Reflection -- Mother Judaism
Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, was the first person I ever heard use the term 'Mother Judaism.' His meaning obviously is that our tradition was born from Judaism and that Jesus, and his followers were Jews. Judaism is our mother.
Bishop Curry is also a staunch opponent of antisemitism and calls on us to be the same and believes it important that every church and congregation recognize our Jewish roots and fight the forces of hate.
Rabbi Tow, who will be our special guest Messenger this Sunday, and I have begun formulating a program we call 1Another. This program, which will provide resources to faith communities for taking on antisemitism and making people aware that unless we are vigilant, 'it can happen again.' The heart of this program is education - getting people to understand each other.
One part of 1Another is actually having people of different faiths not just come to other houses of worship (like we did with the 'Conversations on Faith' a few years back) but actually participate in the services of those faith communities. Rabbi Neil coming to Christ Church this Sunday, is an example of that kind of program. We both believe that we will increase understanding by getting people into the same room and being in prayer together.
I have two things in my past that have made me sensitive to the threat of antisemitism: my grandfather, a German baker, was accused of being a Nazi sympathizer in the '30's in New York. I have never been able to confirm or deny whether he was or not, though I have hanging on the wall of our home a faded newspaper story entitled Thank God I am An American, an advertisement paid for by the mayor and council of our town to support my grandfather. My grandfather died when I was too young to ask him about it. The family, of course, denies it. He was a good man so I choose to believe them, but this accusation has haunted me since I first learned of it.
The second experience was that while serving as Youth Minister of an Episcopal Church in New Jersey many years ago, I once planned and conducted a service commemorating Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, and the traditional date for the beginning of the Holocaust. I wrote and planned this service in order to educate the kids of the parish of the horror of the Shoah and to show them what people can do to others if given the chance. We will have a Kristallnacht service this November at Christ Church.
Just before that service began, an elderly couple came through the door and asked if they could attend the service. I said, of course and then asked them how they heard about it and why they were there. They responded, 'someone told us and we are survivors of Auschwitz. We came to say thank you.' (I am crying as I write this.) After the service the Schwarz's spent two hours talking to the kids about the Holocaust. I believe, to this day, that God sent the Schwarz's to us that evening because for weeks before it I had fretted that I would never be able to explain the horror of the Holocaust to a group of fairly affluent, completely safe, teenagers in suburban New Jersey. To this day I believe the Schwarz's coming to our church was an answer to a prayer. One of my prized possessions is Fred Schwarz's passport stamped with a large J for Juden/Jew, issued the first month that kind of passport was issued by the Nazis, January 1939. Fred and Lea Schwarz gave me the passport in thanks for doing the service. It will be available for viewing at the service in November.
Why do I write this long reflection? Because it can happen again. Incidents of antisemitic behavior and outright Nazism are increasing in the world, not decreasing. Just recently a swastika was painted on a part of the bicycle path in Herndon. We must be vigilant and help fight the battle against this terrible scourge. Let us begin as a congregation this Sunday and then hopefully continue our work after that.
See you Sunday,
Kurt+
