Tuesday, December 10, we celebrate Human Rights Day, an opportunity to advocate for the full enjoyment of human dignity by everyone everywhere. Human Rights Day falls in Advent as Christians around the world prepare the way for the Prince of Peace. Our focus this year is on Gaza.
Pray
Join us in reciting this prayer by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
Study
Gaza has become one of the top hunger hotspots and is currently the deadliest place for civilians in the world. The latest report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expresses “grave concerns” regarding the situation in occupied Gaza. “The manner in which the parties to the conflict in Gaza have conducted hostilities has caused horrific human suffering, especially as a result of Israel’s choices of means and methods of warfare, and in many cases have involved gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
Act
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Advent Not Arms – Click here to ask Congress to suspend the transfer of offensive weapons and military assistance to Israel and pursue regional peace.
- As Christians, we believe that violence is a descending spiral that will never bring long-lasting peace and security. This Christmas season, therefore, we join Churches for Middle East Peace in the call for Advent, Not Arms: for the immediate suspension of arms sales and military assistance to Israel and the pursuit of regional peace. All sides in the conflict must lay down their arms, but we recognize that our government is providing military assistance and arms sales exclusively to Israel, so this is where the United States has leverage. The continuing military aid to Israel fuels the conflict and diminishes the prospect of peace. There is no military solution to this crisis.
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Christ in the Rubble – Ask your church to display a “Christ in the Rubble” Nativity scene.
- When you build your creche for Advent, surround the Christ Child with stones, broken concrete, and other rubble to serve as a reminder that while we celebrate Christmas, families in the land where Jesus was born are enduring homelessness, starvation, and lack of medical care, and thousands of children are killed and orphaned as a result of bombing in Gaza. It is into this suffering that Christ is born this Christmas.
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Prayer vigil – For those in the Washington, DC, area, we invite you to attend the Advent Not Arms Prayer Vigil on December 10 at 6:30pm ET at Shiloh Baptist Church, on 1500 9th St. NW. Click here for more details.