Is there any hope for Gaza or Ukraine?
As I write, peace talks continue to try to find a way forward in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Six months on from the horrific attacks which began the war, the situation seems completely polarised. Israel’s hardline government is increasingly unpopular at home, and has been accused of slowing down any moves to peace, to keep itself in power. Hamas continues to hold over 100 hostages, and is committed to repeating the acts of 7 October again and again. The relationship between Israel and its Arab neighbours has been at best strained and at worst openly hostile since the state’s foundation in 1948. Is there any hope of a better future for Israelis and Gazans?
Closer to home, in Ukraine, we are over two years into the vicious war with Russia. After a stalled spring offensive last year and a difficult winter, Ukraine is struggling to maintain its position in the face of Russia’s relentless assault. Western supporters are weary, and may be privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to sue for peace and recognise that Russia will hold the territory it has gained through its illegal aggression. With Vladimir Putin recently re-elected after 25 years in power, Russia is unlikely to change course anytime soon. The other nations on its borders look nervously at the situation; it feels impossible that things will turn out well.
Yet history tells us that sometimes even the world situations which feel the most hopeless can turn around. I grew up in London in the 1980s, where IRA terrorist bombings were a regular part of our reality. I was once evacuated into my primary school playground because a bomb factory had been raided at one of the neighbouring houses. I heard bombs go off on Archway Road and at Mill Hill Barracks. Now, forty years later, power sharing has just been restored in Northern Ireland, terrorism is largely a thing of the past and two generations have grown up without the shadow of the ‘Troubles’ hanging over them. This has happened through the extraordinary efforts of many people on both sides, galvanised by the British and Irish governments in the middle. When I was a child, many people would have regarded Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness and the Democratic Unionist Party’s Ian Paisley as dangerous enemies; who could predict that they would work together in government, earning the nickname ‘the Chuckle Brothers’?
In 1994 Rwanda was the scene of the most concentrated period of bloodshed in modern history; perhaps in all history. A million people lost their lives in just 100 days as the ruling Hutus turned on the rival Tutsi tribe. The sheer speed of the atrocities and the horror of them took the world completely by surprise. Thirty years on, the situation in Rwanda is completely transformed. Those who perpetrated the genocide are largely free, with many of them having served long prison sentences. Through a process of sociotherapy pioneered by a Dutch practitioner Cora Dekker in collaboration with the Anglican Diocese of Byumba, some of them have come together with relatives of their victims, finding forgiveness and even friendship. This process started in 2005 so it has been slow and painstaking. Here is just one example of Christians making a transformative difference through practical action. You can read more in the inspiring account here.
Back in the 1980s, it seemed fanciful to think that South Africa’s system of apartheid would be dismantled. Many of its injustices were brought out into the open by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the brainchild of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu (yes, another Anglican!). No one would pretend that South Africa does not still have huge challenges, but the commitment to face its demons with openness and transparency, seeking forgiveness and recognising the terrible things that had happened, laid the foundations of a more just and equal society which did not need to be weighed down by its past.
What can Christians today take away from these situations? How can they help us pray for the current conflicts, which seem so intractable? Well, in each case, Christians made a difference. There was a shared understanding that, whatever divided them, people on both sides were united by a common faith in Jesus. In Northern Ireland there were numerous examples of terrorist victims’ families reaching across the divide to meet those on the other side and offer forgiveness and understanding. In Rwanda and South Africa, people who had suffered terrible wrongs were able to see that their lives would only be scarred further if they pursued anger and bitterness; the only constructive way forward was to seek to forgive.
The seeking of forgiveness, and its release, is at the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus instructs his people to forgive others as God has forgiven us. Holding on to anger and resentment is an act of self-harm, reaffirming the hurt which has long since ceased to be inflicted on you. Forgiveness is costly; you have to let go of something which is rightfully yours. It is also redemptive for both the forgiven person and the one seeking forgiveness. To be forgiven is to be set free from the guilt and shame you have brought upon yourself. To forgive is to be released from anger and retribution which hampers you from moving on in your life.
If there can be hope for Rwanda, thirty years after its genocide, or Northern Ireland, 26 years after the Good Friday Agreement, then there is surely hope for Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. In the middle of all these situations are communities of Christians who are doing what Christians do: praying and making a difference. They are often overlooked, but they act out of the hope which is central to our faith: that out of the greatest evil, good can come; that no situation or person is ever beyond redemption. In this Easter season, Christians recognise that the celebration of Easter Sunday is only possible because of the darkness of Good Friday.
I always say that if you do not know what to pray in any situation, pray for something you know God wants. God wants peace, reconciliation and forgiveness in places of violence and conflict. He wants a future where enemies embrace each other. History shows us it is possible, so it must motivate Jesus’ people to pray.