Camp As Congregation

Saturday, my beloved and I attended a Tri-Faith event called "Living Room Conversations." Twenty-five people met at Temple Kehilla in Oakland. We came from three different traditions:  Islamic Cultural Center, my "Church of Last Resort" - a Presbyterian Church, which is how I found out about this first time event happening, and, of course, our hosts, Kehilla Synagogue. We separated out into groups of four to six participants at four different tables, making sure each had at least one participant from each of the three congregations.

A list of questions to address was handed out so we could get to know one another.  Two hours flew by as we responded to the following... 

Why Are We Here?

What interested you or drew you to this conversation?

Round 1: Core Values

Answer one or more of the following:

• What sense of purpose / mission / duty guides you in your life?
• What would your best friend say about who you are and what inspires you?
• What are your hopes and concerns for your community and/or the country?

Round 2: 

What are your thoughts on Faith Community: 

The Way Forward?

Remember that the goal for this Living Room Conversation is for all of us to listen and learn about where we have different opinions and where we have shared interests, intentions and goals. Answer one or more of the following questions:

• What is the promise of our faith community to its members?  To the surrounding community?
• How are we living up to our promise to each other and to our faith promises?
• If you could change one thing about our faith community, what would it be? What experience brings you to this perspective?
• If you were creating a reconciling agenda for change to unite and energize our community, what would be on it?

Round 3: Reflection & Next Steps

Answer one or more of the following questions:

• In one sentence, share what was most meaningful or valuable to you in the experience of this Living Room Conversation?
• What new understanding or common ground did you find within this topic?
• Has this conversation changed your perception of anyone in this group, including yourself?
• Name one important thing that was accomplished here.
• Is there a next step you would like to take based upon the conversation you just had?

I was so glad to be at the table with my husband. He and a gal from Kehilla represented the Jewish tradition, while one gentle-man was from Islamic Cultural Center. A church friend and I represented Montclair Presbyterian Church. 

My husband spoke of his early roots as a cultural Jew in Queens, New York and how he not only became a Bar Mitzvah, but also continued to a confirmation ceremony at age sixteen. The confirmation was new information for me. (Or forgotten and now it seemed new.) In high school, he felt estranged from all formal religions whose trappings separated people from one another rather than unifying us.

When it was my time to respond to the round one core values question, I said I had never joined a church, (After nearly four years attending irregularly, I'm  technically still a "friend" of MPC, not a member, even though I teach yoga and meditation courses there and am a student of other classes). I do not consider myself a Christian. The only other sustained church experience I had was in eighth grade when my mom parked me at the teen program of the Eighth Street Unitarian Church in downtown Los Angeles so she could find herself again after she and my dad divorced. 

The reason I hang around with the Presbyterians is because I was so starved for community when we first moved to Oakland from Studio City four years ago. I saw a lovely group of aging hippies, musicians, artists, writers, who were politically active folk. I felt - still feel - right at home and have been nourished by three different writing groups originating at MPC. I do have to let the God and Jesus stuff roll off my back. It doesn't make sense to me to put a brand name on spirituality.

Both Mark and I spoke of our camp experiences and how the camp communities feel like family; feel like our houses of worship - only we're not worshiping a divine super-power, but rather the soul shining out of every pair of eyes into which we look deeply. COmmunity. COmmunion. COnnection. COmmon ground. We have so much more in common with other humans than ever we have at odds with one another. We have the same need for community; for shining the light for others and for allowing others to shine a light for us as well. It is part and parcel of being human. We thrive when we feel we belong.

I think the questions were designed for people who were much more fundamentalist in their views and the author imagined a huge gaping void among the beliefs of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Maybe our group was precocious or ready to accept anyone, but we didn't have those vast differences among us, so there was only a gentle slide of micro-millimeters toward one another. So close were we in our core beliefs and values.

When it was time to leave, we all agreed it was important to include even more diversity at these conversations. I wonder how we might reach out to a church whose congregants look different from how we twenty-five caucasians appeared.

Black churches may have the same brand name, but seem to do business differently from how the more reserved Montclair Presbyterians do.

I'd like to participate again in the conversations, and hope my beloved may as well. I OWE him at least one watching of a program on World Wrestling Federation network, now that he's come to an ooowie ooowie land event with me!

Mercifully, we have camp in common!

From a Northern California counselor and medical staff reunion at our home 1-17-19