|
Other Letters:
Index
No 25-30
No 31-36
No
37-41
No
42-48
No 49-60
No 61-69
No 70-79
No 80-89
No 90-100
No 101-109
No 110-119
No 120-129
No 130-139
No 140-149
No 150-159
No 160-169
No 170-179
No 180-189
No 190-199
No 200-209
No 210-219
No 220-229
No 230-239
No 240-249
No 250-259
No 260-270
|
Easter Letter
Dear folks,
Below is a letter that I have sent out by ordinary mail to quite a number of folk who sent
us cards at Easter time. When I was getting to one card, where I knew there was an e-mail
address, I thought, why not send it to all whose address I have! Big - headed.
If you have already heard about it, seen it or whatever, you can use the delete button, or
the WPB - or write back and say that your address is changed!
I hope you are all well.
God bless,
Clarence Musgrave.
19 April, 2001
Dear friends,
Now that the special services for Holy Week and Easter are over, I am spending a day
trying to answer all those who were so thoughtful and kind as to send us greetings for
Easter, with letters and cards. I thought that I would write a sort of Circular Letter,
and in this way let you all share in what we did, and what we felt. I hope you do not mind
this rather impersonal approach, but hopefully it will at least mean that I can get in
touch with all of you while Easter is still relatively fresh in our minds.
Also, some of you who receive our personal Circular Letter by e-mail may well have already
received much of this information. In that case, there is always the WPB!
In the life of the congregation, there were some special services, but being a relative
new-come to the church scene in Jerusalem, and being a relatively small congregation, St
Andrew’s found an already established programme, and so for the most part shares in
services arranged in other churches. However, we did do our own thing, to some extent.
For Lent, in response to a request/suggestion from one of our members who is shortly to be
ordained in the United Presbyterian Church of the USA, it was agreed to hold a series of
evening services following the tradition of worship found at Taizé. As many of you will
know, this involves singing some short hymns/songs of one or two lines several times, time
for readings, and time for silence. We shared in the 5 services that we had with the
English-speaking community attached to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old
City. Services were held alternately at St Andrew’s and the Lutheran church, at 1900
hours on the first 5 Sundays of Lent. Congregation numbers varied for 25 up to 40, and it
was interesting that there were representatives from several different denominations.
Missing were any people from the older traditional Orthodox churches, and the evangelical
churches. Few Palestinian Christians attended, and even fewer Messianic Jewish Christians.
However, the services provided a sort of oasis of quiet in what was a busy time for most
people. All who came appreciated the calmness, even if it only lasted for an hour, and we
were then confronted by the harsh realities of life here in the struggle between Israeli
and Palestinian. ( Now that Lent and Easter are past, we will continue with these services
on the first Sunday evening of the month, at St Andrew’s, and hope that they can
develop into a sort of outreach to the wider Christian community.)
Palm Sunday provided us with the same sort of opportunity that you will all have had in
your own congregations, to recall the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and the start of the
week that led to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In our service, we distributed small palm
crosses to everyone there, and invited them to take some to send to their friends and
families. The afternoon witnesses a procession down the Mount of Olives to the Church of
St Anne, in the Old City, which is on the site of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the person
who had been sitting at the side of the pool for years. Some of us walked up to the top of
the hill – about a smart 45 minutes’ walk – and then meandered down with
the procession. Many folk carried palm branches, different groups sang in their own
languages, and there was a sort of happy atmosphere that I could well imagine existed on
the first Palm Sunday. The one ironic aspect of the whole afternoon was the fairly
“heavy” police presence, - armed, with riot sticks and helmets - I am not too
sure of their role – to protect us? to prevent us being troublesome? However, that
seems to be standard practice for here.
Few special services are organised for the Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of Holy Week.
However, on the Monday evening, the Sisters in the Convent of Ecce Homo (the Convent at
the place where Pilate is reputed to have offered the crowd the choice between Barabbas or
Jesus) had arranged a Taizé service, and some of us went to that. The front of the church
has an arch which is reputed to be from the Roman buildings at the time of Christ. The
whole place was largely illuminated by candles; there was plenty of time for silence; the
singing was subdued; towards the end prayers were said in about 6 or 7 languages,
including Gaelic; and it was an important part of the week for us.
Maundy Thursday presents a feast of Services. We chose to go to the Lutheran Church of the
Redeemer for a Service of Holy Communion. This was conducted in Arabic, German, English,
and Danish – representing the different communities that worship there. Having two
sermons, one in Arabic and the other in German, provided time for meditation (some might
unkindly call it snoozing!). Communion was shared at 4 different parts of the church, and
it was quite moving to see the way in which people of all different nationalities shared
together. It was also moving at the end of the service when the prayers for the people of
Israel were offered by the German Provost of the Church – who would have thought 50
years ago that one would feel comfortable with a German minister not only leading worship,
but praying for Jewish people. How times change.
From the service, there was a procession to the Garden of Gethsemane. As those of you who
have visited it will recall, it is quite a small place, and there were many folk with the
single idea of being there on that Thursday evening – so it was far from peaceful and
quiet.
Earlier and later there were services of washing of feet, by Greek Orthodox bishops, by
Anglican bishops, by Catholic bishops. We did not think that we would intrude on such
occasions this year, so we have that to look forward to next year.
Good Friday started early – up at 0500 hours to get to the start of the Via Dolorosa
in the Old City, to join a procession organised by the Anglican Church of St George. It
was fascinating to go through the Old City, with the streets deserted, meeting only a few
Christian pilgrims making their way along the Via Dolorosa, or just going to the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, to pray in it or near it, if it was not open. Our group eventually
numbered about 200, and as we made our way from one Station to the next, we often sang
hymns – familiar ones from CH3, even if they were set to different tunes in the
tradition of the Anglican church! AS it was so quiet, and before the city had really come
to life with all the bustle, and intrusion that that would have brought, it meant that we
had quite a “devotional” progression from one place to the other. When it was
all over, we then went with Rizek and Alice Abusharr (the Session Clerk and his wife) and
had some humus from breakfast at a small, very unpretentious, snack bar which had
delicious humus. Not quite our normal breakfast.
There was a whole smorgasbord of services across the city, but we contented ourselves this
year with getting ready for the short walk that we would take with the congregation in the
afternoon, from St Andrew’s to the Cenacle – the possible site of the Last
Supper – and on to St Peter’s in Gallicantu – the church built at the site
of Caiaphas’ house. There were perhaps 20 of us who walked, and on the roof of the
Cenacle we had a short service. On to Gallicantu, where we had another service. Beside
where we were sitting is a sort of flight of steps cut into the rock – and said to be
one of the more likely authentic parts of Jerusalem, and quite possibly steps on which
Jesus walked on his way to and from Gethsemane. Making it all the more poignant were the
cascades of pink and red geraniums (or should it be gerania? or even pelagonia?) It is
hard to place in such a beautiful context the events of the night of the arrest of Jesus.
Back at the Church, we completed our day with a short service – perhaps by now we
were 30.
Abandoning the city on Saturday, Joan and I went to a village near Nazareth – about 2
hours’ drive away – in terms of distance, much the same as from Edinburgh to
Aberdeen – where we had lunch with Bill and Maha Campbell. Bill is a GP whose
practice is beside Murrayfield Church in Edinburgh, and his wife, Maha, comes from the
Galilee. They were out for a short visit, so we went to see them, thus missing all the
special services in Jerusalem.
