The following guest sermon was submitted by ULC minister Avery Loughlin. All ULC Ministers are invited to contribute their own sermons for consideration/publication. To submit a sermon, please email it to sermons@ulc.org.
Once again, the Holy Land has been engulfed in violence and bloodshed. It makes my heart break to see so many innocent people suffering in a conflict that feels no closer to a conclusion than it did decades ago.
I pray for our Jewish and Palestinian brothers and sisters. I pray that the bombings come to an end so that no more people must die. I pray that the latest ceasefire holds. I pray that love and compassion may prevail so this long-tortured region may find peace.
But what does enduring peace look like?
Finding A Path to Peace
With both sides claiming rightful ownership of the Holy Land, I see no path forward that doesn't prioritize love. Whether that means a compromise along the lines of a so-called "two-state solution," or another avenue of agreement, ending the violence requires first recognizing that we are all human beings worthy of love and care and affection.
At the same time, we must acknowledge the sacredness of this land on which blood is being spilled. It's not just those directly involved in the conflict who suffer – it is also the hundreds of millions of people around the world who look fondly upon the Holy Land and weep at its destruction.
Calling for Help
If the violence continues much longer, I truly believe in my heart that we, the citizens of the world, may have a moral responsibility to step in to support peace. We created the United Nations over 75 years ago for just this type of problem – to put an end to needless war.
With rockets littering the skies like meteors, do we not have a duty to call upon this international peacekeeping force to step in? Perhaps if some control was relinquished to a neutral body, they could take charge, help to lower tensions, and allow us to better share this sacred land.
Until that moment comes, I shall continue to pray for an end to the bloodshed.
55 comments
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Daniel Gray
give me a freaking break. There is no such land or people who claim to have come from the mythical place of Palestine. In Cairo and in London museums there are monuments that have been dated 3000 years BC and BOTH of them clearly state they have trading agreements with the Kingdom of David, a kingdom that sits right where Israel sits now including Gaza and part of Jordan and lebanon. The proper term and name for these fakers is BEDOUIN as this mythical place called palestine never existed before 1942.
I would tell Hamas they have 7 days to haul arse and dont come back and I would warn civilians to leave and I would flatten the whole area with bunker buster bombs! Enough is enough. Its pretty damn sad when you have 7 million Jews picking on 275 million Arabs. do you get the sarcasm? Or do I have to explain it to you
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Jeffrey Stoecker
If an Algonquin, Iroquouis or Potawatomi family showed up, and asked your family to vacate what you consider to be your property, I doubt you'd be willing to just pick up and go.
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Gary
Jews were given the land by G-d. Were the Indioans?
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Jeffrey Stoecker
I wasn't there for either event, so I can't say. Live on a patch for a few dozen generations, and it's natural to claim it as your own. In the end it's folly though. Nobody owns the Earth.
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Daniel Gray
Sure I would as My father is a member of the Wolf Clan of the Cherokee Nation, all the tribes you mentioned ARE Cherokee Nation members according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in DC. My family is listed with them and I can trace my linage clear back to before the Dawes Roll (look it up)
Question is...can you?
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Jeffrey Stoecker
You miss the point entirely, and probably deliberately.
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Daniel Gray
No I stated fact and can back it up, you are just mad because I made a fool of you.
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Allen Nace
There is no land known as Palestine. There is only land. There is no land known as Israel. There is only land. The fictitious bible and delusional interpretation results in n a demented and narcissistic view of being created in Gods image. Or the Chosen. All narcissistic and mental Ill. Israel is an illegal settlement given by fools as a concession. Palestine is similar. Palestine has a history of war mongering and terror then again so does Israel. Israel is made of of separation isn’t who wish to preserve the purity of their soul and culture except of course. It doesn’t exist. No religion should ever be granted a country and it should be taken back. The evils associated with Palestine doesn’t negate the evil that is Israel. They are just a mini version of the USA.
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David H Lacroix
Daniel Gray, your ignorance and hatefulness is a shame to humanity; it is ridiculous that you are associated with any organization that professes peace and kindness.
Israel ceased to exist thousands of years ago and only exists now because of massive cash influxes from the west to pay for weapons partially developed with Russians, who have a well documented disregard for human rights.
By ignoring the Palestinians, who are charged something like 8x as much for water, who's hospitals are dismantled and confiscated by Israeli authorities, is uniformly un-christian By ignoring Palestine, you are spitting in the face of international legal standards.
I have Pennys from the 1920s written "British Palestine" in my coin collection; your rationale for thought is laughable. You think political legitimacy comes from pieces of stone with silly carvings in them.
