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| Guest Editorial:
10/01/2009
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The Guest Editor
I have had the honor of serving Kenwood Community Church (KCC) for about a year and a half. I have come to love the community and have gotten to know many of the warm and friendly locals in this heart of the Valley of the Moon. My call to ministry is the fulfillment of a lifelong spiritual journey. If you had told me a half dozen years ago that I would end up here, I would have said, “In my wildest dreams.” Now, having arrived in this corner of paradise, I can only laugh. It is with joy that God answered my prayers. The God I believe in is one who comes closer to meeting our deepest desires than we would believe possible. An unexpected joy from my first year here is to reunite with Marjorie MacLeod. Marjorie and I lost touch with each other when she moved here from the Bay Area. Through Marjorie I met the whole family who are now grape growers and wine makers. Although MacLeod is not Italian, I would say her father-in-law George has the traits of a patrone. I enjoy what George MacLeod has written and thought I might also try my hand at writing locally and globally. The Women of the World, a monthly Wednesday luncheon group in our church, recently sat looking over the MacLeod Family Vineyards while George told stories, Biblical and otherwise. He is a wise old man full of tall tales rich with a devotion to the land and a wonder at the water God turns into wine every year about this time. I have spoken of Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana, but I have never thought of it as being what God does with sunshine, water and good grapes until he gave his talk. He inspires me. For those who watch global religions the world has just finished Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer. As I write this, Jews are in the middle of High Holy Days; Rosh Hashanah started at sundown last Saturday and Yom Kippur completes a time of devotion on Monday at sundown. Yom Kippur is the most sacred of the Jewish holidays. It is when you go to your father or mother, sister or brother or anyone you have wronged in the last year and you atone. You say, “I am sorry. Please forgive me.” In the 12-Step program that would be steps eight and nine. You might think it odd that a Christian minister would start writing to the Kenwood Press about Arabic and Hebrew holidays, but I believe that is just what is needed among world religions during this millennium. The world is no longer divided between Jews and Christians, or Christians and Muslims, or Muslims and Jews. The divide in our time is between those who are religious totalitarians and those who are pluralists. I got that idea after hearing a man speak at the national setting of my church in Grand Rapids last summer. Eboo Patel is a Muslim American. His parents were born in India, but he grew up in a Chicago suburb, was a Rhodes Scholar and studied in Oxford, England. His life embodies religious pluralism – birth in a predominantly Christian nation to Muslim parents from predominantly Hindu India. Our president comes from similar complex and entwined roots. His name is Muslim. Barack means blessing in Arabic. He grew up in multi-cultural Hawaii and Muslim Indonesia, studied in California, New York and England, and he bowed at the cross in a church in Chicago and accepted Jesus. Trinity Church is part of the denomination that also includes Kenwood Community Church. His wife and daughters have not chosen to join a DC church. I think at this time, they cannot. They want to be like the group of women at my church – Women of the World. With that kind of exposure to world religions you cannot help but be respectful of all faith traditions. At the church I shepherd we embrace this pluralism every Sunday when we say, “No matter who you are or where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here”. If you have a spiritual practice, please practice with me to see a world that embraces this unity in diversity. Thanks for welcoming me to your community. Please have a wonderful and blessed autumn full of the miracle of water that has turned to wine. We welcome submissions for the Guest Editor. Please send your opinion piece of approximately 750-800 words to info@kenwoodpress.com, or mail to P.O. Box 277, Kenwood, CA 95452. Although it is our intent to publish all contributions, the Kenwood Press reserves the right to refuse to print any submissions. |
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