As we walk through this week and recall the events which took place in Jerusalem that first Holy Week, it is poignant to remember that this year there are wartime restrictions in place in that land. Holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem have been closed for religious gatherings, including the Western Wall and the al-Aqsa compound, as well as the Christian site of the Holy Sepulchre. Yet I was still shocked on Palm Sunday to discover that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the official guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, were prevented by Israeli police from entering the church – the first time in centuries. Whilst this has seemingly now been resolved, it is part of a much bigger picture of conflict, tensions and suffering in the Holy Land.
As I listened to the news headlines this morning, most particularly regarding the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and its consequences for the wider world, I was struck by the poignancy of what I wrote many months ago to accompany the lectionary morning prayer readings this week.
Over a year ago, I was invited to write the Church of England’s Reflections for Daily Prayer to accompany morning prayer for each day of Holy Week and Easter week. These can be accessed via the app Reflections for Daily Prayer – Apps on Google Play.
Today’s reflection (Tuesday of Holy Week) is focused on Lamentations 3:1-18, and I gave my reflection title ‘…I call and cry for help’ (verse 8). I encourage you to reflect on these verses today.
As I wrote all those many months ago, these very personal words of the writer of Lamentations encompass the pain and brokenness of the entire world, past and present. This week we will once again face the unfathomable truth that God’s love for the world is revealed in Jesus Christ’s tortuous and humiliating death, and it is not hard to imagine Christ recalling these words from Lamentation as he cried out ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mark 15:34).
In our world today, whether at a distance from us or close at hand, people of all ages and living different stories, will be echoing the writer of Lamentations’ cries of bitterness and tribulation: Those in places of conflict and under siege, and all who are suffering and feeling ‘walled in’ with no obvious path of escape – perhaps in homes where there is abuse, or those unable to obtain the resources they need. In places far away and within our local communities there will be those this week experiencing a sense of deep darkness without any sign of light; and people crying out for help but feeling unheard. Many people may have an overwhelming sense of God’s absence, and sometimes it is too easy for us to escape to words of hope and resurrection rather than dwelling with the pain and the lament.
This week I pray that we might further stretch our hearts and minds to see and feel the pain of the world, close by and far away; and as we walk to the foot of the cross, to cry out to God with those words of the psalmist ‘How long O Lord.’ (Psalm 13:1)
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the Cathedral on Thursday morning. Clergy, readers, licensed and authorised lay ministers, will renew their commitment to ministry, and do so within the context of the calling of every one of us as the whole baptised people of God ‘summoned to witness to God’s love and to work for the coming of God’s kingdom’ amid the pain as well as the beauty of this world.
I wish you a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter when it comes.
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