Easter Sunday again had a wake-up call at 0500 hours, to enable us to get down to the
Hospice, and set out some chairs on the car park overlooking the Old City. About 30 folk
turned up for the sun rise service at 0600 hours. It was chilly, and a bit of cloud in the
East. I thought that we would not see the sun, but – how little faith I had. Sure
enough, shortly after it had risen about the horizon, it burned of the cloud and there it
was – the same sort of sight that Jesus may have seen on the day of his Resurrection,
the same sort of sight as the women and the disciples may have seen when they went to the
tomb. The sun about the Mount of Olives. Seeing the sun rise was not a new thing for us,
but somehow seeing it rise over the Mount of Olives, on Easter Sunday, was different.
After the service, there was breakfast in the Hospice, which Emma and her staff had all
organised. Then it was home to get ready for the 1000 hours service. In it, we had 3 glass
bowls full of brightly coloured hard-boiled eggs. Rizek told us about them – the
bright colours representing the colours of the rainbow, and the promise of God to Noah,
that there would be life after the Flood – and then each one cracking his or her egg
on that of a neighbour, symbolising the cracking open of the tomb. We share Communion and
then at the end of the service, in a whole variety of languages, reminded ourselves that
Christ is risen.
In the evening, we went down with a couple from the congregation to the village of Abu
Ghosh – about 7 miles from the city. This is one of the places which claims to be
Emmaus, the place referred to in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 24. We ended the day there
listening to the monks and nuns singing Vespers in the Church there – an almost
mystical experience. After the service, it was back out into the noise of the world and up
the dual-carriage way into the city.
It has been different. Different in being places associated with Christ. Different in
being part of a multi-cultural society here, with Jews celebrating their Pesach
(Passover), Muslims with their ordinary routine at this time; the stillness and silence of
the Ecce Homo Monday evening service taking place at the same time as the Call to Prayer
at the Mosque 25 metres away. But above all, the reality of the conflict about power,
about land, about justice, - I am sure you all have your own adjectives to describe what
is happening here. The fact that Christians from all over the world found it possible to
get to Jerusalem, whereas Christians from 5 mils away, in Bethlehem, were not able to
come. In a sense, it gave to me a new understanding of “Incarnation “ – the
Word coming into the world, with its own routines, its own priorities, and its own
agendas. These went on in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, regardless of the agenda and
priorities of Christ. They went on in Jerusalem this year.
Anyway, enough of sermonising. Thank you all for remembering us. We will send this letter
to church correspondents, and also to those who sent us cards as individuals. You may even
hear the news several times in several different ways. Apologies.
With our prayers and best wishes to you all.
God bless you
and love from
Joan and Clarence
top
Circular Letter No 36 :
Diary of Holy Week. 15th April 2001.
Palm Sunday.
The whole new dimension added to worship, to the reading of the Bible narratives, when you
are able to go to the places that you have read about – walk down the Mount of Olives
and past the Garden of Gethsemane, into the Old City, to the area around the Pool of
Bethesda.
Monday – Wednesday.
There are almost no special services listed in the programmes of the various denominations
that are prepared for Holy week. Some of us from St Andrew’s joined some friends from
the Ecce Homo Convent at a Taize service in their church on Monday evening. The
congregation was about 50. The time was 2000 hours. Outside the city was resuming its
character of a place where people actually live. On our way to and from the church we
passed shops that were closing, children playing in the space left by shoppers and
visitors, some people beginning to clean up the rubbish of the day, men walking up and
down the streets, talking and looking forward to the evening meal that the women were
preparing for them at home.
Reflecting the fact that the church is in the Muslim Quarter, opposite there is a small
Mosque, and part way through one of our periods of silence starts the recorded Call to
Prayer of the muezzin. There is a slope outside which provides an excellent place for kids
with their scooters – so our silence is punctuated with the noise of someone
else’s faith, and the normal play of normal children.
Inside the church, there is an arch at the front, which, it is said, goes back to Roman
times. On ledges in the arch, and all around the front, are candles. Most of the light
comes from candles, made the more effective by the dark outside which is lightened only by
infrequent street lights. Simple singing, simple reading, simple praying, and silence. It
could have been a Christian community at worship anywhere – except that we were near
where Christ was finally committed to his execution, and our prayers were said in 6
languages.
Tuesday – Wednesday. Normal life goes on, despite the fact that it
is Holy Week. And so, for us, there were visits, there was the preparation of Services for
Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and all the mundane things that make up everyday life
wherever you happen to be.
Maundy Thursday.
Special services take place all over the city. TV shows some of them on the News –
the elaborate ritual of the Greek Orthodox Foot-washing service was shown on TV and
pictured in the press. I decided to attend a service in the Church of the Redeemer, which
is the main Lutheran Church in the Old City. It started at 1630 hours, and I thought that
I would take the car to the edge of the City, park, and walk in to the church. Here comes
a digression.
Digression – We are still in the week of Pesach – celebration
of Passover. I had not realised that this was a public holiday week – schools closed,
government offices closed, post offices working half time – and people everywhere.
The parks in the vicinity of the Hospice have been flooded with people, mostly in family
groups, and later in the afternoon there are chairs and tables out with picnics. It has
been a real education to see all this family activity, and to see the Jewish part of the
population on holiday. Traffic has accordingly been lighter, noise has been reduced, and
all in all it has been almost a festive time. Of course, if you read the papers, and watch
the news, it is clear that there are other places where things are almost at the complete
opposite of the spectrum. Closure, fighting, killing, houses being destroyed, - as in the
first Holy Week, there is no lack of “man’s inhumanity to man.”
Anyway, the reason for the digression is that on Thursday, with the town so full, and
hundreds of Jewish people streaming into the Old City, there was little chance of finding
a parking space. By someone’s good grace, I did find a place, and got to the church
on time.
The Service was restrained. The Lutheran Church has a ministry to people who speak Arabic,
German, Finnish, Danish, and English. So all of the languages were included in the
service, but done in such a way that no-one could feel excluded at those times when they
were unable to understand the speaker. The music was mostly traditional. As the climax of
the service, there was a celebration of Holy Communion – again in a mixture of
English, Arabic and German. I found it quite fascinating that, in the prayers after the
sharing of Communion, the prayers for the people of Israel were led by the Probst of the
Church, the Rev Ronecker. It was a German who was leading the prayers of everyone for the
people of Israel and Palestine. Who would have thought 50 years ago that such a thing
would have been possible?
After the service, instead of joining the others in going to the Garden of Gethsemane,
Joan and I went to a supper party in Beit Jala. It was the first time for 25 years or more
that we had done something like that on Maundy Thursday and it felt odd. It was a sort of
farewell for a member of the Sunbula Council. Our host and hostess were a Palestinian and
an American who had met 25 years ago when they were both in graduate school in North
Carolina. It was a far cry from some of the houses that we have been in – they are
rather wealthy – but it was just the same as some of the other houses in Beit Jala
– it had been hit by shell fire from the IDF in Gilo. And just like the others, there
is a problem of employment and business. Hanni, our host, employs many people in the
tourist industry, but right now with so few tourists, difficult decisions have to be made
about the level of staff he can continue to pay. George, another of the guests, is a very
wealthy Palestinian businessman with a factory in Bethlehem. To get his raw materials, he
has to use Israeli trucks, as he cannot get his own out of the West Bank. They have to use
back roads, and from time to time be sparing with the truth when they are stopped by the
IDF. Instead of the 150 people he had hoped to employ, he is only able to employ 85. One
of the economic effects of the Closure.
Coming back to Jerusalem, through the check point, I was asked by an ever-so-young soldier
where I worked. The reply of “the Scottish Church” produced the desired effect
and we were on our way. I sometimes marvel at how well the Scottish church is known by the
ordinary IDF member!
Good Friday.
