Andrews Co-Sponsors Interfaith Prayer Service

In response to religious hatred

(Photo by Joshua Martin, IMC student photographer)

An interfaith prayer service will take place this Monday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. in The Oak Room at The Citadel, 91 Hinkley Street, Benton Harbor, Michigan (in the Arts District).

Following the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Interfaith Committee of the Andrews University Community Engagement Council expressed solidarity with leaders in the local Michiana Jewish community as they mourn the unprecedented loss of life last weekend. The committee began to work together with Temple B’nai Shalom to plan a prayer service. Southwest Michigan’s Interfaith Peace & Justice Collaborative and The First Hebrew Congregation of South Haven joined the effort as co-sponsors.

The resulting prayer service seeks to promote solidarity and healing and to stand up against all religious hatred and prejudice. The program will begin with a welcome from Marcus Muhammad, Benton Harbor mayor. Reflections, Scripture readings and prayers will be shared by local faith leaders, and a “Ceremony of Light” will honor the victims of the Pittsburgh shooting.

“We have all been touched and deeply saddened by the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue last weekend,” says Teresa Reeve, chair of the Interfaith Committee. “Hatred against those who differ from us has become an epidemic, formed out of fear and healed only by insistent love. If there ever was a time for silence in the face of such hatred, that moment is gone. For all who seek God, prayer is the eternal starting place.”