The 2021 General Synod Declaration detailed several actions of witness and advocacy for its implementation. One is specifically inward facing: a kind of liturgical audit. Do our biblical interpretations conflate the ancient Israelites with the modern state of Israel? Are we decontextualizing Gospels, reading the stories 'on the flat,' ignoring the Roman imperial context of Jesus’ ministry? Are we silent about the parallels between the occupation of his day and of today? 

As one response to the Declaration’s call for critical examination of “our use and interpretations of Scripture as well as liturgies and hymns,” UCC PIN is offering two resources specific to, and in preparation for, Advent, both of which recognize Palestine's context of empire, then and now.