Second Peace Communion Practicum

Gather with us for our second virtual practicum, a time of learning and honest conversation with voices shaping how the church prays, worships, and works for justice. Four practitioners bring their scholarship, their pastoral work, and their lived experience to the question of what faithful worship asks of us when our neighbors are suffering.

Fares Abraham is a Palestinian-American pastor born in Bethlehem and the founder of Levant Ministries, which equips and mobilizes young leaders across the Middle East and North Africa. His writing has appeared in Sojourners, Christianity Today, and Religion News Service. You can explore his work at faresabraham.com, follow him on the YouVersion Bible App, or listen to The Fares Abraham Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Joash Thomas is a priest and public theologian based in the Toronto area. Born and raised in India, he served in advocacy leadership with International Justice Mission for a decade before entering the priesthood, and he draws on his St. Thomas Indian Christian roots to call the church toward a contemplative, courageous activism. Get your copy of The Justice of Jesus, visit his website, or read his writing on Substack.

Lamma Mansour is a Palestinian Christian writer, speaker, and sociologist from Nazareth. Her work reflects on what it means to follow Christ in contexts marked by violence, with particular attention to how hope, beauty, and faith take form amid struggle. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Oxford and researches the political, spatial, emotional, and gendered dimensions of Palestinian life. Read her Substack, Dispatches from Nazareth.

Rev. Sandra María Van Opstal is a second-generation Latina pastor, liturgist, and activist, and co-founder of Chasing Justice, a movement led by people of color mobilizing a lifestyle of faith and justice. She is the author of The Next Worship and Rally: Communal Prayers for Lovers of Jesus and Justice, and a contributor to A Rhythm of Prayer. Learn more about Sandra’s work.

Watch the full conversation here:

Questions for meditation, offered by Lamma Mansour and Rev. Sandra María Van Opstal. Sit with these on your own, or bring them to your community:

• What bodies have we learned not to see?
• What wounds have become invisible?
• Whose suffering have we accepted as normal?

Rev. Sandra María Van Opstal led us in two songs together. Listen to “Enduring God” at Common Hymnal, written by Sandra Van Opstal, Phillip Joubert, James Paek, Nikki Holguin, and Common Hymnal. Our benediction was “Light of the World,” also at Common Hymnal, written by Amanda Opelt, Andre Henry, and Common Hymnal.

If this conversation stirs something in you, here are a few ways to take a next step. You can get the Peace Communion Set and other Gaza items from the RLC store, and visit the God Loves Gaza website to learn about the campaign and how to get involved.

Our guests also gather with others in person. Christ at the Checkpoint convenes Palestinian Christians and global partners in Bethlehem, Palestine, December 27–31, 2026. Church at the Crossroads holds gatherings in cities around the world, including Atlanta, Belfast, Sydney, Auckland, and San Salvador — check their site for the next one near you.

This program is made possible through a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.

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Thank you to all who joined us today! We’d be grateful if folks are able to take 5 minutes to complete this short survey about today’s practicum: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScUEgf-cW51F9G86oAxuk9URKuhLw9ImxOeXyuIRcdhn3C1-g/viewform