Tag: better together day

I missed it.
April 7th.
Better Together Day.
A day sponsored and supported by the Interfaith Youth Core on which 5000 people from across the country took a few moments to talk with each other about their religious and non-religious worldviews, to share their values and to learn from each other.

Better together.
What a novel idea.
As is talking to one another and listening to one another and learning from one another. In a culture and a political climate which does everything in its power to pit you against me and us against them, listening to someone else becomes a counter-cultural act because the moment I put a name and face on the other, the harder it is to swallow the rhetoric or revert to inaccurate stereotypes. In the end I still may not agree, but if I listen well I may, at least, begin to understand.

I already have the April 7th on my 2017 calendar.
And a game plan in mind.
Table at the local deli down the street.
Joined by a friend who is a Rabbi and another friend who is Muslim.
A free cup of coffee for whoever will sit for a moment and talk with us.
And, then see what happens.
I bet it will be great.
Because, after all, despite what they tell you we are better together.

P.S. And these thank yous for those who have helped me be better…

Rabbi David Greenberg and Rabbi Jason Nevarez and friends at Temple Shaaray Tefila
Dina Elshakry-Hafez and the members of the Upper Westchester Muslim Society
The Paul Briggs and the Rev. Merle McJunkin and the Rev. Kym McNair and the members of Antioch Baptist Church

Thank you.
I am who I am because of who we are together.

Here is an idea worth doing.
And sharing.
April 14, 2015.
Better Together Day.
An idea sponsored by the Interfaith Youth Core which is based in Chicago, but which works on college campuses and in communities across the country. Their idea of taking a few minutes that day to talk with someone of a different religious or non-religious background than your own about something that inspires them stands as a potentially powerful counter-balance to recent events in the news of racist chants on a bus or the signing of the Religious Freedom Bill by Gov. Pence in Indiana or the subtle racial or religious divide which exists in many of our communities.

What if you got 20 people in your community to commit to this?
What if you got 200 people in your school to commit to this?
What if I got that same number in the church where I am pastor to commit to this?
Would it make the news?
Would it make a difference?
I don’t know.
But it brings to mind the old Pete Seeger song.
One man’s hands can’t tear a prison down.
Two men’s hands can’t tear a prison down.
But if two plus two plus fifty make a million
We’ll see that day come round.
We’ll see that day come round.

So…
On our way to a million.
And, to that day!

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Several things I believe: