Articles – Inderjit Bhogal

RWANDA POLICY

The two candidates for the role of Prime Minister have pledged to sustain the Rwanda policy. I appeal to them both to rescind the policy.

Many UK citizens have taken to the streets, spoken out, and launched legal challenges to the government determination to send refugees arriving here beside the cliffs of Dover to Rwanda. They have stood up to injustice, and shown commitment to challenge hostility, and to build cultures of welcome, hospitality and sanctuary for all. The politics behind this legislation appears to be to sustain a hostile environment as a deterrence to refugees, to frighten them, to discourage them from coming here. There is no evidence to suggest any policy of deterrence is working.

The beautiful country of Rwanda is already taking in refugees from neighbouring countries. This is remarkable feat for a nation recovering from the wounds of genocide. We should not require or pay Rwanda to receive people seeking sanctuary in the UK.

The politics behind the British government policy to send people seeking sanctuary here to Rwanda are shameful. I am appealing to the next Prime Minister of the UK to rescind this policy. It contravenes the UN Refugee Convention to which Britain is a signatory.

No one wants to be a refugee. No one wants to leave their home. Danger to life drives people to abandon their homes and to seek sanctuary elsewhere.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are now more than 100 million refugees in the world. Ninety percent of the world’s refugees are from countries in or close to conflict. Ninety percent of them are either trapped in their own countries or take shelter in neighbouring countries. For example, Iranians and Kurds in to Turkey, Afghanis to Pakistan, Syrians to Lebanon, Somalis to Uganda, Congolese to Rwanda, Ukrainians to Poland. A very small number of the world’s refugees come to Europe, with Germany hosting the biggest number. Britain is host to one percent of the world’s refugees. We can be more generous.

Wars make refugees. This is a clear lesson of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It is further predicted that extreme weather will add to refugee numbers in the next 20 to thirty years. The number of people without food to eat is at a record high. The upward trend of refugee numbers will continue unless there is an international resolve to tackle the root causes of human displacement such as violent conflict, war, poverty and climate change.

The approach to the refugees from Ukraine has demonstrated the fact that it is possible to provide safe, humanitarian routes for refugees coming to the UK. Our refugee policies must treat all refugees with care and compassion irrespective of nationality, ethnicity, skin colour and mode of travel.

We desperately need a coordinated international response to the rising number of refugees. Any attempt by any country to go solo on managing borders is bound to fail.

Inderjit Bhogal

28 July 2022

BLACK AND WHITE

Part of the Communion in Times of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
Click here for more
Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

This article can be downloaded for use here
All documents on this topic are located here

In my contribution I want to question and reject the idea that white is the colour of purity, and black is the colour of profanity; that white is the ideal colour, and black is bleakness; that white is good, and black is bad; that white represents law, and black represents criminality.

The association of white with good and clean and privilege, and black with bad and dirty and subjugation is deep set in so many ways.

All faiths have to engage with this theme. Does religion associate white with purity, and black with profanity? I am raising this question to provoke.

It is essential that theology, in all faiths, and in interfaith dialogue, addresses the colour-based discrimination, especially the association of blackness or darkness with badness, and whiteness with holiness. This will contribute to health and healthy and healing relationships. Black Lives Matter includes the challenge that theology cannot remain silent while black and dark-skinned people suffer the denial of their humanity and life.

Theology has to address the association of whiteness with purity and power, and blackness with profanity and powerlessness.

What is termed “racism” is the exercise of prejudice plus power. We all have our prejudices. But the way the world is ordered concentrates power in white and lighter skinned people. Black people live in a world in which blackness is identified with criminality.

A BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION OF WHITE

Christians have traditionally upheld white as the colour of holiness, and black as the colour of sin. Holy things, such as sacraments and scriptures are held and wrapped in white cloths.

However, it is not as straightforward, or as black and white as that. There are complexities and contradictions.

Faith based practice does not always reflect scriptural witness.

Let me illustrate by considering words that should be familiar to readers of the Bible.

Isaiah 1:18 where we read, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (KJV).

These words are traditionally taken to mean, though your sins are dirty they will be made clean, as white as snow.

I want to offer an interpretation that turns these words on their head.

It is illuminating always to consider the context in which scriptural words are said or written.

Biblical scholarship is broadly agreed that the Book of Isaiah can be divided into three sections.

In section one (Chapters 1-39), there is a warning and prophecy about exile; section two (Chapters 40-54) reflects the time in exile and promises a return from exile; section three (55-66) follows exile.

In section one then there is a focus on things getting worse because people have again turned away from God. They will be taken into exile.

Things are going to get worse.

In this context the words of Isaiah 1:18, though your sins are as scarlet, they will become white as snow may be taken to mean, you are going to go from scarlet to white. Things are going to get worse.

White as snow does not mean better and good and clean, it means quite the opposite. Let me illustrate this briefly.

Let us look at the use of the term “white as snow” in the Bible, by examining the first appearance of this phrase in some English translations of Numbers 12 where we read in verse 10 that “Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow”. What led to this?

What does the phrase “white as snow” mean here? Does the original Hebrew text even use the term “as snow”? My understanding is that it just refers to “white”.

Whatever the gloss, clearly it is pointing to something bad rather than something good, it is referring to impurity rather than purity.

Let us take a closer look.

The context is criticism of the leadership of the great Moses.

To criticise him Aaron and Miriam pick on the choice of his wife.

Moses had two wives.

A Midianite, who is not mentioned at all by Miriam and Aaron.

But his second wife is mentioned.

All we know about her is that she is a Cushite.

We know nothing else about her.

Cush is the southern-most territory mentioned in the Bible.

Cush is the ancient designation of territory on the Upper Nile, south of Egypt.

It can be reasonably assumed that the Cushite woman is of black African appearance.

