BeachcomberFX

Category: BeachcomberFX

  • Dusking

    Dusking

    Hi folks,  we are taking a little break from our theme this week to think about the seasons. We are now into shorter days and darker nights and I wonder how you are finding them? Many of you know that in general I begin to struggle at this time of year, mainly because I love the summer, I love light nights, and beer gardens, and the warmth of the sun, and as we move from that to winter I find I get a wee bit low.

    Over the last couple of years or so I have begun to ‘have a word with myself’ and Karen has encouraged me to try and embrace it… so this last year that’s what I have tried to do.

    It all began with the trees… It began a couple of years ago as I really started to notice the trees in a new way, particularly as the leaves fell, last year I took more photos of trees, and I began to stop and really look at the structure of them.

    So this year I was excited when I began to see the natural art the trees create in their nakedness. It is a  ‘wonder ‘ moment! I have also noticed the leaves more… the colours have been spectacular, i heard it was because of the amount of rain we had over the summer!! It also helped that we were away in Kielder in September as they started to change and fall, it was heavenly.

    As part of my embracing this new way of thinking about this season it led me to ponder and create the Dusking event we held last night at King Edwards Bay with Ian from Sea Soul, (have a chat to David or I about it if you want to know more) Dusking was a chance to celebrate the end of the summer, giving thanks for it, and opening up to the possibilities of the winter months.

    We created a liturgy and a tree like labyrinth in the sand with lanterns in the centre for people to light to remember a loved one… we gave opportunity for sharing and for people to write names of those they loved in the sand and  we encouraged people to interact with the sea… so I danced in the sea… I wasn’t in very long, but it was invigorating, and freeing to move my body in the sea… I will definitely be doing it again!

    This all came about by going to a talk at Greenbelt facilitated by someone I follow on various social media platforms. And she was interviewing Lucy Wright who is an artist, her practice ‘sits at the intersection of folklore and activism’. She is also a ‘Hedge Morris Dancer’.  Hedge Morris is about holding a place for those who don’t have or can’t be with a group of Morris  ‘siblings ‘ as she calls them.

    She has also created a new tradition which she has called Dusking… hence why we called our event  Dusking… The whole idea is to provide an opportunity at the end of the year for people to dance the sun down ‘marking the start of winter and the gifts of rest, replenishment and reflection’.

    Lucy did it for the first time last year and was surprised by the numbers who took part in solo dances in all kinds of situations – children running and jumping in back gardens saying good night to the sun, folks in kitchens flailing tea towels around and wheelchair users in front rooms waving hankies… She says she wants it to be Inclusive and full of self expression.

    As I listened to her it was inspiring to think of the seasons in new ways and then  I started to make spiritual connections between practice, nature, art and faith.

    After doing a bit more digging I’m learning about how much our spirituality should be more rooted in the seasons, picking this up relatively late in life is very frustrating, my early faith journey and spirituality taught me to be sceptical and even treat some of it as demonic… It breaks my heart that much of the way the ‘church’ hasn’t embraced the joy of creation in much more tangible ways… yes of course Christianity loves creation…  The church talk s about it, praise s God for it… but to ‘get’ it we need to be in it, to experience it, to embrace the seasons and all that they offer.

    And so as a bloke in his mid fifties I’m suddenly learning about the seasons and it’s beautiful.

    As we were on the beach the other day and as I danced in the sea, I was pondering on the world in all its darkness as the natural darkness consumed the light. I thought about what it would be like to be in places where hope is a fragile commodity, where the threat of violence is an all consuming reality… it would be easy in the midst of such darkness to close the door and hide… but I danced! And so I choose to dance in-spite of the darkness… we must continue to dance… we must continue to sing… we must continue to make art… we must continue to find ways to bring people together.

     

    This week we are meeting at the Tavern and Galley at 7.30, I hope you can join us.

