Sep 21, 2008 8:42 pm US/Central
Interfaith Gathering Promotes Peace
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
An effort to bridge the gap between cultures and communities drew more than a thousand people to a South Side church Sunday. Local Jews and Christians gathered there, as CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports, with a lesson the two groups are hoping to learn.
The members of the two congregations want to put the love and peace they both learn from their faith into practice – not just today, but in their everyday lives.
They gathered by the hundreds iin the name of unity. Members of the Bnai Jehoshua Beth Elohim Synagouge of Glenview traveled to the Third Baptist Church of Chicago to learn from each other. Christians learned a little Hebrew in scripture and in song.
"The singing of the songs, the words that they use are different from the words that we use but the meaning is the same,' said Third Baptist Church member Karen Smith.
Members from the Jewish congregation felt the energy of the African-American tradition at the locale, and say the experience can help people of both faiths stand together.
"I think it's just all the stereotypes that we hear all the time," said Lynn Wax, a member of the synangouge. "And I think that's what has to go away is all those stereotypes."
"If we did more of this, we'd have less problems," said Doris Schyman, a member of the synagouge. "Just keep singing together. That's all. Amen."
After the service, they shared a meal and the hope they can bring more people and more religions in on the effort.
"When we come together, the whole world shifts on its axis,' said rabbi Karyn Kedar. "You look out in a sea of faces and all you see are souls shining bright all together in faith wishing that this world could be united."
"People of faith do have a common bond when they build relationships. It was a privilege for us to be able to explore and to worship together and too, in many ways, be a sign and a symbol of what our faith really represents," said Third Baptist Church pastor Alan Ragland.
Sunday's service was an event some 11 years in the making. Both churches belong to a group called United Power for Action and Justice. It brings people of faith together to help improve access to affordable housing and healthcare in neighborhoods that need them most.
The pastor and rabbi CBS 2 talked with hope to include mosques in the effort sometime soon.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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