by Lauren Reed 

Last Friday evening, I went to my first actual interfaith event of the semester.  “Continuing Lessons from 9/11” was hosted by Studio Ninety-Six along with Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church and our friends at the Christian Theological Seminary in downtown’s wonderfully unique Earth House Collective.  Studio Ninety-Six’s motto is “facilitating experimentation with artistically savvy, culturally sensitive, innovative worship” and I can’t think of a better way to describe the evening.

The service focused on remembering the sadness and fear of 9/11, but also on remembering the precious moments when the attack brought different faiths together instead of driving them apart.  The stories shared by three storytellers- a Jewish woman, a Muslim woman, and a Christian woman- encouraged us to reach past our own seclusion to grab our neighbors’ hands. 

One story was about a group of New York Christian women just after 9/11/01.  Some of their Muslim neighbors were so afraid of being targeted in the aftermath of the attacks that they were scared to go out alone in public.  In a beautiful act of humanity, the Christian women and Muslim women began going to the grocery store together in large groups to protect each other. 

This story and the service were wonderful examples of how people of different backgrounds can come together in peace to serve others.  The elated words the entire congregation sang as we left the building were perfect:

Let us go out and light up the dark!

Let us go out and bring joy to each heart!

Let us go out with indifference destroyed!

Let us go out with joy!

Amen.

Peace,

Lauren

 Check out Studio Ninety-Six’s website (http://worshipstudio.wordpress.com/about/)