    Here are some links to Lucy Wright and her writing and her website…

    https://www.lucywright.art/

    https://tradfolk.co/performance/morris-dancing/hedge-morris-revolution/

     

    So here’s some questions 

    If you could be a tree, and be planted somewhere at any point in history, what tree, and where and when would you be planted?

     

    How can trees be a metaphor for spiritual life?

     

    How do you mark the seasons, if at all?

     

    What is the most random activity you have ever been involved with?

     

    What do you think about the concept of Dusking?

     

    What biblical, spiritual concepts come to mind as you think about these ideas?

     

    In what ways could you interact with nature and the seasons more?

     

    How could dancing, art, and singing help in these dark days?

    Peace Rob

    Photos Rob Wylie and Pete Johnson

  • Bring on the Sacrifice

    Bring on the Sacrifice

    Over the last few months we have been reflecting on books, films, music and other things that has inspired or challenged us.  Well over the past few weeks all I have done is consume vast amounts of material on the book of Leviticus.  I am afraid that is what you are going to get here.  Bring on the sacrifice!

    A very brief intro to this much maligned and often ignored book of the Old Testament. 

    1. It shouldn’t be called Leviticus (which measures of the Levites). It should be referred to using the Hebrew term vayikra which means ‘and he called’ the he here referring to Yahweh so it should be ‘and Yahweh called’.
    2. It wasn’t written by Moses. But you knew that already.
    3. The timescale the book covers is a one month period. So we have 27 chapters focused on one month of Moses life and the life of the Hebrew people.  

    I can understand why people don’t like this book. There are a lot of animals that die. There are a lot of rules about what you can and can’t do. There are a lot of things that are repeated over and over again.  Anyone reading it can quite rightly say, this has no relevance to me and skip on to the book of Numbers (which kills off there reading the bible from cover to cover).  There are also lots of bits of vayikra that get cherry picked to make particular theological stands and lots of bits that are ignored.

    Yet this is the book where we are first told to love our neighbour as yourself. The next time you hear those words is from Jesus in the gospels. Maybe vayikra can teach us something after all. Let me summarise some of the things this book might be trying to say to us and show us about what it means to be a people who dwell with the divine presence. 

    Working out a new way of living

    The people that this book is addressed to are a group of former slaves who have been rescued from living under an oppressive regime. I haven’t been a slave and I don’t know what it feels like to live in that way, from reading the experiences of others, especially those taken into slavery from Africa to the US during the transatlantic slave trade it is a dehumanising experience.  For the people rescued from Egypt by God they had only known one way to exist.  In Exodus we get some hints about the kind of community these people were being called to be. One that would bless other nations, would be a royal priesthood (like God’s body in the world) and a holy nation (a different kind of community to those in the world, especially those like Egypt).  In order to become something new and different you need to set out how you will do the things that you need to do. Vayikra does a lot of that. There is a lot of information about what should be done and what shouldn’t. How it should be done and how it shouldn’t.  Sometimes these look like weird arbitrary rules and distinctions but at the heart of them is we aren’t going to be like everyone else. We are going to be different so that we can show people there is a better way.

    Finding a new rhythm 

    Lots of vayikra is about finding a new rhythm to life. If you are trying to do something new or leave a bad habit behind then you need to be intentional about how you go about this. It doesn’t just happen. If you want to become a great cook you have to cook things. If you want to run a marathon you have to set out a training plan and stick to it. If you want to quit smoking then you are going to have to work out what triggers your cravings and what you are going to do to help you resist them.  You need to find a new rhythm, a new order to how you live your life.  To make this kind of thing stick you will have to be pretty strict at the beginning otherwise things will never change. vayikra is about finding a new rhythm to live by.

