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A Sermon in
Time of War

First Church Cambridge

October 15, 2023

We are so pleased to welcome as a guest preacher CMEP Executive Director Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). Rev. Dr. Cannon will share her perspectives on the ongoing crisis in Palestine and Israel. Cannon is the author of several books including the award-winning Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World and editor of A Land Full of God: Christian Perspectives on the Holy Land.

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Social Justice

An Award Winning Resource for a Better World

Mae Elise Cannon provides a comprehensive resource for Christians like you who are committed to social justice. She presents biblical rationale for justice and explains a variety of Christian approaches to doing justice. Tracing the history of Christians in social engagement, she lifts out role models and examples from the Great Awakenings to the civil rights movement. A wide-ranging catalog of topics and issues give background info about justice issues at home and abroad.

This handbook includes dozens of practical exercises for taking action, as well as profiles of key figures and movements like William Wilberforce, the Salvation Army and Bono, highlighting how Christians and churches can make a difference. Also included are spiritual practices and resources to help us move from immobility to advocacy.

"This is a cookbook for plotting goodness and stirring up holy mischief. Take a look and find a recipe for revolution. Then let us take it to the streets--interrupting injustice with grace, surprising the world with joy and whispering God's love to a broken world."

- Shane Claiborne, activist, author and lover, www.thesimpleway.org

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Activism

Comprehensive Justice in a Complicated Age

Activist Mae Elise Cannon takes us beyond the hashtags to serious engagement with real issues. God calls the church to respond substantively to the needs of the poor, the realities of racial inequity, and the mistreatment of women and the marginalized. We can accomplish change through a range of strategic avenues—spiritually, socially, legally, politically, and economically. And addressing the domestic and international injustices of our day takes us on a journey of spiritual transformation that brings us closer to God and those around us.

 

Channel your passion to care effectively for your neighbor and the world. This book will help you understand and put into action what it means for the church to be a place of peace, justice, and hope.

"With all that is happening in the world, there has never been a more critical time for this important book! In Beyond Hashtag Activism, Mae Cannon brings her years of experience and expertise to call us beyond concern to an authentic commitment to racial justice, gender equity, and global hope. This book is a very practical resource for anyone who wants to actively participate in God's story of reconciliation and social healing. I highly recommend it!"

 

- Brenda Salter McNeil, author of Roadmap to Reconciliation and A Credible Witness

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Holy Land

Christian Perspectives on the Holy Land

A Land Full of God gives American Christians an opportunity to promote peace and justice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It shows them how to understand the enmity with brief, digestible, and comprehensive essays about the historical, political, religious, and geographical tensions that have led to many of the dynamics we see today. All the while, A Land Full of God walks readers through a biblical perspective of God's heart for Israel and the historic suffering of the Jewish people, while also remaining sensitive to the experience and suffering of Palestinians. The prevailing wave of Christian voices are seeking a pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace, pro-justice, pro-poor, and ultimately pro-Jesus approach to bring resolution to the conflict.

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Spiritual Formation

How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action

Activist and historian Mae Elise Cannon explores the direct connection between Christians' personal relationship with God and outward actions of kindness, mercy, compassion and advocacy. She looks at how notable Christian leaders were able to face societal challenges because of the rich depths of their spiritual practices.

 

For example:

  • Mother Teresa's practice of silence compelled her to service.

  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer's prayer life equipped his discipleship.

  • Martin Luther King Jr.'s beloved community empowered his proclamation.

  • Oscar Romero's discipline of submission prepared him to face martyrdom.

Biographical profiles of these and other key figures from around the world give us concrete examples of how activism and advocacy can be sustained over the long haul.

"Jesus' gospel is a call to action. The gospel requires us to right wrongs, to heal the broken places of this world. Mae Cannon is doing just that. Read this book for its rich wisdom that fuels activism like Mae's—the kind of activism needed in our world's toughest places."

