I’m in Pasadena, California this week where I am participating in a very important event starting tonight with Muslim and Christian leaders from around the world. About 2 years ago a group of 138 global Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals wrote a letter to Christians inviting them/us into dialogue over our “common word” of faith. It was based on the dual command to love God and our neighbor as common ground for dialogue and understanding between Christianity and Islam. This overture was an amazing and historic initiative that is causing reverberations across the world. Nothing like it has ever happened in our tumultuous history. When the letter was sent, a group of scholars at Yale Divinity School lead by Miroslav Volf and Joseph Cumming wrote a response entitled, “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word between Us and You.“
I was one of over 300 Christians who signed the letter, seeing it as an important step in building bridges and engaging each other in important conversations at both the local level and between important bodies of leaders representing each faith tradition. It seems this is coming full circle for me, both this week and now with relationships I am building locally in Seattle. I’m sure I will have more to share after this exciting week but for now I invite you to pray for what God is doing and for ways to engage my new friends in these special days in sunny California! I’m excited for what God has in store!
I’ve been eating a few burgers this week too and just thought I’d share a photo with you all from one of my favorite quintessential burger establishments in the region. If you want to know more about what is going on in this dialogue event and some of the developments in my on-going work, drop me a line at [email protected]. I will have a brief report sometime next week after this event.
I’ve eaten at that very In-n-Out.