    An escape from guilt and anxiety

    If you lived with a worldview that told you there were forces at work in the world that could help you or hinder you in your life you may find a way to appease them.  You might offer some of your harvest up to these forces to keep them on your side.  But if you did this and no rain come you would worry.  Worry because you can’t feed your family and you might have angered the forces by not giving them a pleasing gift. This time you offer an animal hoping this will be accepted. The problem with this system is you are never sure where you stand. Worry and anxiety can begin to eat away at you as you try to work out how you secure favour. In many places at the time of vayikra writing and before that led to sacrificing a child, the greatest gift you had, to keep the forces on your side. If you have a set system with clear rules about what was needed and when it was needed then this guilt and anxiety is relieved.  vayikra goes further and tells people that they can actually spend time in God’s presence that they can even sit down together and enjoy a meal with the creator of the world.

    We aren’t that different

    I think maybe the reason we ignore vayikra and pretend it isn’t for us is that maybe it nags at us a little. Maybe we sense in its pages a reminder that we aren’t actually that different from these people. Our world looks different and we have made progress in some ways but in others, maybe we have actually gone backwards.

    Questions – don’t answer all of them – chose the ones that seem relevant

    • If you could introduce one rule that all people would have to follow what would it be?
    • Can you think of a time when you found yourself  living in a way that was different from others around you? What was that experience like?
    • What’s something you’ve done that has required you to create a whole new rhythm or routine in your life? How hard was it to stick to?
    • vayikra talks about ‘being different’ to show a better way of living. What’s one thing you think BFX could do differently to show a better way of living?
    • vayikra talks about rituals and sacrifices that help to maintain a relationship with the God and with the created world. How do we find ways of developing practices that build up our relationship with creator God, nature, and the environment, today in light of climate change?
    • vayikra offers systems to help people deal with guilt and anxiety, often through ritual and community. In today’s world, where anxiety and mental health challenges are rising, what are some ways we can create faith practices that provide support and help alleviate these struggles?
    • vayikra is the first place where we hear the command to ‘love your neighbour as yourself.’ How do you think this teaching applies to issues like immigration, climate refugees, or homelessness in today’s world?
    • What does BFX have to do to look like a community that seeks to live differently in the world? What things could we change/start/stop to make this happen?

    Photo by Vincent M.A. Janssen: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-animal-skull-on-sand-3258243/

  • September wander

    September wander

    Hi folks, I trust you doing ok and that you have had a good week.
    This week we are going to make the most of the lighter nights while they are still with us… We intend to go for a walk from St Mary’s Island car park along the top to Seaton Sluice and back to the car park, when we will drive to the Tavern and Galley for a drink. Meeting at 7.00pm I hope you can make it.
    Peace Rob
  • A short wander…

    A short wander…

    Hi folks, I trust you are doing ok? This week we are meeting for a BFX Wander, meeting at the slightly earlier time of 7.00pm at the Fish Quay by the ice cream parlour in the car park.
    We will then combine lifts to drive to the Royal Quays and walk back for a drink on the quay. We will have a short reflection on the way.
    Hope to see you then.
    Peace Rob
  • Pubs!

    Pubs!

    Hi folks, hope you are doing ok! This week we are meeting in the Quarry from 7.30, it would be great t see you if you are able. This weeks blog is written for us by Karen. 

    In 2018 the Mirror reported on research into pub conversations. It found that pub chat is at its absolute best after precisely 3.3 alcoholic drinks and that the top 10 most common topics discussed in UK pubs are as follows:

    1.      Old memories

    2.      Something completely random

    3.      TV shows

    4.      Funny stories

    5.      Gossip

    6.      The news

    7.      Films

    8.      Music

    9.      Telling jokes

    10.    Football

     

    Some questions for you:

    1.      Which is your favourite pub of all time?

    2.      What did you used to drink that you don’t anymore?

    3.      How many of these top 10 have you discussed in the pub?

    4.      How does alcohol affect you in discussions?

    5.      What is your take on Methodists meeting in a pub?

    6.      What would be in your top 10 and  Where would faith feature? 

    7.      How do we get God ‘into’ the pub?

    Thanks

    Karen

    Image: lightstock_138754_full_david.jpg

  • Connection

    Connection

    Hi folks, i hope you are doing ok, we are back to our regular gatherings this Sunday night, meeting at the Tavern and Galley, 71 The Links, Whitley Bay NE26 1UE from 7.30 We hope you can join us.

