by Siphiwe Sithole
Intern, Anglican Communion Communications, London
Two Episcopal priests are bracing themselves for a second World Sabbath, focused around the idea of working for peace and justice and to combat the evils of religious prejudice and violence, at Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, USA.
The Revd Rodney Reinhart and the Revd Ed Mullins have travelled to Africa, the United Nations in New York and several other places, to promote their common quest for establishment of an international World Sabbath of Religious Reconciliation.
One year ago, the two priests surprised themselves by drawing 600 people of various faiths to the first World Sabbath at Mullins' church.
The idea is resonating to other parts of the globe and a Rwandan peace activist, Jean deDieu Hakizimana, who discovered the World Sabbath through the internet, is promoting the idea in Canada and Africa.
"It is so dangerous when people are divided over language, ethnicity and religion," Hakizimana said. His parents and six siblings were killed in Rwanda's 1994 civil war, and he subsequently devoted his life to promoting peace. "People in Africa need this World Sabbath. The whole people needs it," he said.
In December 1999, the two priests found their first receptive audience for the idea in Cape Town, South Africa, at an international faith conference called by The Parliament for the World's Religions.
"In Cape Town, Ed and I worked like old-time evangelists, walking up to anyone who would listen and telling them that God is calling us all to work for peace and justice rather than to allow hatred and war,"Fr Reinhart recalled.
Since the 1960s, many groups have organised interfaith services across the United States. But most of the services have been fairly benign displays of unity. "I have been through too many of these services myself where we were told not to say 'Jesus Christ' or refer to anything distinctive from our own faiths and eventually the experience has no meat to it," Fr Mullins said.
Mr Chuck Alawan, a Muslim from Farmington Hills who has promoted interfaith dialogue for many years, said the World Sabbath is refreshing. "They're going a step beyond most of the interfaith services by letting people voice some serious complaints and cleanse their hearts by talking about these things," he said.
Mr Alawan's feelings were echoed by other religious leaders, as a first attempt to be honest and to speak about what people really feel.
"We hope that within 10 to 12 years, the World Sabbath will be widely celebrated as a holy day by people of all faiths," said Fr Reinhart.