Dear Friends,

Our leader, the Rev. David Good, wrote of our upcoming journey:

On March 9th we will depart for our annual Tree of Life Journey, and I’m delighted to have 40 participants, including a number of young people who will be traveling with us. This is also quite a geographically diverse group, with participants coming from Michigan, Cape Cod, Hawaii, New York, Philadelphia, Koinonia Farm in Georgia, Virginia, Maine, France, Spain and several different towns in Connecticut.

Throughout our travels, we will meet with a variety of those who have distinguished themselves as “voices of conscience” – a Bedouin woman who has opened up a school for the children of her community, the Israeli Comm. Against House Demolitions that rebuilds homes and replants olive trees for those Palestinians who have lost their homes and their olive orchards to the expansionist-minded settlers of Israel and the oppressive measures of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). We will meet with a young Israeli woman, Dana Golan, who as a former soldier in the IDF speaks out against the human rights violations that take place in the Israeli occupation. We will meet with Elias Chacour, author of Blood Brothers, who translates one of the beatitudes as “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will get up and do something about it!” We will meet with both Israelis and Palestinians who have lost loved ones in the violence, and we will have an anointing service on the Mt. Of Beatitudes to remember Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

We are departing at a time when an amazing democratic movement is sweeping through the Arab world, from Tunisia to Egypt and even as I write this, the people in Libya are trying to rise up against their own dictatorial regime. Our friends in Palestine and Israel are hoping and praying that change might come to them as well as they struggle to overcome the injustices and the violence that have gone on for much too long. Knowing how important it is that the people there know that there are Americans who pray and hope for a better future for both Palestinians and Israelis, makes me proud of our Tree of Life travelers. Throughout our travels please know that we represent you, the members and friends of our church, and please know that your prayers and support are very much appreciated by us all.

We leave Wednesday, March 7 via Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and then on to Tel Aviv.