“A Covenant of Mercy”

"The question is not 'Where is God in this terrible war'? but 'Where are the people of God'?”

Fr. Munther Isaac, Religion and Public Life Lecture, Harvard Divinity School, Religion and Public Life (2025)

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 Dear friends in Christ,

A group of parishioners devoted Sunday morning adult formation classes throughout August 2025 to prayerfully discuss Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza (2025) (see below), a stunning book by Fr. Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian theologian and pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour.

The idea for this series of conversations arose from a place of deep sadness. What happens when we see evil in our midst but feel powerless to act? For five weeks, we reflected on the Gospel—the heart and moral compass of the world—that shapes our mission as Christians to stand alongside the oppressed and refuse despair.

Our conversations gave us space to lament and ask how is Christ calling us forward as his hands and feet in the world? We learned about the history of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict and confronted theologies of genocide and empire that so often justify violence in God’s name. We grappled with our own complicity, and, most of all, sought to understand what it means for Christ to abide in the rubble of Gaza, present with those who suffer, calling the Church to repentance, justice, and courageous action.

By the end of August, we resolved to draft a public statement that we titled “A Covenant of Mercy: A Statement of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Israel’s Genocide in Gaza,” which you can find by clinking the button below. We presented the statement to the vestry at its monthly meeting on Sunday, September 21, 2025, and the vestry unanimously adopted it as the parish’s formal position.

We undertook this work in good faith, listening for the Holy Spirit, striving to foster charity and mutual understanding. The vestry and I want to share the statement with you for the sake of transparency and accountability, and we want to provide time during coffee hour this Sunday for dialogue.

We came away from our conversation knowing words alone are not enough. We want to live our faith and tangibly support aid efforts for Palestinians in Gaza.

We are inspired by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s letter on July 16, 2025 (see below), commending generous contributions to the Good Friday Offering and the American Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem. The vestry is considering fundraising options that we’ll share more about soon.

We want to stand united in our shared witness as a church, siblings in Christ who are called to stand with Christ in the rubble, striving for justice and peace, refusing to look away, and pledging ourselves to the way of love, with God’s help.

Yours faithfully in Christ~
Fr. Peter Helman

18th Rector of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church