The Reconstructionist rabbis have a list serve on which we discuss many issues, including the challenges and rewards of interfaith work.I found a recent post so helpful that I received permission from its author to share it on this site. Rabbi Joshua Lesser serves Congregation Bet Haverim in Atlanta, Ga.and is the incoming president of Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta. Here are Josh's words:
I have grown passionate about interfaith work because:
1. My sense of God's unfolding is that interfaith work can be salvific fostering better understanding of each other and therefore I believe it makes me a better Jew.
2. I have an opportunity to build allies and do social justice work more effectively--especially in a red state that "prays for rain" and invites God in the legislature. Of course, I believe in a separation of church and state, but religious voices countering other religious voices holds sway here in Georgia.
3. I am able to promote an open, loving, approachable face of Judaism to my fellow faith members. In doing so, I am open to the faces of other traditions and have learned much from them including how to be a better Jew.
4. It awakens in me compassion for my own ignorance and the ignorance of others. It guides me to humility and teaches me to temper my righteous and self-righteous anger (which there can be plenty) with gentleness.
5. It is an act of service and stewardship that strengthens a city that I love.
The same approach that I have to being gay in a heteronormative world is one that informs my walking in a christian-normative world. It is the sense of oblivion due to normativity that often pains the minority and ends up with a response of patronizing tokenization or worse invisibility. Anger is always an option and one that I used to choose frequently.{But}I have realized that anger as a default for me is not the path I want to choose. Nor is fuelling any more sense of victimization than I have already experienced. I expect that people do not see the world from my experience and my rabbinate is a conscious choice of education and building bridges. As Gay and Jewish, I navigate differently and work hard to try to choose to use my insights to enlighten not to shame, lambaste or disengage.
This does not mean I acquiesce or conform. Most of the fruitful work I have done has come out of a place of relationship and a recognition of the other clergy as human beings and not just roles. Eating with people, meeting their families, travelling with them has opened them up to me and vice versa. I have participated in interfaith travel to Turkey and Jerusalem with Jews, Christians and Muslims. This has done much to help me better understand Christian theologies and to see aspects that I found repugnant as beautiful. It has made me realize that it is not Jesus that is the obstacle but the triumphalism of any religion, especially the dominant one but including ours.
I go into interfaith encounters with the assumption of goodwill on all parties account even if the message or the outcome does not reflect that goodwill entirely. I do this not out of beneficence, but because my actions and ignorance do not always belie my goodwill.
The most powerful convergence of interfaith prayers was at Ebeneezer Baptist Church (MLK Jr's home community) where I helped plan the city's interfaith service of mourning, healing and hope after 9/11. It was a rare moment when the best of the richness of Atlanta's faith communities, which was vastly beyond the Abrahamic traditions, was offered and for me was inspiring and brought healing. It is not surprising that interfaith services work best when addressing a universal need and not just a demonstration of a value or a desire to show that we can get along.
Most days though are fraught with the personal, cultural, racial, religious minefields that trigger and touch one of many of the participants. When we are engaged in a process, where asindividuals and as a group we work with the assumption that we bring goodwill and a desire for better understanding, profound moments can occur. Much like my prayer life in general, there is a great deal of slogging through and disconnection on the way to a godly moment. Interfaith connection and services can be that godlyvehicle for me.
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