‘I will make you father of a multitude of nations. I will make you most fruitful.’
(see Genesis 17:3-9)
In his book, ‘The Boy with Two Hearts,’ Hamed Amiri tells of his family’s struggles as they escape war torn Afghanistan to seek refuge in the UK, eventually settling in Cardiff as their home. Their journey was made all the more difficult by the heart condition of his older brother, Hussein. In his book, after describing his brother’s death some years later, he writes ‘Love is a strange thing, especially when it’s felt between total strangers. In my life with Hussein and through writing this book, I can now see that love crosses borders. It crosses religions and families and can occur between people who’ll never see each other again. It brings hope, even in the darkest moments you face.”
We are part of the same human family and although there are many differences between us we have so much in common. When the MP Jo Cox was murdered, her words that “We have more in common than that which drives us apart” fuelled a new campaign in her name to bring people together, rejoicing in what we have in common.
The promise of God to Abraham that he would make him father of a multitude of nations, not only reminds the three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, that we all have something in common as children of Abraham, it is a reminder and a call to us that we can and should be able to live alongside people who are different from us. We are part of the same human family, walking the same earth and breathing the same air. As Hamed Amiri reminds us, ‘Love crosses borders.’
PRAY FOR those who build friendships between people of different faiths and beliefs, and for those who seek to create friendship rather walls.
Our daily reflections for Lent focus on the many injustices which exist in our world, as we seek to connect our life of prayer to social justice, the Justice of God which Christ proclaimed. More resources are available at www.southcardiffministryarea.co.uk/just-lent
South Cardiff Ministry Area 