May 15

Dear Friends,

One of the blessings of engaging life with curiosity is that when an opportunity to learn something new arises, you act on it. And so, I have accepted with excitement and gratitude an invitation to an open house this Saturday at the Islamic Center of Mankato. Muslim people are immersed in the month of Ramadan, a period of fasting and charity. The invitation includes a presentation on Islam, the chance to ask questions, an opportunity to observe worship, and a breaking of the fast at sundown and the sharing of a meal (called Iftar).

The Islamic Center extended the invitation to me and up to five others in our religious community, and I am happy to say that two of our youth and three members of youth families will attend the Iftar with me. And thus, we will have both an opportunity to learn something about Islam and to deepen our own bonds of connection through this shared experience. May we all approach both occasions with curiosity and open-heartedness.

And one other prospect presents itself in this invitation and in our journey toward it: by our presence with our Muslim neighbors, we may lean into how to be in relationship with each other, how we might, through uniting our strengths with our concerns for a just community, Unitarians Universalists and Muslims, find common ground for working together for the good of us all. Only by knowing each other, building relationship through respectful and joyous curiosity, may we find a way for forward for us all. It is with hope and faith that I look forward to Saturday evening.

 

Looking forward to seeing you soon, even in church. Blessings, Rev. Rita