Centered, Not Fearing

On Tuesday night, I attended an interfaith dinner. The speakers—Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim—all spoke about serving God and serving humanity. It was clear that each of us does this best from the position of our own faith tradition. Our goal is not to water down our beliefs to find the least common denominator between ourselves and others, but to be firmly grounded and keep our eyes, ears and hearts open to see the best in the other who is grounded in their own faith.

I was reminded of when Fr. Flavian Burns, former Abbot of Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville told us of when Buddhist monks came for dialogue with the Trappist monks. The Christians in seeking to be hospitable to the Buddhists were tending to downplay their own faith tradition. The leader of the Buddhists said that the best and deepest dialogue would happen when they each spoke from the center of their own tradition.

I also remember learning that those who are closest to the center of their tradition often find that they have more in common with others who are close to the center of a different faith than either have in common with those who are at the edges of their own tradition. Perhaps this is because it is at the edges where often the most extreme positions are found.

At this time of deep division and distrust between people of different persuasions, whether religious, ethnic, national or political, I am convicted of my own tendency to look with disdain and disrespect toward others coming from a different perspective. I do this every time I look at signs for candidates other than those I support and sneer, at least inwardly. Is this how I learn to live and act in the hesed—everlasting mercy of God? Probably not, I think.

I will try in the remaining days of this campaign season not to sneer but to hold the other in the light of God’s mercy. And instead of living in disdain, or even fear, of those who believe differently than I do, I will seek to remember that they are also the children of the God who I believe is the Creator of all.

Matthew 22:37-39

He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’