The ancient Israelis were bloodthirsty sociopaths. At least the muslim conquest showed strong religious tolerance and only opposed a tax on non-muslims, which was less than what locals paid before they were conquered.
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Daniel Gray
No David my facts come from historical monuments and records that you cant refute no matter how hard you try. so lets see you try and refute the Merneptah Stele in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo that states EXACTLY what I said and is over 3000 years old
But then again you have the chance to keep believing your delusions, you should quit while you are still able to save your reputation as your ignorance of history and hatred of the Jewish people is showing.
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Gary
Jews have had a continual presence in the Land of Israel ever since Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised land.
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David Arthur Lewis
The one fact that the world is ignoring is this: Neither side wants peace. Neither side wants a two-state solution (which is just stupid and unworkable). Palestine is ruled by terrorists who are sworn to kill all Jews. Until Hamas grants Jews the right to exist and have a homeland, there will be no peace.
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Gerardo Salazar
Hamas is not a nationality but rather a terrorist group sponsored by Iran to creat a continuous unstable atmosphere in the region; Palestinian children are continuously indoctrinated with hatred and lies but never given the right to grow as useful citizens with a dream to improve their lives. Every time a peace solution is near rockets start to fly and peace loses it chance once again and as long as the real Palestinian people are hostages of this terrorist cache there will never have a chance. In many countries, and I have been there, Christians, Jews and Muslims coexist in an armonious society and as an example I give you Manchester in the UK or Marseille in France.
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Stefano Di Stefano
Hamas Hamas is a terrorist but will make Israel an invading state
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Gary
Neither side wants Peace? The The IOsraeli government unilaterally removed every Israeli from Gaza and in an effort to achieve peace. What did they get in return? They got tens of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli civilians (Jew and Muslim).
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David Arthur Lewis
Muslims, Christians, and Sephardi Jews are all second-class citizens in Israel, treated like dirt. Israel is a theocracy. The Christians don't even get a seat at the negotiating table. Yes, they pulled all the Israeli citizens out of Gaza, then they turned Gaza into the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto. Meanwhile in the West Bank, Orthodox Zionists continue to colonize and appropriate territory, which is the basis of the conflict (colonialism). But how can Israel make peace with a criminal terrorist gang sworn to kill or drive out every Jew? And one would think that after 70-some years the Arabs would figure out that they lost the war and need to win the peace, but they are the people who turned the Fertile Crescent into a vast desert, so advance planning and logical thinking are not their strongest points.
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Nicholas J Page
Nick Page.uk I'm lost for words.Why can't we all live together in peaceful harmony.Its getting bad here in England.Ok not a real war but it's bad enough.Especially just recently a small convoy of cars with Palestinians driving through a Jewish community shouting out obscenities thru a bull horn I'm not going to repeat what was said But it was shocking and cruel My best mate is Glaswegian/ Jewish and we get along like real brothers which it should be not War.
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Gary
For peace to exist, both sides must want peace. The "Palestinians" have made it very clear that they do not want peace. Hamas (which controls all of Gaza after a unilateral Israeli withdrawal) fired over 4,000 rockets and missiles at Israeli population centers. At the same time, Iran and Hezbollah (illegal occupiers of Lebanon) also attacked Israel.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
This is good business for the United States as we are the ones selling the missiles and the missile defense system. It’s creating many Jon’s for Americans.
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David Arthur Lewis
Yeah, actually it is Iran and North Korea supplying the missiles to Hamas. We of course supply the Israelis with more powerful weapons, like fighter jets, drones, and missile defense.
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Gerardo Salazar
Jews and Muslims, Muslims and Jews all the time; and what about Christians? Don’t they have any right to have their voices heard on this issue since Jerusalem is a holy place for the three major religions. A truly Salomonic decision would be the creation of an independent State within the limits of Jerusalem, just as the Vatican is, ruled by triunvirate of religious leaders of the three faiths without supremacy by either one.
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David Arthur Lewis
But there are not just three faiths. There are TEN major branches of Christianity in Jerusalem, as well as three major branches of Islam, and five major branches of Judaism, all in control of religious pilgrimage sites and populations in the city. That's not including groups like the Druze, Samaritans, and Bahai, nor the millions of Jewish atheists and agnostics. The Vatican, for your information, is NOT ruled by a triumvirate of religious leaders. It is an absolute theocratic monarchy ruled by one individual. There is no democracy in Vatican City. Making Jerusalem into an "international city" would do absolutely nothing to solve the issue. Palestinian people who are being forcibly evicted from their homes don't really care which cleric is in charge.
