A Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi, a Wiccan priestess and a Muslim imam walk into a bar.
The bartender says, "Is this some kind of a joke?"
It might be a joke (my favorite of the many religious jokes I've heard over the years), or it just might be an interfaith meeting. The setting tends to point to the former. The local interfaith clergy have chosen to eschew the tavern setting for a more respectable, less comedic eating establishment. We meet once a month for breakfast and conversation. Over eggs and pancakes, we share stories, publicize our congregational events, and sometimes coordinate an interfaith response to some crisis or provocative incident.
What does it mean to be interfaith? In some circles, it means a gathering of people from different Christian traditions. Sometimes, the circle is expanded and the Jewish community is invited to sit at the table. More often these days, members of the Muslim faith are a welcome part of the gathering, too. As a Unitarian Universalist minister, I've found myself both welcomed and excluded from interfaith gatherings. I try not to take that personally ... after all, as Groucho Marx said, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." Actually, that's not true _ it always hurts to be excluded. Fortunately, I'm a welcome member of the Interfaith Clergy gatherings here in Oneonta. As a colleague once told me, I'm there to keep them honest. (I'm happy to say the religious leaders of the Muslim community would be welcome too ... and they are invited.)
Interfaith gatherings aren't easy. Assumptions have to be checked at the door. Accommodations have to be made. Mistakes always happen. Apologies and forgiveness are both offered in abundance. Which is really the whole point. Checking assumptions, making room for others, forgiving ourselves and one another _ these are all spiritual practices and absolute necessities in our ever-shrinking, increasingly connected world. Humans have always been a diverse bunch and our answers to the universal questions even more so. In all of recorded history, there has never been a time when there was one religion, one faith tradition, or one belief system. It is highly unlikely such a time, such a convergence of belief will ever occur. (If it did, what would the interfaith clergy discuss over breakfast?) In such a world of diversity and mystery, we have to learn how to get along, how to discuss our beliefs, how to listen to and accept one another _ even when we disagree, especially when we disagree.
Official groups and gatherings that are truly interfaith are few and far between, existing only by effort and intention. Unofficial interfaith groups abound. They exist in our schools, in our workplaces, in the coffeehouses, and anywhere we gather. We are a diverse bunch with diverse beliefs -- even when we don't realize it or acknowledge it. Our strength lies in that diversity, not in our imagined or manufactured divides. And we each have the power to draw the circle a little wider, welcome someone new to the table, and start an honest conversation about what matters most in our shared lives.
That's what interfaith is all about.
The Rev. Craig Schwalenberg is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta.
Columns
A motley tapestry of faiths
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
-
-
My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
Ask any hospital administrators if they've ever heard of a closed hospital in New York state that has ever been re-opened. They will say, "Impossible." In a half century of going through records you can't find any.
Continued ... - Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
- Opera great's visit still a thrilling memory
-
My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
-
We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
-
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
-
-
A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
-
- Mark Simonson
-
-
General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
Continued ... - Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
- Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
-
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
- William Masters
-
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
-
Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
-
Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
-
Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
