By Tom Kelly
Editor and Publisher

It was Sunday morning, September 11, 2011 - the tenth anniversary of the infamous "9/11" World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in New York City and Washington DC. It was also the 13th Sunday after Pentecost at Northminster Church in Monroe, Louisiana, where we sat, settling into our pew and scanning the printed liturgy for the special Interfaith Sunday program. The musician played the pipe organ prelude, "Finlandia" by Jean Sibelius, the familiar theme of which is recognizable to Southern-raised Baptists as the hymn "Be Still, My Soul." This was followed by "Song of Peace," by Jean Langlois - foreshadowing things to come in the service - and then the chiming of the 11 o'clock hour. Here we go, in the words of a currently popular TV commercial, but this time into a church event so different as to be at once breathtaking as well as emotionally and spiritually enlightening, yet conveying in its totality the simple human message: God loves all his creation; live in peace with each other.

Since discovering Northminster Church a couple of years ago, and attending worship from time to time as Miriam and I find an open Sunday, I have learned to expect and appreciate an experience that has enough Baptist in it that I can keep up, and enough Catholic that she feels comfortable--plus "some of this, and a bit of that," enough so that others in the congregation, some former Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and a goodly number of the original group of un-reconstructed former Southern Baptists, "make a joyful noise" together that is powerfully satisfying. Yet few, I suspect, least of all I, were prepared for the truly "Interfaith" dimensions of this special 9/11 Sunday, ten years later.

First came the Muslim call to worship, by Imam Dr. Mahmoud Khalil of the Islamic Center of Northeast Louisiana, delivered from the back of the auditorium in the same singing cadence one hears occasionally as a signature sound bite leading into a news piece on TV from a Middle Eastern locale. Hearing it "live" in an American Christian church in the American South, where one worships from time to time called up a totally unexpected set of feelings which I would have difficulty naming, none of which was hostile.

While still responding inwardly to this unaccustomed experience, there came the piercing, unmistakable blast of a sound similar to that heard on the trail from the hunter's horn, yet with a presence distinctly different: the Shofar, the ram's horn trumpet heard by the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai where Moses went up to talk with God, with Joshua at the walls of Jericho, and by Jewish faithful in worship through centuries down to the present day, but never before in my hearing as a Southern Baptist raised to the sound of gospel hymns accompanied by piano, organ, and occasional stringed instruments. Blown with clarity by Kash Schriefer, president of the Congregation B'nai Israel in Monroe, the Jewish call to worship seemed entirely "regular," tying together the threads of community between the three faiths present with the reading of the ancient "Schema," from Deuteronomy 6, "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is One Lord, and Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

The Christian call, by Northminster Pastor for Congregational Life, Rev. Claire McKeever-Burgett, came from Matthew 5, the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are they that mourn; the meek; they who hunger after righteousness; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers. Especially the peacemakers.

The Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, pastor for Preaching and Worship at Northminster, also serves as President of the Interfaith Alliance, based in Washington DC, which sponsored the "Faith Shared" service. Excerpts from Dr. Gaddy's sermon for the event:
"A nation must do its grief work the same way an individual does. To remain too long in any of the five stages of grief is to get really sick; we must not allow our grief to become a prison.

"Seldom if ever before have the monotheistic Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam faced as great an opportunity for positive impact as that which exists right now. Works and actions evoked by our religions can help shape our country and impact the international community for great good. A harried, schismatic, fragmented, and skeptical world is ready and eager to be surprised by the discovery of the power of these religions to promote understanding, nurture mutual respect, and lead residents of the global village in taking a giant step toward domestic tranquility, inter-religious cooperation, and international peace.

"Each of the Abrahamic religions can be and has been severely distorted and selfishly or politically prostituted by people ripping scripture passages from their respective historical, literary, and theological context. A step in my recommended strategy for better cooperation and a world-wide demonstration of the positive power and healing force of religion is a rock solid commitment to and vigorous support for religious freedom. Freedom is religion's best friend. Indeed, apart from people's freedom to make choices and act on decisions related to religion, there is no authentic religion, and unless all have freedom, none are assured freedom.

"We are rapidly approaching a time in our nation when there will be no majorities. Then, if not before, those who oppose religion freedom for all will see the terrible error of their opposition. If Muslims are not free to construct mosques, Sikhs to build gurdwaras, Hindus to erect temples, Buddhists to build shrines, Jews to build synagogues, and others to remain non-religions, Christians will not be free to construct church buildings. Religions freedom deserves profound devotion and support from all of us."

The entire text of Dr. Gaddy's "Faith Shared" sermon

For further facts and information about the Interfaith Alliance and Northminster Church, see their websites, www.interfaithalliance.org , and www.northmin.org

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