This Week

Prayerful

In pursuit of peace, local pastor initiates first
World Sabbath of Religious Reconciliation.

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR

Special to the Jewish News

F

41M

or millennia, religion has
been the cause of too
many wars, dividing conti-
nents and countries, fami-
lies and friends.
Now, Rev. Rod Reinhart, pastor of
Trinity Episcopal Church in
Farmington Hills, is working to
change the course of history. He,
along with dozens of other clergy
members and their faithful, will
crowd - into Christ Church
Cranbrook at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan.
22, to celebrate the first Woad
Sabbath of Religious Reconciliation.
He is hoping the event will be the
starting point for an international
day of prayer on the subject.
"God is calling people of all faiths
now to put away the weapons of war
and demand that there be no war
among those of different races, creeds,
colors and certainly religions, that we
instead seek peace," he said.
To be included in the solemn day
of prayer are leaders of the Jewish,
Baptist, Episcopal, Evangelical
Lutheran, Muslim and Hindu reli-
gions. Rabbi Marla Feldman of the
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit is planning to
attend. Holocaust survivor Fred
Lessing of Southfield will speak during
the evening service.
Rev. Reinhart came up with the
idea for this service after hearing time
and again that people are losing
respect for religion.
-
"About two years ago, so many
people told me that they had no
respect for religion and that all of the
wars on the Earth have been caused
by some kind of religion, directly or .
indirectly," he said.
"So I was meditating on the tract
and it struck me that wars are caused
by dictators, political leaders and reli-
gious leaders who are greedy for land,
power and use religion to achieve
their objectives."
"God calls people to forgive each
other to settle conflicts in a non-vio-
lent way, to put care and concern for
all people over a care and concern over

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wealth and power," Rev. Reinhart said.
He passed the idea of having an
international day of peace through
the interfaith community and found
a lot of support. Rabbi Joseph Klein
of Temple Emanu-El weighed in
positively.
"I was contacted a little while ago,"
he said, adding that he didn't hear
about it again until his name appeared
on the brochure as a "religious celebra-
tion supporter." He is unable to
attend, but said, "I thought it was a
good idea."
Fred Lessing is unsure how organiz-
ers got his name for the service. He
survived the Holocaust in the
Netherlands by posing as a Christian
child who was passed from neighbor
to neighbor. He has spoken about the
topic in the past and will be recon-
structing his speech to keep it to a
five-minute limit.
"I am not sure the survivors of the
Holocaust fit in here. I don't think
this was a religious war," he said.
"Jews were not persecuted because
they believed in Judaism. If you con-
verted, you didn't escape the camps."
The effort most certainly is not
the first interfaith service to be con-
ducted in metropolitan Detroit.
Popular Thanksgiving celebrations
have carried interfaith messages for
nearly a century in the city and its
surrounding suburbs. But so far,
none has been as expansive and
devoted to this cause.
"Religious war is a tremendous
problem. There are hundreds of thou-
sands of people who have been killed
over religious faith," Rev. Reinhart
said. "If we can come together and
start something that may one day give
someone pause as to whether or not to
start a conflict in the name of God,
we will have done something to save
humanity from horrendous suffering
in the future."

❑

Christ Church Cranbrook is
located at 470 Church Street in
Bloomfield Hills, which is west
of Cranbrook Road and south of
Lone Pine Road. For informa-
tion, call (248) 644-5210.

