AIFM

On Thursday night I attended an Interfaith dinner at Heritage Park, downtown Phoenix.  Hosted by the Arizona Interfaith Movement.   I heard about it at church and thought it sounded interesting.  Dinner was provided, to be followed by "stimulating conversation".  A few people from the Sikh community provided the meal, known as a "Langar", a three-course, vegetarian meal.  We ate on the floor and left our shoes at the door.  It was fabulous!!  There was a garbanzo bean dish that was to die for!  The meal started with four different prayers from four different religions; one Buddhist (chanting a prayer that took me back to the temples in Tibet), one LDS, one Christian, and one Muslim.  SO cool!

After we ate, we formed groups consisting of 5-7 people in each.  In my group, there were 3 LDS (which I bummed about...boring!  I know about them!  I was hoping for someone from one of the Eastern religions, oh well.), one Unitarian, one Community of Christ, one self-proclaimed Atheist, but turned out to be Agnostic, and one Church of Divine Love.  We were given 4 questions to answer; 1- list the two most important teachings of your faith, 2- pick one practice that means the most to you, 3- tell about your journey to the beliefs and practices you now participate in, and 4- to be done in 10 mins, solve the problem of world peace through one idea/practice.

As we discussed these issues, practices, beliefs and experiences I came to the realization that everyone had the same basic, underlying ideas and beliefs, but called them by different names.  Some used "energy", others "spirit", some felt as if their ancestors were with them, while others said it was God, while someone else said angels.  The bottom line was this, all of us are in this together, we each have the opportunity to have a positive impact on those around us.  There is something or someone out there bigger than each of us.  We must channel the energy we feel from that source and use it for good.  We must stop judging, we must serve others and love our fellow man, regardless of age, race, status or nation.

It was wonderful to be a part of something so open and welcoming to differences.  Something that really celebrated differences and saw that as a positive rather than a negative.  It was a way to enhance and expand one's mind, a way to widen one's perspective.  An evening I will not soon forget.