Connection Brings Understanding

In the past week I have been a part of two events which warm my heart and give me hope.  The first one occurred on September 11—an interfaith gathering for prayer and reflection on the subject of healing.  We began with a young Muslim family reading from the Quran in Arabic and then in English.  The father shared how difficult it was to explain to his young daughter that the people responsible for the attack on 9/11 were Muslim like them.  Their actions were contrary to what the Quran says.  How does a father explain this to his child?

This was followed by a Catholic priest and then a Baha’i couple.  The Baha’i woman sang a song about lifting our hands to the light—several presenters related to this and made a reference to it.  Next, the Society of Friends and Pagan/Nature Spirituality representatives shared.  Probably the most amazing part of the evening was when a young Mormon man, Leroy, got up and said he felt like he had been called to reach out to LGBT people.  He invited anyone from that community to come up and join him.  He apologized for how they had been mistreated by the LDS church and asked them to make a statement.  Leroy then invited everyone to join him in prayer—he kneeled and prayed.

This moving part of our evening was followed by a Bosnian Islamic Imam, and a Jewish rabbi.  Our evening concluded with a father and son who shared Native American song and dance, ending with beautiful flute music.  Afterwards, we were able to visit while munching on cookies.  I finally found my way to Leroy, the young Mormon man who was eager to meet me so his group, Mormons Building Bridges, could connect with our church.  I can see interesting possibilities here.  This was certainly a memorable evening.

Yesterday, our reconciling team showed the movie “For the Bible Tells Me So” at our church.  This is a movie that shows how five normal, American, Christian families dealt with the reality of having a gay child.  We had a decent turnout considering there were competing events happening, including a BSU football game.  After the movie, one of our lesbian members shared some of her history, experiences, and how she came to our church.  We broke for ice cream sundaes, and ended up talking in little groups for a bit.  I turned around and found people pushing tables and chairs together for a discussion.  People had found us in different ways—one woman came because Leroy, the young Mormon, told her about it.

We collected names and contact information from people who want to stay connected to us and perhaps participate in a study on the Bible and homosexuality.  From there we hope to start a support group for LGBT people.

All of these connections are wonderful.  I don’t quite know where they will take my church or me.  I do know that there is too much divisiveness and hate in our world.  I know that the more we share and listen to each other, the better our world will be.  If we can learn to respect others who are different from us—whether it is religion, sexual orientation, race, politics, gender, or economic—we will be one step closer to peace.