How Congregations Celebrate

HOW CONGREGATIONS CELEBRATE PLURALISM SUNDAY:

The Congregational Church UCC of Belmont, CA, will celebrate Pluralism Sunday on May 10. The Jeff Taylor Jazz Group will offer music, and a local Muslim imam will speak as well as a professor of Jewish holocaust history and a chaplain for Mission Hospice who is a New Thought minister.

Mt Hollywood Congregational UCC of Los Angeles, CA, will host a performance in 10:30 am worship of the SHANTI interfaith student choir of the University of Southern California.

Unity Church of Monterey, CA, hosted a 4 week class on Islam during the month of May open to the public. The church used Karen Armstrong’s “Muhammad, A Prophet for Our Times” as a starting point and had local Muslims participating in a dialogue to promote understanding between diverse sacred paths.

Pioneer Congregational UCC in Sacramento will hold Pluralism Sunday on July 13. An imam from the Sacramento League of Associated Muslims will speak at the worship service.

Rev. Laurie Manning of Skyline Community UCC Church in Oakland preached “on the power of the Holy Spirit as the reversal of the Tower of Babel, the divine translator and unifier, that brings all
people, all cultures, all religions, races, all differences together in dialogue and harmony.”

Holy Redeemer Reformed Catholic Church, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, had a Muslim speaker present areas of agreement between historical Christianity and Islam, and incorporated various prayers of different religious traditions into its Mass.

University Place Christian Church in Enid, Oklahoma celebrated Pluralism Sunday with readings from various world religions included in the main worship service.

The Prince of Peace Progressive Christian Alliance in Anniston, Alabama, held a service that included readings from the Muslim and Buddhist traditions, with a guest speaker from a local mosque.

First Congregational Church, UCC, of Phoenix, AZ, used the Pentecost event and texts “God’s Spirit poured out on all flesh” in worship, as well as using the relevant passage of the Phoenix Affirmations (www.CrosswalkAmerica.org ), in the sermon, prayers, and preface for communion.

The Pluralism Sunday service at Bethany United Methodist in San Francisco, CA, included a litany that was written for the 2007 Rocky Mountain Annual Conference Holy Communion Service with some adaptions. The sermon was preached by Rob Herrmann and entitled, “What I Learned About God From My Mother” The sermon explored the relationship between a fundamentalist parent and a progressive son using their differences as a parallel to religions different approaches to God. The Revised Common Lectionary supplied Numbers 11:24-30 as a reading which was used to explore different experiences of God as real.

Mizpah United Church of Christ in Hopkins, MN, did a pulpit exchange with Bet Shalom Temple (Jewish) on Fri, May 9, and Sunday, May 11.

The Congregational Church of Fullerton, UCC, in Fullerton, CA will be participating in Pluralism Sunday at another date: Sunday, July 20, 2008, including people from the local Buddhist community to participate in worship and be part of a forum on Christian-Buddhist beliefs and relations.

Barbara Currie, pastor of the Congregational Church in Deering, NH, preached about how Jesus is the church’s gate to God, yet there are other equally important and creditable gates to God for other people.

Epiphany Community Universalist Unitarian Church of Fenton, Michigan, invited a Zen Buddhist with a Christian background to be the preacher that day “so that we could experience the similarities of our faith paths,” said Anne Lerche, the pastor.

Brea (CA) Congregational UCC Church will celebrate the event on May 25. Rev Dr. Jeanyne B. Slettom will preach on Dr. John Cobb’s idea of “mutual transformation,” in the context of peace. The service will include prayers for peace from different faith traditions, and a soloist will sing the Hebrew “Shir Lashalom” (Song of Peace).

PLURALISM SUNDAY CELEBRATIONS IN 2007:

Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, MI, is conducting a study group leading up to Pluralism Sunday, focusing on the book, “The Faith Club”, about three women, a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew, who seek to find bridges between their religious traditions.

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Penn Yann, NY, will have a Jewish, Muslim, Bahai and Christian “dialogue” sermon. The Hebrew Scriptures will be read in Hebrew and the cantor will also lead some singing during the service. There will be a reading from the Qur’an and from the Bahai writings. The Prayers of the People will include prayers from these other religious traditions. After church there will be a discussion forum with the guests and the rector doing a panel discussion on pluralism.

The United Church of Christ in Richmond Beach, WA, will conduct its worship in its social hall with a feast of food from many cultures around the world, as a Pentecost “birthday party” for the Christian church, integrating the theme of religious pluralism. Its pastor, Rev. Joy Haertig, says “we can celebrate and give thanks without being better or more right or true than others.”

Pluralism Sunday worship at Paradise Hills United Church of Christ in San Diego, CA, will include a presentation from a Buddhist, an overview of recent church field trips to a Buddhist Sangha and Jewish temple, and a Jewish liturgy and (hopefully) a Muslim Iman.

The Congregational Church of Fullerton, CA, has invited a local Muslim leader to be part of their worship service and to speak at a luncheon to follow.

High Street Presbyterian in Oakland, CA, has invited Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana to do a joint service. The pastor of High Street Church, Sally Juarez, is writing a children’s play about pluralism for the worship service, based on the Parable of the Elephant.

Spirit of Peace UCC Church of San Antonio, TX, is inviting its fellow members of PRO San Antonio, a faith-based community organizing group, to a special Pluralism Sunday event from 5-6 pm. Members of different faith traditions will be invited to say a few words about their traditions, offer a prayer, and provide visual symbols of their faith.

Rev. Jerry Stinson, pastor of First Congregational UCC in Long Beach, CA, will preach on religious pluralism, and the worship service will include elements from other religious traditions.

Robert Abdul Hayy Darr, a Muslim and a translator of the mystical poetry of Rumi and Hafiz, will be the preacher at Sausalito (CA) Presbyterian Church. Chants from the religions of the world will be sung by the congregation in worship.

University Place Christian Church in Enid, OK, will participate in Pluralism Sunday with a liturgy conducted in multiple languages and readings from various world religions. Its pastor, Rev. Jerry Ray Galbreath, teaches comparative religion at Northern Oklahoma College.

Mitzpah United Church of Christ will have a pulpit exchange with the Bet Shalom Reform Jewish congregation, also in West Metro Minneapolis.

Evangelical United Church of Christ in St. Louis, MO, will focus its worship on the book “Does God Have a Big Toe?” by a Jewish rabbi, Marc Gellman.

Rabbi Julie Pelc will be preaching at Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, CA.

At Plymouth Congregational Church in Plymouth, NH, Dr. Joan Roughgarden, evolutionary biologist at Stanford University, will preach about Christianity and science. “The tensions between scientist and theologians (people of faith and people who research life) is also a form of pluralistic understanding that is needed in this polarized culture of ours,” says the church’s pastor, Rev. Judith Gooch.

St. John’s Episcopal Church in Williamstown, MA., will welcome to its pulpit Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams, MA, and he will be the special guest at a forum afterward.