Scripture standout: Thought this was interesting that today's reading from Biblegateway was on the topic of tonight's interfaith forum: love and compassion:
“[More on Love and Hatred] For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” 1 John 3:11
John 10: " 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[b]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
His Deed/The Day: Helped host the interfaith forum at church! It was really, really great — better than expected. Like the scripture above, there was lots of "one-ness" going on.
Actually, there was a beautiful moment, too.
The panel discussion was addressing same-sex marriages. And the Imam was sharing his insights — which were fascinating. When he finished, a creeper in the back of the church started shouting questions at him — about how Muslim leaders like to fondle little boys, or something psycho sicko like that. Then he mouthed off again. That's when one of our bigger, more scary looking parishioners got in his ear and told him to shut the !@$% up or he was on his way out the door. Thank God for him!
So I was sitting there in the front row cringing. What a !@#$, I thought, for being so rude and crazy! But the most incredible thing happened. God was definitely right there in our midst. The panelists' ensuing responses were full of love and explanation — from Christian perspectives to Jewish. They talked personally about compassion. It was stirring.
After the forum, the yay-hoo in the back row told the moderator that he felt he should apologize for his outburst, but he wasn't going to. Ugggh, was my next thought. But again, God was present. The Yay-hoo went to the reception, where he was greeted kindly by guests. He took a gulp of red wine and asked if the panelists were going to be there at the reception. I was freaking!!!!! (still not 100 percent that God had his eye on this guy!) When the Imam came into the reception with his beautiful wife and daughter, I saw Yay-hoo make a beeline for him. I bristled. And you know what Yay-hoo did? He APOLOGIZED to the Imam. He thanked the Imam for sharing his thoughts. He did the same thing to the Mormon. Then he left.
And that was that. God was present — we were one.
No comments:
Post a Comment