Aaron and Miriam object to Moses being married to a black woman, and see this as the greatest weakness of Moses’ leadership to exploit.

What results from this colour-based prejudice in the community?

It leads to God actually making an appearance.

God “heard” the racist slurs (verse 2), and challenges it.

God effectively says to Aaron and Miriam, and Moses, I want a word with you. There is something we need to talk about (verse 4).

The discriminatory reasoning of Aaron and Miriam is challenged in the meeting with God.

Then we read, “and the anger of the Lord was kindled against” Aaron and Miriam (verse 9), and there are consequences.

God departs.

Miriam becomes white as snow.

Aaron now has to be with someone who has a different skin colour and tone, something he found an anathema in Moses.

The progress of the community is halted (verse 15).

Moses prays for the healing in the situation (verse 13).

There are lessons for us to learn about God, people, prejudice, prayer and progress.

From here on, where ever the term “white as snow” appears in the Hebrew Scriptures, we have to read it in the light of the Numbers 12 story.

It is a negative term. White as snow is a reference to impurity.

Miriam being “white as snow” does not define her appearance as angelic.

That your sins are as scarlet and they shall become white as snow means things are going to get worse for you.

When Black theologians point this out they are challenging bible-based communities to examine how we use colours in our language and liturgy and hymnody. It is important to note that people of the “ancient world regard black people favourably” on account of their high esteem and status (see for example Randall Bailey in Felder, 1991, pages 135, 179-180). Moses’ black wife may have faced prejudice for her class as much as her colour.

There is evidence that black Africans, of Cushite or Ethiopian backgrounds were people held in high esteem. For example, we read in Amos 9:7 the words where Israel is compared to Cushites/Ethiopians, “are you not like the Ethiopians/the Cushites to me, O people of Israel, says the Lord”.

What intrigues me is that in the Biblical texts like the ones I have referred to, white is a negative colour.

The association of white only with holiness has to be questioned in Bible based practice.

So, how would churches feel if in a service of Holy Communion a black cloth was used on the table, and to cover the holy elements, rather than with a white cloth as is the current practice?

As a Minister, I like to use a multi-coloured cloth.

All kinds of questions begin to emerge for church life, and for theology, and for ethics and morality when you examine the way colour is applied and used.

Just look at the portrayal of Jesus as a white skinned, blond haired, blue eyed Jesus in Christian art, in stained glass windows in churches.

What is being portrayed about the acceptable colour and image of humanity in such portrayals?

TACKLING COLOUR BASED HATRED AND DISCRIMINATION

One of the issues that the current pandemic has clarified further for me is that discrimination based on skin colour is a deep reality.

Black people live in a world in which blackness is negatively identified with criminality and profanity. In such conditions there is a negative impact on the mental health of black people and people with darker skin colours. This is seen, for example, in the disproportionate numbers of black people in prisons and mental health centres.

George Floyd’s murder has named the endemic inequalities faced by black and minority ethnic communities daily in health and housing, education and employment, as racism. This is what racism looks like.

The Covid-19 pandemic has uncovered the deep sickness of hatred and resulting inequalities of racism and the harm it does.

For me tackling racism at its worst begins with tackling hatred deeply rooted in concepts of “racial differences” and in which religious belief is so often co-opted to sanction hatred.

I delight in human diversity.

Human DNA shows an incredible mixing and intermingling among human beings throughout history (Rutherford, 2020).

Consequently, there is an incredible variety in skin colours, and deep visual beauty in them all. The skin colour referred to as white is incredibly variable, and so is the skin colour of people of Asian or African or Aboriginal people of any nation.

We reduce the variables to the simplicities of black and white.

This remarkable diversity of people rooted in the “global south” is reduced to BAME, black and minority ethnic.

It is like labelling all the immense variety of Indian cuisine as “curry”, which is as ludicrous as calling all British food “gravy”.

Genetically, all people in the world are about 12^th or 13^th cousins to each other.

This scientific assertion means there is no basis to the argument that there are different races with one group superior to another.

Human beings are not people of different races.

We should stop using terms like multi-racial, and mixed race.

Of course, we all carry the capacity for selfishness and have our biases, and prejudices (Agarwal, 2020), but with our immense differences we are one race, the human race, and incredibly alike, all made in the image of God.

Life is precious to us all.

We all require breath and blood in our bodies.

Whoever you are your wellbeing will be checked against the same rate of heart beat and pulse.

How did skin colour come to be so embedded in discrimination?

SKIN COLOUR, RACE AND SLAVERY AND RACISM

Of significance for our reflections is the fact that, to quote a scholar in genetics, “the emergence of scientific approach to human taxonomy coincided with the growth of European empires. Characterisation of different populations before the expansion of Europeans around the globe was more likely to be based on religion or language than skin colour, but with the birth and growth of the era of scientific revolution, pigmentation became essential to the character of humans” (Rutherford, 2020, pg 39).

Skin colour came to be used to exercise power and prejudice, to “other” human beings of a different and particularly darker skin tone, and to sanction subjugation of people.

This development was integral to the development of trans-Atlantic slavery 400 years ago, and the history of racism.

“It is far easier to sell the case for occupation and enslavement if you are persuaded that the indigenous people are different, have different origins, and are qualitatively inferior to colonists” (Rutherford, 2020, pg 39).

Scholars in the so-called Enlightenment period of history, the period of empire building and colonial expansion, helped to formulate the idea of fixed differences in human beings, primarily based on skin colour, linking skin colour to character, and ranking of human beings. Those with the lighter skin were said to be more superior to those with darker skin.

Here lie the roots of the supremacy of the colour white, the idea of different races based on skin colour was developed.

Contemporary science has rejected these classifications, though they persist in many people’s mind sets, views and opinions.

Where we are now is that sciences refuse to show linear, discreet categorisation of human beings. Rather it reveals complexity in human history and life. Complexity which increases with the movement, meandering and migration of people across the globe from about 70,000 years ago.

