Interfaith Service

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." 
- The Dalai Lama

Program for the Service

     Last night I attended the Interfaith Prayer Service for the Children at the University Christian Church, Fort Worth, Texas.  UCC is a very large church and the sanctuary was filled!!  Several members of my church, Westside Unitarian Universalist, were there with me.

Westside UU

There were others at the service also, just not around when I took the picture.  We were pretty close to the front; before the service began I looked back and was amazed to see the that the church had filled up!  As I sat there....this guy came up to me to say "Hi"...I had to give him a big hug.  Kevin is the SIL of a friend of mine and is the minister St. Alban's Episcopal Church at 305 W. Main, Arlington. He was one of the organizers of the service.  It was good to see him!

Rev. Kevin Johnson, 

     This very special service was great in so many ways....the crowd, the music, the sincerity of all.  And most of all the diversity of the presenters and attendees...Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, NONs, and probably more that I am not aware of!

      Now, as many of you know, prayer is really not in my vocabulary, per se, but I do believe in the power of numbers and positive thinking.  Seeing all these various faiths together, all striving for the same goals...helping the children caught in the maelstrom of politic chaos. I like the quote I found by the Dali Lama (above). And there is another one I found by Walter Cronkite.  " Never before probably has the need for interfaith commitment been nearly as great as it is at this very moment."
       I don't know when he said this but he has been gone for over nine years so  for him to have said this at another interfaith service many years ago, means we haven't gotten there yet so we have a lot of work to do to get there!  
        One young lady read one of my (and I am sure everyone's) favorite poems: "The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus -1883....

The New Colossus 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" 

     At the end of this beautiful service, a two page list of "how to help" was handed out.  If anyone is interested, let me know and I will scan and post the list....either respond by email or leave a comment here.