Aug 16, 2019 Amnon Peery Evangelic, Christian 0

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Christ Church Cathedral Vancouver (courtesy: Facebook)

Canada’s Anglican Church will remove a prayer for converting Jews from its liturgy, the Canadian Jewish News has reported.

According to the report, at a meeting in Vancouver, the church’s General Synod – its governing body – approved a decision on July 16 to remove an invocation that calls for the conversion of Jews from the Book of Common Prayer. They will replace it with a prayer called: “For Reconciliation with the Jews.”

For a resolution to be successful, it must pass before a synod in all three of the church’s “houses.” This one received virtually unanimous support: Among the laity, it passed by a 99% plurality, and by 100% among clergy and bishops.

The amendment involves ratification at the upcoming General Synod in 2022. However, due to its across-the-board support, it’s expected to be nothing more than a formality.

Only 230 of nearly 2,800 Anglican churches in Canada are still using the Book of Common Prayer. Others use the ‘Book of Alternative Services’.

Speaking at the 2019 synod, Rev. Myers noted that persecution of Jews “is not a thing of the past, nor is it restricted to other parts of the world,” recalling the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which killed 11 worshippers.

Changing the prayer compels Anglicans “to acknowledge and repent of the church’s participation in anti-Semitism, to stop singling out Jews as a target for our evangelistic efforts, and to assume a humble and reconciliatory stance with our Jewish elders in the faith,” Rev. Myers added. “It also invites Anglicans to be ever mindful of Christianity’s deep Jewish roots.”

The “Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews,” which is one of 50 prayers in the Book of Common Prayer, is recited discretionally and asks God to “hasten the time when all Israel shall be saved,” and that his “ancient people…open their hearts that they may see and confess the Lord Jesus to be thy Son and their true Messiah.”

The prayer asking “For reconciliation with the Jews” was a combined effort between the Anglican Church, the Prayer Book Society of Canada, and the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus, which is associated with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

The new prayer reads: “O God, who didst choose Israel to be thine inheritance: Have mercy upon us and forgive us for violence and wickedness against our brother Jacob; the arrogance of our hearts and minds hath deceived us, and shame hath covered our face. Take away all pride and prejudice in us, and grant that we, together with the people whom thou didst first make thine own, may attain to the fulness of redemption which thou hast promised; to the honor and glory of thy most holy Name.”

In 1992, the Anglican Church of Canada omitted a prayer said on Good Friday that seeks for God’s mercy on Jews for wilfully rejecting and denying Jesus.

Last month, Breaking Israel News reported on the nefarious replacement theology being used by the Greek Orthodox Church.

 

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