Changing the Future by Confronting the Past

On Good Friday in 2002, I was fortunate to see the challenging video Changing the Future by Confronting the Past. The video was a recording of the Repentance Service held in Israel on April 19, 2001. The focus of the service was reconciliation with our Jewish brothers and sisters  for 2000 years of Church history that have left a trail of blood: contempt, hatred, hostility, persecution and wholesale slaughter.

The contents of the Service Booklet can be found on the Internet (see the Repentance Service, Yom Hashoah, April 19, 2001).  I'd like to draw your attention in particular to the Act of Repentance and the Confession which I have included below. You might like to join with the many other Christians who have already done so and confess our collective guilt for the treatment of our elder brother Israel.

For more information on this initiative, you can follow this link: Changing the Future by Confronting the Past.

The initiative was instigated by the Evangelical Sisters of Mary. Their founders, Dr Klara Schlink, now Mother Basilea, and Erika Madauss, now Mother Martyria, made brave Christian stands during the Hitler regime in Nazi Germany. Dr Klara traveled through Germany holding lectures for a mission society. One of her main topics was "God's Plan for Israel". She was called before the Gestapo twice but was released each time. Erika held bible studies for young people and taught the Old Testament which was forbidden during the Hitler regime. The Evangelical Sisters of Mary were established in post-war Germany in 1947.

If you'd like more information about these inspirational sisters and their work, you can write to them at the address below, you can visit them in Camden or you can visit their website http://www.marysisters.org.au. Their address in Australia is:

The Evangelical Sisters of Mary
PO Box 430
Camden
NSW 2570

Repentance Service 2001 - Act of Repentance

For 2000 years God has been grieving over our attitude towards 
our elder brother Israel. By our actions we have shown ourselves 
to be foes of His Word and of His redemptive purposes. Everything 
we know about God comes to us through Israel. Jesus Himself said, 
'Salvation is from the Jews' (John 4:22).

In opposing the Jewish people, we have opposed God.

Although we cannot undo centuries of evil, nor restore the dead to life, 
we can at least acknowledge our failure and resolve to mend our ways. 
As we now renounce anti-semitism, past and present, we pledge 
ourselves to work against all anti-semitism in the future.

As a corporate act of repentance, you (as did the attendees at the Service in Israel) are invited to join in the reading of the Confession, making the words your own. May this declaration be a testimony before the visible and invisible world, affirming what had already been signed in preparation for this historic event. 

Repentance Service 2001 - Confession

In deep shame and contrition we come before the almighty and merciful God to 
confess the crimes and injustices perpetrated against the Jewish people down 
through the centuries, for which the Christian Church bears heavy responsibility.

We confess that we and our Christian forefathers often showed prejudice and 
antagonism towards our elder brother Israel, instead of loving God's chosen people.

Throughout the centuries the Jewish people have been defamed by Christians as 
murderers of God, and to this day the teaching persists that God has finished with 
His covenant people Israel, despite the clear evidence of scripture to the contrary.

God's people have been accused of well-poisoning and ritual murder, as well as 
being humiliated, deprived of their rights, held in contempt and persecuted. The 
horrific murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust -the climax of a long history 
of flagrant injustice -hangs over us like a dark cloud to this day.

We therefore repent and plead with Almighty God that He might have mercy upon 
us and forgive us for what we and our forefathers have done to His chosen people.

We pledge ourselves to work tirelessly against anti-semitism in all its forms and to 
make every effort to ensure that respect and consideration will be shown on the 
part of the Church of Jesus Christ towards the Jewish people in the light of God's 
everlasting covenant with them.

We seek God's blessing upon His covenant people in Israel and worldwide, above 
all in the countries from which we come. Amen.

Rob (29/4/02)