Rabbi pleas for Anglican Unity

From Religious Intelligence:

Thursday, 31st July 2008. 3:24pm

By Andrew Carey.

A passionate plea for Anglican unity was issued on Monday night by Britain’s chief rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sachs, in an act he described as Jewish ‘chutzpah’.


“Every faith has cracks and schisms. But the Anglican Church has held radically different people together more graciously and successfully over many hundreds of years than any other western religion I know. I view it with wonder, awe and admiration,” he declared.

“You must hold together for the future, for it’s your ability to hold together in a world driving people apart that is your unique contribution to a landscape of hope.”

The heartfelt call for unity from a Jewish leader, was the first time in which a Chief Rabbi had addressed a Lambeth Conference plenary despite the fact that the Council of Christians and Jews was formed in 1942 by Archbishop William Temple and Chief Rabbi, J.H Hertz.

His lecture on covenant was greeted by two emotional standing ovations, as he outlined a history of Jewish covenant theology and issued a call for urgent co-operation among the faiths, to address the threats of violence, and environmental catastrophe. “We are living through one of the most fateful ages of change since homo sapiens first set foot on the earth,” he said, pointing to the threat to the integrity of creation signaled by global warming. “We must honour our covenant with future generations that they will inherit a world in which it is possible to live. That is the call of God in our time.” He argued that the prior covenant in the Hebrew scriptures was a covenant of fate represented by Noah and the rainbow, followed by the Abrahamic covenant of faith.

The covenant of fate, he said, had three dimensions: the sanctity of human life, the integrity of creation, and the ‘dignity of difference’. “At the very moment that covenants of faith are splitting apart, the covenant of fate is forcing us together – and we have not yet proved equal to it.” He continued, “All three elements of the global covenant are in danger. The sanctity of human life is being desecrated by terror. The integrity of creation is threatened by environmental catastrophe. Respect for diversity is imperiled by what one writer has called the clash of civilizations.” The crisis, he said called adherents of all faiths to walk closer together, extending friendship and joint action more widely.

In a moving remembrance of the holocaust and centuries of pain inflicted by Christians on the Jews, he paid tribute to the redemption of the past suffering when the Council of Christians and Jews came into being in 1942.

“Since then, Jews and Christians have done more to mend their relationship than any other two religions on earth, so that today we meet as beloved friends.” He said this example of reconciliation, “must show the world another way: honouring humanity as God’s image, protecting the environment as God’s work, respecting diversity as God’s will and keeping the covenant as God’s word.”

Every faith, being particular, has cracks and schisms. But the Anglican Church has held radically different people together more graciously and successfully over many hundred years than any other Western religion I know. I view it with wonder, awe, and admiration.

Your ability to hold together in a world driving people apart is your gift to a landscape of hope. Jonathan Sachs

You’re a wonderful Church –

You must hold together for the future, for it’s your ability to hold together in a world driving people apart that is your unique contribution to a landscape of hope.