The pilgrimage of the Anglican and Lutheran Churches along the Via Dolorosa started at
0600 hours from St George’s church. We joined it about 0630 at the First Station of
the Cross.
As we made our way into the Old City about 0615 hours, the sun was rising and shining
across the Hinnom Valley to St Andrew’s. The atmosphere was so clear that we could
easily see the hills of Jordan to the East. One of the oddities of life here is that the
two “administrations” do not always get their changes to summer time to happen
at the same time. So last week the Israelis changed, and we are now back to 2 hours ahead
of UK. The Palestinians, on the other hand only change this weekend. So, leaving home at
0600 hours, we get into the Old City at 0515 hours!
It is a wee bit early for much activity – and so gave us yet another view of the Old
City. Deserted streets, apart from Christian Pilgrims making their way in groups along the
Via Dolorosa. Plenty of cats about. Some workmen beginning to get garbage ready for others
to pick up later. (Joan reminds me that there were also sparrows and pigeons galore.!) We
stop at each Station of the Cross until we approach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It
does not open until mid-morning, so we complete our walk at the Church of the Redeemer,
which is only a few metres from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. ( I was going to say,
“only a stone’s throw,..” but that somehow is a phrase that we tend not to
use at present.!)
Impressions : of the city slowly coming awake to a new day; of the
sunlight striking the tops of the buildings; of aged nuns making their way to the door of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to pray; of the noise of people opening shops; of the
smell of freshly baked bread overcoming the smell of the cats; of people on their way to
work having to negotiate a way through the 200 or so people in our group; of the birds
singing so loudly at one place that there were making it hard for the speaker to be heard;
of being watched by the armed guard of a Jewish settlement located on the rooftops of Arab
houses, which is surrounded by a chain-link fence and barbed wire; of praying for the
women of Jerusalem just minutes after a couple of older women who had sat down to get
ready to sell their vegetables and herbs had been rudely and forcefully moved on by the
police; of a procession of Ethiopian church leaders and members passing us, just at the
place from which the women had been ejected; of sharing in prayers with many nationalities
and denominations; of the presence of the Police, armed as usual, and wondering what they
made of all these Christians stopping to read, to pray and to sing.
We had completed our walk by 0800 hours, and with Rizek and Alice we went to have
breakfast at a very unprepossessing Arab “snackery’ where we were the first
sit-down customers of the day. Breakfast was humus, bread, and some tomatoes and pickles.
At 1500 hours, about 25 of us left St Andrew’s to walk across to the Cenacle (Upper
Room) and then on to the church of St Peter in Gallicantu. At each place we stopped for a
reading, a prayer and a hymn. The Cenacle was tightly closed, so we went on to the roof,
and in the middle of what is a Jewish community, had our short service. From thje roof
there was a panoramic view across to the Mount of Olives. Then on to St Peter in
Gallicantu. We were beside what could well be one of the few genuine places where Jesus
might well have walked – steps down into the Kidron Valley. The Church was shining in
the afternoon sun, with bright, clean, new stones. The flowers were cascading down the
walls – pink and red geraniums. And this was the place where it is thought Jesus
spent his last night before the crucifixion. From it, one could see the Garden of
Gethsemane, the Temple Mount, and the Mount of Olives. The sun was shining, the sky was
blue, and it was hot – quite possibly the sort of afternoon on which the Crucifixion
took place. After our short service there, we went back to the church, where we concluded
the afternoon with another short service, - a few hymns and readings. So came the end of
Good Friday services.
We went to look over the city from the Peace Promenade, first going to the extension that
is being built on to it. There we met the watchman – and had a chat. A
third-generation Israeli, he has three sons, and 4 daughters. The girls are all married
here in Israel – the sons away, and not likely to come home. We talked a bit as we
looked down to Jericho, the Jordan Valley and across to the hills of Jordan. He might have
been to Jericho 5 years ago, he said, but not now – too dangerous. As we left, he
spoke of Shalom – feelingly – but one sensed more in hope that with any real
sense that it would come.
At the end of the day, of the week, it is so difficult to make sense of it all. Yet I
think that one thing being here has done is to anchor it all in the real world. The
nearest that I have ever come to this sort of feeling was being at a performance of a
Mystery Play in the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh some years ago, where the people on duty to
perform crucifixions that day, got on with their work while others went about their daily
routine. The crucifixion was a mundane event, almost a routine event, in the life of a
city that had other things on its mind – the celebration of the Passover being
perhaps uppermost. So, today, as we went about our remembering, others went about their
work, or for those on holiday, their play.
Time for bed. Tomorrow we go to a village near Nazareth to meet a doctor and his wife from
Murrayfield – we are going to the home of Maha Campbell. The “village”
– Shefar’am - has a population of about 20,000 people.
Then Sunday – 0600 hours Sunrise service, 0700 hours breakfast, 1000
hours Communion.
Just for the record, while we have been being “holy” there have been the normal
number of shootings and killings, and the usual rhetoric of the politicians, each blaming
the other for the violence. Every service we have been has made reference to “the
situation”. Most of the conversation on Thursday evening at supper was about
“the situation”. Nothing happens without “the situation” being
mentioned.
We wish you all every blessing and happiness at Easter.
Bye for now.
God bless.
Love. Joan and Clarence
top
Circular Letter No 35
8th April 2001
A sort of kaleidoscope as we look back over the week.
To start with today, which is uppermost in one’s mind.
There was a smaller congregation this morning than last week – no tourists. (Last
week at 0955 a group of 25 Americans arrived, followed a bit later by a smaller group of
Scots – so we had a congregation of over 80 – it felt like Christmas!) With the
children today, we talked about flags, and how we recognised our countries etc. Then
talked about the “flag” for Jesus today – Palms – and we had small
palm crosses to be given to every person there. That led on, in the rest of the service,
to think about Palm Sunday, which is what I imagine you were all doing in your own
congregations today. Again, that led on quite naturally to this afternoon.
There was the customary Walk down the Mount of Olives to the Church of St Anne, just
inside the City Walls, where there were some prayers, and then a sort of hymn sing and
traditional dancing. Some of us left the Hospice about 1345 hours to walk to the top of
the Mount of Olives, to meet with the main procession which was due to set off about 1500
hours. Naturally we got there with lots of time to spare – and in surprisingly good
shape.
Around about 1500 hours, the procession came over the hill behind the Pater Noster Church,
Catholic Scouts leading, flags being carried, palms being waved. [At 0400 hours this
morning it had been raining heavily, but by mid afternoon the sun was shining from an
almost clear blue sky]. The procession had been preceded by a “procession” of
Israeli armed police – guns and flak jackets. I suppose that if anything had gone
wrong, they would have been blamed for not being there, but it did seem a bit incongruous
to have this sort of presence for a group of Christian marchers. However, maybe there were
people who might not have welcomed us, if they had been able to get to us.
The road along from the Pater Noster Church to the top of the steps and the narrow road
down the Mount of Olives was full of people, laughing, talking, singing. I was a bit put
out at first, till I realised that in essence this was commemorating a fairly happy and
noisy event itself. Behind us were Latin Americans singing in Spanish. Ahead were Koreans
with their own loudspeaker to keep them in time with their prayers. Americans, Europeans,
Africans - I met the Acting Head of the Ghanaian Mission, and a couple of people with her
– she was from Kumasi, one of the others from Navrongo where there is the mud
Cathedral which we visited. At the road side, a group of Indonesians, then a banner
announcing the Jerusalem Filipino contingent, and so on. What a wonderful horde of people.
