Basilica of the Annunciation and Interfaith observations in Nazareth: From our Bus Called Hope

Nazareth was an insignificant village in Jesus' time. It was not on the Via Maris trading route and is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. Unlike other towns, it was not fortified against the Romans in the first century, there being no need. As Nathaniel said to Phillip before meeting Jesus: "Is there anything good comes out of Nazareth?" (John 1: 46).

Like Cana, Nazareth came under Israeli control in 1948, and the communities are now mixed Muslim/Christian, although there is very clearly bad feeling and seemingly a certain lack of tolerance and respect from some of the Muslim population here. We hear a story about a mosque which was to be built alongside and dominating the Christ Church, the plans for which were finally thwarted but only after quite a struggle by the Franciscans, who threatened to withdraw from many of the Christian pilgrim sites which they maintain. We see a protest sign on our walk through the town to the church, and hear stories of megaphones being used that disturb the Christian pilgrims on Fridays. There is clearly much tension between the different faith communities and the Christians are increasingly vulnerable as their numbers decrease with families moving out if they can to safer places. We are told that in 1946 Christians represented 35% of the population. By 1967 this had reduced to 18% and now they only form 1.5% of the population. In Jericho there are now only 10 -15 Christian families. The St George's Catholic School in Jerusalem is dominated now by Muslims although it tries hard to attract Christians. No wonder Palestinian Christians value our support so much. We must not forget their situation. See the Kairos initiative in an earlier post.
We have lunch at the Holy Land Restaurant. I thought the spaghetti the other day was bad. Today the veggie option is even worse and apart from the vegetable soup I just cannot face and do not want the massive plate of roast vegetables served to me. But the coconut cakes afterwards are delicious and I eat as many as the others do not want!! It seems I was unlucky. The restaurant seems to get good reports on line.
Our next stop, the Basilica of the Annunciation, is beautiful. Built on three levels, it has the most stunning modern stained glass windows, various images of the Madonna upstairs and all around the outside courtyard are mosaics of the Virgin Mary contributed by many different countries - with their individual takes on interpretation. The German mosaic for example shows two children with the Madonna in front of the Berlin Wall. This evocative modern Basilica has been built over what is claimed to be part of the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is one of the largest churches built in the Holy Land for 800 years. We go down into the sacred Grotto, said to be where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary.

the Cupola in Basilica of the Annunciation

The wonderful Cupola in the roof of the Basilica represents a lily rooted in heaven, the petals of the flower pointing down to the shrine beneath.
The beautiful Italian mosaic above the altar is one of the world's largest, showing Jesus with arms outstretched beside Peter, with the crowned Virgin, the Dove of the Holy Spirit and the Father in heaven.
Visiting the Basilica of the Annunciation is an awesome way to end the day, but our pilgrimage is not quite at an end. On our way back to our hotel in Tiberias for our last night there, we can see the Mount of the Transfiguration, Mt Tabor to our right - A dome shaped mountain venerated since the fourth century as the traditional site of the Transfiguration (Luke 9: 28-36). Our guide tells us that three separate Bedouin tribes live there. Peter asked Jesus if they should they make three dwellings/shelters, one each for Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Jesus is immediately hidden in a cloud, and a voice from Heaven says "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." And when the cloud evaporates, Jesus is left on his own: Moses and Elijah are nowhere to be seen.

Italian mosaic above the altar in the
Basilica of the Annunciation

view of the sacred shrine from above

There used to be three churches on the mount, before they were destroyed by the Persians in AD 614. Now there are two churches, Franciscan and Greek Orthodox, the latter dedicated to Elijah. The Franciscan church has two side chapels dedicated to Elijah and Moses respectively. The Mount rises out of the Plain of Jezreel, which is so fertile that three crops can be grown on the same ground each year. No wonder it is regarded as the "Bread basket of Israel" today.
It is such a shame that we only have time to view this place from afar.
Another day, another visit to the Holy Land, I must find time to explore all that this interesting and meaningful mountain can offer....

Interfaith Initiatives - Interfaith Weeks - and 9/11

We all know where we were, what we were doing, on 9/11.