The baseline of the most recent science of human genetics is that “all humans share all of their DNA (and) of all the attempts over the centuries to place humans in distinct races, none succeeds. Genetics refuses to comply with these artificial and superficial categories.” (Rutherford, 2020, pg 55).

While theology insists that we are all made in the image of God, it is a sacrilege that religion has introduced the idea of clean and dirty, holy and profane, into the mix.

People who are like us are clean, others are dirty, whiteness is good and pure, blackness is seen negatively. I reject this reasoning.

White has come to be associated with power, privilege and goodness, black with subjugation, denial and badness.

This is why it is important to stand by Black Lives Matter.

We know that white lives matter. We also have to recognise that Black Lives Matter.

Proclaiming that we are all members of one race is a rebuke to the non-sense, violence and destruction of “racism”.

Racism is an obscenity, a negation of our humanity.

It is a painful form of violence which is dehumanising, degrading.

We all have to stand and work together, all of us with all our skin variables to resist and stop racism.

Stop stereotyping people on the basis of skin colour.

Promote respectful relationships.

Love God, and love your neighbour as yourself.

Inderjit Bhogal

21 November 2020

Citations:

Agarwal, P. 2020. Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias. Bloomsbury Sigma, London

Felder, C. H. 1991. Stony the Road we Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation. Fortress Press, Menneapolis

Reddie, A. G. 2005. Acting in Solidarity: Reflections in Critical Christianity. Darton, Longman and Todd, London

Rutherford, A. 2020. How to Argue with a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality. Weidenfield & Nicolson, London

CLINTON MCCURBIN: JUSTICE NOT VIOLENCE

Clinton McCurbin died, or was killed, on 20^th February 1987, as Police arrested him in the NEXT shop in Wolverhampton town centre. He was making a purchase when the shop assistant suspected he was using a stolen Bank Card. Police were called. Clinton died while he was being arrested. The story going around town was that Police had a knee over Clinton’s neck, in a head-lock, to hold him down during arrest, and he died of asphyxia. This incident unleashed a fury of anger at what was termed “police racism and violence”.

A national march against police racism and violence was organised in Wolverhampton on 7^th March 1987. A crowd from all over the country was expected. Many in Wolverhampton stirred up fears of “War in Wolverhampton”. The local Express and Star newspaper carried a front-page headline centred on the fear of violence. Local people were advised to stay away from the town centre on the day of the march for their safety. Shops along the route of the march were encouraged to board up their windows and doors. Faith leaders, of all faiths, advised their communities to keep away from the march, and not support it because it was expected to be violent, and they did not want to be seen to be endorsing violence. Some of them gave interviews on local radio to this end. Members of a Church along the proposed route of the march prayed for snow on the day of the march, hoping this would lead to its cancellation. The fear of violence was real and deep.

I had a town centre office and ministry in Wolverhampton as co-ordinator of the Wolverhampton Interfaith Group at the time. My Methodist leaders, whom I respected greatly, had also asked all Methodist Church members and ministers to give no support to the march. My office was on Queen Street, opposite Express and Star offices, little more than a hundred yards from the spot where Clinton died.

I recall quizzing in my mind as to whether, as a faith leader it would be appropriate for me to go against the advice of my seniors and join the march. Wolverhampton Interfaith Group looked to me for leadership and direction. I decided to join the march, and announced this through interfaith networks, inviting any faith-based person wanting to join me on the march to meet me in the Friends Meeting House half an hour before the commencement of the march.

On the actual day of the march, it snowed, quite heavily! We had blizzard like snow conditions. This drastically reduced the numbers who turned up. Instead of the anticipated 10,000 crowd, around 1000 were there.

Twelve people turned up to walk with me. I decided to walk in my clerical gear, and wished on this occasion that I was a Bishop and could wear a Bishop’s outfit, and be loud as a faith leader. As it was, in the wintry conditions, with winter coats, my clerical collar was quite hidden. I went out with my coat hood up. To all intents and purposes, I was hidden and anonymous. My companions asked me where we shall be in the march. “Right at the front”, I said, “the media of the world will be here. We will walk at the front, be central to the march and all the walkers, and then we shall also be able to bear witness to the truth of the occasion, and not just rely on media stories. We want to say that there are faith-based people who care deeply about the concerns at the centre of this march, and are against police racism and violence. I am confident that a march against violence will not be violent. We will walk at the front to declare our solidarity”. I wanted to be able to say to all those joining the march, and to Clinton’s family, the Church is here and with you.

We found our way to the head of the march, and walked there. Those participating were predominantly black and Asian people. There was a significant white people’s presence. Many were carrying banners expressing outrage at police racism and violence. Snow was falling heavily as we commenced walking. It snowed all day, quite heavily. This can be seen from photos taken on the day. As we walked past the Church where members had prayed for snow, I was clear in my mind that the weather is not influenced by people’s prayers, if it did, I would pray for rain in drought ridden areas on earth so that people there could grow their own food. Prayer is not about ordering God on how to order the world. I was walking in the march as an act of prayer, expressing solidarity with people’s hurts and hopes. It felt like I was bearing something of the cross of the hurting, exhausted Christ, as a man called Simeon did on the road to Golgotha.

Wolverhampton was closed and quiet on the day, not only because of the snow but also because of the march. But the march was noisy. I sensed a deep anger in the walkers at police racism and violence. There was visibly a heavy police presence. There were those in the march who would have turned violently on to the police, but were remarkably restrained, expressing their outrage verbally rather than physically.

The march slowly snaked around the town, and then halted right by my office. From here the NEXT shop where Clinton died could be seen. Clinton’s mother, Esther McCurbin, wanted to go to the spot where her son died to lay a bouquet of flowers and pause for a moment of silence. This was a real flash point. Marchers were getting agitated. I could see that scores of police officers were lined up here blocking the way to the sacred spot. The police sensed violence and wanted the march to proceed, but no was moving. I was right at the front with Esther. She was determined to lay her flowers and say her prayer outside the NEXT shop associated with her son died.