Down at St Anne’s, the Latin Patriarch read a statement in Arabic and English, there
were one or two prayers, and a group of young trainees from the Latin Seminary in Beit
Jala. They had their loud speakers, keyboard etc. They sang, and people danced some
traditional dancing. It put a whole new complexion on the “celebration” of Palm
Sunday.
When it was time to leave, we walked back through the Old City, up part of the Via
Dolorosa, where there were smiles everywhere, and then along the road that leads through
the Muslim Quarter to the Western or Wailing Wall. There were not many people around, but
as it was the second day of the Pesach holiday, there were families, kids in their good
clothes, and a fairly happy atmosphere also. We sat in the square for a short while, just
to take in what Jewish people were doing, and then home to the Hospice. It was as we were
in the Square that we realised Joan still had her Palm Cross pinned to her sweater! –
explained some of the looks that we got, as I was also wearing my clerical collar.
It was the first major Feast Day for Jerusalem that we have had here (Christmas was a
Feast Day for Bethlehem) and it has been different. I did not initially think of it as a
happy day, but more of a sombre time at the beginning of Holy Week. However, today, to see
the smiles on the faces of the local church people, to watch the Palestinian Christians
leading the rest of us in celebration, was to get a new perspective on it all.
Tomorrow, there is a Taize Service in the Ecce Homo Church, near the beginning of the Via
Dolorosa. Thursday we will share in a service in the Lutheran Church at 1630, which
culminates in a walk to Gethsemane. Friday at 0600 hours there is a Walk along the Via
Dolorosa led by St George’s, and in the afternoon a shorter walk from St
Andrew’s to St Peter in Gallicantu, where it is said Peter denied Christ, and from
there on to the Cenacle – Upper Room – where the Last Supper may have taken
place, and back to the church for a short service. Sunday, sunrise service at 0600 hours
at St Andrew’s, celebration breakfast in the Hospice, and Communion at 1000 hours.
Then collapse!
But back to yesterday – Saturday. This was the beginning of the Celebration of Pesach
for the Jewish people – the Passover. It is a week-long Festival, but starts with 2
day’s of holiday. Preparation for it is quite intense – in two ways. First of
all, to mark the Exodus from Egypt, and the fact that they were not to have any leaven in
their houses, people here have to do a major house clean – spring clean – to
make sure that there are no crumbs or traces of yeast in their houses. In the stores,
ordinary bread disappears, to be replaced with Matzah – wafers baked with special
leaven free “flour”. So, preparations to ensure freedom from leaven.
Secondly, there had to be the preparations for the Seder – feast/meal to mark the
Passover. (These preparations were complicated this year by the fact that Pesach followed
Shabbat – and so preparations, cooking etc – all had to be complete before
Shabbat) This is a time of Remembrance, a time for families to get together and share in a
religious and social occasion – and so there has to be both special Seder food, and
“party” food. Joan and I were invited to share the Seder with his family by
Robert Brack, the Accountant for the Church of Scotland here in Israel, who is a Jewish
American who has been in Israel for the past 25 or more years. To help us prepare for the
evening, Robert lent us copies of a book called The Family Haggadah – the text in
Hebrew for the Seder, with (thankfully) an English translation. So we had a chance to read
over parts of it before yesterday evening.
Here goes – if you feel you are not into Seders – go to the next section!
There is a Seder plate : on it are :
MAROR and CHAZERES (bitter herbs) For MAROR many people use grated horseradish. For
CHAZARES people use romaine lettuce – either whole leaves of stalks.
CHAROSES which is a mixture of grated apples, nuts, other fruit, cinnamon and spices,
mixed with red wine. This has the appearance of mortar to symbolise the lot of the Hebrew
slaves whose lives were embittered by hard labour with brick and mortar. (It actually
looks unattractive, but tastes better)
Z’ROA (Roasted bone) and BEITZAH (Roasted Egg) The roasted bone (we had a piece of a
chicken, but it is often a piece of shank bone) represents the sacrifice that was made in
the Temple at Passover time. The roasted egg is a symbol of mourning to remind people of
the destruction of the Temple.
KARPAS is a vegetable (in our case parsley) as the final item – this is eaten at one
stage in the meal having been dipped into salted water. The salt water is to remind people
of the tears that the Jewish people shed in Egypt, and is used at a couple of stages in
the meal.
The whole meal has 15 sections, much of which at the beginning is a sort of recitation of
the Biblical account of the journey to Egypt, the flourishing of the Jewish people there,
the eventual reaction of the Pharaohs, the Plagues, the Passover and the Exodus.
It is a story with which Christians will be familiar, but in the context of a Jewish
family, it took on an added significance. It would be easy to be critical of the actual
“performance” of the reading – the sort of criticism that Presbyterians
would often make about the worship of those who use a liturgy or written prayers - ( that
they can be recited in a rote fashion without any sort of understanding or feeling)
–and certainly the readings were long, and there was some desire to complete them!.
Yet, it did give an opportunity for some family discussion about the whole event, and it
did set in context the current Israeli thinking about their own situation. One of the sons
had just completed his month’s initial training before commencing his full time army
service. In a week or two, I could perhaps meet him at a road-block.
I tried to think of a similar sort of tradition elsewhere, and the only one that I could
come up with was the celebration by the Orange Order of the Battle of the Boyne. Many are
critical of the way in which they – the Orangemen – dredge up feelings from
history which the majority of the community now no longer feel relevant. For most
Protestants, the Catholic church is now a sister church, and we enjoy worshipping with
them, even though we do not agree with all their doctrines. I remember seeing a parade of
youngsters in Belfast some years ago, led by a flute band, and the kids were singing
anti-Catholic songs. From one perspective they were preserving their culture, from another
perspective they were preserving bigotry. In the Seder there is the repetition of the
miracle of the Exodus, God rescuing the Jews from Egypt. There is a remembrance of the
real troubles that the Jewish people have endured – none more so than the Holocaust
– and the prayer that God will protect them against every opponent. This is the land
which they have been given, and this is the land which they have to protect, and in which
they will see the Messiah come..
I would have three comments upon the Seder :
First, I could have no doubt about the importance of this celebration and this event for
the life of the Jewish people. It is central to their self-understanding, and gives a
Biblical foundation to their understanding of the need to preserve the present State of
Israel.
Second, from my (Christian) perspective, it is a celebration looking forward to a Messiah,
- a celebration that was somehow incomplete. It was interesting to hear recited several of
the prayers that are used in the Christian Liturgy of Holy Communion – but somehow
the Celebration of Communion seems more complete in that it is to do with a Messiah who
has come.
Third, with the (very understandable ) emphasis on the salvation of the Jews by God, the
gift by Him to them of this land, and their understanding of their special role and place,
there was no apparent room for accepting the legitimacy of the claims of other inhabitants
of this land to their rightful place in it. I find it difficult to see how Israel can
accommodate itself to the pluralist society within its borders – where you have
people of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths, as well as Jews and Arabs, all living
here – when the basis of the Seder seems to me, at least, to be exclusive. The Seder
throws added light on the debate which is going on in the Jewish community about the
exchange of Land for Peace. It is quite understandable for the religious people to say
that it is impossible for them to give away the gift that God gave to them.
Monday morning.
Last night, I had a quick trip to the airport to pick up a member of the congregation
returning from the UK. Yet again an illustration of the very diverse people who now live
here – the majority of flights at the time we were there were arriving from Eastern
Europe, and the language that was most obvious was Russian. What do they all make of the
Seder, I wonder.
