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| All Religions Temple (Photo by Maarten) |
The "Interfaith" within the Living Interfaith Church of Lynnwood, Washington isn't what most think it is. Rather
than simply a dialoguing amongst faiths, it is instead a faith in its own right.
Billy Hallowell of The
Blaze explains that the "Interfaith" that is practiced in this church "…recognizes that we are all brothers and sisters, and that at different times and different places we
have encountered the sacred differently." Therefore, this "Interfaith" never tries to prove one
religion better than another; it simply honors the best that all of them have to offer.
In so doing, a typical worship service might include elements from many different traditions. For example, one service included such diverse books as Black Elk Speaks and the
Koran. Musical selections at this same service included "an African-American spiritual and a rabbinical song."
The background of Rev. Steven Greenebaum, faith leader of this church, reflects this type of diversity. He's been an associate minister at the Interfaith Community Church in Seattle, a music director at the Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Marysville, Washington – and the author of a book titled The
Interfaith Alternative.
Hallowell states that Greenebaum's foremost goal is to "knock down the barriers that often divide." In other words, Greenebaum heartily believes that "there is no 'them.'
And there is no 'us' who are somehow superior to them."
Resources
http://wwrn.org/articles/40243/?place=united-states
Copyright July 18, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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