Coming Together

This weekend I had the absolute joy of being sent to Coming Together 7, a conference about interfaith ministry at Yale University. I came together with students from all over the country and many different faith traditions to talk about the joys and challenges of interfaith work, and to build relationships with across geographical and faith boundaries.

It was a beautiful couple of days. I made so many new connections, and had deep learning conversations with the other students. I learned a lot about Judaism and Islam, particularly; attending a Jummah prayer service and a Shabbat service. From the speakers to the workshops to the magic moments of connection when two people were able to find common ground, it was an incredibly powerful and exhilarating experience.

One of the moments that struck me was a conversation I had during “Speed-Faithing.” Like speed dating, in speed faithing we stood across from a partner and had a 2-minute conversation answering a question posed by the facilitator, before moving to a new partner. In one of the conversations we were asked to talk about our scriptures or holy books and how they were meaningful for us. Raised Unitarian Universalist, I do not have a specific scripture that informs my faith. Struggling to answer the question, I thought about when I was little and, ignoring the fact that Christians also have hymnals, I thought that Christianity had the Bible, and UUs had our hymnal, “Singing the Living Tradition.”

And for me, it does sort of work this way. The words and melodies of my UU hymns resonate with me deeply. I sing them or say them in my head to calm myself down or build up courage. (I do not like going to the doctor, especially the blood pressure part, so every time I have to do that, I sing “Meditation on Breathing” in my head.) I exegete the lyrics when I preach and rely on the messages of those lyrics to shape my sermons.

Coming home from Coming Together 7 I was so inspired by the deep faith of the other participants. Whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan, Sikh or Unitarian Universalist, these people had clear inspiring love for their own faith and for the work of interfaith dialogue. Their passion reminded me of the lyrics to one of my favorite hymns, “There’s a River Flowing in my Soul.” In the second to last verse we sing:

There’s a river flowing in my soul,

There’s a river flowing in my soul,

And I see in you what I feel in me,

There’s a river flowing in my soul.

Working and worshipping with people of all different faiths and backgrounds, I saw in them what I felt in myself: A deep love for their own tradition; a deep respect for others’ traditions; and a deep need to promote peace and understanding between traditions. I believe that acknowledging this sameness is the first step to truly working together despite our differences. I am so fortunate to have had this opportunity and am thoroughly jazzed to do more for interfaith work on BU’s campus.

Post a Comment

Your email address is never shared. Required fields are marked *