One final picture of the week – Saturday mid-day we had gone to Ramallah to pick up a
painting that Joan had bought – as if we do not have enough! – but we think that
this is one which Murrayfield has given to us, though they do not yet know it. There are
now three potential IDF checkpoints going to Ramallah. They all have one thing in common
– large concrete blocks around which traffic has to twist in single file. At none of
them on Saturday was any checking being done, but there were delays at two, just because
two lanes of traffic had to merge into one. At the second there was a huge traffic jam,
which would have taken hours to clear. It was a combination of the single file traffic;
traffic wanting to cross to a side road at one place, across the flow of vehicles from
Jerusalem; and at a third place traffic wanting to join the Jerusalem bound vehicles,
crossing over the Ramallah bound traffic. The few IDF soldiers visible just stood and
talked – why should they worry about chaos when it had been caused for them by the
drivers? It was a classic illustration of the pressures that even an “open”
closure can put upon people, and an further nail in the coffin of any rapprochement
between Israeli and Palestinian. We were glad to be going to Jerusalem – it only took
us 40 minutes to cover a mile.
One wonders if it would be possible to have Palm Sunday now. Would Jesus have been able to
get from Galilee to Jerusalem? Would he have had an ID card to get into the city?
Greetings from the competing claims of Pesach, of Palm Sunday and Holy Week.
God bless.
Love.
Joan and Clarence.
Circular Letter No 34
31st March 2001
Where to start after a week like the one we have had here – this morning the footage
on TV news of the shootings, stone throwing, confrontations yesterday – all across
the country.
Friday morning. Which colour would you leave out of a rainbow? Answers in not more than
100 words, giving your reasons. This was Friday morning at 0815 hours at Tabeetha school
– the secondary/primary school run by the Church of Scotland in Jaffa, next door to
Tel Aviv. I am invited to go down a couple of times a term to speak at the secondary
school assembly. The school community is multi-racial, multi-faith, and the “mission
statement” of the school speaks about giving everyone their value, regardless of race
or religion. Not surprisingly, no colour was chosen, and we went on to talk about how each
colour needs the other to make up the whole – you can guess the attempted application
of the story to our local situation.
Friday evening. When your name is Smith, you are likely to encounter quite a few people
with the same name in the course of life. When your name is Musgrave, there are likely to
be fewer such encounters. One encounter took place last night. It was with two women,
originally from Barbados, now living in Jerusalem were fellow guests at supper in the home
of people who worship from time to time at St Andrew’s. Of their 4 grandparents, 3
were Jewish, one was Gentile with an Irish background – and that was a Musgrave, born
in Tennessee. Interestingly, a photograph of their father showed someone not unlike other
Musgraves much closer to home. They are what are called “Messianic Jews”
“Messianic believers” or plain “believers”.
Much of the evening was spent listening to our hosts and the other two Musgraves speaking
about the Fellowship to which they belong, and the way in where there are many
“hidden or secret” believers. When I asked about their relationship as Jewish
believers -–Jewish Christians – to the rest of the Church, and in particular to
the Palestinian Christians, - one of them denied that there were such people as
Palestinians. As there is no State of Palestine, there can be no Palestinians – there
are Arabs. If this is the understanding and perception among those who profess to be
fellow believers with Palestinian Christians, what hope is there for the rest of the
community?
Thursday evening. In our church Bible Study we were looking at the Beatitudes – all
sorts of different translations for the word “blessed” – and ending up with
an understanding that it was something to do with a relationship with God, and with the
people around us. We then looked at the two verses which speak about “mourning”
and “peacemaking”. “Mourning” was seen as an emotive word – there
were differences of opinion as to whether it was limited to describing emotions when
someone has been bereaved, or if it was legitimate to use it to describe feelings when
people are made redundant, or are divorced. Then we were asked if it was legitimate to use
it to describe feelings when people saw their olive orchards being uprooted? I doubt that
the people whom we met on Friday would have appreciated that question – but perhaps I
am wrong.
Mourning certainly was that word which was applied in many, many situations this past week
– perhaps none more so than at the killing of the wee baby in Hebron by a Palestinian
sniper. It is difficult for the protagonists to find appropriate words to describe their
reactions to this sort of an event. I suspect that there are few who would feel other than
pain, anguish, remorse, despair etc. Yet, to be able to say that can also be difficult. We
received a Newsletter from a young American Presbyterian minister living in the north of
the West Bank, and he put it this way :
No doubt you heard about the tragic shooting that happened March 26. Ten month-old
Shalhevet Pass, infant daughter of Israeli settlers, was murdered by a sniper from the
Palestinian Abu Sneineh neighborhood of Hebron. The news broke our hearts, reminding us of
the 100+ children who have been killed in the last seven months. We recall 18 month-old
Sara Hasan Abdelhaq, who died near Nablus on October 2 of a gunshot to the head, murdered
by Israeli settlers as her father was driving her to the doctor. Three year-old Maram
Hasuna died of tear gas inhalation on November 23. On March 2, nine year-old Obei Darraj
was in his home in El-Bireh when bullets from a nearby settlement fatally wounded him in
the chest. Ten year-old Muhammad Nassar was abducted and later found beaten to death on
March 17. A sniper with a silencer murdered 15 year-old Husam Al Disi on February 26 in
Qalandia refugee camp. These are but a few of the endless stream of young casualties that
have become "business as usual" during the past seven months. Little Shalhevet
joins the tragic company of so many other children, who lost their lives to the grief of
their parents and all of us.
Unfortunately, we fear that the lesson that most people around the world will take from
Shalhevet's death is not one pointing to the tragic results of the conflict. People will
not think also of the scores of other dead children, almost exclusively Palestinian.
Rather, we fear, it will be used to demonstrate the brutality and cruelty of the
"falafel brains" (a poignant nickname offered by Jerusalem radio) who control
the Palestinian Authority. But the truth is that the Palestinian who murdered that girl
was imitating what his Israeli oppressors have been doing on a much grander scale - but
with no less brutality, cruelty, or terror.
This is the truth which those who seek a just peace in this area must face. We cannot
stand with one side against the other, because we risk becoming apologists for terrorism -
whether done by Palestinians in black kaffiyes or Israelis in green uniforms. Instead, we
must continue to shape a vision which is the only hope of redemption
You see the problem. The Jewish apologist will speak of the brutality of the Palestinians.
The Palestinian apologist will speak of the much more frequent killings by Israelis - How
can they learn to speak to, or with, each other? How can they learn to share each
other’s griefs – and then perhaps to share in some form of understanding, and in
some form of accommodation.
It used to be that outsiders might nudge leaders here to some form of limited contact.
However, in a week when such “pressure” might have been helpful, there was
no-one to offer it. The UN is persona non grata to the Israelis – the US in
increasingly seen as an extension of the Israeli government by the Palestinians. The UN
was prevented from passing a resolution which was anathema to the Israelis, by a veto of
the US. Around the same time that the US President says that the Kyoto accord will not be
implemented as he will do nothing to harm or hurt, what he perceives to be the interests
of the US people – President Bush says that Israel is right in insisting that the
Palestinian Authority must stop the violence. (Friday’s fatalities’ score –
Israel 0, Palestine 6) Why should the Palestinians have any regard for what the Americans
say? And so there is the impotence of the UN – the non-involvement of Europe, and the
partiality of the US.
Our Jewish supper companions last night remarked, in an offhand way, that of course the
whole world hates the Jews. It is taken for granted, that Israel is on its own, apart from
the US.
Our Palestinian contacts wonder why it is so important to enforce UN resolutions on Iraq,
while ignoring the enforcement of UN resolutions on Israel, or why it is so important to
put NATO troops in a buffer zone in Macedonia, while allowing the Israeli forces free
rein, or perhaps that should be “reign”, over the occupied territories.
