In the wake of the Quebec mosque shooting, St. Simon’s in Oakville decided to support Muslims by praying to Allah during its monthly labyrinth walk. The labyrinth walk is normally reserved for trendy events like Gaia inspired eco-worship, so this is a new exploration of the boundaries of voguish virtue-signalling, a further lurch into fatuity.
The sad thing is, I remember the time, a few decades ago, when St. Simon’s was orthodox and evangelical.
From here:
When we all heard of a shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City during evening prayers in late January, faith communities across Canada were shocked. At St. Simon’s Oakville, Rector Darcey Lazerte tried to comfort his parish community with a sermon focusing on understanding and taking action to support the Muslim congregations. It only seemed fit to dedicate our monthly labyrinth walk to peace in support of the Muslim community.
An invitation to Al Falah Islamic Centre was quickly offered, and through Dr. Majid Kazi’s effort, eight members of the mosque joined our walk. Together with five members of the parish, two people from Greening Sacred Spaces Halton and several regular walkers, our February labyrinth walk became a spiritual support group. As part of the meditations, we used a Muslim prayer for peace by Muhammad al-Jazri. It was completed during the siege of Damascus, December 1389. (See sidebar.)The debriefing at the end of the walk was a testament to the strength of the Muslim brothers and sisters in their pursuit of peace and greater understanding of the foundation of their faith.
We are hopeful that this new fellowship will lead to other shared opportunities.
This was the prayer:
O Allah, unite our hearts and set aright our mutual affairs, guide us in the path of peace.
Liberate us from darkness by Your light, save us from enormities whether open or hidden.
Bless us in our ears, eyes, hearts, spouses, and children.
Turn to us; truly you are Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.
Make us grateful for Your bounty and full of praise for it, so that we may continue to receive it and complete Your blessings upon us.
I’m not sure what “enormities” the congregation of St. Simon’s need to be liberated from, but perhaps one is the enormous folly of reciting an Islamic prayer in a Christian church.
Of course, there are many religions in our world. People have every right to exercise their individual belief. Many think their religious belief system is superior to others. The Muslims, the Jews and the Christians all believe in one God. But, only Christians believe in the triune God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Christians believe that Jesus is the only way to the eternal and everlasting God.
The ONLY way (and the only truly, completely inclusive)
I thought the Toronto Sun’s recent daily cartoon said it best. Satan is sitting on his throne looking down on a bloodied Islamic terrorist before him, and exclaims, “Yes, yes, nice work, but you got to stop calling me Allah.” Pray for the lost brethren who would entertain the worship of such evil.
As long as the ACoC continues to allow itself to be lead by apostates virtually nothing is impossible as Satan is in control. The Diocese of Niagara and its so-called bishop are ready to believe in anything – that is anything but the Gospel. Islam and Christianity do NOT worship the same “god”. The true God is that in the Scriptures and it definitely does not support a so-called prophet that history shows was a pedophile in the worst sense of the word.
You made a typo in your article, you called it a “Christian “church
Of course Muslims were glad to be invited to this event. It’s like a designer label inviting knock-offs to a corporate event. Jesus is the truth — the real deal — and all others are fakes and knock-offs.
There’s no problem with praying to Allah…
… in a Christian prayer when you’re an Arabic-speaking Christian.
Next – Moloch
Isn’t a place in which an Islamic prayer is uttered automatically turned into a mosque. The muslim conqueror of Jerusalem, Amr al-As, refused to pray in the church of the tomb on the basis that it would then belong to muslims (and he didn’t want that fight just then).