• BC Christian News • MARCH ISSUE 2001 • VOL. 21 #3 • Formerly "Christian Info News" •

Sabbath promotes reconciliation

By Victoria Goodman

Jean de Dieu Hakizimana (left) and Rev. Rodney Reinhart.

THE FIRST Canadian World Sabbath for Religious Reconciliation was held at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver February 3.

People from the Sikh, Aboriginal, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Christian communities shared liturgy, music, testimonies, repentance and prayer for reconciliation. Organizers said the purpose of the event was "to set aside a holy day to obey God's call to peace, by ending wars of ethnic cleansing, and the persecution of religious, racial and other minorities."

Two of the key participants were Jean de Dieu Hakizimana, founder of Rwanda Hope Society, and Rodney Reinhart, an Episcopalian priest from Detroit. Both men have been affected by religious war, and wanted to help bring about change.

During the horrific Rwandan genocide of 1994, Hakizimana's parents and siblings were killed. He was spared, because he was in neighbouring Tanzania. In July 1996, he moved to Canada as a political refugee. He founded the Rwanda Hope Society, which provides economic, educational and social support to Rwandan immigrants.

"My hope is to help Rwandan refugees . . . overcome their wounds from the war, and overcome the tribal hatred, which tore our nation apart and killed so many of us," he told BCCN.

Reinhart currently pastors the ethnically diverse Trinity Episcopal Church, in the Detroit area. He has been involved in protesting against racism, nuclear weapons and the Vietnam war. When he learned that two million Armenian Christians had been killed during the Ottoman Empire, his efforts began to focus on religious conflict and persecution.

"During the time of the fighting in Bosnia and Kosovo," he said, "I spent a long time praying for peace, equality and reconciliation; and I asked God a number of times: 'What can we, as Christians, do to stop other Christians [Orthodox] from killing Muslims in that country -- and vice versa?'"

The answer came in the form of a vision. "The best way to confront injustice by one religion against another," he said, "would be to gather people of many religious faiths together to repent, and forgive one another . . . That became the model for the World Sabbath."

The first World Sabbath was held in Detroit January 15, 2000; 600 people of various faiths attended. The second such event, this past January 27 in Detroit, drew 1,000 people. Hakizimana was invited to be a guest speaker. Reinhart was the guest speaker at the Vancouver Sabbath.

Hakizimana was encouraged by the response, and plans to hold a Sabbath event next year. "It's important for Muslims or other faith groups to feel they are free to speak in a Christian church with no one threatening their beliefs" he emphasized. "There is a need in the church community to respect the faith and background of other people -- it's what they're looking for."