     

    At our recent weekend away we spent time trying to build the Beachcomber story and what that community in different ways means to us. On Friday we talked about where we had physically come from and the various places we had lived in-between in order to be here in the North East, Some of us live a long way from the North East now, but we try to keep connected, we have become a dispersed community.

    On Saturday we went into the woods, the trees were our hosts, we stopped, looked, wandered and wondered. We were encouraged to go slowly… to take our time, we talked about how trees connect and feed each other even when they appear to have died.

    Later in the day we shared a little about how each of us had come to be part of Beachcomber. We got to share what each person means to the community and remembered those who weren’t with us this. We were thankful for each person that is and has been part of our community over the years. 

    On Sunday we played with lego and made models that reflected on the various elements of Beachcomber and how we connect with them (Scavenger, Wanderer, Gatherer, Collector) and with other aspects of our lives.

    If we go back to the trees again, I was struck by the connectedness of nature, root systems intertwining with and at places connecting with each other to keep another tree alive. Its amazing that trees don’t crowd each other out so to speak. I was struck by the moss as it creeps along providing nutrients and shelter. 

    Over the years Beachcomber has experienced many times of connectedness, and as I do more work in the community I see this sense of connection in many places. 

    But what I am seeing more and more is how connection is enhanced the more we are open and honest with each other… In doing some thinking about this I came across these words by Maria Popov, of the Marginalian blog I subscribe to, she says… 

    “We are each born with a wilderness of possibility within us. Who we become depends on how we tend to our inner garden — what qualities of character and spirit we cultivate to come abloom, what follies we weed out, how much courage we grow to turn away from the root-rot of cynicism and toward the sunshine of life in all its forms: wonder, kindness, openhearted vulnerability”. 

    She mentions this as she refers to Nick Cave and his two pillars of a meaningful life… which again I think are helpful as we ponder connection. He talks about Humility and says: 

    Humility amounts to an understanding that the world is not divided into good and bad people, but rather it is made up of all manner of individuals, each broken in their own way, each caught up in the common human struggle and each having the capacity to do both terrible and beautiful things. If we truly comprehend and acknowledge that we are all imperfect creatures, we find that we become more tolerant and accepting of others’ shortcomings and the world appears less dissonant, less isolating, less threatening.

    And the other phrase he uses is about curiosity, he says: 

    If we look with curiosity at people who do not share our values, they become interesting rather than threatening. As I’ve grown older I’ve learnt that the world and the people in it are surprisingly interesting, and that the more you look and listen, the more interesting they become. Cultivating a questioning mind, of which conversation is the chief instrument, enriches our relationship with the world. Having a conversation with someone I may disagree with is, I have come to find, a great, life embracing pleasure.

    Now in the midst of all this and I finish with this on purpose is that we are currently in the season of lent, leading up to the celebration of Easter. Lent is a time for us to examine ourselves. I believe Jesus wants each of us to be better human beings, to be more loving, more kind, more peaceful… I think lent asks us to be more connected, connected with ourselves and with those around us and with nature its self.

     

    Some questions. 

    Where is the strangest place you have lived? 

    In which places do you find deep connections?  

    What movie or series comes to mind when you think about connectedness? 

    What bible stories come to mind when you think about connection?

    What does connectedness look like for God/the divine? 

    How could connectedness make a difference in the world?

    What opportunities of connection come to mind that could help you engage with the world around you? 

     

    Peace Rob

     

    Photos David

  • Happy New Year!

    Happy New Year!

    Hi folks, I trust you are all recovered after the Christmas and New Year shenanigans. It’s been a steady start to the New Year for us, easing back in to work and trying to not let the damp weather get to us.

    A few things to say as we start the new year, we still have a bit of availability for the weekend away if anybody wants to know more about it and would like to join us, please do speak to me ASAP. We will put a final deadline at next Sunday 14th January.

