{"id":11027,"date":"2023-10-27T20:44:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T02:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/?p=11027"},"modified":"2023-10-27T20:52:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T02:52:40","slug":"friday-prayer-in-little-rock-a-short-homily-on-genocide-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/friday-prayer-in-little-rock-a-short-homily-on-genocide-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Prayer in Little Rock: A Short Homily on Genocide in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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*Thankful to have been invited to a Friday Prayer Service focusing on Gaza by Muslim friends in Little Rock.<\/p>\n
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While it is true that we approach God in different ways\u2026 \u00a0I think we can agree that it is evil to drop bombs on children.\u00a0 I think we can agree that it is evil to collapse buildings on families.\u00a0 I think we can agree that it is evil to create an open-air torture chamber for millions of people.\u00a0 I think we can agree that it is evil to withhold precious resources from hospitals.\u00a0 We can agree on these things because God is so much bigger than our disagreements.\u00a0 You see, we can all agree that God is with the suffering.\u00a0 I think it is important to take it a step further.\u00a0 I believe that the incarnation of God means that God is not just present\u2026but is there embodied in the suffering.\u00a0 When those bombs began to fall on the children of Gaza, God was there.\u00a0 God was one of those children.\u00a0 When the buildings started to collapse on the families of Gaza, God was with them. \u00a0God was trying to escape.\u00a0 When the occupiers created the open-air prison in Gaza, God was there.\u00a0 God was in the middle of the torture unable to breath. \u00a0As hospitals run out of resources in Gaza, God is there.\u00a0 God is on a hospital bed begging for medicine.\u00a0 God is there.\u00a0 God is there.\u00a0 God is there.\u00a0 Which means that if we want to be where God is, then we have to find a way to be there too.\u00a0 God declares what you have done to the least of these you have done to me.\u00a0 The nature of God is presence.\u00a0 The nature of love is presence.\u00a0 Presence with the least of these.\u00a0 Presence with the marginalized and oppressed.\u00a0 Presence with the people of Gaza at this very moment.\u00a0 Those who do not stand with the people of Palestine\u2026the people of Gaza\u2026at this very moment of tremendous evil do not know love\u2026they do not know God.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care what they might claim.\u00a0 God is with the least of these.\u00a0 If anyone is still not convinced, one look at the images coming out of Gaza will tell you everything you need to know.\u00a0 These people in these tanks targeting hospitals\u2026these people in planes bombing children\u2026these people on the news declaring the righteousness of their vengeance\u2026do not speak of God or anyone who was lost to the previous terror attacks inflicted on innocent civilians in Israel\u2026because God stands with the least of these\u2026those who the bombs, missiles and bullets are targeting.\u00a0 If you want to know God, know the suffering of the innocent\u2026for God is always there.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 *Thankful to have been invited to a Friday Prayer Service focusing on Gaza by Muslim friends in Little Rock. \u00a0 While it is true that we approach God in different ways\u2026 \u00a0I think we can agree that it is evil to drop bombs on children.\u00a0 I think we can agree that it is evil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2509,"featured_media":11030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[1340,1760,1762,6036,2369,2590],"class_list":["post-11027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freshwritings","category-thoughts","tag-gaza","tag-islam","tag-israel","tag-little-rock","tag-muslim","tag-palestine"],"yoast_head":"\nFriday Prayer in Little Rock: A Short Homily on Genocide in Gaza<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" *Thankful to have been invited to a Friday Prayer Service focusing on Gaza by Muslim friends in Little Rock. 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