From the Vicarage - November

I sit to write these words one day after 7th October - a day now become an

anniversary for all the wrong reasons! I have also just heard about a book written by

an Israeli journalist who was safely in New York on that day. But when she heard the

devastating news, she got on a plane to Israel and spent four months interviewing

the people she found - survivors, first responders and eyewitnesses.

Her book “10/7: 100 Human Stories,”, is described as documenting the day in Israeli

history when nearly 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. But that

moment, like all moments, can never be one person’s or one community’s history

alone. It is also Palestinian history, Middle East history, World history, and it is made

up of a myriad human stories –stories of people of various nations, languages,

motives, persuasions, faiths and cultures. The author of the “100 stories” tells her

people’s stories but is gracious enough to say she is “waiting for my Palestinian

colleagues to do this important work and tell the Palestinian stories.”

I sit to write these words also knowing that Remembrance Sunday is on the horizon

- the anniversary of the ending of the War to end all wars, only it didn’t! Many of us

will gather to tell the story of the loss of life in warfare and of sacrifices made in the

pursuit of peace, security and freedom.

People of all cultures and of all faiths and none, know the importance of story.

Someone once wrote, “our stories are never more than one generation away from

extinction…” We don’t lose our stories, as long as we tell them. How is it then that

we go on telling our stories, but never learn the lessons we so want to learn from

them?

Is it because in the desire to keep our own stories alive, we speak them too loudly

and drown out the stories of others? Is it because we are fearful of sitting around the

table with people whose stories are different from ours and of truly listening with

respect and openness – fearful that the stories others tell might affect how we

understand our own, or might ask us to reflect on our own truth as well as invite us to

share our own truth?

Perhaps that is also why tables and meals have always been central to community

life no matter what the culture or faith. It is at the table that we share hospitality, we

meet the eyes of someone sitting across from us, we pull up a chair and welcome a

friend, a newcomer or a stranger, and as we eat, we talk

about matters that way heavy and the everyday minutiae

which often gives away what really matters to us.

As the evenings draw in let’s pull up a chair for someone, or

with someone, and listen to a story we haven’t heard before.

Let’s be open to the conversations which challenge and

enlighten, not just those which confirm what we thought we

already knew!

Carolyn

Vicar