IN THE SUMMER OF 2016, WE WENT TO THE COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, AIRPORT TO MEET A FAMILY AT THE END OF A LONG JOURNEY. But we were a part of an enriching journey of our own. Members of McGregor Presbyterian Church and the Noor Ul Huda Mosque would, over the coming months, journey from places of assumption to truth, from limited perspectives to fresh viewpoints, from communities of tolerance to relationships of deep respect. And the journey continues. In 2014, through an intentional visioning process, McGregor Church identified three areas of focus for ministry: nurturing spiritual growth, building community partnerships and practicing God’s justice. We have discovered that building interfaith partnerships satisfies all three areas. The first introductions between members of McGregor Church and the Noor Ul Huda Mosque occurred before the arrival of a Syrian refugee family. McGregor sponsored the Syrian family through Lutheran Services Carolinas, which works together with … [Read more...]
Reorient, reform, reconcile: An interfaith language event
IN 2016 MCGREGOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, SERVED AS A HOST COMMUNITY FOR A SYRIAN REFUGEE FAMILY. The family of six was Muslim, and it was scheduled to arrive during Ramadan, a month of fasting considered one of the central pillars of Islam. McGregor Church sought guidance from Interfaith Partners of South Carolina, and was introduced to leaders of a neighboring mosque, the Masjid Noor Ul Huda. In preparation for the arrival of the Syrian family, members of both church and mosque came together to arrange accommodation, furnishing, employment, school enrollment and general orientation for the new family. Members of both faith communities greeted the family at the airport. As its arrival coincided with Ramadan, members of McGregor Church arranged to pick up the family’s members each day and drive them to the Noor Ul Huda Masjid so they could participate in Ramadan prayers. At the end of Ramadan, members of McGregor shared Eid Al-Fitr, the festival … [Read more...]
BiG partnership creates community
WINTERS IN CENTRAL VERMONT ARE LONG, USUALLY LASTING FROM A FIRST SNOW IN EARLY NOVEMBER THROUGH MUD SEASON (the season people elsewhere call “spring”) in early April. While many people enjoy outdoor activities all winter long, the homeless and precariously housed members of our Barre, Vermont, community need a place of warmth. Churches in our community, in partnership with our local library, created a patchwork schedule based on the conviction that there should always be a place in town where one can be warm. Collaboratively providing warm spaces was the beginning of BiG (Barre Interfaith Group). Since BiG’s beginning a decade ago, partnerships have strengthened. Our scope has broadened to feeding ministries of body and soul, working on housing and educating around the intersections of spirituality and mental health. BiG’s work shows up in a variety of annual interfaith efforts ranging from union summer services to Good Friday prayer walks (with focus on violence, addiction … [Read more...]
Interfaith service embodies Christ’s teaching: Love one another, and God in one another
In a time when every face around every corner seems to be screaming where each of us does or does not belong, the Christian call to love your neighbor can too easily get cloaked in shadows of mistrust and fear. Not only has our sense of responsibility around that call been eroded by demagoguery and misinformation, but the very concept of “neighbor” has become utterly lost by so many of us. We have taught ourselves not to love, not to trust, not even to engage with people who bring something different from our own perspective to the table, and therein have removed ourselves from the path Christ set for us, and looked away from the image of God. With every voice inside and outside telling us to turn ever inward and close every door behind us, how do we open ourselves to the borderless and loving movement of the Spirit? This was the dilemma from which I could not pull myself away as I graduated from Presbyterian College two years ago. Particularly after doing my capstone research on … [Read more...]
In Jesus’ name
I attended Catholic school for the first three years of elementary school. I appreciated Mass, even though the wafer and the cup were denied to me. I knew that I was not Catholic. The church I attended worshipped Jesus, too, but there the cross was empty and pictures of a him bloody and crucified were jettisoned for the long-haired, Fabio-like, very-much-alive versions of the Savior. Religious diversity for me consisted of Catholic and Protestant. Then, after moving to the Southern United States, diversity was Presbyterian and Baptist with a few Methodists thrown in for good measure. Interfaith encounters remained remote until (I am a bit embarrassed to admit) graduate school in Philadelphia. There in the religious studies department I met female rabbis, practicing Muslims, a brilliant member of the Latter Day Saints and a Buddhist undergraduate who told me that believing in God complicated matters greatly. Discussions around the lunch table and in the classroom proved rich — and … [Read more...]
Partners in service — Feb. 12, 2018
Presbyterian leaders, congregations and Young Adult Volunteers are building strong interfaith relationships. Just as Jesus who crossed religious and cultural boundaries, faith communities are finding new pathways to service and relationship in increasingly diverse communities. Here are just a few stories of how Presbyterians are demonstrating the love of Christ with interfaith partners. Click here to read the issue in the Uberflip reader. In this issue: Interfaith service Jonathan Freeman reflects on his YAV year in Indianapolis and what that taught him about embodying Christ’s teaching. Interfaith hospitality Julie Bird shares the story of a Presbyterian congregation in South Carolina who sponsored a Syrian refugee family. Reorient, reform, reconcile A “language event” could be a tool for the denomination to clarify words used in worship and articulate faith. BiG partnership creates community An interfaith group in Vermont shares the 500th anniversary of the … [Read more...]