RESCHEDULED Conversation and Discernment- Samoan Circle

In the past five months, Binkley has hosted several learning opportunities about the “whirlwind” of conflict in Israel and Palestine. Maybe you’ve been able to attend one or more of them! Our most recent presentation was on June 8 and 9, when we welcomed Rev. Allison Tanner, American Baptist minister. She has founded an organization – apartheid-free.org – to educate faith communities and other groups about the conditions of apartheid which control the life of Palestinians in the state of Israel. Faith communities are invited to join a national network of apartheid-free organizations, by adopting a pledge and committing themselves to uphold the values of freedom, equality, and justice wherever apartheid exists.

Perhaps you attended Rev. Tanner’s presentations, and have already been considering how you’d like Binkley to respond. But a good many of us weren’t able to attend – no matter! The Council has invited all of us to come together as a congregation for conversation and discernment – to share our ideas and feelings, to talk with one another.

This link will take you to key materials that Rev. Tanner presented, for context. But everyone is important in these conversations, whether you’ve read the materials or not! Our aim is to “listen to learn” from one another, and to discern our way forward, engaging the question: should Binkley become an apartheid-free congregation?

We’ll gather for conversation in a Samoan Circle in Fellowship Hall. A Samoan Circle practice allows for one-on-one conversations in a small circle within a larger circle. It is not a debate but more a conversation that is overhead by all. Persons are encouraged to move in and out of the smaller circle as they feel led to share or learn more from another person.