the more why we should gather to warm ourselves around the fire of each other’s vulnerable human presence and share a story of hope and light, hold a warm cup of tea, and maybe sing a song or two that insists even the smallest acts of justice, humility, and kindness are enough to warm our aching hearts… and keep alive the fire of grace that holds the world together.
CCUCC is holding a Blue Christmas/Longest Night Service on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 5:30 p.m. It is open to everyone. We are located at 525 NE Campus St. in Pullman.
Rev. Gary Jewell
Community Congregational United Church of Christ
Churches work for reproductive rights
April 21, 2023
The Community Congregational United Church of Christ in Pullman and the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse in Moscow, Idaho, share many of the same values, including everyone’s right to reproductive healthcare and freedom. Pullman shares a border with Idaho, a state with a total abortion ban and where providers can be charged with a felony for providing abortion care. This extreme law that criminalizes reproductive rights is leading to an increase of Idahoan crossing the border to Washington for abortion services.
CCUCC and UUCP will continue to work together to advocate for reproductive justice as a human right. The Planned Parenthood Clinic in Pullman provides access to reproductive healthcare, including abortions. CCUCC and UUCP believe this is an important public health service. As faith leaders, we respect everyone’s ability to make their own deeply personal healthcare decisions without political and government intrusion or moral judgement.
Pastor Gary Jewell and the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Stevens
Megan Guido has lived in Pullman for most of her life and serves her community as a member of Pullman City Council. Her work and education is grounded in public service. She holds two degrees, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a Master’s in Public Administration for the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University. She retired from working at Pullman Regional Hospital for more than 20 years in Community Relations. She now works part-time as an Outreach Coordinator at Community Congregational United Church of Christ in Pullman and does freelance marketing and communications. Additionally, she is a certified Color Code communications trainer and life coach.
Volunteers Achieve Goal of Providing Affordable Housing in North Spokane
News Story by Megan Guido | FāVS News
Recently a group of about 12 volunteers living in north Spokane organized as Village Cohousing Works, a nonprofit with a mission to provide housing and home ownership to low-income families in the northern part of Spokane County.
A key part of the group’s philosophy is that it takes a village and cooperation from neighbors to provide stable housing.
On Dec. 11, after only a year, the group achieved their vision: the first manufactured home was delivered and placed on Takesa Village Homeowners Cooperative in Mead, Washington. The 720 square foot, two-bedroom home will house a family, including a single mom and her two children (one who is disabled).
“I can’t tell you how exciting it was to see our first manufactured house delivered,” said Terri James, co-founder, and acting treasurer of Village Cohousing Works. “It’s so rewarding to be part of the process of building permanent, stable housing in north Spokane County.
James, a retired nurse, who has lived in north Spokane for 46 years, along with a core group of other volunteers passionate about providing housing, spent the last year creating a unique, low-income housing model designed to get families at the 80% or under AMI (Average Median Income) into homeownership in the northern part of Spokane County.
“As far as I know, we are the only housing program supplying new homes in this area expressly for low-income households,” said Sarah Olson, director of Village Cohousing Works.
Their next goal is to place 10 more manufactured homes over the next two years on lots at Takesa Village Homeowners Cooperative in Mead.
Takesa Village Homeowners Cooperative, a manufactured home park, is not run by a corporation. Rather, it is a resident-owned manufactured home community that is owned and managed by the cooperative members who live there. It is geared toward families, with two pools, a community center and playground equipment for members to use.
It’s also a critical partner in the cohousing model, said James.
“Living in a community where there are shared responsibilities and people watch out for each other is key,” said James. “Community is an important building block for (housing) stability.”
Olson said Village Cohousing Works follows the same service area boundaries of north Spokane County as New Hope Resource Center does: Hawthorne Road to Elk, Washington, more than 300 square miles. It does not include Deer Park, Washington. New Hope Resource Center is a faith-based, ecumenical social service organization based in Colbert, Washington.
Like most counties and cities, the number of homeless is typically undercounted but 2022 client numbers from New Hope Resource Center show 279 households in the 0-80 percent AMI level. Mead School District has about 540 homeless families in the current 2023-2024 school year, Olson said.
This effort to get low-income families into home ownership originated from the formation of a housing task force by volunteers working at The New Hope Resource Center in 2022.
The housing task force held meetings with other community leaders and members concerned about the lack of affordable housing in the area, said James.
“We had a donor ready to donate land … to build a cohousing village on,” said James. “But it wasn’t within the urban growth boundary, the owner elected to wait to donate the land.”
“We knew that we would have to find land in the urban growth zone and we knew that would take two to three years,” James added. “Many of us felt really committed to making change and didn’t want to wait two to three years.”
That is when Olson discovered Takesa Village Homeowners Cooperative and through conversations with representatives, found out they had 40 empty lots.
The next piece of the puzzle fell into place. A discovery was made through connections Olson worked with on the housing issue. MOD Homes, LLC, a dealer of manufactured homes in northeast Washington, said he’d sell his homes at a discount to the group.
MOD Owner Dan McGuire said, “I’m a big believer in the private sector doing housing.”
He talked to two of the volunteers, Terri (Sarah Olson’s mother) and Bev Hopoi, former school teacher, VCW Volunteer Secretary and Site Development Committee member.
“I like them,” McGuire said. “They are retired, have spunk and are out there helping people. I said, ‘Heck, yes. I can get behind that.’”
From there, a memorandum of understanding was signed by Village Cohousing Works and Takesa Village Homeowners Cooperative to place up to 10 manufactured homes on the site in the next two years.
Then the work of fundraising began with the volunteers raising money from plant sales to golf tournaments to securing private donations and a gift from Smith Barbieri Charitable Trust based in Spokane.
In August 2023, they had raised enough money to order their first manufactured home. To date, they have raised more than $100,000.
Village Cohousing Works also helps people find financing for homeownership. For more information or to apply for housing, visit www.villagecohousingworksspokane.org
Here are links to other stories by Megan Guido for Faith News:
Moscow, Idaho, Author Draws on Unitarian Beliefs; Publishes 4th Book
In Idaho, Priests Come From Other Nations to Fill Clergy Void
Sierra Westerman Breathes New Life into Emmanuel Lutheran Church