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Vicar's Letter

December 2008

The Vicarage,
North Ford Road


Dear Friends,

When the group who went on the Parish Pilgrimage to the Holy Land at the end of October arrived in Bethlehem on their first day, they did not find a stable or a manger, but something very different. The Church of the Nativity that marks the site is certainly impressive. The spot where Jesus was probably born is marked with a star in the floor and we certainly felt a sense of reverence and wonder as we stood there, but there was something else: the evidence all around of the suffering of the Palestinians.

Outside our hotel there were checkpoints, through which the occupying Israeli troops made the locals pass every time they wanted to go anywhere. All around Bethlehem we saw the grotesque security wall being built around the Arab communities without regard to property or boundaries. When we travelled across to Jerusalem from Bethlehem, our own excellent guide, who was a Christian Palestinian, had to get off the bus at a check point and find his way by some circuitous route. A Christian lady, working in a local hospital, told us they had no hope. “Life is hell for us,” she said.

What should we Christians make of this? We were in the very the place where Christ came to bring peace to the world, surrounded by the opposite. Here was overwhelming evidence of human failings. Here the political groups were so entrenched that it seemed almost impossible that a solution could be found. Perhaps a few observations may be made.

One is that the experience provided overwhelming proof for our need for salvation. It was an extreme example of how human beings make a mess of the world and how they need help to get out of it. Then it showed how stupid it is for any one group to think they alone know what is right. It is even worse when they claim to know exactly what God wants. It showed what happens when people refuse to listen to one another. It showed us also that religious ideas are always open to distortion and abuse. In the Holy Land, for example, we saw how the idea of the “chosen people”, a powerful and creative idea in the Scriptures, could be distorted into a belief about the need for an absolute Jewish political state at any costs. The purpose of the chosen race was to bring God’s salvation to all mankind, not to build barriers around a patch of land

The Christian communities in the Holy Land are dwindling. They depend pretty heavily on visitors. When we attended a service at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral on the Sunday morning, most of the congregation were either American or British. We visited an impressive Arab Rehabilitation Centre in Bethlehem which depends on outside support. Hopefully we provided some encouragement to those working there.

It was not all about this. The Pilgrimage was an inspiring and highly enjoyable experience for all who went, despite the politics. It helped us to see that the one who was born where we walked during another period of political strife is as needed as ever. One thing we can all do at this season is recall some words from Psalm 122, used by Jew and Christian alike, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”


Yours sincerely


 

All visitors to Dartmouth are most welcome at our Churches

 
 

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