    We also found out that the community giving group we are part of, Common Change, gave a total amount of £25,812.36 in 2023! Our own Group gave a not too shabby £2,795.
    If you would like to know more about Common Change and join our BFX group speak to David or I.

    We begin this new year with a catch up evening, meeting at the formerly named Briar Dene now called the Tavern and Galley, 71 The Links, Whitley Bay NE26 1UE from 7.30. It would be lovely to see you there if you are able.

    If you have wondered about coming along and joining us, this would be a good week to do that, as there will be space to chat. If you want to know more then please do message us.

    Hope to see you Sunday. Rob

  • Thank you!!

    Thank you!!

    Hi folks, i hope you are doing ok! I just want to say a huge thank you for being with us over the last year. I realise as i write this, that some of you we don’t see often, but be assured that you are in our thoughts and prayers. For those who live further away, again we value you enormously.

    I want to thank particularly those who help in leading BFX, for those of you who journey with me exploring what we do each week and suggest ideas as a way to keep our community moving.
    For those of you who support by writing blogs and come along to mull over and grapple with the topics, we can’t do what we do without you.
    We have explored a number of topics and themes over the years and when i look back at the breadth of the topics, it is truly amazing!
    We are always looking for other themes/ideas as to how we explore issues, so if you have ideas, then please do shout and let me know.
    Something we are aware of is that we want to increase the opportunities we have to meet each other, so as well as doing our semi regular curry night, we are also going to dedicate one Sunday each month for just hanging out, without a theme, this again is to help us build relationships.
    Please remember the team that lead it with me are always up for a chat if you want to talk through anything or talk about how you interact with BFX. In case you don’t know who those folks are, its David, John Cooper, Karen, Naomi, Pauline, and Sue.

    Much love to you all and thanks for journeying with us.

    Photo from last nights amazing Beer and Carols.

  • What are we holding on to? What are we fighting for?

    What are we holding on to? What are we fighting for?

    Hi folks, I trust you are doing ok and that you have had a good week whatever you have been doing. This week we are meeting at the Quarry Pub at 7.30. I hope that you can join us. 

    It has been a strange old week, adjusting to darker nights has really affected me. I think generally the grimmer the weather the worse I seem to feel! The complexity of balancing my two jobs has been difficult this week, mainly because of the competing demands of my roles. I’m sure there are many of us who are facing these and other issues around life and work. Another huge part of this week has been seeing Karen’s dad (and mum) struggle massively with the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease as he gears up for an operation that will hopefully help him. It’s really tough to watch! 

    The other reason it’s been a strange week is that I have been trying to process an event I attended on Monday night, it was an event I was involved with, but wasn’t leading. The focus of the event was around healing and helping folks to move on to new and creative things. It was an absolute JOY to be part of the evening!

    Alongside this, I have had a few beautiful conversations with a range of folks from across my roles, there was a mix of joy, pain, laughter and tears… all really wholesome! And to top it off Karen and I went to a gig that was just sublime! The support act of accordion, drums, keyboard and synthesiser was just brilliant and the headliner split her set into two halves with the first part singing songs that we sing at Mariners and Marras, but with an electro folk twist. The second part she played her EP and one of the songs called out some of the complexity and yes, abuse that some traditional folk songs sometimes seem to celebrate. It was a top evening! 

    Also this week, we dusted off our DVD player which we haven’t used in I don’t know how long! We watched the first two Lord of the Rings movies. My favourite is the second movie, The Two Towers. There is a scene towards the end that spoke to me and I want to share some of that with you, and then some thoughts based on some of the events and things I have been thinking and reflecting on.

    I want to quote some words that Sam and Frodo say to each other towards the end of the movie:

    Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy?

    Sam: How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out clearer.

    Sam: Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. 

    Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam? 

    Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for. 

    So where am I going with all this? Well, I want to talk about what we are holding on to, and what are we fighting for? 

