Elijah's Million Lights

Do you remember my blog about a seven foot young German bearing a Peace Candle who walked to a freezing Holy Island as part of a 20,000 km pilgrimage on foot across Europe? His name is Thomas Joachim, now christened Elijah. He went from the now dismantled Berlin wall to the wall in the Holy Land that separates Israelis from Palestinians which he prays will be dismantled. He carries a Peace Candle whose  message is ‘Never again walls: never again war’. He calls for a million people to light a candle for peace and to pray.

He expects to arrive in Jerusalem for Pentecost. He quotes  Psalm 87:5 as meaning ‘Everyone in the world is born in Zion’ (i.e. it belongs to everyone). His campaign organiser asks ‘Please will you write a letter about your meeting with him when he stopped at your place and to welcome him to his destination? Perhaps one day these letters can be published as a book. This is my dream of how 1000, 000 candles will find their way from the Berlin Wall to the Wall in Jerusalem'.  

You walked to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in the freezing winter, and faithfully prayed in a dark, unheated church, built on the site of the original Celtic monastery. We were deeply touched by your visit. We are known as England’s Cradle of Christianity, because gentle Saint Aidan brought the light of Christ in the seventh century from here. Bethlehem is the place where Christ was cradled, and some of us feel a special bond between the two holy places. Saint Aidan is depicted in a sculpture as carrying the torch of flame, which is the Christ-light. Like an Olympic relay runner he hands on the torch.