
January 2012
Dear friends,
When I was
appointed as Assistant Curate to this benefice, I learned that Keith was to
take a period of sabbatical leave. Time has flown by and that time has now
come. Keith has shared with us something of what he is hoping to do during
this time. He is going to be deepening his contacts with Arab Christians in
Israel and discussing issues around faith, religion and reconciliation. No
doubt his experiences will reach into areas which most of us have never
entered. Our prayers are with him.
I thought now
would be a good time just to think about those three issues in our own lives.
What do we mean when we talk about our faith? You may know that, during my
working life, I practiced as an Educational Psychologist and so I have developed
an interest in just what it is about faith that makes it so important to
human beings. Faith is simply feeling that a particular spiritual path is
worth following. Many of us have come to the conclusion that the faith which
makes sense to us is Christianity that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, came to
show human beings what God is like.
What do we mean
when we talk about our religion? That is not really separate from our faith,
but it includes the observance of the spiritual rituals which we follow. It
does not stop there since the Christian life is lived according to the
teachings of Christ. I guess this is a
good time to stop and ask ourselves if we really do love God with all our
heart and soul?
Do we show, by the way we live, that we love
our neighbours as much as we love ourselves? I wonder?
When Andrew and I
visited Northern Ireland a few years ago, following the marriage of our son
to a Roman Catholic Irish girl, we visited the Corrymeela
Community. This Community is committed to reconciliation and peace among
people of different religions not only in Northern Ireland but throughout the
world. They run weekends for young
people from different denominations so that the barriers of prejudice are
broken down.
I wonder if there
are still issues in our lives and in our communities where the issue of
reconciliation needs to be addressed? The joining
together of seven country churches into one benefice seems a very small thing
compared to the huge issues in the wider world but I believe that we can
only live our
Christian lives with integrity if we are at peace with one another. I look
forward in February to being involved in the worship in all of the parishes
in our new benefice and to our moving forward together.
Revd. Marian Bond
Bredgar Vicarage
Omission from Keith’s letter – and apologies
Quote: I also hope
to speak to people about their faith and their religion – not the same thing
– and about the political realities under which everyone lives. I guess that some inhabitants of the Holy
Land will feel that they are there by right, for God decreed that they
should be. Others will feel they live
in an occupied country, though the Israeli constitution quite clearly says
that everyone living inside its borders is equal before the law. Some will feel energised towards liberation
– though how so I have to see. Others
espouse reconciliation between peoples who have very clear agendas regarding
the land. We know that these agendas
do not always cohere. Unquote
(My apologies
that the words underlined did not appear in the January issue SV)
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