Removing the chains that bind – a different kind of fasting

Our Lent course, focusing on seven paintings in the National Gallery, is challenging us to reflect on how the light shone by Christ on our world can be both liberating and threatening at the same time. The status quo of both religious and political structures are threatened by his light. This reminds us of Isaiah 58: ‘Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke?’ Lent calls us to question the realities of our world and to do all in our power to undo what is unjust.
A few weeks ago, a small number of the Sunday congregation watched a film about the current situation in Palestine which included disturbing scenes and featured Shireen Awwad Hilal who spoke at our Parish Away Day last year. Her comments, even bleaker on this occasion about living under an apartheid system, were reinforced by Caroline and Andy Brookes who shared their recent experiences of visiting Palestine.
Since the beginning of the war with Iran, Israel has imposed a total closure of the West Bank, trapping Palestinians in their cities and villages. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers are rampaging through communities and killing with impunity. They have shot dead five Palestinians since the war started.
What kind of fasting is called for when the ‘threatening light’ of Christ shines on these realities? Our Lenten Appeal gives us the opportunity to give alms for the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza and to Musalaha in the West Bank. We can also refuse to buy goods from Israel in our supermarkets since these often include products from illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. All these actions play a small part in removing the chains that bind.
Jim Sikorski

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