United Methodists Address Mosque Conflicts - UMC.org

It has been a little while since I posted a piece on connectional joy and this article caught my attention.  Read it and see what you think.

United Methodists address mosque conflicts - UMC.org

I hear a strong beat of hope in this article, even in the midst of turmoil and heartache.  I also hear in it a strong challenge to engage in interreligious dialogue and relationships.  This is especially challenging to me, because I know the changing cultural landscape of the community in which I live has been difficult to deal with for many here.

And in this, I hear the protests of good and faithful Christians in my community: but how do I engage with people I don't know, who don't speak English well, and who don't seem to want to engage with me?  These are challenging questions that come up whenever talk turns to our neighbors from other lands.  I'm not sure of the answers, except to say that perhaps the burden of making the first step in relationship rests on someone and it might as well be me (us).  As I write that, a line from a familiar hymn comes to mind: "let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me" ("Let There Be Peace on Earth," Sy Miller and Jill Jackson, United Methodist Hymnal, 431).  I would like someone else to take the first step in crossing boundaries and building relationships.  I would like the awkwardness to be breached by another.  But I don't know that that is what I'm called to, or what we Christians living as the witness to God's kingdom are called to.