30 people from different churches
made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 7th June to 15th
June 2016. They included members of the
ecumenical congregation called London Tamil Christian Congregation and their
Tamil Friends, and who are from different denominations such as Catholic,
Anglican and Methodist and Pentecostal. Pilgrims also came from Anglican churches in Southwark Diocese, St John
the Baptist, Angell Town, St Hugh’s Bermondsey, and friends of All Saints Church
Battersea. The pilgrimage was organised
by the Revd Jessie Anand through ‘Special Pilgrimages’.
The pilgrims were all ages from
21 to 75 years old and from different international cultural backgrounds (Sri
Lankan, Indian, Irish, Scottish, Pakistani, Canadian and American).
On this ecumenical journey to the
Holy Land the pilgrims saw how our differences in culture and in faith
expressions but never prevented us from sharing our common faith in Christ. It
also encouraged everyone to understand others’ culture and to accept each other
as they are.
The historical context of gospel
stories and the political background of that era in the Holy Land were well
explained to the Pilgrims through an excellent guide, Walid, from a Muslim
background. There were opportunities, too, to meet local Palestinians,
Christians and Jews.
There were visits to the project in
Bethlehem called Wi’am run by Zoughbi Zoughbi, the baby hospital at Bethlehem
run by CAFOD, and a meeting with two
Jewish friends in Galilee who take care of Palestinian Children through trauma
counselling and other meaningful efforts to bring peace. These were eye opening
for all the Pilgrims to understand the present situation in the Holy Land
regardless of their religion.
The early start every day of the
Pilgrimage gave us the energy to learn more about the places we visited. Morning
and Evening prayers and Holy Communion
services in different holy sites facilitated our continuous focus on who we are
and the purpose of our pilgrimage. The
Holy Communion services in Shepherds’ Field, Dominus Flavit, Carmelite Chapel,
Transfiguration (Chapel of Moses in Mt Tabor) , were led by the Revd. Anand
Asir Anand from All Saints Church. We had Sunday worship at St George’s
Cathedral in Jerusalem led by Dean Hosam. In our Pilgrimage the opportunity to
meet other pilgrims from India, Australia, Brazil and other countries gave an
experience of the worldwide Church in the Holy Land which was memorable and marvellous.
We sang at St Ann’s Church in the Old
City of Jerusalem and we listened to the beautiful singing of pilgrims from Brazil in the
same Church. Carrying the Cross and doing the Stations of the Cross in the Way
of the Cross challenged many of us to focus our mind on Jesus’ suffering in the
midst of a noisy city.
Mt Olive, Mt Zion, Jerusalem,
Bethlehem, Jericho, Masada, the Dead Sea, Yardenit, River Jordan, Cana were the
main places were chosen for our pilgrimage.
Pilgrims were moved and inspired by
the pastoral services such as renewing the baptismal vows in the River Jordon
and the renewing of marriage vows. These services encouraged them to build
their faith as baptised Christians, and to build their family relationships as
a Christian family.
Pilgrims expressed their views
about this pilgrimage with comments such as: “A lovely week of spiritual
refreshment”; “… makes Bible more meaningful, lively and a real book to read”; “
Physical exertion - walking in the hot weather (between 30 and 40 Centigrade )
resonated with the healing stories of Jesus and gave holistic healing at the end”.
The following questions were asked
by the pilgrims and taken as their continuing reflection for their journey:
·
How can I be a peace maker in this Holy
land through meaningful praying?
·
Why do I ignore Mary and Joseph in my
Christian journey?
·
How important it is for me to take
Jesus’ life and ministry as an example to build my faith!
· Visiting 2 places of burial - the Garden
Tomb and Holy Sepulchre - made the pilgrims
reflect on where the exact place was
that Jesus died, was buried and rose
again.
The following inspirational thoughts were shared:
Religion makes mistakes but
seeing and accepting another person regardless of their religion (Christian,
Jew, or Muslim) is the way to bring peace as Jesus did.
Our imagination about the places
of Holy Land may be different from what we see now. But it is not a place but a
person (Jesus) that is most important for our spiritual journey.
Jesus was born, brought up, did
ministry, was buried and rose again. His ministry needs to be continued through
us as pilgrims in our journey to share the Christ-like nature.
Revd Jessie Anand