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Gary
The UN tried your idea in their 1947 partition plan. Jordan responded by illegally seizing part of Jerusalem. They then set about destroying Jewish houses of worship, many of which were centuries old. They also desecrated Jewish cemeteries. Finally, Israel reunited the city in 1967, and there has been freedom of worship for Jews, Muslims, Christians, and all others faiths since then.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jordan-s-desecration-of-jerualem-1948-1967
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Chad Ali
The only solution is for our saviour jesus to return. The world has to much evil and mankind keeps destroying this planet. God ended this world before and he will do it again.
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David A Griffith
Didn’t you hear? The second coming of Christ already happened. The Christians persecuted him and told him what he was saying was wrong because he was a progressive.
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Stefano Di Stefano
I see a situation that can lead in Armageddon
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Rev Mark D
So the author doesn't pray for the rockets to end?
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Lionheart
It’s just yet another good example of why all religions are bad.
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Minister Mike
Regretfully, there is not end for the conflict between the militants in Israel and Palestine. God made 'em both in its image, so neither side is really to blame - the fear and hate were put there by their creator.
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Br'er George
The US arms and supports the jewish government of the ONLY JEWISH DEMOCRACY in the world.
Jewish people bellow this themselves ALL the time.
The US should NOT support the ONLY JEWISH DEMOCRACY.
SUPPOSEDLY we are a "beacon" or whatever for just plain ol' democracy.
No REAL American supports the deliberate slaughter of children and pregnant women by the ONLY JEWISH DEMOCRACY in the world.
Jewish people need to stop targeting and killing babies just because they are NOT jewish.
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ORDM Genie G
Thinking like this creates current Jew hatred. No one is killing babies because they are not Jewish. It’s a war for land and power between an ultra right politician who’s been in power for way too long and a terrorist organization. They feed of each other, keep each other alive, and are holding their people hostage. Ordinary folks need to come together to end this and work towards peace.
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Br'er George
No it doesn't it just states facts clearly. If you are against Jewish people slaughtering Muslim babies because THEY say God gives Jewish people permission to do that and the United States has to give Israel 38 Billion US dollars a year to blow up Muslim pregnant women on purpose, I as an American citizen who wasn't even asked once in 54 years if I wanna support that or not am going to say what I want and I don't care if you call me names like anti semite. Stop blowing up children on purpose and pregnant women just because they are muslim. God never gave you Jews the permission to do anything like that and you are blasphemers.
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Gary
This is a war that goes back to before the founding of the current state of Israel. Muslims have been killing Jews in the Holy Land for centuries.
Here is just one example of many of Muslims killing Jews. This one is from the British Mandate period. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-hebron-massacre-of-1929
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David Arthur Lewis
Please take your anti-semitism to some white supremacist bigot website where it belongs.
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Br'er George
I stand by what I say here. I stand against the murder of children because they are not jewish.
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Gary
I want to thank you for showing the world what a Jew hater looks like.
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David Arthur Lewis
But you are OK with the murder of Jewish children and mothers by Hamas rockets fired indiscriminately into civilian residential zones? You're just another Jew-hating NAZI.
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ORDM Genie G
Comment removed by user.
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Jeffrey Stoecker
I think the solution is to grant blanket U.S. Citizenship to any Israeli that claims it. This is where they belong. Maybe it would take a generation, but Israelis would filter out. Young families sending their kids to school -- worrying -- would look at each other, and ask why are we doing this? We could be in the U.S. The hold-outs -- the grandsons and daughters of those that fought to reestablish Israel would want to be where their grandkids were growing up. For those who want an enclave, we could establish one. There are swaths of Federally held land in Nevada nearly as big as Israel and with a similar climate. Hell, if they wanted to bring over the Wailing Wall, we could engineer that. London bridge is in Arizona now, after all.
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David Arthur Lewis
You don't actually know any Jews, do you? For 2,000 years every Jew in the world has toasted on Yom Kippur and Passover, "Next Year in Jerusalem". America is not where they belong. Jerusalem is the only homeplace of the Jews, and they will not settle for any other.
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Jeffrey Stoecker
I know some Jews. I'm related to some too. You're right, I haven't gone around with a poll to see what they think of my opinion. It seems to me, though, that by having become such a part of the beating heart of America and choosing to stay here, when any of them could have moved to Israel, they've voted with their feet. I think my idea would open up the opportunity for those in Israel to vote with their feet as well. It would be up to them.