 

- Richard Stearns, president, World Vision, author, The Hole in Our Gospel

Spirituality

Biography

Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon

Cannon has served as Executive Director with Churches for Middle East Peace since 2016. An ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), her ministry and professional background includes serving as the Senior Director of Advocacy and Outreach for World Vision-US, the executive pastor of Hillside Covenant Church (Walnut Creek, California), Director of Development and Transformation for Extension Ministries at Willow Creek Community Church (Barrington, Illinois), and as a consultant to the Middle East for child advocacy issues for Compassion International.

She earned doctorates in History (Ph.D) and Spiritual Formation (D. Min). Her Ph.D focused on American History with the minor in Middle Eastern studies from the University of California – Davis, focusing her dissertation on the history of the American Protestant church in Israel and Palestine. Cannon’s Doctorate of Ministry in Spiritual Formation is from Northern Theological Seminary. Cannon holds an M.Div. From North Park Theological Seminary, an M.B.A. from North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management, and an M.A. in bioethics from Trinity International University. Cannon completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Chicago in History, Philosophy, Social Studies, of Science and Medicine.

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Leading Advocacy for Peace in the Middle East

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is a coalition of more than 30 national Church communions and organizations working to encourage U.S. policies that actively promote just, lasting, and comprehensive resolutions to conflicts in the Middle East.

Bio

Soong-Chan Rah

"Mae Cannon's Just Spirituality is now the essential text that integrates justice and spirituality and empowers evangelicals for justice."

Recent Articles and Recordings

Book Review

Book Review: In the Eye of the Storm: Middle Eastern Christians in the Twenty-First Century

Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs

October 4, 2023

A must-read for any serious scholar of Christianity in the Middle East. The book provides a broad overview...

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Humanitarian

The Worst Famine Today Is Largely Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Christians for Social Action

June 27, 2023

One of the most devastating food crises in the world is mainly out-of-sight-out-of-mind for Americans. Most Americans probably could not easily find...

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Religious Freedom; Violence

Violence Against Christians: Degradation of the Sacred and the Holy in Jerusalem

Do Justice

September 8, 2023

He was spat upon when coming out of a worship service

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Justice; Palestine

Allahu Akbar - Finding God in Umm El Kheir

Do Justice

May 1, 2023

Over the past decade, every time I traveled to the Palestinian bedouin village of Umm El Kheir in the South Hebron hills, I was greeted by the village Sheik

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Women; Armenia

The Unknown Saint of Armenia – The Devout and Beautiful Hrispime

Prayers4Peace Blog

July 26, 2023

My favorite piece of Armenian history is that of Saint Hripsime (pronounced Rip-se-may). Hripsime lived during the third century, a beautiful woman who escaped from the clutches of an evil emperor

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Jerusalem; Status Quo

Jewish Nationalism Fuels Increasing Attacks on Christians

Understanding Israel Palestine, KKFI Kansas City

April 28, 2023

Recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, she discusses the Israeli government’s intentional erosion of the historic status quo that has governed Jews, Christians and Muslims’ access to the holy sites

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Articles

Events

Emmanuel Covenant Church

The Joy of a Social Justice Life

September 10, 2023

Havard Memorial Church

Morning Prayers

October 18, 2023

Impact Week Seminar

National Council of Churches

June 14, 2023

Churches for Middle East Peace

Peacemaking in the Midst of War: Pastoral and Prophetic Responses to War in Israel/Gaza

November 10, 2023

First Church Cambridge

Guest Sermon

October 15, 2023

Happy What Curious Podcast

Podcast Appearance: The Bible, Social Justice, and the Centrality of Pain

November 1, 2022

Interfaith Voices

The Path Forward: Prioritizing Human Rights and Learning from the History

May 29, 2021

(Re)Integrate Faith Life Vocation

Spiritual Practices that Fuel Active Engagement in Society

August 21, 2023

Red Letter Christians

Peace in the Middle East: RLC Faith Forum

June 22, 2021

Interfaith Voices

The Dispossessed and Displaced in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

May 28, 2021

Peace and Justice in the Middle East with Mae Elise Cannon

Embrace the Middle East

August 21, 2023

In Defense of Christians

In Defense of Christians Ecumenical Prayer Service

July 14, 2021

Events

Contact Mae

Invite Mae to give a talk or ask her a question.

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