Service for Unity, in connection with the Jewish people
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Meditation
Haïm Korsia (Chief Rabbi of France)
‘Called to be sentinels and messengers’
The texts that make up our common history, apart from the Bible, which would already be essential, are like bonds that give us the opportunity to hold the proper distance. Such bonds do not force us to go hand in hand, but do oblige us to know where the other stands (…)
Both Jews and Christians, we are called to be both sentinels and messengers, like those “watchers who keep watch in the night” in Isaiah chapter 21. Indeed, we are obliged; obliged by our shared sensitivity to the status of all minorities, our attentiveness to the biblical call to love the stranger “for you were a stranger in the land of Egypt”, and our role as transmitters of history and memory (…)
This similarity, played out in our daily lives, is already apparent in our respective approaches to scripture. There is one Torah, and its different readings lead to several Judaisms – and the same is true for Protestantism and its different forms (…)
It is much easier to state a truth, in this case that of fraternity and fellowship, than to fulfill it. If freedom and equality are relatively objective values, while fraternity and fellowship are always perfectible, since it is never a state of affairs but rather a vocation.
From the book “Les relations entre chrétiens et juifs” (The relationship between Christians and Jews) by the Fédération Protestante de France – Called to be sentinels and messengers
Editions Olivetan, 2022
Intercessions
(To be adapted according to each place)
R. Amen, amen, blessed be the God of Israel
Or another chorus.
1.Loving Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
you who mourned because of the violence between Cain and Abel,
–we pray to you for peace in the Holy Land, this land where you have chosen to come and join us in our humanity
2.Loving Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
you who made possible the reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers,
-for any contempt for your people Israel, forgive us
(silence)
-we pray to you, Father, to make fraternity grow between the Jewish people and the nations.
3.Loving Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
you who brought Israel out of Egypt and made your people free,
-give your joy to the Jewish people, and keep them faithful to your covenant.
4.Loving Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
you who united the twelve tribes of Israel around the Torah,
-give peace to the Jews who believe in Jesus.
5.Loving Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
you who sent your Son Jesus to save us,
-pour out your blessing on Christians who are of Jewish descent.
6.Loving Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Father of Jesus Christ,
–bring together in unity all Christian churches.
7.Loving Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
– you have given the Jewish people the promise of the coming of the Messiah,
– you have given the Church the expectation of the expectation of your son’s return.
– in the Holy Spirit we say with the whole Church: “Maranatha, come Lord”.