    First of all, what are we holding on to? I wonder what you (we) are holding on to? For me, as a follower of Jesus, as a believer in something ‘out there’, God if you like or the Divine, whatever name you are comfortable with, that is what I hold on to. Because of that I hold on to hope and love that I see littered around the bible and through the acts of individuals and groups both followers of Jesus and folks who say they don’t believe in anything at all, I sometimes want to ask folks who have no faith what they hold on to?

    In faith circles I witnessed it on visible display on Monday night, as people recognised their own brokenness, but also as they reached out to the Divine for help, to let love and forgiveness meet them in their pain. Yes, of course there is still work to be done, but healing has begun. I was in some ways out of my comfort zone in that spiritual cauldron, and yet it felt right, good, wholesome, authentic and it moved me to wonder at my ability to reach within myself to find the divine within me, and realise that I need to find other ways to connect myself with that inner work of the divine. 

    Another aspect I hold onto is through the community of BFX. When we meet together, those are moments of connection, moments of joy that resource me and I hope you t oo? Our community tries to ask big questions? We try to see how we can make connections between all that is around us and within us with something of the life and love of Jesus and the Divine. 

    Secondly I want to ponder on Sam’s reply to Frodo’s question… That good in the world is worth fighting for! Now I to want to hold on to the hopeful reality that there is an awful lot of good in the world, we see it in many and varied ways if we look hard enough, even in the midst of the storms we see across the world right now, people are going the extra mile for people and situations, small simple acts of love and kindness happen! And they happen all the time, to quote our liturgy.  

    Another part of my response to my faith is to hold on to Jesus’s words about loving God, and loving our neighbour as we would love ourselves… I also hold on to words from Micah… What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

    I believe our BFX community is one way in which we can make a difference to the world, helping those who struggle with faith and church to connect and find a sense of belonging and maybe help each other explore new ways to understand faith and to help us be better in the world. 

    We write these blogs each week, to help us understand situations and issues in the world in the hope that we can make a difference by talking about these things differently with people we meet with day to day. It may also be that something strikes a chord within us and we decide to get involved supporting a charity, organisation, or giving our time to something to make a difference. I’m thankful for the many ways each of us tries to do that and maybe we need to talk about those things more. 

    I hope we can talk about how we love each other, even if we find each other to be annoying at times, because that’s community! We can only grow together and understand what each of us is going through if we talk and share some of our story, and sometime we get to do that as we discuss the blogs each week, but we can also do that in other ways as well, we try to provide other ways for us to connect and our hope is that you can support some of that when we do these things. 

    Some of those things I mentioned at the start connect into this in small ways, I want to deepen my connection with the divine, and I would love to know what you hold on too, what resources you? I want to share some of the struggles of life with you, and I would love for you to do that with me, or with others. The gig Karen and I attended called out things that are sometimes obvious and yet get missed, what are the issues that concern us? What can we do as individuals and as a community to call some of these things out.

    This blog is already long, so I will stop there! 
    

    Some questions
    

    What kind of week have you had?

    What was your highlight?

    Where did you struggle? 
    


    Where do you get your resources from? 

    How does BFX help or not with that?
    


    What issues are you fighting for? 

    Peace, Rob

  • Call not for peace in the Holy Land, call for justice so that peace may root itself deeply and flourish.

    Call not for peace in the Holy Land, call for justice so that peace may root itself deeply and flourish.

    Hi All, This week we will be meeting in the Enigma Tap at 7:30pm – looking forward to seeing those of you who can join us there.  This weeks blog is a guest blog from David Hardman. The following is a little introduction to who he is and what he does.

    The Methodist Liaison Office & Revd David Hardman

    The Methodist Liaison Office in Jerusalem is a partnership of the World Methodist Council, the Methodist Church in Great Britain and the United Methodist Church. Its purpose is to increase international awareness and involvement of the Methodist community in the issues affecting Israel and Palestine.

