Forgiveness & Reconciliation: Parishioner Reflections on the Jubilee

...acquiring something more than just tolerance towards others different from us...

What is required of us when thinking about or interacting with people of different faiths? Reconciliation implies that there has been some hurt or misunderstanding that needs mending, but this may not always be the case. To me, it can also mean acquiring something more than just tolerance towards others different from us, something more akin to "familiarity" or "understanding." I recently took a course on world religions that included two visits that made me reflect on this.

One visit was to a Sikh temple. Their worship service was totally foreign to me, but the communal portion that takes place afterwards was far from foreign, even though we all sat on the floor in rows as someone came around dispensing strange but delicious food. Just to listen, talk and observe, as children, toddlers, teens, and adults mingled personalized these people to me. The visit humanized them in a way that just reading about them had not. The same was true of the visit to a Buddhist temple celebrating Buddha’s birthday. The children put on a skit that was as familiar to me as a school nativity play, right down to the child who stole the show, the teacher who coached from the wings, and the beaming parents taking pictures.

The idea that our differences are fewer and our commonalities greater does not seem so abstract and intellectual to me now. I’m glad I finally had the opportunity to experience that.

Prayer:
Religions are many, but the reality of religion is one...Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning!...A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom! (From a Baha’i prayer for unity).

Gemma Furno

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