The Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage movement is not merely one particular tactic but a response from the body of Christ to a movement of the Spirit of God. In light of this, our 8 core convictions and our theory of change are animated by what could be called “a shared spirituality of change”. This shared spirituality of change includes, but is not limited to, the following characteristics.

1. The Way of the Cross / Walking in God’s Nonviolent-Resurrection-Power

“Resistance has a price. It leads to the cross. The disciples should not have been surprised.”

– Palestinian Theologian, Rev Dr Mitri Raheb

The cross is a brutal ancient imperial mechanism of suppression of dissidents. Those who dared to dream outside the limits of ‘how things are’ could expect their bodies to become billboards advertising what challenging the Empire would make inevitable. Yet in the New Testament, talk of the cross is transfigured in Jesus’ own life and ministry to become a paradox and, for those undergoing liberation, “the very power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

This side of the Resurrection, we can name the cross as Jesus’ confrontational unmasking of the principalities and Powers of domination, sin and death: Powers that demand our complicity under threat of humiliation, torture and death. It is these Powers that the ancient church proclaimed have been disarmed, made a spectacle of, and triumphed over by Jesus upon the cross. (Colossians 2:15)

This side of the Resurrection, the cross can also name the horrific site where Jesus most clearly reveals the mystery of God to be a nonviolent-love that does not overcome evil by mirroring evil but overcomes evil with what Desmond Tutu called “a force more powerful”. As African American Theologian, Rev Dr Kelly Brown Douglas has said, “There is no greater testament to the love of Jesus, and thus God’s love for creation, than the cross.”

For us the way of the cross is our paradigm for a fearless, provocative, nonviolent faithfulness that refuses to collude with any form of domination, oppression or exploitation. The cross Jesus invites us to take up is freedom from capitulating to the forces of death and trust in another power – God’s nonviolent power – Resurrection.

2.    Prayer. 

The Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage movement’s theory of change starts with prayer. Prayer for us is not an added extra or something done in parallel to our activism.Rather, prayer is the opening of ourselves to the life of the triune God; the willful submission and collective alignment of our thoughts, emotions, motives, choices and actions to God’s restorative and transforming presence and activity in our world. As Greek Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware has said, “If prayer is to be transmuted into action, then this Trinitarian faith which informs all our praying must also be manifest in our daily life… our faith in the Trinity put us under an obligation to struggle at every level, from the strictly personal to the highly organised, against all forms of oppression, injustice and exploitation.”

Prayer for us is not the conclusion of compassion.ather, humble prayer is the place where grief is transmuted into grace, lament mixes with praise, and despair wrestles with deliverance until compassion is conceived and is birthed into the action of taking up our cross and trusting in the nonviolent power that raised Jesus from the grave. As Palestinian Anglican Priest Naim Ateek reminds Christians, prayer is deeply connected to Resurrection.

“Resurrection means,

Victory of life over death.

Victory of light over the darkness of occupation.

Victory of love over hate.

Victory of justice over oppression

Victory of compassion over hardness and callousness of heart

Victory of hope over despair

Victory of peace over conflict and war

Victory of reconciliation and forgiveness over revenge and vengeance

Victory of nonviolence over violence

Victory of peace, security, and wellbeing over chaos, insecurity, and fear.

This is what Resurrection means for us. It also carries with it responsibility and accountability. This must be our earnest and fervent prayer to God as we remember Christ’s victory over evil and death.”

Prayer for us imitates our Lord Jesus of Nazareth’s own model; prayer is an opening to intimacy, vulnerability and a place of abiding from which we seek to do the will of the One whom Jesus called Abba, in the power of the Spirit. Prayer is where we open to this Triune life to receive strength in our weakness, hope in our despair, grace in our time of need. Prayer for us is compassion as action. Prayer for us is responding to God’s goodness by doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God. For us, pilgrimage is another form of prayer.

3.    Solidarity.

“If one part suffers, we all suffer…” -1 Corinthians 12:26

Prayer opens our hearts to share in God’s heart with those who are suffering. The Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages seek to listen to, learn from, and lead with Palestinian Christians in each location. In doing so, we build community, encourage solidarity and organise in unity with those who experience these horrors most directly. Catholic theologian, M. Shawn Copeland writes,

“There is no more concrete example of the cost of self-transcending love than the cross of the crucified Jewish Jesus, and it is from the ground beneath his cross that Christian discipleship as solidaristic praxis or compassionate action arise and is always judged.”