    The office is located in St. George’s College, East Jerusalem. Its role is to be a presence on behalf of World Methodism in the Holy Land. This involves working ecumenically with churches, community organizations, and individuals across the West Bank and partnering with any individuals or organisations who work for Human Rights in the Region. Welcoming Methodist pilgrimage groups from around the world and encouraging them to engage, not only with the historical stones of religious sites, but with the living stones of Christian and other faith communities. Supporting and enabling visitors to volunteer at local projects as part of encounter and mission opportunities and facilitating advocacy especially by amplifying voices about everyday life under occupation in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel.

    I am a British Methodist Minister ordained in 1994. I have served churches and circuits in the city centre, inner-city and suburbs of Manchester and London. I have also worked for Christian Aid as Senior Regional Coordinator in the North West of England and most recently as Methodist Team Leader of the Joint Public Issues Team. Justice and Peace have been at the heart of my ministry, I am an accredited mediator with Place for Hope and a committed activist.

    Call not for peace in the Holy Land, call for justice so that peace may root itself deeply and flourish.

    An old family friend emailed me last week and finished her email with the words ‘is it shalom you have tattooed on your arm? May you know that peace’. The truth is that I have מִשְׁפָּט֙ עֲשׂ֤וֹת tattooed on my left arm, Hebrew for ‘to do justice’. The prophet Micah is very clear that what God requires of us is (מִשְׁפָּט֙ עֲשׂ֤וֹת ) to do justice (Micah 6:8).

    The heinous Hamas attack on Oct 7th shocked Israel as it shocked the world, but I maintain only because for far too long we have turned a blind eye to the oppressive policy of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza. Violence has been increasing in the West Bank over the last couple of years including a big increase in settler violence1. Israel has its most hard-line government in power who have placed settlement expansion in the West Bank as a top priority2&3.

    It is a simple fact that oppression will foster resistance, and for a great number of Palestinians their resistance is non-violent4. However, brutality can all too easily breed brutal resistance, as we saw on Oct 7th. As a result of that attack we have also seen a disproportionate response from Israel which has killed thousands of civilians and destroyed a large percentage of property in Gaza5. So, call and pray for a ceasefire but don’t be fooled that this will bring peace. It will bring an end to immediate hostilities and a chance for proper humanitarian aid to reach millions of people in Gaza but peace is not simply the absence of war. What peace do people experience under occupation and what peace do people know living in constant fear of attack?

    Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but physically blockaded the area with a security barrier, a very limited number of permits issued to allow Palestinians to leave and even restrictions on how far out to sea Palestinian boats can sail. A friend of mine who lives in Beit Sahour has family in Gaza, family she has not seen since 2005 because Israel has not approved permits either for her to visit or for her family to visit her6. Even before this last escalation of violence, 95% of Gazans did not have access to clean water, access to electricity was regularly only between 4 and 8 hours a day and about half the adult population were unemployed. 

    For Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank there is much better access to fuel and water but there are still restrictions on travel imposed by a network of checkpoints, and the need for permits for many Palestinians to travel. The Wall snakes across the West Bank cutting off Palestinians from each other and their land. Bypass roads built by Israel for Israeli’s further bisect the land. Illegal Settlements are continuing to be built effectively forcing Palestinians into small pockets of towns and cities. The United Nations, Amnesty International and B’Tsalem7 among others, including a former head of Mossad (Israel’s Intelligence Agency)8, have called the situation in the West Bank Apartheid. 

    In the summer I had a holiday which included a couple of days in Budapest. Wandering around the city I happened upon the Ghetto Memorial Wall9. Included in the memorial is a map that has small round openings, reminiscent of bullet holes across its surface, looking through these will allow viewers to see historical scenes from the neighbourhood, scenes of Jewish life.  At the end of the memorial you are asked to spend a moment before you move on to remember the victims of the ghettos and the holocaust. As I stood in silence and remembered the evil done to Jewish people, I could not help thinking that one day there will be memorials, not dissimilar to this, across the Holy Land. Memorials for Palestinians driven from their land and forced into the ghettos of Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Jericho, Nabulus, Ramallah… As I remembered the past and reflected on the present I asked myself when will the world learn (מִשְׁפָּט֙ עֲשׂ֤וֹת ) to do justice?

