Earlier this month I walked 60 miles in 3 days to find a cure for breast cancer. Around mile 48, I found myself speaking to another Walker about my ordination. She asked me, “So, what’s interfaith?” I bet some of you have that same question!
Well, here are three points I have come to know about the Heart of Interfaith.
The first thing I know is that interfaith is learning about the rich fabrics of the world’s religions. Yet the Heart of Interfaith involves more than being a student of religions. As my friend and mentor, Tom Bonacci says, “We can never learn enough today, to meet someone tomorrow.” That is because no matter how much I know about a faith tradition, when I walk into a hospital room as an interfaith chaplain, I don’t meet a Catholic or a Buddhist or a Unitarian. I meet a unique person with a unique story at a unique time. How exciting!
The second thing I have learned is that while interfaith is about dialoguing with people of other faith traditions to see what we have in common, the question at the Heart of Interfaith is this: “How do we respond when we encounter the differences between our faiths?” This is important, because how we respond to our differences is when either war begins or peace prevails.
Jesus and Buddha call me to be a peacemaker and to love my enemies. It is not easy, as many of you know who have tried it. But creating peace is at the Heart of Interfaith!
The last thing I have learned is that some people worry that interfaith work will dilute their own faith. That has not been my experience. In fact, I have found that at the Heart of Interfaith, I glimpse the Divine—the One Called by Many Names.
• It happens when a man who has lost half of his face to cancer holds my hand tightly and becomes my teacher.
• It happens at Friday Prayer at a mosque when I stand in unity, shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims.
• And I glimpse the Divine when I hear a patient praying over her lunch, “Thank you, Jesus, for giving me strength. ... And Praise God for not giving me a big butt like my mother’s.”
The Heart of Interfaith is all of this.
It is learning about the world’s religions, and it is about always meeting each person with, as the Buddhists say, a "Beginners Mind."
It is about both dialoguing with people of other faiths about what we share, and also responding peacefully, with dignity and respect, when we encounter conflict.
The Heart of Interfaith is being enriched by the faith and the faithfulness of another.
So, I leave you with this question:
How will you enter into the Heart of Interfaith?
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This article is the text of Rev. Andrea Goodman's Ordination Sermon, offered at the Chaplaincy Institute's Ordination Service on October 24, 2009 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, Kensington, CA.