Asking the Clergy: How have you collaborated with people of other faiths?

During a time of global religious strife, clergy across Long Island are reaching out to people of other faiths through dialogue, interfaith worship and cultural exchanges. This week’s clergy discuss how these interfaith bridges strive to engender mutual understanding, fellowship and respect for other traditions.

CANTOR IRENE FAILENBOGEN

The New Synagogue of Long Island, Brookville

As a cantor of the New Synagogue of Long Island, I have always been delighted when I can collaborate with my fellow congregations at the Brookville Multifaith Campus. The friendships and learning that take place when you celebrate together are enriching. On Thanksgiving every year, we collaborate with the Brookville Church and Muslim Reform Movement Organization to bring the spirit of fellowship and dialogue to the Brookville Campus. I remember vividly when, a few years before the pandemic, a Muslim woman came to me with tears in her eyes after the service, and, following a long embrace, she said to me, “Your singing touched the core of my existence.”

These words seem like a dream in the face of so much violence that we are experiencing in the Middle East. We need to share more togetherness to understand the core of each one’s existence. This year in the midst of so much pain, loss and devastation, we are gathering together again to have Thanksgiving as a multifaith campus on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. There is a comforting spirit that we create every Thanksgiving, when we share songs of peace, delicious flavors and warm hugs. We all need it so much! The hymn that will open our service: “All are welcome.”

THE REV. EARL Y. THORPE JR.

Pastor, Church-in-the-Garden, Garden City

As pastor of the Church-in-the-Garden, I have the honor of being part of the Garden City Clergy Council, an ecumenical and interfaith group. It consists of the clergy from the Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal and Presbyterian denominations, as well as the Jewish Center, Unitarian Universalists and the Ethical Humanist Society. Through this group, the church and I enter into genuine and engaging fellowship with other local congregations and faith groups.

Indeed, on several occasions, we have held gatherings to address societal issues and learn what we, as communities of faith, can do. Further, there have been opportunities for interfaith worship as I have invited the leaders of these houses of faith to preach in my pulpit, and they have returned the invitation to me and my congregation. It may not seem like much, but extending offers to worship is a fundamentally transformational event. It offers differing theological and liturgical viewpoints and settings that challenge congregants to witness and receive new insights into our human connections that sometimes get paralyzed by repetition and routine. It helps us to see humanity’s many expressions of God and honor its uniqueness and similarities.

THE REV. DWIGHT LEE WOLTER

Pastor, Congregational Church of Patchogue

In challenging times, people scramble to learn who “those” people are and why they say, do and believe as they do. But if you already know them and their history, beliefs and customs, the relationships are already established. You don’t begin, you proceed. I try to start a collaborative relationship with food, story and song rather than a panel discussion. I first create an event where people of our and other faiths who attend events and services at our church provide a food that is special in their family, culture, religion or ethnicity. In telling us about their food, they are telling us about themselves and what is meaningful to them. In providing a story, I ask them to choose one about a holiday, right-of-passage or tradition. Thanksgiving Day, for example, is important to us but unheard of in many parts of the world.

In sharing a song, chant, descant or other sound with or without words, we learn about the sound, rhythm and melody of their lives and traditions. We are different in many ways. But we all eat, share stories and traditions, and mimic the heartbeat and the silence of our lives. And then, collaborative peace is not only possible, it is probable — if we but give peace a chance.