Yet, even as I write, I realise that it is wrong to speak of “Israelis” and
“Palestinians”, just as it is wrong to speak of “Christians” as if all
Israelis and all Palestinians agreed with all that is being done in their names, and as if
there was one, united Christian approach to the situation.
One of the sadnesses here is that there is a fairly clear divide among the Christians,
between those on the one hand who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and those on
the other who are sympathetic to the Zionist cause. There is not a great deal of dialogue
between them. The following is part of the Liturgy to be used today at a special service
organised by Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology here in Jerusalem.
Special Prayers:
The Israeli Occupation is the main source of oppression and suffering. Once the occupation
is over the injustice will cease. We pray for the removal of the crosses that Palestinians
bear:
The cross of siege and military checkpoints that separate loved-ones and obstruct
social-interaction... Kyrie Eleison
The cross of unemployment, hunger, home demolition and dispossession... Kyrie Eleison
The cross of environmental pollution and the uprooting of trees... Kyrie Eleison
The cross of emigration, frustration and apathy...Kyrie Eleison
The cross of detention, imprisonment, bloodshed and the loss of innocent lives... Kyrie
Eleison
The cross of violation of the rights to education, worship and medical care... Kyrie
Eleison
(Young people will carry these crosses and place them at the foot of the altar around a
larger cross that represents the Occupation while these injustices are lifted up to God
Almighty)
In the context of this service, it might be hard to include the crosses that Israelis also
bear, but it might be one way in which to open up channels of communication – to pray
publicly for those in the Israeli community who speak, write and act to oppose the
policies of their government.
Within the Palestinian people there is a real debate over the policy of violence – be
it suicide bombers, car bombs, snipers, stone throwing, or whatever. This was shown this
past week in some of the marches organised by people who did not want to use violence. At
the moment, it would seem that their voices are not able to make themselves heard about
the clatter of the guns and the stones.
Within the Israeli community, there are those who have very real doubts as to where the
present policy will lead. Often such doubts are expressed in Biblical terms. One very
thought-provoking article this past week was about the Plagues in Egypt in the Book of
Exodus. The writer was identifying the Palestinians with the Jews in Egypt, the Israeli
government with Pharaoh, and ended with the question as to whether it would only be when
the Jews lose their first-born that they will be forced to allow people to be free.
There are significant Jewish writers who express such opinions – there are Jewish
organisations monitoring the use of force, the use of torture, and trying to ensure that
people who are arrested have legal representation – and so on.
If you ever get around to praying about this sad land – pray for all the different
groups within each part of the population.
On a personal note, thanks to all who sent cards and gifts for a certain birthday this
past week. One gift was a Recorder – now Joan is being dinned about the ears as I try
to learn to play it = so far have come up with Jingle Bells.
Saturday morning – Joan is painting – cyclamens today. After this, I will have a
bit of work to do at the office, and then hopefully do nothing, as I try to get rid of a
cold.
Bye for now. God bless.
Love from Joan and Clarence.
P S Joan says I should tell you about the countryside. Down by Tel Aviv, hay has been cut,
fields of grain harvested, and the golden stubble makes a bright patchwork, vines are well
into leaf, as are many of the orchards – nearer Jerusalem things are a bit later. The
hill behind the Church and Hospice is beginning to become brown, the anemones are dying,
while the wisteria is coming into blossom. For some weeks there has been the deep pink
blossom of the Judas trees, and now the Oleander is beginning to come into flower. Masses
of Mimosa, says Joan. So, there is still quite a lot of colour about, even if there has
not been much rain for a while. This past week has again been unseasonably hot – but
today there is a bit of cloud and it is cooler.
top
Circular Letter No 33
24th March 2001
[Family News : Vivienne left at the beginning of the week – got home safely, and has
been doing a bit of teaching this week. Before she left she had had a slightly sore
throat. She was on the phone this evening – abscess on her tonsils, flu, and all
sorts of ailments. Moral of the story – don’t leave here – or perhaps
don’t come here in the first place!]
The TV news channels which we see from the UK – BBC and Sky News – have both
been carrying fairly extensive coverage of the Foot and Mouth outbreak, and the ravages it
is causing across the UK, and now into Ireland, the Netherlands and France. Those who live
in rural areas are in our thoughts – and even here there is fear of an outbreak. That
prompted the unusual sight during the week of vaccines against Foot and Mouth being
delivered by the Israeli Government to the Palestinian Authority. If ever there was an
outbreak on either side of the “border” it would be devastating, as this is such
a small country.
One of the columns on the front page of Ha’aretz on Friday was headed : Additional
Settlement planned for Gush Etzion. Gush Etzion is an area to the south of Bethlehem, in
which there are already settlements. Given the universal hostility to settlements on the
side of the Palestinians, and the inevitability of some deal having to be done to bring
”peace” it seems a strange time for the Israeli government to be approving a new
Settlement. However, what is even more strange, is that the approval has been given by the
Planning Board of the Israel Defense Force’s Civil Administration, which is
responsible for land use in the west bank. The power of the army is extremely widespread!
But also in the paper, on Thursday, was a headline about the conviction of Major General
Yitzak Mordechai, a former army commander in one of the regions of the country, and a
former Defence Minister in the Cabinet, of indecent assault. In a leader column, it is
written that “for the first time, a senior public figure has been charged and
convicted of violence and sexual misconduct” The power of the army can also be
challenged.
There is currently being held a Judicial Inquiry in to the shootings in the north of the
country in October, when 13 Israeli Arabs were killed by Israeli forces. Whatever the
outcome of the Inquiry, that it has taken place says something important about society
here. I think that it is only now in the UK that there is an enquiry into the killing of
its citizens by the British Army on what has been called Bloody Sunday, during the IRA
violence, some 20 or more years ago. There is also an increasing awareness of the need to
investigate the killings of Palestinians by soldiers of the IDF. The Chief of Staff has
– perhaps belatedly – ordered that all files relating to incidents where
Palestinians have been killed have to be passed on to the army’s investigative
branch, and from there they may well go to the State Prosecutor. One can only hope that
there is thorough investigation and then disciplinary action. The power of the army is not
absolute.
I recall the vastly different emotions experienced by the two sides of the Northern
Ireland community about the treatment of the two soldiers who shot and killed people when
they passed an army check point. It would be interesting to try to collate our own
reactions to the incidents in which the British Army was involved and where people were
killed in NI, and to the incidents about which we read here in Israel and the West Bank,
when the IDF has been involved in incidents where people have been killed.
But enough of that for the moment. What I had thought to do this week was to tell you
about yesterday. Various members of the congregation, including Joan and myself, had been
invited by Helen Shehadeh to a sort of “opening” of a project at Al Shurooq
School in Beit Jala, by the British Consul General. (The complicated diplomatic world here
means that the Ambassador of the UK Government to Israel is stationed at the Embassy in
Tel Aviv, as the UK does not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The UK Consul
General, who is the representative of the British Government to the Palestinian Authority,
is stationed at the Consulate in East Jerusalem, which is not the capital of the
Palestinian area! Work that out.)
Anyway, one of the programmes of the Consulate is called the Small Grants Scheme, and has
at its disposal about $700,000 per year. (Small is quite appropriate. Talking with one of
the people who comes to the services at St Andrew’s, who is the Head of US AID here,
he said that last week he had spent $30,000,000. For him, a small scheme is a minimum of
$500,000 from a Palestinian applicant and $2,000,000 from an expatriate group.) Under the
Consulate Small Grants Scheme, Helen Shehadeh had been granted $40,000 or so, to get
started a programme for blind woman from the West Bank, to introduce them to computers; to
try to build up their skills; and to talk about civil rights, etc etc etc.
