United in prayer

Interfaith gathering to mark anniversary of 9/11, bridge way ‘From Darkness to Light’

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion illustration.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion illustration.

Members of various religions will gather at 6 p.m. Thursday at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Little Rock for the fifth annual "Love Thy Neighbor" interfaith prayer event.

The annual gathering started as a way to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in a service of prayer with the goal of promoting peace and understanding among the world's religions.

The event is sponsored by the Interfaith Center and the Arkansas House of Prayer -- both ministries of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Little Rock. The Interfaith Center is part of the Institute for Theological Studies at St. Margaret's. Its mission is to reduce hatred and fear among followers of the world's religions, and the annual "Love Thy Neighbor" event is part of those efforts.

The Rev. Susan Sims Smith, executive director of the Interfaith Center, said the event remains a time to remember those who lost their lives in the attacks, as well as those whose lives were affected by the events 15 years ago. It is also a time to "create a deeper understanding among the world religions, to build community among members of the world religions and to find ways to work together and play together that make the world a more peaceful place," she said.

This year's theme will be "Moving From Darkness to Light."

The gathering will feature musical performances, including singing by an interfaith children's choir, as well as a presentation by the Multi-Faith Youth Group, time for prayer and silence, and speakers representing several of the world's religions.

Sophia Said, a Muslim and program director of the Interfaith Center, will be the featured speaker.

Members of three of the world's major religions -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam -- also

will offer prayers of confession, asking for divine forgiveness for ways in which their respective religions have contributed to problems in the world.

Smith said it's often easy to see the fault in others "but it's not so easy to see where our own traditions are off track, to look at our faith traditions and see where we're not living up to our ideals."

"It is our work to look at our own faults and the faults of those in our faith tradition and admit those to others and ask for God's help in correcting them and ask God's forgiveness for making the mistakes," Smith said.

Rabbi Barry Block of Congregation B'nai Israel in Little Rock will represent Judaism in the prayers of confession.

"I think the greatest challenge of this service is that each of us representing different faith traditions are asked to look at our own faith tradition's responsibility for disruptions to peace, harmony and justice in this world and to confess those," he said.

Block said he's "fascinated and dismayed" that society views apology as a weakness.

"I would suggest only a strong person can overcome the impulse to assume everything he or she has ever done has been correct and the very best thing that could have been done," he said, adding that Jews "view confession and apology as absolutely essential to finding unity with God again."

Block said he's grateful for the opportunity to reflect on the ways in which the Jewish people "have stood in the way of world peace and harmony and justice."

"It's easy for me to think of ways in which Christianity is responsible for those lapses or Islam is and maybe it would be more fun to stand up and talk about what somebody else did wrong," he said. "But our Jewish tradition on repentance teaches us to confess what we have done wrong and in this case what our people have done. No religious community is free of wrongdoing and acting arrogantly or unjustly."

Mahmoud H. Eldenawi, imam at the Islamic Center of Little Rock, also will participate. He said the willingness to forgive is one of the characteristics of a true Muslim.

"In Islam, the Koran has more than 30 verses that talk about forgiveness," he said, noting that the Prophet Muhammad was also known to frequently encourage people to forgive others.

"To go to heaven, you have to have a kind heart," Eldenawi said. "You are not considered a real believer unless you forgive others."

Eldenawi said interfaith events like the "Love Thy Neighbor" gathering offer an opportunity to educate others about Islam.

"Some people might have misconceptions about Islam in general, and we want to show them the real core," he said.

Danny Schieffler, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, will share his prayer of confession from a Christian perspective.

In Christianity, Schieffler said, forgiveness "begins with God forgiving us."

"It was a specific part of Jesus' core message," he said, adding that over and over Jesus reached out to those who had fallen into sin. "It's all rooted in God's forgiveness of us and to not forgive is a burden to carry."

Schieffler said Episcopalians have a tradition of making a general confession of sin every week during worship services.

"It's part of our DNA as well as to hear the message of pardon and absolution every week," he said.

Schieffler said the event offers the opportunity for people of various faiths to set aside their differences and come together in prayer.

"Regardless of religious tradition we share a common humanity," he said. "At the deepest level we're all human beings on a journey, and as we come together it's a way to acknowledge our common humanity and also to recognize our differences and encourage mutual acceptance and understanding."

During last year's gathering, Schieffler said, he was particularly struck by Rabbi Kalman Winnick of Congregation Agudath Achim blowing the shofar, or ram's horn, from the pulpit in St. Mark's.

"It made the hair stand up on my neck," he said.

He also was moved by the words of the youths of various faiths.

"I realized God was somehow in all this too," he said. "It expanded my understanding of what is possible with God. Things that seem impossible in the world are in fact possible with God, and worshipping together opened my eyes to those possibilities and gave me a deep sense of hope."

The program will be followed by an Interfaith Food Festival featuring vegetarian dishes. The event is free and the public is invited. No child care will be provided, but children are welcome at the service and the food festival.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church is at 1000 N. Mississippi St. Information is available online at interfaith.itssm.org.

Religion on 09/03/2016

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