Lunchtime in sunny Derbyshire, and I plunge into a book I discovered on a bookshelf in Aberdeen last year (thanks David Anderson) – ‘Other’ by Kester Brewin (Hodder, 2010 for those who like the full details). Has a good subtitle – ‘Loving Self, God and Neighbour in a World of Fractures’. (Check out http://www.kesterbrewin.com/) Beginning with an illustration from both the streets of Bethelehem, Palestine – and also the streets of home, Kester asks a question about the ‘Other’, and how we address the ‘other’ and ‘others’ in our lives. So here’s a few quotes from early on that have struck me, starting with The Bible:

Didn’t the same God who made me, make them? Job 31: 15 The Message

It is easy to love what is lovely, but we are called to love what is other. It is easy to love what is familiar, but we are called to love what is strange. It is easy to love what is comforting, but we are called to love what is disturbing to us.

Who then is this ‘other’? It is the other within myself, the parts of me that I hide in the dark, the half-fictional parts I parade and boast. What would it mean to truly love this self of mine? It is the other within God, the divinity I cannot fully know or understand who does not answer my prayers and does not provide comfort; the incarnate and yet ever-hidden who infects my dreams and won’t let me go. What would it mean to love this God with all of my self? And it is the other within the world I inhabit, the neighbours who are nosiy, the street people who are smelly, the immigrants who are strange.

Love is complicated, interconnected, emergent and evolving. It is also a love that must be lived.

‘Lord lead me’, as Paul Tillich prayed, ‘from a life divided, to a life united’.

Already on page 51, I think I am going to like this book……

Now back home, bag unpacked, and jars of Middle East sunshine now released into Sheffield……..so come on summer! Welcomed back by friends in the UK (after a 5 hour delay at the airport….thanks Jet2!), my thoughts and prayers are still with friends over in the Middle East and so feeling a bit torn between ‘homes’. One of the last things I did in Ibillin before heading for the airport was to stand with my oldest friend Sohil, with one of his sons, at the grave of Sohil’s wife Hannah and offer prayers for the family. A poignant moment remembering a special lady who welcomed me into her home 15 years ago.

Preparing to meet my own church family tomorrow, and lead some sung worship on my plonking guitar, I reflect that 2 weeks ago I worshipped at the Anglican Cathedral, Jerusalem, last week I worshipped in the Baslica of the Annunciation, Nazareth (where the angel spoke to Mary), and here I am back in sunny Sheffield ready to worship at Greenhill Methodist Church. Jerusalem and Nazareth sound exotic places, especially to those who treasure the Jesus story – but actually wherever we are is the most important place for Christian worship and witness, and so I am glad to be here, but with friends overseas in my heart.

Another 24 hours, and I will be in an airport, through security (hopefully) and beginning the journey back home. I am trying to pack some small jars of sunshine in my luggage. We obviously still need it back home. Some time then to pause and reflect on this Micah68 mission and ministry trip – and I guess ‘crossing borders’ is a phrase that comes to mind. Several physical borders / checkpoints have been crossed between UK, Israel, Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Israel again – some easier than others to cross – and I still have the one back to UK to negotiate.

But I guess that is the point – crossing borders can surprise, challenge, frustrate and educate. The key borders are the ones between people – the language, food, attitudes, religion, culture. These are some of the boundary points we live by, and occasionally put up as our defence – a border that need to be approached and crossed if we are to make a proper encounter with others and not just sit within our protected, bounded zone of being. Certainly as Christian an issue I have to take seriously if I really believe in ‘sharing God’s love in word and deed’.

Last night I sat amongst old friends who I first worked with as teenagers on a youth camp back in the 1990’s. Now successful, beautiful and talented young adults we together watched, listened and enjoyed the performance of Miriam Toukan – one of their own peer group, who is achieving great success locally and nationally as a singer. (See 17th June blog for her contemporary work, and also listen to the Micah68 website music which was one of her first singles). It felt a privilege to sit with Ala’a and Mateel, watching Miriam sing songs by Fairuz (check out www.fairuzonline.com for some insight into this Lebanese Christian legendary singer) backed by the excellent Karawan Theatre and Choir – a group based in the small village of Ibillin where they all come from. I still (to my shame) don’t understand the language – but to sit with many from the village who had come to support, and be greeted by old friends – and encounter new ones (a guy from Ibillin who has lived in Preston and Southport, and is now in Salford!) was well worth the crossing.

The last song sung by Miriam was a famous one by Fairuz – ‘Bayti ana Baytak’. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzNq5fX-c5U for one of the many versions). It is a prayer offered by the poor, and the heart of the song is the cry to God ‘Don’t leave me alone, don’t forget me, you are the Sun of the People’. The Sun is symbolic of God who can be seen everywhere, and one of the names for Jesus in  Arabic is ‘Shams al a’dl’ which means ‘Son of Justice’. The poor cry to God to shine the justice of Jesus on them. It was greeted with rapturous applause. Not a bad song towards the end of a Micah trip with an emphasis on crossing borders and ‘acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly’.

Salaam, Shalom, Peace

So here we are, back in Ibillin (northern Galilee) where the mission and ministry across the Middle East sorted of all started for me back in the mid 1990’s. Still the usual elements of craziness, and the need to be ready for changes of plan (that’s if plans were ever made) – and the views across the village from Sohil’s balcony are the same, as are the ice cream and endless coffee. And of course I arrive in wedding season (July is popular). So where to tonight?….yep down the road to a local house for evening one of the week long wedding celebrations for Rasha’s sister. Could be another dancing opportunity……the 3rd of the trip.

Just had coffee with Rasha – someone I first met in 1997 when involved in a youth camp, and she was remembering the impact of those years when as a young teenager some volunteers from the UK came over, and one of them (Anne) stayed in her house with her family. Amazing the impact that any of us can make on someones life if we would just get close enough.

Anyway, back to my English lesson – Bashar (12) and Franswa (14) – two of Sohil’s lads are needing to know more about why the English football team is so bad, and yet has some of the best players. Struggling to explain this in any language to be honest………….