It is a tradition here in St Andrew’s Jerusalem and Tiberias to hold a service of worship on St Andrew’s Day and to invite friends and partners. The Scots House Hotel https://www.simplebooking.it/ibe2/hotel/9441?lang=EN&cur=ILS provides a wonderful buffet. Coming as it does, before Advent and the busy Christmas season, it is a staple of the ecumenical and interfaith calendar.
And, on the same day, our friends in Scotland, Friends of St Andrew’s Jerusalem and Tiberias https://www.friendsofstandrews.com/ hold their service annually in St Cuthbert’s Edinburgh. The moderator of the previous year is generally the preacher. This year the Very Rev Sally Foster Fulton spoke. You can watch that service here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPqASVoDYZk
There was no service in Jerusalem last year, and this year my colleague Rev Dr Stewart Gillan and I felt we wanted a quieter, more reflective style of worship. We called it Prayers of lament and hope. We asked Rev Ines Fischer of the Lutheran congregation at St Augusta Victoria, who regularly hosts prayers in the style of Taize´, to help us lead worship. We also enjoyed music by the Collage Duo at the beginning and end.
The service began with the lighting of three candles representing God above us, God beside us and God within us. As well as some well-known Taize´ songs, we sang two short songs from Scotland ‘Lord of life, we come to you’ and a final blessing sung to the tune Ae Fond Kiss.
A highlight for me was the testimonies of hope from 3 friends and partners.
Anton Goodman of Rabbis for Human Rights https://www.rhr.org.il/eng began by saying that hope belongs to the privileged and the desperate. The privileged expect to be bailed out, and the desperate have no resources except hope for a better tomorrow.
Anton says, ‘Hope is mentioned in the Talmud as a core value in life. While we are alive we have hope which is only lost at death. Some Rabbis say that the whole purpose of the commandments and Jewish lifestyle are to engender hope… However, there is no direct commandment which demands the intention of hope. We are commanded to love, to have good intentions, to feel compassion and empathy, but not to hope.’
This is significant, Anton thinks, because it is the action of loving that leads to hope.
Shirabe Yamada of Sunbula https://www.sunbula.org/ thought she had nothing to say about hope, and then she remembered the women who continue to use their embroidery skills to bring some income for their families, and the students of Dar Al-Khalema University who have been inspired by a recent Sunbula workshop to incorporate traditional embroidery designs into their fashion and textile designs.
And I would add that Sunbula’s commitment to continue to support the women of the two embroidery projects in Gaza gives me hope.
Rami read the words of our third speaker who could not be present because he cannot get a permit to leave the West Bank. Awda is a teacher in a Bedouin community. He wrote ‘The last year has felt like 50 years, and the challenges are far from over. We rely on your solidarity and care now more than ever.’
Settlers have become increasingly bold in their attacks and the IDF does not stop them. If a Palestinian resists with force he or she will arrested at once.
‘Despite everything,’ Awda writes, ‘we continue to resist the occupation along with the constant attacks and harassment from the settlers. The situation remains extremely unstable. At times, the army and settlers will close down roads, isolating people and restricting access to our cities, clinics, and hospitals, making life even more difficult.’
The financial situation is really tough for everyone, and people are living in constant worry, stress, and fear. The weight of uncertainty feels like too much to bear. We don’t have the same hope we once had, and it’s hard to see a way forward.
Following the testimonies there was a time of silence. And we sang in Arabic, English and Hebrew, ‘God of peace, in your wisdom give us the will to seek peace.’
The congregation was smaller than usual: some 50 rather than 120. There was a spaciousness, though, a chance to really talk at supper, and a recognition that lament and hope belong together, and that it had been good to pray together in this way.
It is a dark and worrying time all around the Middle East. Yet, the words of John’s gospel stay with me: ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot put it out.’ John 1:5