Synod Pilgrimage - Wednesday

John and I drove up from Suffolk yesterday to join the pilgrimage today. It was a joy to meet old friends from the pilgrimage last year at breakfast. The accommodation at the Jean Muir centre is very swish compared to that last year. Rowena lead  us in a service after breakfast and asked us to consider reconciliation today. 

Walking in to Kelso

Since the last pilgrimage I have acquired two new young dogs and consequently am walking much more than I was a year ago but thirteen miles was nevertheless arduous. We started out from Dryburgh and ended our walk in Kelso. The beauty of the river Tweed and the borders with its sloping fields of bleached corn, its wild flowers and birdsong was a glory to the eye and peace for the soul. Motorists rush through this area on their way to Edinburgh, Glasgow and the highlands. More discerning ones stop perhaps in one of the towns like Coldstream for a coffee but the area can only be properly appreciated on foot following the river as we did today. It was a day of pleasure catching up with fellow pilgrims' news and of pain feeling sore and swollen feet towards the end of the walk! 

Reconciliation is a hard subject when one feels another has blighted ones life in someway. Or when one feels God has dealt one a very unfair hand. It gives rise to anger fury and fear - all negative black emotions. These feelings estrange us from God and the only way to surmount them is through following Jesus' teachings and strenuous prayer. A woman I knew hated her father who had blighted life at home with his adultery his bad tempers and violence. Finally she made the decision not to see him and did not see him for eight years. For her it was putting the lid on a can and she hoped thereby to rid herself of a situation which was causing her terrible anger pain and grief. But it didn't work because all the dark emotions remained and would surface from time to time worse than before when she did see her father. She became a Christian and went to a retreat in France for a week. While there, away from all the pressures and rushing around of her normal life she began to think seriously about making a peace with her father. She started by praying the Lord's Prayer and when she came to the words "forgive them that trespass against us  " she would say I forgive you in her mind to her father. She told me that the words came from her mouth but slowly ( it was not a quick process ) they came from her heart. She still remembered incidents from her childhood with sadness but without the anger and much of the pain evaporated. She met up with her father who by now was an old man who had had many serious strokes. They were reconciled before he died. She had moved from darkness to the light of Christ and by following Christ's teachings of forgiving those that sin against us and in being reconciled to her father she became closer to God and found a real peace. To achieve it we have to set aside "self" and our own importance and trust in Jesus.

Caroline Byles

Pilgrimage Lines

We set out on Day One
walking sometimes briskly,
in the face of the sun;
eight miles from Selkirk to Abbotsford.
Circling round the Eildon Hills,
nine pilgrims seeking peace.

We meandered on Day Two,
as the sun shone fiercer still,
hearing more tales of Border History:
eight miles from Galashiels to Dryburgh,
skirting the glistening River Tweed,
nine pilgrims, walking for justice.

Maggie Davison

Synod Pilgrimage - Tuesday

Tuesday started with a good hearty breakfast at 8.00 p.m. which everyone enjoyed. We then met for worship at 9.00 a.m. in the second floor lounge.

Rowena started our worship by posing the question, we are on a pilgrimage of peace, but can there be peace without justice. We then joined together in the Gathering Words, these were taken from the Iona worship book.

Rowena then led us in prayer, where we were asked to pray using our hands  to convey the meaning of the contents of the prayer.

Graeme then read from Isaiah 42 verses 5-7. Rowena then spoke about a book she had read by the author Alan Bozak and his experiences in South Africa. Alan seemed to say that he raged about injustice and while I think we can all rage at things we read and hear about where injustice occur s, as a Christian I have found very little in scriptures that shows us that rage is the way to seek justice and peace.

We had all received a candle at our worship at Selkirk URC on Monday and were to carry it with us during our pilgrimage, Rowena passed here candle around and asked that we pray for a matter that was of concern to us relating to justice, we were asked to share our prayer verbally or silently. We then joined in the Lords Prayer and then Rowena concluded worship.

Melrose and Rhymer's Stone

Our pilgrimage commenced at 9.30 p.m. our first destination being Melrose. We left the campus  and made our way through the lower part of the town and made our way down to the river Tweed and commenced along the riverside route to Melrose, at one point veering away from the riverside and taking the woodland track. On our way we passed Lowood bridge and the chain bridge. The river flows very peacefully and it is sometimes difficult to place the scenery and tranquillity in a world where there is so much strife and unrest. We arrived at Melrose and decide that we deserves a coffee and a cake at on e of the local tea shops.

