06.12.2023
Pastoral Letter from the Archbishop of Dublin to the Clergy of the Diocese of Jerusalem
Archbishop Michael Jackson has written to the Archbishop and clergy of our partner Diocese of Jerusalem at the beginning of Advent. We have launched our Advent and Christmas Appeal to support the work of the Diocese of Jerusalem. Diocesan Funds of Dublin and Glendalough No 1 A/C Current Account, Bank of Ireland, 2 COLLEGE GREEN DUBLIN 2 IBAN: IE50 BOFI 9000 1769 3548 78, BIC: BOFIIE2D. Cheques may be sent to Diocesan Offices of Dublin and Glendalough, Church of Ireland House, Church Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6, D06 CF67. All funds will go directly to our partner Diocese of Jerusalem.
Dear Friends in The Diocese of Jerusalem and Children of The Holy Land,
From time to time, and especially during the long and dark days of Covid–19, I have written letters to people and to groups of people, to organizations and to institutions. I have done so with no other reason than to keep in touch. ‘Keeping in touch’ is a phrase that trips off our tongue with such ease that we scarcely take it seriously. However, once ‘keeping in touch’ is threatened or endangered, we very quickly realize how treasured and precious it is. Being ‘out of touch’ is a frightening place to be and a bad place to live or to try to survive.
We have seen far too much of this in recent days. People caught in rubble, fire and tangled metal have been frantically hoping that their signalling by phone or in any other way they could manage would be heard and responded to. In many cases it was not. In all cases, the response and the release from such war–torn confinement has brought the same people into an unending cycle of wandering exhaustion without food or water, without prospects of dignity or security, nomads and exiles in their own lives and what once was their home. In every circumstance, this situation is unspeakable. It defies description yet it is contemporary reality.
We bow our heads in wonder at the self–sacrifice of people denied everything that makes life possible, giving of themselves when they have nothing else to give – for children, women and men, for hospital patients whose only prospect of love is medical and nursing presence because there are no supplies, there is no infrastructure, there is no family. I can think only of St Matthew 2.18: ‘A voice was heard in Rama, sobbing in bitter grief; it was Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they were no more.’ We take to heart the words of your own tender and tragic Pastoral Letter describing the self–sacrifice of the staff of Al Ahli Arab Hospital, now a household name worldwide for courage, service and dignity: ‘bearing the cross of pain and the hope of life.’
It is the same phrase ‘keeping in touch’ that has enabled us in Dublin and Glendalough Dioceses and right across the world to know something of the horrific events which have been happening in The Diocese of Jerusalem. One of the most cruel chapters of history has now unfolded day by day and hour by hour over the last weeks and months. While we, like you, live in hope that the tide will turn someday, we know deep in our hearts that for tens of thousands it will be too late and for hundreds of thousands it will be meaningless. I say this because their life has been reduced to a fog of shivering fear and to a rubble of shattered humanity. Language and meaning have changed irretrievably, memory and happiness no longer fit together nor do belief and trust. No new world has dawned.
Our respect for you as the people of The Land of The Holy One grows day by day. People of faith, people of goodness, people of The Spirit – lay and ordained. Your perspective, your patience, your faithfulness and your conviction are fuelled both by justice and by grace. You love your neighbour as you love yourself. This is a precious gift into a situation of political and social torment where you navigate the terrain with an expertise that amazes us all. By you, we as Christians and as Anglicans worldwide are truly blessed. And we want to thank you and to let you know that you are in our hearts and in our prayers.
I know that Christmas is still far away. I know also that Advent is a lot closer. We heed the Statement of The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem on the celebration of Advent and Christmas. The request is that we focus more on the spiritual meaning of Christmas and that we hold ‘in our thoughts our brothers and sisters affected by this war and its consequences, and with fervent prayers for a just and lasting peace for our beloved Holy Land.’ As a contribution to this living prayer, we in the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough have taken as our theme for The Seasons of Advent and Christmas right through to The Feast of The Presentation on February 2nd 2024 the verse from The Christmas Gospel St John 1.5: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it.’ We intend to keep you posted on things we have planned to do as a living out of our partnership with you. We pray with you and we pray for you in these days of darkness.
+Michael