Sunday was a remarkable blend of worship, fellowship, and learning. Our guests Volkan and Deanna Kaya, their children, and other guests from the Pacifica Institute interfaith dialogue group, joined us for prayer, a meal and conversation. A framed character for Allah sat on our communion table, in sight line with the cross. We were gifted a Qu’ran by our friends. We shared aspects of their Muslim faith and our Christian practices. We discovered divine commonalities in our hopes, dreams and understanding of what God calls us to do and be. We embraced the Prophet Jesus as well as the Prophet Muhammed; the words of the Qu’ran as well as the Bible. Lauren blessed us with some wonderful middle eastern music compositions, and Rowe, Tim, Machiko, and Alexis stage-managed our Mediterranean meal.
Nothing, however, could be better than hearing our sanctuary fill with the babble of animated conversation across tables as we broke bread together. These were the voices of God’s diverse and wonderful people, of all ages, making loving and peaceful connection. The symbol below is both a Tree of Life (revered in multiple faiths) and a representation of how our paths are all part of human growth and reaching for the divine we know by many names.
Pastor Carol