[Magdalen] Prayer C correction

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

​​
It can go either way, but in both directions, there are hazards.

One can pray to God of our ancestors,
God of Abraham and Sarah;
Isaac and Rebekah;
Jacob and Leah and Rachel and Bilhah and Zilpah,

or one could just go with the guys' names.

After all, when Moshe gathers the Israelites in preparation for their
receiving the Law, he tells them to stay pure. One thing he specifically
mentions is "Do not go near a woman."
Obviously, only men participated in receiving the Law.

Visiting Israel recently, it was asked of our guide whether there are
equivalent of Reformed or Conservative Jews in Israel, and he said no, that
there were a small number of American expatriates who have attempted to
import those ideas to Israel but in general they have not gained any
traction. The only real Judaism in Israel is Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox.
Most Israeli Jews (about eighty per cent of Jewish Israelis, including our
guide) choose not to be observant, except perhaps on special occasions. I
think he may have heard that question once too often, because he went on to
say, "We do not have gender equality. Our religion is a patriarchal
religion, and that is the way it is. If anyone does not like it, they do
not have to become Jewish."

I find it intriguing how different the views are among Jews in the USA and
in Israel. The insular character of the observant faithful of Judaism is
making it likely that Judaism will continue to fade over the coming years.

In this and other important ways, Christianity made revolutionary reforms,
such as doing away with the kosher rules and the strict observance of the
Sabbath, and introducing sympathetic and flexible acceptance of beliefs of
others as they chose to enter Christianity. Coming to the conclusion that
sexual discrimination just makes no sense does seem today a no-brainer, but
it took a while, and in some corners or under rocks in our society,
including the white Whitehouse and much of the GOP, there is still a rear
guard action attempting to stop fairness and equality toward women, and the
truth is that while they don't have the courage to say so, many people
still subscribe to subjugation of women.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 4:39 PM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Eucharistic Prayer C in the BCP 1979 (USA) has the bit about "God of
> Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" that is often inclusivized by adding the
> names of their wives. I was trying to remember the version we used in
> Michigan that was without any names and somehow official. Someone
> finally shared it with me and I share it here partly so I'll be able
> to find it again:
>
> >>Captain Howard Galley – the author of Prayer C – offered his own
> correction (written, apparently, on his washing machine while doing the
> weekly wash):
> “God of our holy and righteous ancestors, redeemer and mother of
> Israel, God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ……”<<
>
> I guess it's not really official because that revision would have
> taken a vote of two successive General Conventions, but I think the
> fact it came from the original author of the prayer was good enough
> for our interim rector at the time. :)
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>