Chain Bridge, Dryburgh

From Melrose our journey was to take us eventually to Dryburgh Abbey. On setting out we passed the ruins of Melrose Abbey and Mary and Henry gave us a short potted history of the origins and facts about the Abbey. We then continued our journey to meet with Norma our mini bus driver at Eildon who had our packed lunches with her. On the way we passed Rhymer’s Stone and Mary told us the legend of Thomas Rymer who was taken by the fairy queen for seven and when released had the gift of truth so ever after he could never tell a lie.
We met with Norma and had our lunch sheltering in the shade of a farmers field.  Following a leisurely lunch we set out for Dryburgh via St Boswell where ice creams where purchased and Mary told us of the works of Grisell Baillie.

We then progressed to Dryburgh Abbey our route taking us through some scenic woodland. We arrived at Dryburgh Abbey via the suspension bridge and the Temple of the Muses. The Abbey is now a ruin and according to the placards at the Abbey it was reportedly destroyed by the English forces of  Edward Seymour, 2^nd Earl of Hertford in 1544.  

The Abbey although once a magnificent buiding is now ruin and one must wonder if we can ever have a world where peace and justice prevail as history would not seem to show that we have made

much progress in either matter.

We then returned to the campus to rest and refresh ourselves for our evening meal in Galashiels.

Danny Pigeon

Synod Pilgrimage - Monday

We numbered nine pilgrims walking from Selkirk to Galashiels, in the first day of our journey to mark Flodden 500. The weather was unusually hot and we were graced with the excellent hospitality of the ladies of Selkirk URC who provided tea and coffee to accompany our packed lunches. A short service led by our Moderator Rowena Francis followed and we were each given a candle to remind us of the peace and reconciliation theme of the Northern Synod Pilgrimage 2013. The tenth member of our team was Norma our minibus driver - a welcome sight at the end of the first eight miles



Selkirk Peace Garden

A visit to the Selkirk Peace Garden was a tranquil moment before starting the climb out of the town. Soon, we were among hills, sheep, horses and a buzzard or two, identified by our physical walk leader Henry Gowland. We mused over the miles and miles of our country where there are no people at all, just creatures of the four-legged variety and an abundance of insects enjoying the blistering sunshine more than us at times!

We had various stops along the way when our second spiritual leader Mary regaled us with snippets of history even pre-dating the 1513 Battle of Flodden. Our backgrounds may have been quite different, but we fell into the easy conversation of friends sharing a common purpose.

Our route followed the Borders Abbeys Way, passing Lindean and Cauldshiels Lochs towards Abbotsford House once home of Sir Walter Scott, while the Eildon Hills were never far from view. We felt our spiritual journey had started in a very special place

Olive Ford and Maggie Davison

Synod Pilgrimage 2013

Despite Chaucer’s preference for the sweet spring showers of April, Northern Synod members usually choose the searing heat of July for their pilgrimages.

This year we’re off again – walking from the Selkirk Peace Garden to the Crookham Peace Garden, marking the 500^th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden, over the five day period July 8^th to 12^th. Then on Saturday we shall join with a far greater pilgrim band who are sharing in the one-day ecumenical pilgrimage to Holy Island, commemorating the (temporary) return of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the North East.

Once again our synod pilgrim leader will be Henry Gowland, maps and compass at the ready, while his wife Linda and other volunteers have organised a lot of the practical arrangements for us. We are staying each night at the Heriot Watt school of residence in Galashiels, and relying on minibus transport to and fro for each day’s walk. But what may await us on the journey (though at least the weather forecast is encouraging) we are yet to find out.

Check this blog each evening: we hope will have news to share with you!

Leaving Jerusalem

At the Western Wall - Monday morning

Sunday ended with an evening walking tour through the old city – very quiet in some spots, but in others enlivened by Jewish Purim celebrations. At the Western Wall we could watch a fascinating mixture of spirituality, as Hassidim prayed and chanted right against the stones, while a little further back young men jumped around in fancy dress and with multi-coloured wigs. In the streets of the Jewish quarter we ran into groups and small processions who were clearly having a good time, whether or not embracing the traditional bounds of spiritual exaltation.

The Dome of the Rock

First thing Monday morning we were back in nearly the same place: Amir drove us back to the dung gate and we joined the long queue for the Temple Mount. Eventually we were through the security gates and looking down on the Jewish worshippers at the Wall as we climbed the covered wooden ramp (we noticed the riot shields stored near the top) and found ourselves in front of the Al Aqsa Mosque. Sadly neither the mosque nor the Dome of the Rock can be visited now (I’m glad I’ve done so in the past) but it’s still a splendid experience to walk around this area, and particularly to be able to see close up the tiles on the Dome of the Rock and on the various small shrines and buildings around.

From that point on, it was free time: some went shopping, while others of us found ourselves still doing serious stuff. Phil and I spent a couple of hours in the Citadel of David, having an English  guided tour by an Israeli volunteer. The views from the top were splendid – and it was interesting to hear about “new neighbourhoods” rather than what we now knew to be illegal Jewish settlements, and to hear the modern parts of the story told from a very different perspective from that shared with us over recent days.  But to be fair most of the 4,000 year story told through the museum exhibits was put across with humour and I think no obvious bias – and the Biblical narrative, while respected, was viewed with a degree of scepticism from time to time.