I went and spoke to the Police Officer who appeared to be in charge, and explained the situation. Taking me to be the leader of the march he said, “get the march moving”. I told him that there would be no movement until Mrs McCurbin could go and lay her flowers where her son died. “Can you promise me the march would move on if I allowed that?” I said, “Yes”. He spoke into a walkie talkie device he had, and like the parting of the Red Sea, the blue line of police officers moved aside to allow Esther to have the personal moment she desired. “Who are you?” asked the Officer in charge, holding what was a recording device in front of my face. “Inderjit Bhogal, I am a Methodist Minister”, I replied. “Are you the leader of this march?” he asked. I simply suggested to the Police Officer that the march would move, and that Mrs McCurbin should be brought to Lichfield Street by the Prince Albert Statue and that she could join the march there again. This was all agreed. Suddenly I was seen as the leader. It seemed to me that people are like Sheep without a Shepherd. This space is so often occupied by people who exploit it with all kinds of messages and methods, for good and for ill.

The march proceeded. We turned into Lichfield Street. Mrs McCurbin joined us again at the Prince Albert Statue as agreed. But at this point the march stopped again, and stalled. This was the next flash point. From here the NEXT shop could be seen clearly. The world’s media seemed to be gathered on the steps of the Midland Bank on Lichfield Street, from here they would get the best photos of the anticipated violence.

From here too, all the way back to the NEXT shop there was a heavy police presence, beginning with Officers on foot with riot shield to protect them. Behind them Police on horse-back. Behind them Police reinforcements in Vans. The Police had also come expecting war and violence, and so too had the media.

I found myself standing between some black youths, carrying bricks who had come to have a fight with the police, and the heavy police presence, carrying various weapons and riot gear. I recall looking at the photographers lined up strategically. I felt they wanted to show the world images of violent black youths. I was determined there was not going to be any violence and that the media would not get the story and images they were here for.

I started shouting to the black people in front of me, “you throw one brick and you have lost the battle. Look at those photographers. Their images will portray you as people with bricks and but no brains. You are more than that”.

Then I started shouting, “We want justice not violence”. There was a man with a loud hailer. I took it from him to shout “we want justice not violence”. Gradually others started shouting this too, and it became a chorus and a crescendo. Two or three others came and stood with me between the police and the angry marchers. This chanting went on for about fifteen minutes. It was freezing cold. The snow fell relentlessly. I noticed that the marchers began moving on. Only I and those who stood between the marchers and the police shouting for justice and non-violence were left there, including David a good friend of mine, another member of the clergy who joined the march with me. Gradually every one disappeared, the marchers, the media, the police. I have no idea where or how the march concluded. David and I stood there reflecting on the events. A local Press photographer took a photo of me that appeared in a Newspaper the following week.

It was freezing cold, but I felt very hot just then. I was soaked with sweat and snow, and exhausted. I did feel I had participated in and witnessed remarkable expression of anger at police racism and violence. I also felt I had helped to prevent violence in which there would have been human casualties and property damage.

I walked away from the scene reflecting how critical it is to provide leadership and a voice for non-violence. It is important to offer wisdom of non-violence. I did follow this up in succeeding days and weeks by meeting with the Chief of Police in Wolverhampton to state the message of the marchers, and to talk about racism awareness strategies.

There were those who felt I was a “police collaborator”, some of those who argued this regarded the police as “the enemy” and wore balaclavas over their faces at street gatherings and clearly knew me for they talked with me by my name. I knew who they were. And at the same time, I was asked by my Methodist leaders to explain my actions in joining the march. I explained to them that I may have helped to prevent the “war” that was expected on the day of the march. I don’t know. But in my mind joining the march was the better decision than deciding to stay away. I have always tried to walk for justice and non-violence in my exercise of ministry.

A few days after the march I was present at Clinton’s funeral. I walked at the head of the procession with Paul Boateng MP to the Church in Heath Town. Clinton’s death was a tragedy. He was laid to rest in peace and with respect and dignity.

Inderjit Bhogal

20 February 2020

Three Pieces of Ancient Wisdom Still Relevant Today

Part of the Communion In Times Of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
Click here for more
Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

Here are three pieces of ancient wisdom absolutely critical for consideration and communion in times of coronavirus. These lessons emerged in times of captivity or being in the wilderness. There are simple ways to apply them.

FIRST

God’s very first benediction and calling to humanity: God blessed human beings and called them to be fruitful and do all things with wisdom (Genesis 1:28).

These words follow immediately after the statement that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. God is revealed in the previous words as creator, who delights in creation declaring it “good”. Human beings are to reflect God.

This reflection is seen, and the earth is replenished when, in creativity, and fruitfulness, human beings do all things with wisdom. God “blessed” human beings with these faculties.

Human carelessness, and exploitation of nature, has depleted resources and led to degradation of the environment. Greater care for the earth and the environment is essential to clean air and life for everyone. Breath is life.

Appreciate, affirm, enjoy, express gratitude for, and protect God’s creation of what is “good”. There is wisdom and blessing in this.

SECOND

God’s key lesson for life, you shall not live by bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4)

This was an important lesson for the people of God to learn during time in the wilderness. God walked with people to teach them, “You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord!”

These are the words Jesus too affirmed in his days in the wilderness.

Life is not to accumulate more. Our spiritual wellbeing is important also.

Part of this lesson is to learn the concept of having enough for the day, and not stockpiling for another day (Exodus 16:4). Learning in humility to recognise when you have, or have had, enough, especially in relation to eating. The first petition in the Lord’s prayer is “give us our daily bread”, sustenance, but only enough for today. Try only buying what is on your shopping list. Buy less.