    Yet, even in the depth of grief, the call for justice can be heard. In a eulogy for her brother Hayim, an anti-occupation activist who was murdered in Kibbutz Holit on Oct 7th, Noi Katsman called on her country “not to use our deaths and our pain to cause the death and pain of other people or other families. I demand that we stop the circle of pain, and understand that the only way [forward] is freedom and equal rights. Peace, brotherhood, and security for all human beings.”10

    This is why I say call not for peace in the Holy Land, call for justice so that peace may root itself deeply and flourish. Until there is justice for Palestinians there can be no lasting peace for them, just as there can be no lasting peace for Israeli’s when there is a constant threat of violence.

    On my right arm I have tattooed الله محبة which is Arabic for God is love. Shortly after returning from the West Bank I was in a restaurant in Manchester and the guy at the next table noticed my tattoo and asked what it said – he starting talking about the situation in Gaza and then he noticed my left arm and asked what the Hebrew said. He then asked for a hug – to be embraced by justice and love, by Palestinian and Israeli – to be embraced in hope… 

    More information on the key moments of the Israel Palestine conflict can be found here.

    Questions

    1. Do you have a tattoo? if so what and where? – If you don’t have one, would you? where would you have it and what would it be? (This isn’t Davids question but we thought we would throw and extra one in to warm you up).
    2. Is justice more important than peace?
    3. There are Palestinians Christians (less than 2% of the Palestinian population) and our sisters and brothers in organisations like Kairos Palestine (Home (kairospalestine.ps)) describe the Israeli occupation of the West Bank a sin and call on us to boycott and divest from Israeli firms. Is the occupation a sin? Should we as British Christians be involved in political boycotts?
    4. When Jesus said that ‘the Spirit of the Lord was upon him to… set the oppressed free’ (Luke 4:18), how might those oppressed by today’s occupation take hope from his words? 

    Notes:

    1. Palestinians under attack as Israeli settler violence surges in the West Bank – BBC News
    2. Israel PM-elect Netanyahu’s deal plans to bolster settlements – BBC News 
    3. Since 1967 the West Bank has been occupied and is divided into – Areas A, B and C 
    • Today, Area A constitutes 18 percent of the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority (PA) controls most affairs in this area, including internal security.
    • In Area B, which comprises about 21 percent of the West Bank, the PA controls education, health and the economy.
    • In both areas, Israeli authorities have full external security control.
    • This means that the Israeli military retains the right to enter these areas at any time, typically to raid homes or detain individuals under the pretext of security.
    • About 2.8 million Palestinians live crowded into Areas A and B whose major Palestinian cities and towns are Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus.
    • Area C is the largest section of the West Bank, comprising about 60 percent of the Palestinian territory.
    • It is also the site of the vast majority of the more than 200 illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, where more than 400,000 settlers live.
    • Although control of part of this area was meant to be transferred to the PA in 1999 as per the Oslo Accords, the handover did not materialise, leaving security, planning and construction matters in the hands of Israel.
    1. About Sabeel-Kairos | Sabeel-Kairos 
    2. Updates | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – occupied Palestinian territory (ochaopt.org) 
    3. Four members of her family were killed as they sought sanctuary at St. Porphyrios Church in Gaza on Thursday 19th October. Israel said that they targeted a Hamas building, the church was next to the strike and it caused walls of the church compound to collapse. St. Porphyrios Church was their church, they were living there because their homes had been destroyed by previous Israeli Airstrikes, they worked for Christian organisations working with young people in Gaza. I stood in St. Porphyrios Church a year ago when I visited Gaza.
    4. B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (btselem.org) 
    5. A former Mossad chief says Israel is enforcing an apartheid system in the West Bank – ABC News (go.com)
    6. Ghetto Wall Memorial – Budapest, Hungary – Atlas Obscura
    7. RGB Media – Responsive Email Template (972mag.com)

    Photo by Polina Kovaleva: