As we continue our Lenten journey with Jesus in the way of the cross, Muslim friends, colleagues and neighbours are beginning their fast this month. Each year, the lunar month of Ramadan starts ten or eleven days earlier, and the overlapping of our annual periods of spiritual discipline offers opportunities to share with and pray for each other.
Christian and Jewish dates for Easter and Pesach also fluctuate each year, with Easter Sunday falling on 31st March and the Jewish observance of Passover starting on 22nd April.
Many Muslims and Jews approach their observances this year feeling vulnerable. Incidents of both antisemitic and Islamophobic hatred have risen sharply since Hamas’ murderous attacks of October 7 last year led to Israel’s brutal invasion of Gaza. The House of Bishops has called for an immediate ceasefire along with the release of all remaining hostages and an end to Hamas’ missile attacks on Israel. The devastation of Gaza and the killing of so many Palestinian civilians there, said the House, cannot be morally justified. The bishops also condemned all antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiment and committed our church to work alongside others for the common good, despite our differences.
Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the peace-makers.” As the Revd Jenny Ramsden, our Diocesan Interfaith Adviser, reflects, we often think of peace as an ‘absence of war’. But Jesus implies that peace is something that we need to actively create and build. Many people from different faith backgrounds, including clergy and lay leaders from this diocese are doing this hard work of building peace in our communities. This work is not made easier by rhetoric from some politicians and media, and the recent government decision to cut funding to the national Inter Faith Forum causing it to shut down is short-sighted and regrettable. But many stories of costly peace-making, not least in our schools, are inspirational.
We have an opportunity this Lent to pray for and to reach out especially to Jewish and Muslim colleagues, friends and neighbours. They and we may disagree strongly and emotionally about events in Israel Palestine, but holding on to one another across these differences is a calling from our Lord.