“Empowerment” was a word that was used yesterday. The participants, whose
experience and capabilities vary quite widely, come from Jerusalem, the Hebron area, and
other parts of the West Bank close to Beit Jala.
You will not be surprised to learn that one of the major obstacles that they have to
overcome is the small matter of road blocks and check points. 20 kms along a straight road
often has become 40 kms be the back roads that are necessary to avoid the check points.
To run the course, Helen had to get equipment and so there are some computers and
printers. To many, the sort of computer programme that we saw yesterday is probably old
hat, but for me, to see a blind person typing at the keyboard, and hear a
“voice” telling her what she had typed, was something new. The programme that
they were using yesterday was in English, but there is a Hebrew and an Arabic version of
it. So, standing behind two folk who had a spell at the keyboard, it was fascinating to
see what they had typed, to hear the spoken commentary, and to see them correcting their
own mistakes.
The three people in the room using this particular programme were, as you might expect,
Palestinian. Two came from Jerusalem, and one from Ramallah. The one from Ramallah teaches
English in a school for blind children in Ramallah, and she had some access to computers
before - but not this sort of system. One of the two from Jerusalem is working on a
Teacher Training qualification, having already gained her Master’s Degree from the
Hebrew University here in Jerusalem. The third one is a Physiotherapist working at a
Clinic close to the Mount of Olives. I don’t know what I expected to find, but I
don’t think that I had expected to meet such a rich variety of people, coming to this
particular course. Funding is normally to provide the capital cost of a course, but in
this case there was also an element of running costs included. Evaluation will take place
after 8 months, and then decisions will have to be taken about the future.
Given the pressures that they are facing; given the limitations that there are for people
with any sort of handicap; given the difficulty that people will face in getting
employment, the only thing one can do is to admire the resilience of people like the three
whom we met on Friday. When the whole complicated situation is resolved, one hopes that
these three women, and others like them, will be ready to assume positions of leadership.
They certainly deserve it.
(If you happen to be in touch with your MP, let him know how significant a role the Small
Grants Scheme administered by the Consulate here in Jerusalem is playing. )
On Friday evening, we were invited to dine with a group of church leaders from the
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. (CTBI – how’s that for a forgettable
title!) The leader of the group had been out to make preparations for the visit and we had
met him in February. The Church of Scotland had two representatives in the group of 13
– the former Moderator of the General Assembly Professor Davidson from Glasgow, and
the Rev Sigrid Marten from Glasgow - who is moving to be Minister of Crown Court, London,
one of our partner congregations. Part of the group had visited Egypt, another part had
been to Lebanon and Syria. A third group had been to Jordan, and had planned to go to
Iraq, but visas arrived too late. Then they all met up in Jerusalem last week, and had
visits to different parts of the country. I was sitting between an Irish Methodist woman
from Dublin, and an Anglican from the West of England, who turned out to be the Bishop of
Exeter. The Lutheran Bishop here in Jerusalem, Bishop Munib, was also at the meal, and he
it was who spoke to them about the importance of their visit – the fact that they had
come, as much as anything else. What they learned, what they felt, we will know when their
Report is published. If you would like to hear about them, you could get in touch with
Paul Renshaw, e-mail address : paul.renshaw@ctbi.org.uk
Thursday last week saw our Bible Study group meeting in East Jerusalem, just behind the
Garden of Eden. That is the name given to a fruit stand on the road to Ramallah, - and the
first time that we went to the house, I managed to miss the place twice! We were looking
at passages from Isaiah – Chapter 9, Chapter 11 and then Chapter 53. It was
interesting on Friday evening, when Bishop Munib was speaking, one of the phrases that he
used frequently was “the suffering church”. Certainly, for many here, it would
be easier to see suffering as the reality of life, rather than peace and the rule of a
heavenly king.
Supper, marmalade making, and chores are ended for the present. On the news, saw the
reports about the car bombs in Russia and the fighting in Macedonia. With news like that
from all over the world, it is not surprising that the situation here does not get all
that much coverage. It is strange that the chief way in which we as humans seem to think
we can get our way is to use violence against others. Maybe we need some way in which we
can translate Isaiah 53 into thoughts, language, illustrations, - whatever - so that
people get a chance to hear it, and give it a chance.
Next week, we hope to get to Kalandia, the Refugee Camp on the way to Ramallah, and also
to Idna, the village beyond Hebron. In both places it will be about support for groups of
people who have little going for them at present – and seeing if there is any way, as
far as Idna goes, that we can do something specific.
This week the weather was scorching hot – almost like the summer. Out came the light
clothes, away went the winter sweaters. Then last night it poured, and the rain wakened
us; today, it was freezing - we went out for a walk in the late afternoon – sweaters,
anoraks, and all that we could reasonably wear!
More next week.
Bye for now. God bless.
Joan and Clarence.
A monologue is a conversation between two people like a boy and girl friend.
(Joan and I have had a discussion – who is the one doing all the speaking. Guess who
said what!)
top
Circular Letter No 32
17th March 2001
As I said last week, the tourists are coming back. This
week we have seen 6 bus groups in Galilee, and similar numbers of tour groups around
Jerusalem. Tour buses were also heading into Bethlehem, though like everyone else, they
had to wait while the checks were carried out at the army check point. One of the big
headlines this week was that the Closure was being lifted at one or two places, and
Bethlehem was one of them. I, therefore, in my naiveté, had a vision of traffic moving
fairly freely. Not a bit of it. There was still checking, still vehicles being turned
back, and when we did get in to Bethlehem, there was then the problem of how to get out.
However, more of that later.
We had a quick trip to Galilee with Vivienne, and the transformation
from Christmas when we were there with Peter was a delight to the eyes. Fields, not quite
of waving grass, but at least of grass, blossom on trees, cereal crops beginning to ripen,
- all because of the fact that rain had fallen. The level of the Sea of Galilee has risen,
perhaps 30 cms, perhaps a bit more. However, it is still a long way below the supposed
danger level, and needs every bit of water it can get to fill it up before the real dry
season sets in. Which is what makes the story in the papers on Tuesday or Wednesday so
compelling. Fairly large headlines accused the government of Lebanon of building a pumping
station on a tributary of the Jordan, in order to divert its water away from the Jordan.
Calls for the UN to intervene, and dire threats from the Government of Israel about
countries breaking international understandings concerning the use of
“international” water resources. It seemed a bit of a hollow complaint from a
government which has consistently limited the amount of water made available to the West
Bank. However, a day or two later, the UN issued a statement saying that the Israeli
government had been informed of the decision to build this pumping station, and that its
purpose was to supply water to villages in the area of Lebanon from which Israeli army
units had withdrawn last year. We will see if that is sufficient for this matter to fade
away, but what is sure is that the whole question of water will not fade away – and
decisions will have to be made soon about building desalination plants.
When Joan and I were preparing last autumn to go back to Murrayfield to
share in the Centenary Service of the congregation, we decided that we would take, as a
gift, a Pulpit Fall embroidered by the women of one of the village co-operatives near
Hebron – the village of Idna. In September we were able to visit there with Alan and
Heather Mowat, without too much difficulty. However, since then, the Intifada has evoked
the response from the IDF of Closures, and we have not been able to get to Idna since late
last year. However, by dint of walking over the hills, and taking taxis between check
points, women from the co-operative have come up to Bethlehem – about 60 kms –
to meet with people from the Sunbula shop at St Andrew’s.
The congregation of Vrsovice in Prague, with which Murrayfield is
linked, celebrates its 50th birthday in May, and when it was asked what it
would like by way of a memento, requested some form of an embroidery from Idna. We planned
to try to go to the village last Monday, but a phone call on Monday morning from the
British Consul suggested that it would not be the best day to make the trip! So, a meeting
was re-arranged for Wednesday, in Bethlehem.