Curiously, another 9/11, in another century, marked the beginning of inter-religious dialogue, as we now understand it. On that day in Chicago in 1893 the World Parliament of Religions was founded. “From now on,” declared Charles Bonney, “the great religions of the world will no longer declare war on each other, but on the giant ills that afflict [humankind].”A further conference was convened in 1993 on the centenary of the first, and a series of similar conferences have subsequently come together under the new title ‘Parliament of the World’s Religions’.

There is a faith line described by the American Indian Muslim Eboo Patel that is no less divisive and no less violent than the 20th century color line of racial segregation that existed after the abolition of slavery (1)The faith line does not divide different faiths, or separate the religious from the secular. This line is divisive between the values of religious totalitarians, the exclusivists, and the values of the religious pluralists. (Pluralism is not quite the same as inclusivism, which from a Christian perspective takes the view that Christianity is present in all religions, and they are all moving towards Christianity without knowing it. This is an angle not much more conducive to tolerance than exclusivism or totalitarianism!) The totalitarians believe that their way is the only way and are prepared to convert, condemn or indeed kill those who are different, in the name of God. It is this side of the faith line that gives religions a bad press in the eyes of the secular public. The pluralists on the other hand hold that “people believing in different creeds and belonging to different communities need to learn to live together in equal dignity and mutual loyalty.” Patel describes pluralism as the belief “that the common good is best served when each community has a chance to make its own unique contribution.”Patel founded the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) and this serves to promote and support many initiatives between religions, to foster understanding and therefore respect for the long-term. IFYC has trained thousands of people across continents (Australia, India, Qatar, and across Western Europe for example as well as across America) for the skills needed to transform religious diversity or religious tension into active interfaith cooperation. One way it achieves this is by training college students as leaders to engage with and address topical social issues in an interfaith way, within the college, schools and in the community, wherever there is an identified social need.

We need to build more tolerance between us all, to live and let live, but much more than that, to celebrate and build on our diversities, rather than quarrel about them; because the stakes are now too high, given the deadly weaponry that is available across the world in the hands of those from so many different cultures and creeds. “We have inherited a big house,” said Martin Luther King in his Nobel Peace Prize Lecture in 1964, “a great world house in which we have to live together – black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other.”

This week is interfaith week in / England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Actually this year it is longer than a week, as it runs from 18th - 27th November this year, extended to celebrate our Diamond Jubilee year. There is also a World Interfaith Harmony Week. This was first proposed at the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2010 by H.M. King Abdullah II of Jordan. Just under a month later, on October 20, 2010, it was unanimously adopted by the UN and henceforth the first week of February will be observed as a World Interfaith Harmony Week each year. The World Interfaith Harmony Week is based on the pioneering work of The Common Word initiative. This initiative, which started in 2007, called for Muslim and Christian leaders to engage in a dialogue based on two common fundamental religious Commandments; Love of God, and Love of the Neighbor, without nevertheless compromising any of their own religious tenets. The Two commandments are at the heart of the three Monotheistic religions and therefore provide the most solid theological ground possible. I have written about this in more detail in a previous blog.

So let's observe our interfaith weeks and do all we can to promote their causes. Because therein lies the future of us all.

(1) Warning over 100 years ago by the great African-American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois

 (2) Eboo Patel (2007) Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, Beacon Press, Boston

Expanded and explored further in Why Religions Work

Interfaith dialogue then and now

"From now on, the great religions of the world will no longer declare war on each other, but on the giant ills that afflict [humankind]."

Charles Bonney, 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions

"World Scriptures will become a shining light,…a precious textbook for educating the younger generation who are to live together as one global family…to overcome barriers between religions, between races, and between cultures…through this text, all people will not only free themselves from religious ignorance and self-righteousness, but also realise the fact that, among religions, there are shared values and a universal foundation which are of greater significance than the differences which have historically divided religions."

Andrew Wilson, World Scripture and Education for Peace, in World Scriptures, October 1991.

"So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to [one] another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill."

A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter to all leaders of the Christian churches and denominations worldwide, signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars and intellectuals October 2007

And nothing changes!