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David Arthur Lewis
I, along with every Jew in the world, think your idea is sophomoric and uninformed.
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Gary
I cannot even begin to count the number of Orthodox Jews I know who have moved from the US to Israel.
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Jeffrey Stoecker
That's fine. We should keep the door open for them to return if they decide to, IMO.
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Christopher Edward Smith
There will continue to be war amongst them, for the holy land belongs to neither of them. Once the true Israelites are home there will peace in the Holy Land for all. As long as the truth is hidden, and false prophets rule, this is what will continue there. It’s Spiritual... it’s so spiritual that the land won’t yield until it’s true people return to it. So I would say, until every nation is ready to Stand in truth.... the calamity will continue, in those who due diligently work to keep the “WORD” hidden and coded. No amount of physical or mental violence will produce an infinite result.... Spirit will continue to triumph because our source has a law set into place. One can bend the spiritual law but the law will not break because it isn’t designed to break. The continued efforts of one to do so will eventually consume them and swallow them up, for one can not do to others that they don’t do to themselves... I didn’t make this up, it is written. Love and Light my brethren 🌟 ☀️🌺🌾🌸🌼🙏🤲👆💫☀️🌺🌾🌸🌼
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David Arthur Lewis
So, in your opinion, what exactly is a "true Israelite"?
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Christopher Edward Smith
That land is locked and will not open until the true Jews have returned. Neither fighting are the true aborigines of the Holy Land. Israel is God’s first love and God will not allow anyone who inhibits it, to be comfortable claiming it as their own. Once the true Israelites are given that stolen land back, Israel will prosper and “everyone” shall eat! Those who continue to do their due diligence to keep the truth hidden, will become consumed and swallowed up by such a lie. For one can not do to another what he does not do to himself. Sovereign is Spiritually granted to the the True Israelites as a birthright. No amount of bloodshed, physical, mental, or chemical warfare will ever prosper infinite results. How does one become to believe they can be victorious over Spirit with tools provided by spirit?... now that’s is the question... To answer it, They can not, will become extinct trying to. If any would like Peace, They would have to stand with the true nation in truth!! 🙏🤝Light and Love my brethren☀️💫🌺
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David Arthur Lewis
OK, that sounds like some really bizarre cult stuff with no basis in reality or scripture. What exactly is a "True Jew"? A "True Israelite"?
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Matthew Mastrogiovanni
The things that Abrahamics do in the name of their god - a god who says killing is forbidden, is proof of how EVIL the god of Abraham and his followers are. No other religion has performed more evil than the Abrahamics. Between the endless war for the holy land, to the corruption and wanton evil in the middle east, to the "holy" crusades, and the "holy" Spanish Inquisition, and the witch hunts. Over 2000 years if horror. The greatest trick that Satan ever performed was convincing mankind that there's a god - cause there's only a devil.
The world needs to outlaw the Abrahamics. Leave the world to the Hindus, Buddhists and Pagans.
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Lionheart
And your factual evidence for a real entity called Satan is where? I’m not saying there are not bad things happening on this earth, but your claim that there is a Satan has to be backed up with demonstrable evidence that no one can disprove.
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Donna J Enneking
Killing over something viewed as holy is insane. There is nothing holy about killing. All of our planet is sacred and holy. It is time for every person to respect themselves and everyone else. All life is holy & precious. Praying for peace in all areas of our sacred earth.
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Lionheart
Has anyone taken a look at the world map lately and seen how much of it is controlled by Arabs? It comprises of pretty much the whole of the North African continent, portions of East Africa, and the whole of Arabia. When you do that comparison on a world map take a look at how small Israel is on the world scale…….. if you can find it. You shouldn’t have any problem finding Africa and Arabia.
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Delbert Louis Schoenhoeft
It is not the peoples of the earth that choose war. The people want peace to live, work their lives, love and be content. It is the leaders of these peoples, politicians, the overly rich who want war and to take over other lands. The kings of old pressed people into their armies, stole wives and daughters for their pleasure. I and most people want peace to live and flourish. Has the regular person ever started a war? Rome, England, Russia, China, and the good ole USA appear to be the worst out there. Except for thieves, politicians, and lawyers, most of us just want to be left alone. No one owns the land. It is ours to take care of, and we are doing a pretty crappy job of it.
May PEACE be in your lives, and may the CREATOR be with you.
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William Mitchell
The only thing that will stop the violence and evil on earth is the return of Christ. Everything the Bible tells us is going to happen is coming true before our eyes for us all to witness.
Armageddon out of here