Human tendency to go headlong into business, enterprise, work, profit, accumulation of food and goods has to be checked by learning to say “enough”. Selfishness and greed add to the impoverishment of everyone.

Devote time regularly to reading, reflecting, and discerning the word of God.

THIRD

God’s most repeated ethical requirement, you shall also love the stranger

The Bible contains the command to “love your neighbour, as yourself” and this is taken to be the basis of Biblical ethics. Yet it is stated only once in Hebrew Scriptures (Leviticus 19:18).

Jewish scholars have noted that no less than 37 times the Hebrew Scriptures challenge people to “love the stranger as yourself”. There is no other command repeated so often, perhaps because it was the most difficult lesson to learn.

A neighbour is someone who is a bit like yourself, and easier to love. A stranger is someone very different from you, and more difficult to love. The Bible challenges us to love, and to encounter God in the stranger. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus invited his followers to see and emulate the goodness and mercy of the stranger who ensured the avoided, hurting person had the provision of care and healing (Luke 10:37). The stranger shows what it is to love.

The “stranger” is the one most on the outside of your world, the most despised or isolated. Who is that in your experience? The challenge to “love the stranger” needs to be stated again and again. The “stranger” is a teacher too.

Social distance and space have brought new dimensions and challenges to how we handle social difference. Celebrate difference. Resist division. Our future is together, with all our differences, and international.

Learn to see the image of God in those who are different from you (in skin colour, ethnicity, faith, and so on). Find ways to ensure those who are most marginalised are not isolated, but have supportive connections. What is the most loving way to be with anyone hurting the most, stranger or not? Decision making starts here.

Inderjit Bhogal, 28 April 2020

This article can be downloaded for use here
All documents on this topic are located here

Virtual Sanctuary

Part of the Communion In Times Of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
Click here for more
Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

BUILDING WELCOME, MAINTAINING CONNECTION WITH REFUGEES

Notes prepared for an interview on Radio Sheffield on Sunday 19th April 2020

What can churches do?

We are all in a very difficult coronavirus situation, but we are not all in the same boat.

We are all in the same sea and storm, but there are different degrees and levels of protection. Some are in well protected boats, others are in fragile boats, some are in dingys, and some people are in the water looking for life belts of rescue. There are people, especially refugees and those seeking sanctuary among us who are more vulnerable than others.

Coronavirus is universal, but the degree and levels of protection are very different. A universal aspect of COVID-19 is isolation, and a very real sense of fear and uncertainty and trauma.

Trauma is a universal, global phenomenon now. It is no longer just the experience of the most marginalised people. No one is privileged or protected in Coronavirus. No one is immune. We all know what it is to be separated from those we love.

Trauma is not new for people seeking sanctuary and refugees, but we can all empathise with them, as we all share this reality.

Coronavirus is now a double jeopardy, trauma on top of trauma, hurt for people who have already been in situations of harm and danger through war, and who already carry with them deep scars of violence.

The danger for many “asylum seekers” and refugees is that loneliness and destitution is deepened and exacerbated. All the familiar structures and support are removed.

People without homes, and people far from homes, people whose homes have been destroyed by war and extreme weather are at great risk.

The media was full of news of refugees prior to 31 January. What is happening to refugees now, how are they faring at the borders of Europe? We need more news from the wider world. We need more information about the most vulnerable.

And it is important to keep before us news and information about people seeking and taking sanctuary among us.

This week there have been reports of refugees in peril in the Mediterranean Sea.

23 Italian MPs and three MEPs wrote to the Italian Prime Minister imploring him “act quickly to help those who need to be rescued at sea. We hear news of a shipwreck, of boats laden with humanity, desperately trying to reach the European coast”.

Information provided by Non-Government Organisations on Easter Sunday stated that four boats, carrying 258 migrants between them were in distress, in the waters between Malta and Italy.

47 of them were rescued by SMH, a Spanish NGO.

This is the time of the year when the numbers of refugees in the Mediterranean increase.

In addition, there have been bombings in Libya close the coast where migrants are kept in detention centres, and this pushes them to leave.

Italy says its ports are “unsafe” owing to coronavirus.

Shamefully, Britain maintains a hard line for example in offering welcome to unaccompanied refugee children whose lives are in danger. According to charities working with refugees, such as Safe Passage, the majority of the around 10,000 unaccompanied refugee children who have arrived in Britain since 2010 have got here using dangerous travel methods including hiding in the back of trucks, further endangering their lives. Less than 1000 unaccompanied refugee children have reached the UK through government schemes. Even this week, children who have been legally accepted to join families in the UK remain trapped in overcrowded refugee camps on Greek Islands.

Refugees have practically disappeared from news broadcasts.

Coronavirus is being used by governments as an excuse to say refugees cannot be rescued because it would not be safe to do so. This is alarming in the face of words of solidarity towards people who suffer the most. Church leaders can be more audible in expressing concern, and calling for justice for refugees. Local churches can intentionally ensure refugees in their localities, and in their prayers, are not neglected.

Build virtual sanctuaries within your virtual congregations, to ensure those in the double trauma I have described above are not isolated. Support then through local sanctuary charities and networks. Search out your local City of Sanctuary group. Donate financial support through their website. Offer other support as you are able in the circumstances.

When we come past Coronavirus, we must maintain the priority of protective hospitality for the most vulnerable while we ensure that care workers, local and those who are here from other countries, have greater justice in terms of worker rights and wages. We must not lift the pedal off the need to love more those who have been valued the least.

I live in Sheffield. I am well aware that the Sanctuary Centre in Sheffield which has provided a hub for meeting and friendship has had to close owing to COVID-19 and government guidelines.

City of Sanctuary Sheffield has over the years built up a vast network of partners, volunteers and supporters. City of Sanctuary is now the single point of reference for refugees and supporters in Sheffield.

