I hope her dream will become reality, for the alternative for the Middle East— continued bloodshed and economic ruin—is too awful to contemplate.
The four years of Intifada have been difficult ones not only for the people of the Middle East, but for our Board of World Mission. Just before the outbreak of hostilities, the Assembly agreed to a major rebuilding programme for the Church of Scotland centre in Tiberias on the shores of the Lake of Galilee. St. Andrew’s Galilee is a proud name in the long history of the mission and service of the Church of Scotland. The stately buildings were built in the 1880’s to serve as a hospital. A Scottish doctor, David Torrance, a forebear and relative of the distinguished theologian Professor Tom Torrance, and his son Iain, the present president of Princeton Seminary, was the founder of the hospital. In the early 1950’s, it became a guesthouse for tourists visiting Galilee. By the early 1990’s its original grandeur had faded. The accommodation on offer was no longer up to the standard wanted by the majority of tourists and pilgrims.
A pivotal moment in the history of St. Andrews Tiberias was the appointment of the Rev. Fred Hibbert as Director in 1995. Before entering the ministry Fred had worked in the building industry. During my year as Moderator, Fred served as one of my two chaplains. My other chaplain, David Lacy, is to be installed as Moderator in May of this year. Shortly after Fred’s appointment to Tiberias, the Assembly agreed to the partial demolition of the old buildings, in order to build high quality accommodation. But alas shortly after demolition work started, hostilities broke out between the Palestinians and Jews. Not surprisingly the once vibrant Israeli tourist industry plummeted. Because of the Intifada, some of the commissioners to the following year’s Assembly moved that not only should the multi-million pound project be halted, but that the large and magnificent site overlooking the lake should be sold, and that the Church should withdraw entirely from its work in Tiberias. Fortunately other commissioners believed that at this critical period in Israel’s history, the Church should not retreat. St. Andrew’s Tiberias, with its nearby church, which I had the honour of rededicating in 1995, was to all intents and purposes the sole remaining bastion of the Christian faith in that part of Israel where our Lord had spent the major part of his ministry, and where he had taught those beautiful attitudes that our strife-torn world can ill afford to neglect.
Speaking in what was a tense Assembly debate, I recalled how centuries before when Jerusalem was under siege, Jeremiah purchased the field at Anathoth in the war-torn area. For his contemporaries that purchase was evidence of Jeremiah’s faith that a better and more peaceful future would one day come to pass. I also recalled how though there was little or nothing that Mary, Jesus’ mother, could do to change the mind of the fanatical religious leaders of her day, or those in Jerusalem who were abusing political power, she refused to desert Jesus in his darkest days. She journeyed with him to Jerusalem and stayed on at Calvary when almost everyone else had left. I expressed the hope that though these were dark and difficult days for the Land of the Holy One, our Church would not give up on this imaginative project, that like Jeremiah we would go on investing in a better future for a very troubled land. I also expressed the hope that despite the financial risks involved, we should stand by the many ordinary people in Israel, who like ourselves wanted more than anything else to build a decent and peaceful society for their children. It was abundantly clear that the people of Tiberias wanted the Church to stay. Fortunately the Assembly voted by a large majority to proceed with at least Phase One of the rebuilding project.
This has now been gloriously completed. Speaking at the opening ceremony of St. Andrew’s Galilee, Professor Alan Main, a former Moderator and Convener of the Board of World Mission. said, “St Andrews has stood here on this magnificent site for a very long time. In the late 1990’s the Church at its General Assembly took the inspired, and in the light of subsequent events in the Middle East, courageous decision to renovate and rebuild, as a continuing witness to the faith and support of the ‘living Stones’, our Christian partners in Israel and Palestine, and as a sign that we wish to remain in solidarity with and service to all who live in, or come to visit this Holy Land; to be a bridge of understanding, which will help span the gap between those who find it difficult to communicate with each other; to be a means of reconciliation and pathway to peace, and a haven to which all who wish may come and be truly at home, make their own pilgrimage, and find refreshment of mind, body and spirit, here on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.”
The hope was expressed that day that having sown in faith, God would give the increase. It is heartening to learn that already the Scots Hotel in Tiberias, has gained a reputation for being one of the best and friendliest hotels in Israel. Visitors and organised groups are returning to this relatively peaceful part of Israel. The tourists are enjoying not only the hotel’s fine accommodation and food, but the warm welcome extended by the dedicated Christian, Jewish and Arab staff. The bookings have exceeded expectations.
I share the hope and prayer of Professor Main that St. Andrews, the Scots Hotel, will continue to go from strength to strength, and be a bright beacon of light, hope and peace for many to see and to celebrate.
DR. JAMES A. SIMPSON, a retired minister and former moderator of the Church of Scotland, lives in Dornoch, Scotland.
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