Nuha is the member of the group who does the travelling. We met her in
Bethlehem with Toshiko, the Japanese volunteer who has been working with these groups for
some years, and who is skilled in designing embroidery. Joan and Vivienne were with me,
and we headed for a small tea room which Toshiko and Nuha usually use for their meetings.
There are three tables, and we got one of them = tea was ordered, and then the lights went
out – a power failure, or outage. Just normal, said the people. It lasted for well
over half an hour, then the lights came on and we got our tea!
We had just sat down, when Nuha quietly began to cry – so we had
to sit and wait for her to compose herself. Crying is not something that any of us had
ever seen her do. Her journey had taken about 2 hours – for 60 kms. She had had to
change taxis a couple of times, and had had to go through 10 IDF check points, with the
ever-present possibility that for no discernible reason a soldier would not allow her to
go on with her journey. Having got to Bethlehem, then was then the problem of getting
home. Also, with the disappearance of tourists, the market for their goods had
disappeared, and so the women of the co-operative were not meeting – they had nothing
to work at, with virtually no orders. This is the group which we may try to help with some
of the money that many of you gave at Christmas time. (It is true that they are only
one such group, and there are dozens across the West Bank – but we are unable to help
them all.)
We eventually got to the discussion about the order for Prague
– a Communion Table Cloth. For a group of Muslim women, it is a table cloth, though
they are delighted to be producing goods for churches.
- The top panel of the cloth will have an embroidered version of the mosaic that is in the
Church of the Loaves and Fishes – to represent the feeding by Christ of the
multitude. When used for Communion Services in Prague, it is hoped it will be a
significant reminder of the Bread that Christ gave, and the Bread that is himself.
- The two end panels of the cloth which will hang down from the table, will have a
Jerusalem Cross in the middle of each end, set in a stylised border of grapes
- The front panel will have three Celtic crosses, also set in a stylised border of grapes.
Toshiko has never designed anything like this, the women have never
made it, and we have never been involved in planning anything like it. Churches, watch
this space! Any of you wanting new cloths for a communion table, a Fall for a pulpit, etc.
We would be delighted to assist in supplying you, and the women of Idna would be thrilled
to have more work.
(Once we get the finished article, I will try to get a photo on the
computer, so that I can send it to you.)
When we were finished our meeting, we went for a quick shopping trip to
a shop that sells cloth and threads, and then it was time to go home. We said that we
would take Nuha as far as we could. Remember, The Closure around Bethlehem was lifted,
according to the papers, So off we went on the Hebron road, and got to the end of the town
where there was still the large mound of earth shutting the road. Back we came and
followed the “bypass” of the taxis and trucks. It took us to another, even
higher, mound of earth and rubble, but in the middle of this 3 metre high mound, a hole
had been cleared, just wide enough for a truck or a bus. There was a steady stream of
traffic, and we waited our turn. We passed through the barricade, and came to the main
road, where there were two Israeli Army Jeeps – with the soldiers paying not the
slightest bit of attention to the traffic. We were able to turn south on the road, which
had a reasonable volume of traffic on it – and get to the outskirts of Hebron without
a check point. There, we left Nuha, as that road into Hebron was closed with a mound of
earth, and as she felt safer going in a taxi from the other side of the mound, than trying
to pass through or by Hebron with us.
Happily she was in a better frame of mind by mid-day than she had been
when we met her – but what a way for the Israelis to win friends and influence
people, and what a way to run a Closure which has allegedly been lifted.
There is a growing number of people, within the government as well as
in the press, saying that the whole Closure business is counter-productive. An interesting
article this week started off with a description of the tactics of the British Army in
South Africa at the time of the Boer War – closures then, and the isolating of one
community from another. It worked; the British won the Boer war, - and then lost South
Africa. Would Apartheid ever have come if there had been a more enlightened approach to
people in 1900? Anyone can be wise after the event, but I found it interesting that this
was a historic episode to which Israeli writers were going back.
Our House Group had 15 in it last week. The speaker was Calvin Shenk
– a Mennonite minister from the USA, who teaches in the Eastern Mennonite University
for 6 months of the year, and at Tantur Ecumenical Institute between Jerusalem and
Bethlehem for the other 6 months. For quite a few years he worked with the Mennonite
Church in Ethiopia. His teaching includes courses designed to help people understand more
of contemporary thought in Judaism, and it was with this in mind that we asked him to lead
our discussion. A couple of quotations are quite different from the headlines that one
normally hears around here.
- “There have been more books about Jesus written by Jewish authors since 1948 than
there were written from the time of Christ up to 1948” No-one is sure of why this is
the case, but it may have something to do with the fact that now there are Jews living in
“The Land”, they can no longer ignore Jesus the Jew, and so have to try to work
out an approach to him.
- A contribution by a Jewish Rabbi to a discussion about the Messiah – “Maybe
the face of the Messiah that we Jews are expecting will not be different from the face of
the Messiah for whose second coming Christians are waiting.”
Even in a Bible Study/Discussion Group tensions are never are away. One
person in the group started talking about the Apology given by the Pope on behalf of the
Roman Catholic Church to the Jewish people for the anti-Semitism of the Church over the
centuries, and went on to talk about the need for other churches to echo such an apology.
Rizek, a Palestinian Christian, quite naturally reacted with his questions about when will
the Jews apologise for what they are doing to his people, both Christian and Muslim, now.
What about the 12 people who have died because they have been refused permission to pass
check points by the IDF, as they tried to get to hospital for treatment? One of the
agonising questions that is frequently mentioned here is why do people who themselves have
been “victims” act with such lack of understanding as they victimise others?
Such tensions cannot be swept under the carpet. At some stage they have
to be faced, and dealt with. One of the surprising things to me – now that I am here!
– is the way in which our church trains its ministers who will spend a life-time
preaching about events that took place in the Holy Land, without ever thinking that it
ought to include in its educational curriculum a time of study in the Holy Land. I have to
admit that I worked for almost all of my preaching life, without ever wanting to come here
and see things – as I did not want to be a tourist, and get a bird’s eye view of
things in 10 days or so.
This week, I went to speak to the Principal of the Jerusalem University
College. They run 2 week courses, using only their own academic staff, to introduce people
to the relationships between the Land and the Bible – teaching history, geography,
some culture etc. Cost is not cheap - $1,460 for board, tuition, transport within
Israel/Palestine, and entrance fees. Transportation to and from Israel is extra.
There is a course lined up for 22nd October to 4th
November. If anyone would be interested – it is for lay people as well as ministers
– please get in touch with me. I will try to get together a group, if at all
possible. Although the College has its own accommodation arrangements for Jerusalem, we
will try to get accommodation for Scots (and others!) in St Andrew’s.
If a group is formed for this autumn, it would be a sort of pilot
group. If we could get a group of 25 or so, then we could even ask the College to make an
itinerary to meet our specific needs.
I am hoping to be able to send more detailed information to the Board
of Ministry in Edinburgh. If anyone wants to look up the JUC Website , its address is www.juc.edu
Have to go now, and get out into the sunshine. The
family is awake and waiting for me – also just had a call to go to the Hospice and
get the Bibles that have been delivered there – courtesy of the Friends of St
Andrew’s. We willhave nice new Bibles for our service tomorrow.
We hope you are all well. God Bless.
Love from Joan, Vivienne and Clarence.
Specially for John Maclaren and John Skinner and co : A tourniquet
is a tournament for croquet players.
Hope your croquet gets started soon.
|
