I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show this morning on NPR and she was interviewing three women who had formed a group they called “the Faith Club.” Each one representing the three monotheistic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, they at first had started out to write a children’s book that could help children of these three faiths learn more about each of them. The editors to which this book was submitted were much more interested in publishing a book about the conversations these women had as they worked on this project and hence the book “The Faith Club” came into being.
The conversation was fascinating and I certainly want to read the book itself; I’ll give you a review or maybe a book study on it after I’m done. For now, I want to say what has stayed with me most clearly is the comment “It’s time for the moderates of all our faiths to begin speaking more publicly about our faiths so that misconceptions and stereotypes can be challenged.” (This is my paraphrase of what was said.) Had I not been in my car—I might have jumped up and down with joy and affirmation!
Many of the misconceptions and the stereotypes that we have about persons of other faiths could be laid to rest if we place ourselves in conversation with others. Within the framework of these three religious traditions, there are so many more similarities than there are differences. Each has a version of what we call the golden rule. Each has a call for compassion and care for those who are disenfranchised and struggling. Each has a call to place God/Allah at the center of our lives and to be faithful to the Divine Design. Each has a call to remember that all of us are Beloved Children of God. Those similarities can also be found in other faith traditions and belief systems as well.
As a community of faith, we have a deep commitment to honoring and living out our diversity of beliefs in real and tangible ways that will make a difference in the world in which we live. I encourage you to begin sharing that commitment and your faith in all the places where you find yourself. Now don’t worry—I’m never going to ask you to hand out tracts door-to-door—with such a diversity of opinions as we have here—it would take an entire book to get them all down. But I do hope that what you experience here at Federated is special enough—deep enough that you would want to share that blessing with others. It truly is time for the voice of those who value and accept diversity of beliefs to let the world know that the voice of fundamentalists of any faith tradition do not speak for us.

Revealed in Love

This coming Sunday we're going to be reading the story of the first miracle performed by Jesus in his earthly ministry--the turning of water into wine. I've heard lots of different interpretations about the meaning of this miracle from Jesus simply obeying his mother (which I think is quite important being a mom myself:}) to choosing to do this miracle so as not to let the "father of the bride" be embarrassed by a lack of hospitality revealed in not having enough wine for his guests to drink. Like all interpretations given on any of the stories we have from Scripture, how we relate to the story has a lot to do with what we bring to the story.

Where I find consistency in all the miracle stories found in the gospels is that Jesus' actions were always motivated by love. The human distinctions that we find so important and so often get in our way of revealing love to one another are of little concern to Jesus and ultimately matter very little to God. Love is revealed whenever we are able to set aside those distinctions and allow ourselves to be engaged with others simply because they, too, are beloved of God.