Sunday, May 22, 2011: Acts 7:55–60; John 14:1–14

I hope you're like me in at least one respect: I hope you're lucky enough to find yourself frequently working and worshiping with people of other faiths. I have come to believe that the future will be made of such moments.

Interfaith gatherings, especially those about things that really matter, are always fraught; if they weren't, we wouldn't need them. There are two ways for planners to organize such events so that a minimum number of people are offended, hurt or caught up in a bloody conflict. In the lowest common denominator method, nobody does anything that everyone in the room can't agree with. The Christians pare God down from three to one in their prayers; the Jews leave their tallit and their chosenness at home; the Muslims find a way to turn their backs on Mecca and say what they have to say without using Arabic. All agree not to do or say anything that might offend anyone. This is not my favorite method, but it works well when those gathered don't know one another or don't yet trust one another. The problem is that to remove all that is potentially offensive in a conversation about ultimate things among people with conflicting truth claims is to remove the possibility of saying much of any import.

In a second method, we all bring our particularity to the table. We speak from our own traditions and are unafraid to do so. Christians pray to Jesus, the Jews bust out the Hebrew and the Muslims reference Muhammad with abandon. Rather than agreeing not to risk being offensive, we agree not to be easily offended. Good relationships and a high degree of trust are absolute requirements in this method.