In Jerusalem
Monday 15 June 2015
The article
The second “Sharing
Perspectives: Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land” course at St George’s
College, Jerusalem led by the Rt Revd Richard Cheetham, Bishop of Kingston and
Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra 18-27 March 2015
The course was
supported by the Christian Muslim Forum and was attended by 10 Christians and 8 Muslims from the U.K. and one from the
U.S.with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of one another’s theology
and perspectives.
Bishop Richard began
by setting the course within a global context and stressing that the way we
live together is vital. By the end of the 10 days we had certainly done that
and gained a new group of friends! This was a special opportunity to ask the
right questions and begin to see the Holy Land through each other’s eyes. This
article can only attempt to bring out some themes from a wealth of experience. We met with Palestinians and Israelis notably
Rabbi David Rosen.
Shohel Ahmed from East
London writes: “For me one theme which stood out was Hospitality. Beginning with the college itself, and the staff at
the college, we were greeted with large smiles, firm handshakes and good food.
Walking around the markets, it was usually a ‘welcome’ and offering of tea in
most stalls and shops. In the mosques it was ‘salamwalaikum’, and a sense of
serenity which comes from familiarity. In Dr Mustafa’s house, and in parallel
most houses, it was ‘Ahlan wa sahlan’ with excellent food, company and
hospitality from young and old alike.
Wherever we went, I
felt that the Palestinians were most happy to have us and host us, and share
their wonderful country with us. For me that was striking and apparent from the
outset.”
David Kesterton from
Luton on his first visit to the Holy Land focused on Place.”What does it mean to share holy spaces? We saw a number of
strained and forced efforts. Perhaps we need a version of the Pact of Umar for
the 21st century?
Christian devotion
earths the ministry of Jesus, his birth, ministry, passion, death and
resurrection, ascension. The specificity
of this “earthing” has resulted in places of pilgrimage and intense devotion.
This course has helped me to recognise this fact. Whether these sacred spots on
the earth have a genuine claim to “be the place” or are merely in the right
general area doesn’t matter and the ultimate point is that it happened
somewhere rather than nowhere.
Long before the days
of Mission Action Planning in the Church of England, when I was a team vicar in
the 1990’s– we thought about strategy and one of the five foci was “Place”.
What was the distinctive sense of place about each of the areas in our team
ministry? What were the stories that made them unique? It was never possible or
desirable to adopt a one size fits all approach to mission. Somehow visiting
the holy places on the course reminded me of the importance again of place in
the context of parish life.
One of the areas the
course did not find time to address in a structured way – was how we deal with
the theological differences at the heart of the two faiths. The contrasting
approaches to prayer and the nature of the obligations which are inherent in
the faiths brings the same question to the surface –“What does it mean to talk
about Freedom in Christ and how do we share this central theme of our faith
with our Muslim neighbours”.
Overall it was a great
privilege to attend this course and it has deepened my understanding of Islam
and my awareness of the historical roots of the ministry of Jesus.” David commented “I found myself walking down the Mt
of Olives with a Muslim colleague asking me about the Christian the
understanding of salvation. Is everyone going to heaven? I began explaining the
theories of atonement and found myself saying “There are a variety of views”. I think this is a phrase that will come more
than once and I wondered if this sounded “too woolly” for my Muslim friend.”
Another theme which
was always present was Prayer.
It was valuable to
visit the mosques as well as the churches. Throughout the time together we were
very conscious of our Muslim friends going
very early in the morning and at every opportunity to the Al Aqsa mosque
to pray. This is the third most important site for them and prayers there are
multiplied 10,000 times. It was an enormous privilege to go into the Al Aqsa
mosque and the Dome of the Rock together. They are both astonishing building of
great beauty and steeped in devotion.
For the Christians the
liturgies in St George’s cathedral and the college helped to bond us together
and there was a memorable Eucharist by the sea outside the Church of the
Beatitudes attended by the whole group. Going early on Sunday morning to the
Holy Sepulchre we were able to experience Coptic, Armenian and Ethiopian
Orthodox liturgies. At the final station on the Via Dolorosa just outside the
Holy Sepulchre outside the Coptic Orthodox church there are large banners
showing the martyrdom of 21 Copts in Libya – a chilling reminder of the
on-going persecution of Christians.
David Kesterton
commented “Our group attended the Sunday Eucharist at St Georges Cathedral –
with the sermon delivered in Arabic and English. The only word in the Arabic
sermon I recognised was “Facebook”! It was odd that the Muslim sitting next to
me followed more of the sermon than I did. “
Visiting Bethlehem,
Nazareth, Capernaum and the Sea of
Galilee put things into a different context. At Nazareth we heard passages from
the Quran about Mary. At the sea itself our Muslim friends washed and prayed at
the sea shore while others paddled or spent time in contemplation. For all of
us this was a very special place.
Finally a theme which
shone through was Hope. There was a
message of hope in our encounters with Archbishop Suheil Dawani, the Anglican
Archbishop of Jerusalem and his wife . We heard of the work of hospitals and
clinics and of local interfaith work where Christians have a vital role.
Religion can be part of the solution not the problem. The visit of Pope Francis
had sent a powerful message of peace. The Archbishop stressed the importance of
embracing the Middle East. The West must not neglect the Christian presence in
the Holy Land who are living stones and many are suffering poverty because
there are no jobs. But the 15 year old Muslim and Christian students expressed
solidarity. Being Muslim or Christian did not matter. They had great hope for
the future and wanted to make Palestine the best country in the world!
We learnt a lot and we
grappled with difficult and sensitive issues. The message of this time together
is that we can share so much and live well together. We need to build on what
is already in existence and promote more local joint projects. The
Palestine/Israel issue needs to sensitively addressed in our interfaith forums.
It has tended to be overshadowed by IS but until this is resolved there cannot
be peace in the region.
The course will be
repeated 10-17 March 2016 at the college which is an excellent place to stay. www.sgcjerusalem.org
John Woodhouse
Westminster Cathedral
Interfaith Group
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