• A full account of a ‘mishap’ with a pedestrian while en route to the town of Ibb merits a whole newsletter. Suffice it to say we were very fortunate. The elderly man who walked in front of our car was not seriously injured and the claims he made for medical treatment were very modest – which is more than can be said for those of the police.

And now after this round up, to the main news, or rather a summary of thoughts shared yesterday with the congregation here about the Lebanon crisis.

‘How deserted lies the city …’

These words from the opening of the book of Lamentations came to our minds when over twenty years ago with great sadness we left the city of Beirut. Our son, the cat and our belongings were squeezed into our car as we left to seek safety in Syria. In the previous two years in the city some six friends from our community – Lebanese, English and American –had been either kidnapped or murdered. In the end we knew it was time for us to leave.

Over the subsequent years we have watched Lebanon rebuilt – schools, roads, villages and airport. We have returned to walk freely where once we had never dared walk, to renew friendships with many and to observe the vigour of many Christian activities there – in publishing and broadcasting.

But today once again, how desolate lies the city, and it’s not only Beirut, it’s Haifa and northern Galilee, whose stunned inhabitants crouch in bunkers; it’s Tyre, Sidon and many villages, whose populace have fled their buildings now reduced to rubble.

This weekend many congregations in Cyprus and Damascus will be swollen with refugees from the conflict. They are perhaps the lucky ones. Many remain caught in this terrible and complicated conflict – the elderly, the sick, the people of Gaza, the Filipino houseboys and the Sri Lankan maids.

Is there, I have often asked myself in these days, a ‘word’ from the Scriptures relevant and helpful to this tragedy? I chose the reading from Amos because through the lips of that brave but reluctant prophet God spoke his disapproval and judgement upon the nations at that time for their use of terror to extend borders, for their practice of slavery, for their greed and oppression of the poor, for their reckless disregard of God’s word and ways. (Amos 1 & 2) God is surely no less angered by these crimes today than he was then. The nations will be judged by God.

In an awesome passage in St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says the same: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate people…” (Matthew 25 vss 31, 32) The basis of the judgement will be their treatment of their fellow human beings – “when did we see you naked, hungry or in prison… ?

The second reading you heard today, from the Gospel of Luke (19 vss 41-44) describes Jesus weeping over the city that would shortly clamour for his death. But Jesus was looking into the future and crying not for his death but for the destruction of Jerusalem, which he could foresee in the not very distant future. It is hard not to imagine him standing today above the cities we have mentioned, weeping and uttering the same words he spoke over Jerusalem, “would that you knew even now the things that make for peace.” (vs 42)

And now some personal observations on this situation –
• F16s are not good for securing the release of hostages. I do not remember France, America or Britain bombing anywhere in Lebanon when their nationals were taken hostage.
• ‘Birth pangs or death throes’? Condoleezza Rice apparently said that we are witnessing the birth of ‘a new middle east’. A highly experienced American diplomat cautioned, “birth pangs can also be death throes.”

The situation is grave. Recent events in Lebanon and Gaza will have increased extremism in the region, driven many Christians (and others, of course) out of Lebanon, perhaps for ever, and made life for Christians who remain in the area – expatriate and indigenous – more difficult and even dangerous.

• Neglected business. The war in Iraq and the current conflagration in Lebanon, terrible in themselves, have tragically diverted energy and attention away from a determined resolution of the Palestinian question. There will be no hope of an enduring peace in this tortured region without a resolution to that central issue.

• No room at the table? History demonstrates – in South Africa and Ireland – and the Christian Gospel commands the wisdom of addressing enemies face to face, however unpleasant their actions or their philosophies. The threat of continued exclusion from key deliberations about the future of the region of perceived enemies, whether Hamas or the government of Syria, is short sighted and dangerous.

In the present highly charged situation it is easy to demonise those we least like, whether that be the Israeli Defense Force, Mr Blair, Hezbollah or President Bush. But if our first response to hearing of another atrocity is political, blaming the perceived perpetrators rather than grieving for the injured and bereaved, our spirits are in danger. Fergal Keane, a BBC reporter, was once asked why on earth he kept, at that time, returning to Rwanda and its people. He replied simply, ‘because we belong to the same human race.’ So do we.

Long ago a rabbi, whose name I do not recall, tested his disciples. He asked them when they could tell that night had passed and day dawned. ‘Could it be,’ said one, ‘when you can tell a fig tree from an olive tree?’ ‘No’, said the rabbi. ‘Then could it be,’ volunteered another, ‘when you can tell the difference between a sheep and goat?’ ‘No’, said the rabbi, ‘it is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and realize they are your brother or sister, because if you cannot do that it is still night! Dawn still seems a long way off in this region.

Jesus wept for Jerusalem. Will we weep for Beirut, Haifa – and now Qana? How desolate lie the cities …

With much love in Christ

Peter and Nancy