We are working with them now to build a “virtual sanctuary” to nurture and sustain the sense of belonging, friendship and support by:

Developing ways to keep people connected and supported, and ensure all asylum seekers in accommodation have WiFi connection
WhatsApp Groups with personal messages of encouragement and practical tips, food deliveries, financial support and learning languages
Maintaining contacts for legal and health matters through remote service delivery, critical in ensuring pathways to justice and guidelines on rights are not disrupted
Maintain telephone check-ins
Supporting home schooling with teaching support and laptops
Directing supporters to online petitions

The COVID-19 Handbook for asylum seekers is being developed and kept up-to-date online by many partner organisations working together.

You and your church and organisation can support work like this with offers of help and donations through the website, and join campaigns like Lift the Ban aimed at giving asylum seekers the right to work. Link up and maintain contact with refugees as you are able to.

Asylum seekers live on £5.39 per day. Many of them are sharing bedrooms with complete strangers, with all the associated fears. Government guidelines for social distance are impossible to follow. Many of them are in this precarious situation longer than expected owing to delays in processing their cases. The need for safe accommodation is acute.

Exorbitant fees are required now from people who people who have been accepted as qualifying for leave to remain in Britain following an application for asylum. These applications used to be free. However, the fees are now up to £2,389 for an application that may cost £375 top process. Fee increases were announced in the budget on 11 March 2020. These excessive fees are paid by people already in vulnerable situations and are used to help fund the immigration system. Vulnerable people should not be subsidising the system. Fees should reflect the cost.

Within all their other priorities refugees and asylum seekers have a great spirit of helping and surviving. One of my friends, a refugee from Liberia, has mobilised people to form a choir, and arranges worship and pastoral support. He is providing training on mental wellbeing. He is a dedicated worker providing incredible support to other refugees from a knowledge of personal trauma. He insists need to create empathy more than sympathy.

Inderjit Bhogal

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Easter: Life and Forgiveness

Part of the Communion In Times Of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
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Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

It is generally recognised in scholarship that the Gospel according to Mark is the first written record of anyone’s memory of Jesus, possibly based on the sermons of the Apostle Peter. It has been argued also that the Gospel according to John may be the written memories and meditations that give us windows into the life and thoughts of the earliest followers of Jesus. They are mostly Jewish followers of Jesus who also remain attached to Synagogue communities. Some in the Synagogues were divided in their responses to Jesus (John 9:16; 10:19). Some of the newest follower of Jesus wrestled with how to be his disciples within the wider Jewish community, and feared being excluded from Synagogues on account of their allegiance to him (9:34,35). Some will have found this difficult. There were many, like Nicodemus (3:2) and Joseph of Arimathea (19:38) who kept their discipleship private. To be excluded from the Synagogue would have been a humiliation (9:34).

We cannot pretend that there were not complex arguments and deep divisions between Jewish authorities and the first followers of Jesus. Christians have to acknowledge that the way John has been read has contributed to antisemitic beliefs and behaviour. The Johannine text has to be read with care. Jesus was a Jew. It is a contradiction for his followers to hate Jews.

The execution of Jesus by the occupying Roman authorities was followed by the persecution of the followers of the Way of Christ. Life for Jews under Roman occupation was hard too. The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in AD70.

Life for the small bands of Jesus’ followers was tough. They could only meet discreetly and in small groups. They were fearful of everyone, especially local police, occupying military and figures of authority. We discern in John the life of these small and fragile, almost sectarian, groups of followers of Jesus living as a tiny minority. They trusted no one and would be careful who they opened the door to. They lived and worshipped as excluded communities, behind locked doors for safety. They found strength in each other (see also Acts 2:44-47).

This is the band of people we read of in John 20:19-23. It is just a glimpse into their world. A small group meeting behind locked doors, scared and isolated. It is the first Easter Day.

I wonder if their fears included the stories of Jesus’ resurrection. They had been so scared when Jesus was arrested and crucified that they had denied knowledge of Jesus and abandoned him in his greatest hour of need. Now, Mary has just been to the tomb, found it empty, come to them and announced, “I have seen the Lord” (20:11-18). Their first response to stories of Jesus’ resurrection may have been that they were “afraid” (Mark 16:8). They’ve never known anything like the resurrection of a person. There were many reasons for them to lock the doors, they were probably looking accusingly at each other for letting Jesus down, and their fears have drained them of life.

“Peace be with you”

But their experience also was that Jesus stood among them, in their tiny house. He is aware of their fears and has his own scars he bears, and twice says to them, “Peace be with you” to reassure them. He is the one who was executed, but they are the ones who seem to have lost their life.

It is this frightened band of people who are the first people Jesus commissions to continue his ministry with the amazing words: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”.

Then he did something and said something quite incredible.

First, Jesus “breathed on them” and said to them “receive the Holy Spirit”. They felt his breath, that’s how close Jesus was to them. These words recall what is written in Genesis 2:7 that God breathed “the breath of life” into humanity. Breath is life. Jesus brings this lifeless group of people to life again, and assures them they will be sustained for life and ministry by the life and strength of God. His message is, do not be scared. Live fully in the world. You are not alone. God’s Spirit is with you.

Second, he gives them one instruction only: Be forgiving. This is the key requirement in the followers of Jesus who are commissioned to continue his ministry. Jesus may have been executed by those in authority, but what hurt and crucified him most was being abandoned by his closest friends. He forgave “those who know not what they do” from his cross, practically his last action before breathing his last. His first action with his followers gathered together is to show he forgives them, speaking words of peace. Now he instructs them to be forgiving. Forgive those who hurt you, and encourage this in others. Start here, forgive those closest to you who let you down, as I forgive you, he seems to be saying. Forgiveness helps to dispel fear and set you free. If you are fearful of those who have hurt you, or those you have hurt, forgive them. Forgiveness is most effective when it is face to face.

