Presence, Remembrance & Hope
In late 2021, I received the kind invitation to make an essay contribution for Gesher (Hebrew for “bridge”), the publication of the Council for Christians and Jews in the state of Victoria. The website describes the aims of the Council as:
educating Christians and Jews to appreciate each other’s distinctive beliefs, practices and commonalities;
promoting the study of and research into historical, political, economic, social, religious and racial causes of conflicts between people of different creeds and colour;
promoting education in fundamental ethical teachings, for the benefit of the community, common to Christianity and Judaism, that relate to respect and understanding between people of different creeds.
Part of the fulfilment of that mission is the annual publication of Gesher, which aims to be a medium for meaningful interreligious dialogue and relationships.
The theme of the volume of Gesher I was invited to contribute touched on the theme of hope, something of which the pandemic had generated vast deficits and which warranted revisiting as come out of a long period marked by frequent lockdowns, border closers, separations, anxieties and tit for tat combox wars. Which is why, as we enter the new year, we long for a time of renewal and a decisive change in direction towards something that would, in the words of Paul’s letter of Ephesians, fulfil our task to “equip God’s people to do His work and build up the Church, the Body of Christ” (4:12).
There is a very fundamental reason for revisiting hope, which is summarised by a citation at the beginning of the volume of Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi. Hope is a vital ingredient for life because, in the words of Benedict:
All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action. This is so first of all in the sense that we thereby strive to realise our lesser and greater hopes, to complete this or that task which is important for our onward journey, or we work towards a brighter and more humane world so as to open doors into the future. Yet our daily efforts in pursuing our own lives and in working for the world’s future either tire
us or turn into fanaticism, unless we are enlightened by the radiance of the great hope that cannot be destroyed. (35)
Set against this backdrop, my essay sought to outline a hope that is based, not on wishful thinking, but a firm and unfailing presence that can only come from God. Flowing from that, I sought to outline how remembrance, so key to the spiritual lives of both Christians and Jews, plays a vital role enacting God’s presence in our lives. This presence gives us hope, I argue, because wherever the presence of God is, acts of creation follow. Remembrance, in both the Jewish sense of Zachor and the Christian sense of Anemnesis, are a very specific act of recalling God’s presence. This Jewish and Christian recall is not an event in the distant past that has come and gone, but recall God’s ongoing presence in the here and now.
The 2021 edition of Gesher can be accessed by clicking here or you can download a PDF version here. My thanks to Gesher’s editor David Schutz for the invitation, shepherding the essay through the editorial process, and helping it see the light of day.
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