On Wednesday November 13, my husband Bob and I gathered with more than 200 people at a local Episcopal Church in Los Altos California to celebrate the Second Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Dinner. The theme of this dinner was “Grateful Hearts, Shared Blessings.” Sponsors included our host, Christ Episcopal Church Los Altos, BayCCC, SiVIC, Pacifica Institute, and Building Bridges Together™.
The first such gathering was in November 2023, only a few weeks after the horrific attack by Hamas on Israel. Then more than 60 Jews, Muslims and Christians gathered, along with some Hindu, Buddhist, secularists, and neighbors of other faiths, to express unity and a desire for peace and wholeness in the face of war. Many of the attendees were Interfaith Bridges alumni, pleased to renew their friendships.
This year’s gathering followed a divisive election and a war raging in the Middle East, along with terrorism, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods. More than 200 Christians, Jews, and Muslims gathered from many local faith communities along with their neighbors to express gratitude and celebrate unity.
We enjoyed an hour-long program with many different expressions of gratitude and unity. Here are some highlights:
· The Rector of our host church led us in a beautiful song with the theme, “God is in us, and we are in God,” and offered wisdom from Walter Brueggemann, a Protestant Christian theologian.
· A Catholic deacon representing a local interfaith coalition explained that the word “Eucharist” (or communion) means Thanksgiving and shared his gratitude for people of faith.
· Two gifted young pianists offered beautiful musical interludes, and we heard music on a traditional Kyrgyz instrument.
· A member of a local synagogue offered a humorous commentary on how to be grateful while aging.
· Members of the host church offered a beautiful Taizé chant, Ubi Caritas [“where love is, God is”].
· Several members of a local Turkish community commemorated the teachings and wisdom of their gifted teacher, recently deceased, who advocated service to humanity, education for all, and interfaith dialogue.
· The head of the local Episcopal school, Ventana, spoke about teaching kindness and gratitude to children.
· I spoke about the power of bridge building; my remarks are reproduced below.
Our fellowship expanded in the dinner that followed, with the large room filled with animated conversations across cultures, religions, ethnicities, and gender. People were busy making friends with those they hadn’t met yet from other communities, while also renewing and deepening existing friendships.
What an amazing polyglot of people committed to pluralism and peace! While the food was delicious and plentiful, we barely had time to eat because there were so many people to greet and connect with! There were many young people from infants to high school students. Multigenerational and multicultural, the gathering rang out with laughter and good conversation. Other than women in hijabs, you could not tell who was a Christian, Jew, or Muslim. The participants were actively engaged in conversations and enjoying each other’s company. It was a heartening example of interfaith dialogue!
This dinner initially grew out of our first tri-faith Interfaith Bridges™ program as a way to connect the alumni together and expanded through invitations to local communities with similar values. That 200 people of such diverse backgrounds can come together today in November 2024 to express gratitude and unity in a world as divided as ours is surely cause for celebration and hope!
We see the power of these connections weaving a beautiful tapestry of peace. We see the power of bridge building in this growing community of friends devoted to peace.
I close with my remarks about this theme, offered at the recent Interfaith Thanksgiving Dinner program:
In Judaism there was a famous rabbi, Rabbi Chaim Nachman of Breslav, who wrote “The world is a narrow bridge, and the essence, or our job in life, is to not be afraid.”
When we go out hiking, I can tell you my least favorite thing is crossing a log over a creek. Just thinking about crossing that bridge produces a sick stomach and a tight chest. I need to touch someone’s hand to give me the courage to cross, even if it is only a few steps. I really appreciate this image of the narrow bridge as a way to imagine today’s fraught world.
The world is a scary place right now. We have so much violence and destruction, whether from terrible wars, or terrorism, or hatred of all kinds. We have catastrophic natural disasters, hurricanes, floods, wildfires. We are afraid about what is coming next, whether from government policy or the economy. We survived one pandemic, but can we survive the next?
Indeed, the world is a narrow bridge, and our job is not to be afraid. Rabbi Nachman’s saying is carried forward in a beautiful song we sing in synagogue. The refrain to that song continues, “as I walk along this very narrow bridge, I will not be afraid because You are with me.” That You is the Holy One, whom we might call Allah, or Adonai, or Ha-Shem, or God, the Compassionate One.
In this very scary world, I am thankful that we have this Presence who teaches us to love the stranger, to help the less fortunate, to reach out to those who are afraid, sad, lonely, hungry, sick, widowed, or orphaned, all those who need our help. These are the strangers we are called upon to love. We offer help and kindness and compassion to our neighbor because it is the right thing to do. We are the hands of a loving God.
The Holy Presence calls us into community. We can work together for the good of our community and our nation. We have gatherings like this beautiful evening, where we can gather our collective strength, courage, resolve, and grace for the work ahead.
Our nonprofit Building Bridges Together develops trust and relationships among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. We know many of you here at least in part because of one of those programs. In our Interfaith Bridges program, we ask people to come together and listen to each other’s stories, life experiences, and faith practices – what we find meaningful.
We sit together and hear what is important to each other; we learn a bit about each other’s hearts. Why is this important, why is this peacemaking? Because out of those exchanges come friendships and allies.
Relationships are important. They can encourage us, give us meaning, help us through dark times together. They can bring us joy and peace. They teach us to be curious, rather than judgmental, when we meet “the other.” They can offer us new opportunities to serve those who need us and make a better world, one act of compassion at a time. We are more effective together as allies than any of us might be as lone actors.
I give thanks for this gathering. It gives me hope in a dark and scary world. Together we can shape the way others encounter the world by our acts of loving kindness, and we can spread love and fellowship to give each other hope in that dark world. We can be that hand that offers support and inspires courage and confidence as we all walk across this narrow bridge.
This is the power of bridge building together. It is the power of love united. I feel it here tonight and I carry away that hope. Thank you for being here. Make sure you meet someone you didn’t know coming in and build a new friendship! Remember that our job is not to be afraid! We look forward to building more bridges of compassion and friendship together.
Blessings of Peace to you all. Shalom.
Diane Frankle, Chairman and COO, Building Bridges Together
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If you want to learn more about our Interfaith Bridges programs, please contact us at info@buildingbridgestogether.net. We are very happy to speak with you about our work and answer any questions about our programs. Come join us and let’s build bridges of peace and understanding together! You can support our work with a donation here.
Link: https://www.buildingbridgestogether.net/post/the-power-of-bridge-building