The symbols of the Spirit of God are life and forgiveness.

Inderjit Bhogal

12 April 2020, EASTER DAY

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Good Friday: My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Part of the Communion In Times Of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
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Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

Updated May 2020

He was awake.

Didn’t sleep.

It was his time of prayer, around five in the morning, it was still dark.

“Father not my will, but yours”, his constant mantra, and all through the night.

No time for ablutions, not even a wash, and no morning drink.

He is bound, and handed over for trial.

He stands, bound, thirsty, hungry, before blokes who hope they will not be kept long from coffee.

There are false accusations, and inquisition.

There is no charge.

Only the derision of “Crucify him”.

No “Hosanna” here.

The Holy City is trapped in “Jealousy”.

He is no King!

He may be their Saviour, but he is not our King.

End his reign quickly.

Born in a Stable, he is bullied in a Palace;

mocked in fun behind closed doors;

No reassuring hand, no word in his favour;

alone, with witnesses who willed an end to the madness, helpless.

Pilate washes his hands of the whole business, and leaves.

The dictator unable to handle obvious mistakes.

“Then they led him out to crucify him”.

Exhausted, breathing but out of breath,

he needs help to carry the cross.

Witnesses stand around, some look away.

Simeon, just passing by, is “compelled” to share the pain, carry the cross.

Veronica wipes his brow.

Jesus alone will carry the weight and meaning of the moment, every step of the way.

“And they crucified him”, on a hill, for all to see, amid criminals,

and stole and divided his clothes without shame.

It is only nine in the morning.

Others passed by, and mocked him.

“He saved others he cannot save himself”.

A slow six hours of torture, hanging on a gibbet.

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” his only utterance.

Absorbed, never forgotten prayer of the Son of God.

Then a loud wordless cry, and he “breathed his last” breath.

Pierced and broke his mother’s heart.

She wept and held him at his birth, and now at his death, always her baby.

Joseph of Arimathea, “a respected member of the council” comes forward.

He stood and witnessed this whole tale, helpless,

“he was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God”.

Joseph, his father’s namesake, “asked for the body of Jesus”, and buried him.

Son of God or not, no lavish funeral for Jesus.

Buried with dignity, the evening he died.

Obscure birth and then burial in a cave,

in the company of his mother Mary.

True mother, Jesus was always her son.

Gospel writers mention names of four others who were present at the burial.

No Priest for prayers.

Jesus’ prayer continues.

Your Kingdom come.

Your will be done.

The Kingdom and the Will of God is symbolised in the cross of Christ,

The power that gives life and liberates is the power given away.

Jesus and his Way will live and will give life and direction to others for ever.

Inderjit Bhogal

10 April 2020 GOOD FRIDAY (Updated May 2020)

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Live Your Life in a Manner Worth of the Gospel

Part of the Communion In Times Of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
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Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

PHILIPPIANS 1:27

These words are written from the confinement of a prison. What is it to live your life in a manner worthy of the Gospel?

There are four key ingredients and movements of the Gospel, namely the incarnation, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ.

First, Incarnation: God is revealed in, and is like Christ

God who is with us is revealed and reflected in the powerless dependence and vulnerability of a new born child born, not in the might of an almighty warrior. Humility is the first characteristic God.

Matthew and Luke record birth narratives. Written in the context of the fall of Jerusalem after AD70, at the height of the power of Caesar who was being proclaimed the Saviour, armed to the teeth, the Gospel writers assert that the Saviour is a helpless, dependent, vulnerable, weapon free refugee child.

A life lived in a manner worthy of the Gospel will be a life lived in the confidence that God is with us, and shares our fragility. It will be a life that is characterised by humility, not oppressive and intimidating behaviour. It will be a life that will make decisions from the perspective of the most vulnerable, and most in danger.

Discern the presence of God in people and places of humility.

Live humbly without being oppressive and intimidating, at home, in church, at work, in community, and you will reflect Christlikeness and the Gospel of Christ.

Secondly, Ministry: Reflecting the hospitable and healing ministry and practice of Christ

The ministry and practice of Christ was characterised by being a healing presence. Jesus had a ministry of healing, not harming or hurting. Jesus lived humbly, and was angry when confronted with hurt and exploitation. He modelled leadership as service.

Jesus’ ministry is revealed as a service of mending hurts, doing good, including the outsider, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison, sharing food with the hungry and water with the thirsty. He sought justice for those who were most exposed to exploitation.

We never hear of Jesus carrying any weapons of war in his hands. This is relevant in our world characterised by hurting and harming, and by increased spending on instruments of war. We need medication, and instruments of healing. Turn the spears into pruning hooks. Invest in those things and practices that heal, not in things and practices that harm and hurt.

Our commitments and actions have to be consistent with the ministry and practice of Jesus.

A life lived in the manner worthy of the Gospel will be a healing life not a harmful or hurting life, and will call for this in others. Be a healing presence, not a hurtful one, at home, in church, at work, and in community.

Thirdly, Crucifixion: Reflecting the passion and cost of such a ministry

Marks Gospel was perhaps the first attempt at recording the life of Christ. It does not include the birth narratives, but interprets Christ from the perspective of his suffering and crucifixion. The message of these themes is the recognition that nothing worthwhile is without cost. A ministry of healing and hospitality is not cost free. It makes heavy demands, and is exhausting and painful.

There is a cost involved in exercising the ministry described above. Jesus was tortured and persecuted and rejected. He valued communion with a small community. But Jesus died denied, betrayed and abandoned even by his closest friends. What greater humiliation is there than that?

Living life in a manner worthy of the Gospel will be costly. Expect opposition. However, such a life will be lived in a spirit of service and humility, without seeking to hurt or humiliate others. It is Gospel wisdom that we bear the cross. It is the pathway to resurrection and hope.