Back at the hotel we left Brian, who is staying on for a few days for various meetings, and said our heartfelt thank yous to Amir, who then drove us to the airport. The challenges of Ben Gurion security surmounted, and the one hour’s delay endured, we were eventually on our way home.

__________________________

I don’t feel ready yet to reflect more deeply on these past ten days than I have already done on a daily basis in this blog – where I appreciate I have often shied away from doing much more than simply recording the bare bones of our encounters. Many of them have been deeply moving, and nearly all of them have been deeply troubling. As we are brought face to face with the plight of the Palestinian people, we not only see one of the great fault lines in the contemporary world, but are also challenged in terms of our own human response. Do we care enough to act on their behalf? And if so, how are we to act?

I’m wanting more time for reflection, but meanwhile sign off this blog with the offer to come and talk to anyone who wants to hear more about our experiences and whatever might flow from them – and that’s an offer which I am sure will come equally from every member of the group.

Linda posted her final reflection on the URC blog yesterday:-

The question hangs in the air, What can we do? Every place we visited we heard the same five cries:

1.       Tell others of our stories

2.       Read and understand more about the situation

3.       Pray

4.       Bring others to visit

5.       Help financially

I think that provides at least the beginning of an answer to my questions.

 

 

Bridges and Barriers - our final day

It’s our final full day, and I’m feeling as confused and conflicted as when we first arrived.

St George's

Sunday is different here – even more than in deregulated Britain, it’s a normal working day, at least for the Muslim majority here in East Jerusalem. Weekends are basically Friday and Saturday. How the Christian community manages I don’t really know – but I suppose that is just a further aspect of the cry we continually hear, lamenting over the dwindling Christian population.

We attended the main service at St George’s Anglican Cathedral – an Arabic service, as we chose to be with the local congregation rather than the pilgrims and ex-pats who come to the later English language service. In fact, there were a number of English-speaking groups there, so a good deal of the service was translated, including the sermon which was preached twice. And the service book helped us to know exactly what was being said for much of the rest of the time. As ever, I found particularly moving the reference in the Eucharistic prayer to Jesus being “crucified here in Jerusalem”.

Brian with Bishop Suheil

After the service we had half an hour with Bishop Suheil, who reminded us once more of the plight of the Christian church in the region. His Anglican diocese includes Syria, as well as Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. He has been unable to visit Syria for over a year, and is fearful for the future of Christians there. Over two thirds of Iraqi Christians have fled their country in recent years, and much the same is very likely to happen in Syria. As for Jerusalem itself, in 1948 27% of the population was Christian: now the figure is around 1%.

Later we were back on the bus, with Amir driving us to Ramallah. Progress through the checkpoint was not too bad, and we were on time for our session with Addameer, where Gavin outlined for us his organisation’s support for Palestinians political prisoners, stressing that the Israeli government has used imprisonment as a policy since 1948, and particularly since 1967 has used it as a means to destroy Palestinian society. Much of what is happening is in clear breach of international law (eg only one of the 17 prisons used is in the West Bank: thus the occupying power is taking prisoners out of their country), but particularly concerning is the way in which there seems to be a deliberate targeting of children.

We were given so much information to process that it is hard to say much about it all so soon – and indeed I suspect we all will need quite some time to reflect properly on all that we have learned over this past week or so. But in the mean time, everything that Addameer does (other than its case notes and histories) is on their website – http://www.addameer.org.  As Gavin stressed, they have nothing to hide.

On the way home, progress through the checkpoint was slower. The IDF soldiers had their visors, and a shot of some kind of fired as we passed – probably a baton round. No doubt there had been some stone-throwing going on – the most common charge laid against Israeli children.

When we were with Bishop Suheil this morning he commented that not only is the wall ugly, but it does nothing to help bring people together. As the young soldiers boarded our bus and checked our passports, we could only begin to imagine what their continual presence must mean to the Palestinian people who have to undertake journeys through these  check points day after day – and bear much  more besides.

It’s now late afternoon, and this time tomorrow we will be getting ready to fly back home. Later this evening we hope to have a brief walking tour of the old city; and then in the morning, when we have some time to spare, we hope to get up on to the Temple Mount. But that will depend on the authorities – and in this case both Israelis and Palestinians have it in their power to deny access. The area was closed off because of incidents on Friday afternoon, and there seems to be a perception round that, especially because of the hunger strikers, the whole situation is hotting up again.

In a land of walls and barriers, peacemakers should surely be blessed, and Christians be ready to learn to build bridges.