When I was in Israel a few year ago, I visited the garden tomb, a place that may have temporarily housed Jesus’ body after the crucifixion.
The garden was managed by Messianic Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah. As a result, Jesus’ tomb had this plaque inside:
Here is one of the guides who made the most of his time talking to us by telling us that Jesus is his risen Lord:
Now, in a rather odd move, the Anglican Church of Canada has before it a motion to remove from the prayer book a prayer for the salvation of the Jews. To me it seems a thoroughly unloving – in a way almost anti-Semitic – thing to do. If Jesus is the only way to the Father, the only means of our redemption, the only way ridding ourselves of sin and avoiding judgement and hell, then to refuse to pray for the eyes of a people to be opened to this seems, at the very least, callous, if not downright sinister.
Needless to say, the motion is being proposed after “substantial years-long theological reflection and dialogue” and in the interests of “interfaith relationships’, neither of which ever lead to anything useful.
I’m almost tempted to conclude that the Anglican Church of Canada no longer believes that Jesus is the only way to the Father; come to think of it, the ACoC no longer believes there even is a “Father”, only an impersonal “Creator”.
Here is the prayer that is to be expunged:
O God, who didst choose Israel to be thine inheritance: Look, we beseech thee, upon thine ancient people; open their hearts that they may see and confess the Lord Jesus to be thy Son and their true Messiah, and, believing, they may have life through his Name. Take away all pride and prejudice in us that may hinder their understanding of the Gospel, and hasten the time when all Israel shall be saved; through the merits of the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
It seems that the ACoC has not only bad theology but also a bad memory. When I was at Wycliffe in 1971, we were told back then that the use of the prayer for the conversion of the Jews had been discontinued. We were also told not to use the second part of the Venite. As you will recall, those were days of Jewish-Christian dialogue.
The ACoC might as well discontinue prayer totally. It no longer accepts Scripture and worships the “god” of political expediency. It is no longer Christian which has been clearly proven by its actions against genuine orthodox Christians across the country. Fred Hiltz and his apostate colleagues will not be happy until they have ruined the church totally. What is needed is for their removal or public confession and repentance. Until that happens there is no real future for the ACoC.