Dear Friends,
Today’s letter is a prayer request.
I will be accompanying a group, most of whom are from the Diocese of Toronto, on a pilgrimage to the Land of the Holy One. Along with the Rev. Dr. Alvardo Adderley, the Rev. Canon Dr. Christopher Brittain, the Rev. Gerlyn Henry, Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat, the Rev. Dr. Jeff Nowers, the Rev. Canon Nicola Skinner, the Rev. Mike Stuchbery, and the Rev. Steve Berube of the United Church of Canada, I will be in Jerusalem and the surrounding area from December 1-10. It is a pilgrimage that we have been planning for the better part of three years, yet due to the ongoing and at times escalating violence, our journey has been postponed again and again. With the glimmer of peace now comes a window of opportunity for us to go, to learn, to listen and to pray.
The pilgrimage, sponsored by a very generous donor, is organized by the Canadian Friends of Sabeel. The Friends of Sabeel is a national and ecumenical response to the call of Palestinian Christians for solidarity. Through education and engagement, the organization supports the struggle for equality in justice, freedom and human rights of Palestinians, and it works non-violently for a just and durable peace for Palestinians and Israelis.
We will be residing primarily at St. George’s College, Jerusalem, which is located within the walls of the Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr, just a short distance from the Damascus Gate (Bab al-Amud) on the northern side of the old city. Some of our time will be spent visiting holy sites – the Western Wall, Al Aqsa Mosque, the Resurrection Church, Bethlehem, Hebron and the Nativity Church, to name a few. We will spend time with the Archbishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Rev. Hosam Naoum, and other ecumenical leaders. We will visit with Rabbis for Human Rights and the Rossing Centre. We will visit the Princess Basma Centre in east Jerusalem, which provides physical rehabilitation services and inclusive education for Palestinian children with disabilities. Most importantly, we will spend time with members of the Christian communities on the ground, listening to their stories, learning from their experience, engaging in dialogue, prayer, bible study and worship: being open to the Word.
Some would say this isn’t the best time to go, with the ceasefire being so tenuous. And yet among us pilgrims there is an overwhelming sense that this is exactly the right time – to learn, to advocate and to bear witness. The theme of our 163rd Synod was Chosen to tell the Good Story, a line from the First Nations version of Acts 16:10. Timothy and Paul struggled to discern how and where the Holy Spirit was summoning them to go. They tried to enter Asia and Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit forbade them. It was in Troas that Paul had a vision in the middle of the night of a man from Macedonia who said, “Come over to our land and help us!” And they went, trusting that God had chosen them to tell the Good Story… to bear witness, to watch and to learn, to do something, to say something, to pray, to change and to be changed. And we trust the same.
I ask for your prayers. We ask for your prayers.
Yours in Christ,
The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto
