Santa Rosa Christ and Jewish Congregation
Part in Joint Journey to New Synagogue

By the Rev. Gayle Pickrell, Christ Church UM
[Adapted from an article in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat]

Santa Rosa -- May 7, 2007

For 32 years, Congregation Shomrei Torah and Christ Church United Methodist had shared space in the UM facility at the corner of Yulupa and Hoen Avenues. It has been a successful partnership in a world of increasing divisiveness, intolerance and fundamentalism, particularly among religious perspectives.

On Sunday, April 29, Shomrei Torah formally left the UM facility. It joined Christ UM for worship in the morning as the two congregations shared the blessings of what the relationship has meant to both. That afternoon, Christ UM members marched with Shomrei Torah, forming a crowd of about 600 with police escort, as the Reformed Jewish members carried the Torah to their new synagogue about a mile and a half away as many shofars [Hebrew trumpets] blew. Shomrei Torah assured Christ Church that the relationship of the two congregations would continue. My husband, John Davenport, and I were privileged to carry one of the banners that led the parade.

When Shomrei Torah rented space from Christ Church in 1975, it comprised a small Jewish group that was looking for a place to worship. The group hired a part-time student rabbi who flew into Santa Rosa every other weekend to lead sabbath services. When the congregation employed Rabbi Michael Robinson, who had moved to Sebastopol after retiring from a large synagogue in New York, the congregation began to grow. Rabbi Robinson became a social justice advocate for the wider community and a strong proponent of interfaith partnerships. Robinson's death last August was a sad time for both the Jews and the Methodists, as well as the wider community.

In 1996, the synagogue took a leap of faith in hiring a full-time rabbi, George Gittleman. Under Rabbi Gittleman's dynamic leadership and faithful witness, Shomrei Torah has grown leaps and bounds, and Christ Church no longer had enough space for its many services, Hebrew school programs and numerous activities. With much prayer and deliberation, they made the decision to build a new synagogue on the hill above Bennett Valley Road.

The Torah, which survived a fire that demolished the Christ Church sanctuary in 1984, had been an important symbol for both the Jewish and Christian congregation. On Sunday mornings, the Methodists hung a wooden cross in front of the ark that housed the Torah. The ark for Christians represents their Hebrew roots, and with the cross in front of the ark, it reminded the worshipers of their Judeo-Christian heritage. The absence of the ark will leave an empty space in the United Methodist sanctuary. It will remain empty for a time, as the Methodists need time to mourn the loss of their shared space and identity.

I have been blessed to serve a United Methodist Church that has embraced a Reform Jewish congregation. When I walked into our sanctuary on Sunday mornings, I felt the sacredness of the space because I knew it had been blessed with the lighting of candles and chanting of prayers for a Sabbath service, or the joy of a bar or bat mitzvah ceremony the day before.

We have shared space, yes. But we have shared more than space. We have shared similar values of justice, inclusiveness and progressive theology. Together we have been a witness to the world, that in spite of the hateful rhetoric that seeks to make one religion better than another, or despite voices that encourage Christians to convert Jews, or arguments that Jews should stay as far away from Christians as possible, we have held hands and formed a circle. We have been blessed and enriched because of that circle of friendship.

At the conclusion of the United Methodist worship service on April 29, members of both congregations formed a circle and sang, "Circle round for freedom, circle round for peace ... for the children of our children, keep the circle whole.''