Fourthly, Resurrection: Reflecting hope, always

The resurrection stories in the Gospels insist that there are no dead ends. The weightiest obstacles can roll away.

This is modelled in the life and ministry of Christ. He always looked for transformation and the fulness of life in all places and for all people.

Reflect on your life and all the situations in which you feel you are at your wits end, at a dead end, stuck, imprisoned, not sure of which way to turn next. It is perfectly legitimate to puzzle over obstacles (Mark 16:3). Living and serving humbly does not mean you turn away from them, or that you give up in fear and frustration.

According to John’s Gospel (21:1-13), the disciples had laboured hard and had nothing to show for all their efforts, they were ready to give up, but in the wisdom of Christ they were shown a way forward.

A life lived in the manner of the Gospel will embrace the cross and the cost of life, but will always be characterised by hope, even in the worst of circumstances. Do not despair. Live with hope. Help others to do so also.

Conclusion

The Letter to the Philippians insists that we are to live our life in a manner that is worthy of the Gospel, but also that we are to live “side by side” not by ourselves, that’s why we are part of the community of followers of Jesus, with the “mind that was in Christ”. This is the mind that Charles Wesley says is “emptied of all but love”. It will not be a life without difficulty, opposition or conflict, but it will be a life that is not intimidated by opponents [Philippians 1:27-30].

A life lived in the manner of the Gospel has confidence in God who is revealed in Christ’s birth, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection.

It is a life that will not exercise oppression or intimidation. It is a life lived in the confidence that God is with us. It is a life that will give you breath, that will be healing, that will give you strength to bear the cost, and to remain hope full, always.

So live your life in a manner worthy of the Gospel, and bring and encourage this lifestyle in all life and reality at local and wider level. You will help to build a better world governed by humility, service, hospitality, healing and hope as opposed to oppression, intimidation and humiliation. It is the pathway of a follower of Christ.

INDERJIT BHOGAL, 9 APRIL 2020
MAUNDY THURSDAY. ANNIVERSARY OF EXECUTION OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (1945)

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He Restores My Soul

Part of the Communion In Times Of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
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Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

PSALM 23:3

This is a beautiful thought, my constant mantra, and in my mind as I observe trees and plants restored in nature.

These words speak to me of an unsolicited gift of God, who restores my soul, even in sleep (Psalm 127:2). It is an ongoing gift rooted in the grace and generosity of God, and applies to all people of all ages.

The Hebrew word for “soul” draws attention to the core of a person’s being. It is the essence and seat of your being. I believe it is here we are one with God, a union that is never broken. Here we are in communion with God when we are aware of this and when we are not. And, in the words of St Patrick’s breastplate, God is the “soul’s shelter” and sanctuary.

There is something very special and sacred about the words “He restores my soul”. What message do they hold?

The writer of these words was perhaps a shepherd working hard to safeguard and hold a small flock together, seeking the best nourishment for the sheep, and being exhausted in the process. The shepherd is perhaps most able to relax and recover as she/he draws on the air of green pastures and gazes upon still waters, when the flock is together and safe.

From here emerges the reflection that God is the Great Shepherd who in the experience of the writer is always with her/him, and with those who are precious to her/him, and holds them together. This goes a long way to hold and restore her/his soul. From this grows her/his commitment to the pathways of righteousness, without fearing loneliness, and with the assurance that she/he has nourishment and goodness even when surrounded by “enemies”. The Psalmist concludes that this is where her/his ultimate rest is.

Restoration is a gift of God, but it is also rooted in communion with others. In the mind of Christ, the key lies in communion with two or three. Nurture lasting friendship with two or three special people with whom you are in a depth of communion that is best described in the term “soul mate”. These are people who are like nourishing pasture and pools of still water, in whom you find restoration.

In the context of coronavirus and Covid-19 the focus is rightly on medication. But we cannot ignore psychological and mental wellbeing. We are discovering more than ever that communion with others is essential to our health and contribution. We are troubled when anyone in distress is alone.

Do not underestimate the reassurance and restoration that can come from communication and communion in twos and threes. This is pastoral care. It strengthens our ministry.

The soul is precious. It is the centre of our resilience when our body is weak. Nevertheless, our body, with all its fragility and vulnerability is the sanctuary of our soul.

Perhaps the soul also is the “treasure in clay jars” we read of in 2 Corinthians 4:7. So the writer of these particular words goes on to say, “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Even when your body is bruised and broken and exhausted, your soul within you will find pastures and pools, and paths of righteousness. It is treasured and restored by God.

Treasure Jesus’ Gospel wisdom that you should not seek material gain and wellbeing at the expense of your soul (Matthew 16:26; Luke 9:25).

Inderjit Bhogal, 6 April 2020

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A Creed for Our Times

Part of the Communion in Times of Coronavirus series of gentle reflections
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Inderjit Bhogal, 2020

We believe God dwells in our midst

The refuge and shelter of our souls,

In whom is our sanctuary and in whom we live and have our being, and eternal life.

We believe the life of God flows in us and restores our soul.

We believe that the Spirit of God is upon us,

In darkness, and light, storms and stirrings,

In which God weaves with darkness and the “deep” to make life and love,

and calls us to protect all creation and life with carefulness, and to do all things with wisdom.

We believe Christ reveals the life of God, and how we can share in it,

By being fully human, embracing beauty and brokenness in life,

By seeking wholeness and the fulness of life for all,

Bearing the cost of suffering, and always keeping hope alive.

We commit ourselves to so live our lives in God that we reflect the likeness of Christ,

See the image of God in all people, those like us and those different from us,

Love ourselves that we may love our neighbour as our self, and,

Always act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

Inderjit Bhogal, 29 March 2020

NOTE: You can use the word “mercy” or “tenderly” in the final line, which ever works best for you.

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