Ecumenical Relations: Opening Plenary
Facilitator: Jackie Sitte
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Good morning! Welcome to this IC and welcome to this presentation, “Healing the Body through Engaging our Jewish Roots” The panel before you are ACT’s Spiritual Life Committee and Ecumenical Relations Committee.
The Scripture for this conference is in 1 Cor. 3:16&17b. “Are you not aware that you are the temple of God, & that the Spirit of God dwells in you? For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.”
Jewish philosopher, Philo Judaeus, says: The body is the Soul’s House. Shouldn’t we therefore take care of our house so that it doesn’t fall to ruin?.”
As Christians you might be asking yourself why are we talking about Judaism. We follow Jesus; that is our faith.
In recent years we have had other plenarys. As we gathered this past year God seemed to have another plan for us. As we came together for this year’s presentation, gradually the Holy Spirit seemed to come as we prayed together and our hearts and minds were opened.
It came clear to us that the Lord was prompting us to fully explore our Jewish Roots. At the beginning, little did we realize how important this was for us. God stretched us and cracked us open to see what it was that He wanted to share with us so that we could impart to you.
We dove deeply into this calling.
You will be amazed as you hear about the connection we as Christians come forth with our newly found Jewish legacy. You will hear about how we as Christians are called to build the foundation that completes our Christian heritage.
From “Sacred Therapy” by Jewish teacher and psychotherapist Estelle Frankel, I was reminded how many of us say “If only I had known then what I know now.” Finding the courage to mourn the past frees us up to move on and change. For many people this means relinquishing the defensive fantasy that the past can somehow be undone. Paradoxically, it is only when we accept the painful reality that the past is over and cannot be undone that we are free to reclaim our lives.
She explains that the Torah is about having an open heart & humbly embracing the fact that we are never truly separate or apart from anything or anyone. It is another way of saying that we are part of the essential oneness of all being. Everything that is out there is also within us. Let your soul dissolve into the Divine Presence like a raindrop falling into the sea or a wave breaking at the shore; allow yourself some rest.
As faithful Christians we are familiar with the Old Testament. To many of us it speaks of the history of Judaism before Christ. As I explored more deeply, I realized that the Old Testament is not just history, it is a foundation which the Lord left for us to prepare the wholeness of Christianity. We have been richly blessed as we reflect on our Jewish roots and begin to see the depth of all that God has given us this day.
Today is Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement. It serves as sacred & communal, geared @ restoring harmony for the individual within himself, in relation to God, loved ones and community.
We are about to begin our panel. At the end of the presentations, we will have Q&A from the floor. I recommend that you write down your question and note which presenter is the person to which you want to inquire. At this moment, I would like to introduce our Panel.
Dr. Ben Keyes, Renee Lavitt, M.Theology , Rev. Austin Joyce, D.Min, and Fr. Bob Sears, SJ., Ph.D
Keep in mind that we will be presenting a follow-up of this morning’s Plenary in a workshop, “Integrating our Jewish Roots with our Christian Ecumenism.”Attendees will be able to hear more personal stories on this subject from the panel, and where we can continue to respond to your questions. Please join us for this segment as well.
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