CONCORD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ADULT EDUCATION SERIES

Transcription

1 SUNDAY, MARCH 9 Lunch and Learn: Conflict In The Holy Land/ What Business Is It of Ours? 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. The Speakers will be Rev. Robert Stoddard, Rev. Jenny Warren, Dr. & Mrs. Rob Abel. FRIDAY, MARCH 14 Film Night: Lemon Tree Gather at 6:00 p.m. Film will start at 6:30 p.m. Following the film there will be discussion from 8:15-9:00 p.m. SUNDAY, MARCH 16 Israel/Palestine Conflict: History and Maps 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Dr. George Zahr will review the history of, and dispel myths about the Palestinian Israeli conflict. A Q/A session will follow the presentation. SUNDAY, MARCH 23 Witnesses to Facts on The Ground 4 to 5:30 p.m. Dr. & Mrs. Rob Abel will share their experiences from their frequent visits and work in Israel/Palestine with a visual presentation and dialogue about both narratives. SUNDAY, MARCH 30 Kairos Palestine: The Call for Help 4 to 5:30 p.m. Along with a video, the background and theology of the Kairos Palestine Document will be presented by Rev. Bob Stoddard and Rev. Jenny Warren.

2 LUNCH AND LEARN: Conflict In The Holy Land/What Business Is It of Ours? Sunday, March 9th, 12:00 to 1:30 pm Speakers: Rev. Robert Stoddard, Rev. Jenny Warren, Dr. & Mrs. Robert Abel

3 FILM NIGHT: Lemon Tree Friday, March 14th, 6 to 9 pm Gather at 6:00 p.m. Film will start at 6:30 p.m. This is a beautiful and sensitive story that presents the Israeli Palestinian conflict in human terms. In the process it manages to get to the heart of a simple truth: Human beings no matter what culture or background, have the same fundamental needs for belonging, for security, and for love. Lemon Tree explores one of the most reoccurring themes in Israeli films, the theme of boundaries. The lemon tree orchard symbolizes more than just a physical buffer between hostile neighbors: it is a boundary between rich and poor, the powerful and the powerless, Jew and Arab, male and female. Following the film there will be discussion from 8:15-9:00 p.m.

4 PRESENTATION: Israel/Palestine Conflict: History and Maps Sunday, March 16th, 4:00 to 5:30 pm Speaker: Dr. George Zahr Dr. George Zahr will review the history of, and dispel myths about the Palestinian Israeli conflict. He will explain why it is time to transfer Israel into a state of its citizens and create a secular real democratic state for all its inhabitants. Dr. Zahr graduated in 1976 from University of California at Berkeley with a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics. He works for a local international chemical company in Wilmington DE. He has been involved in many local and national organizations and community activities. Dr. Zahr was born in Jaffa, Palestine. In 1948, at age one month, George and his family had to flee to Amman, Jordan where he grew up in a refugee camp. Dr. Zahr and his wife live in Concord Township, Pa. and are the proud parents of four children.

5 PRESENTATION: Witnesses to Facts on The Ground Sunday, March 23rd, 4:00 to 5:30 pm Speakers: Dr. & Mrs. Rob Abel Dr. & Mrs. Rob Abel will share their experiences from their frequent visits and work in Israel/Palestine with a visual presentation and dialogue about both narratives. Rob Abel, M.D is a Jewish-American ophthalmologist who has worked in both Israel and the Arab world. He worked as a medical student in Israel and taught cataract and cornea surgery in Jordan, Tunisia, Mexico, Nepal and India. He participated in a diplomatic mission to five Middle Eastern countries, Gaza and the West Bank, in May of He has presented his Palestinian experience, most recently to the University of Delaware, Academy of Life Long Learning, Friends School in Wilmington, Westminster Presbyterian Church, as well as Wesleyan University. He participated in the Centennial celebration of the International Friends Center of Ramallah, held in Sandy Springs, Maryland, and is a member of J Street and Conversations For Peace, Israel/Palestine. He recently worked in Palestine on a medical mission with the Palestinian Childrens Relief Fund performing and teaching cataract surgery. He lectured at the Friends International Quaker Center in Ramallah on eye health and nutrition. He is the author of eight books and an international lecturer. Rosita Michael Abel (aka Mike ) is a Palestinian-American who worked in healthcare for most of her life. Her family originated in the West Bank. Her father was born in Ramallah and educated by the Quaker Friends School. Her mother s parents were born in the Christian village of Beit Jala. She has traveled to the Middle East many times on peace missions to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. She joined the Middle East Children s Alliance as part of a Jewish and Arab American women s delegation. In 2009, she was part of a diplomatic pilgrimage with the Council of National Interest, visiting five Middle Eastern countries and Israel. In 2011, she spent three months doing a work/study in Palestine/Israel. She has served on the board for the Council of National Interest in Washington, D.C., and currently is on the board of Delaware Churches for Middle East Peace. She is the co-chair of Conversations for Peace, Israel/Palestine and co-leader of DelNATO, (Delaware Neighbors Against the Occupation). Through her advocacy work, she presents to a wide range of audiences on her experiences in Palestine and Israel.

6 PRESENTATION: Kairos Palestine: The Call for Help Sunday, March 30th, 4:00 to 5:30 pm Speakers: Rev. Robert Stoddard, Rev. Jenny Warren, The Kairos Palestine Document was prepared by the Middle East Monitoring Group that was mandated by the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA (2010). It was designed to give a better understanding of the plight of Palestinian Christians and the dynamics of the larger Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Along with a video, the background and theology of the document will be presented by Bob Stoddard and Jenny Warren. Rev. Robert D. Stoddard, Jr. Bob Stoddard has been an honorably retired member of New Castle Presbytery since he retired as a vice president for Presbyterian-related Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon (formerly Beirut College for Women). Bob has spent considerable time in Lebanon and Egypt and visited Israel/ Palestine in He is active in the PC(USA) Israel/Palestine Mission Network, founded Delaware Churches for Middle East Peace and co-founded the interfaith Peace Drums Project. Education: College of Wooster (B.A) ; Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.) Bob is writing a history of the origin and evolution of American female education in Syria/Lebanon. He and Judy live in Wilmington near their two children and four grandchildren. Rev. Jenny Warren Jenny is currently the interim pastor at Concord Presbyterian Church. Jenny is a 1986 graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, where she first met Palestinian Christians and heard their story. In 1988, she traveled with a group of Canadian Presbyterian pastors to Israel for a study tour. In 2011, she traveled to The Gambia in West Africa, where she experienced an amazingly peaceful co-existence between the Muslims and Christians who share that land, and saw what could be possible.