In Matthew 16:24, we receive an invitation from Jesus to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him.To deny the self which is formed in the patterns of dehumanisation is to reject the calculations like, “It is too costly for me to stand with our Palestinian sisters and brothers?”. To take up the cross is to share in Christ’s sufferings that seek to end the suffering of others. To follow Jesus is to be found where he is found, with those considered last, least, lost, looked over, scapegoated and forgotten. As Palestinian Lutheran Pastor, Rev Dr. Munther Isaac reminds us, “Where is God as Gaza is being bombed? God is under the rumble.” The question for us is, will we be with God as God is with them?

4.  Transfiguring Trauma. 

As was highlighted by Blinne Ni Ghralaigh in South Africa’s case in the International Court of Justice, this is the “first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the world might do something." It is not merely the direct victims of physical violence and forced removals who are affected; everyone who carescarries this horror in our bodies through vicarious (or direct) trauma. Puerto Rican Pentecostal Samuel Solivan uses the term “orthopathos” to describe the process of turning suffering into liberation. “Ortho” from the Greek for upright, or true, and “pathos” meaning suffering or feeling. On Pilgrimage we will work with our trauma, metabolise its truth, alchemise its power and welcome God’s healing. We will do so not through avoidance, but through engaged solidarity as we prayerfully map Gaza onto our own locations with our bodies.

5.   Healing Hatred.

“Jesus rejected hatred. It was not because he lacked the vitality or the strength. It was not because he lacked the incentive. Jesus rejected hatred because he saw that hatred meant death to the mind, death to the spirit, death to communion with his Father. He affirmed life; and hatred was the great denial.”

-Howard Thurman

In imitation of Jesus, we too reject hatred. As it reads in our core convictions, “We make a stand against any form of hatred including antisemitism and Islamophobia. We hurt the movement (and are not faithful to Jesus) when hatred of anyone or any people clouds the clarity of naming the war crimes being committed by the modern nation state of Israel. Hatred (be it racism or some other dehumanising practice) also hurts the much needed collaboration essential to end this horror. We are clear that “our battle is not against flesh and blood” but against the Powers responsible.” If we are to walk in the creative power of God’s redeeming love we must first allow ourselves to be lifted from the nihilism of hatred into the energising reality of enemy-love.

6. Offer an alternative vision to Christian Zionism (and those in Palestine).

"...if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it." -1 Corinthians 12:26

Our solidarity with our Palestinian siblings in Christ is not merely of pastoral importance but is also a prophetic unmasking of the lies of some Israeli politicians that claim, “there are no churches, no Christians in Gaza”. “Christian Zionism” is the largest financial and political backer of the current Israeli government’s apartheid policies, including illegal settlements, demolition of homes, unjust imprisonment, and the ongoing ‘plausible’ genocide in Gaza. Christian Zionists want a narrative that positions the conflict in Palestine as being between Muslims and Jews and the only option for Christians as one of unconditional support for the Israeli government. Amplifying the perspectives, experiences and voices of the Palestinian body of Christ disrupts both of these points. . Our proclamation that the full work of salvation and ongoing restoration has been accomplished through the cross disrupts the misguided theology that there is more action necessary for “history to turn out right” than our faithful obedience to Jesus’ example and teachings, action which includes supporting the Israeli government’s war crimes on Gaza. As Anglican Theologian, N.T. Wright has written,

“To suggest, therefore, that as Christians we should support the state of Israel because it is the fulfilment of prophecy is, in a quite radical way, to cut off the branch on which we are sitting.... It is a way of saying that in the cross and resurrection God did not actually fulfil his whole saving purpose; that Jesus did not in fact achieve the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy; that his resurrection was not the start of God’s new age; that Acts is wrong, Romans is wrong, Galatians is wrong, the letter to the Hebrews is wrong, Revelation is wrong. Say that if you like, but don’t claim to be Christian in doing so.”

The Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages are planned to:

a) help local communities meet, listen to and organise with Palestinian Christians

b) highlight the church in Palestine that has existed since Pentecost

c) demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians, and

d) change the narratives which have propped up the violence for 75 years.

7.     Mercy (Fundraising for Aid and Advocacy). 

Mercy (Fundraising for Aid and Advocacy).

The Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages are not merely symbolic. As it reads in our “Is this a fundraiser?” Section:

“Yes. Like James’ initial walk, Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage events are fundraising for three things: one) Relief. Humanitarian relief in the form of food, water, medical supplies etc. two) Refugees. Supporting those who are seeking safety. Three) Arrival of Relief and Refuge. Groups working to make sure the relief is arriving to those in need and refuge is being provided to those seeking safety. We ask that each Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage divides money raised evenly between these 3 priorities.”