Hospitality and House of Grace

Hospitality and House of Grace are synonymous. Not only are there coffee and water and sweet treats as a visitor, but hospitality is at the heart of the vision of the House of Grace itself, opened to receive former prisoners transitioning to life ‘on the outside’ by Kamil and Agnes Shehade in 1982.

Growing up, Jamal and Thomas did not realise there was anything different about their home, until they discovered school friends were forbidden to visit because of fear of what ‘former inmates’ might do. Over time, this attitude softened a little and even some of their friends’ parents came around. The welcome is so warm, the atmosphere so welcoming, it is easy to understand why.

Kamil and Agnes had a vision for the abandoned shell of The Church of our Lady in downtown Haifa. They rebuilt it, and opened it as a half-way house for men leaving prison as some of the most marginalized people in Israeli society.

Over time, the city of Haifa have allowed government buildings and banks to grow up around the little church, as if to hide it. But it is still here, and people still seek it out and find refuge here.

11% of the population of Haifa is Arab (some prefer Palestinian), and 20% across Israel, but they make up 40% of the prison population in Israel. Some of these men have been imprisoned for a long time for minor crimes, most have faced enormous struggles in life, including a lack of stability in family life, poor education and lack of opportunity. It is difficult to find well paid work, build a home, raise a family; in short, to flourish.

Recent laws in Israel such as the 2018 Nationality Act, which define what it means to be an Israeli and demotes Arabic to a second language no longer required on legal documents, make things even more difficult for men who may be illiterate and certainly would not have been taught Hebrew to any high standard.

And some have been so long in a harsh prison environment that kindness and good relationships with partners and children are harder to sustain.

Through its programmes, House of Grace helps men find some inner peace, some self-esteem, learn some skills and build better relationships.

Over time, obvious needs for family support in the community and young people who have far less spent on them in terms of education and after school activities led to new programmes. The infrastructure of this became really important in the pandemic.

This is what grassroots activism is. Small acts of grace on limited budgets, bearing fruit over time in unforeseen ways. And still faithful to Kamil and Agnes’s Matthew 25 faith.

I was struck by the similarities in response from House of Grace with Cranhill Development Trust, based In Cranhill in the east end of Glasgow, where I was minister for 17 years. Food parcels, internet access, IT to allow kids to access lessons, just keeping the human connection going. And after the pandemic, the social isolation still being experienced where young people have lost two, almost three, of their most formative years.

This is what grassroots activism is. Small acts of grace on limited budgets, bearing fruit over time in unforeseen ways. And still faithful to Kamil and Agnes’s Matthew 25 faith.

Haifa is only about an hour from Tiberias. I need to hang out there more, for myself. I need that kind of open handed welcome.