“No matter the label we wear, we are on a spiritual journey. Be thou a blessing.” These words spoken by Rabbi Alvin Sugarman resonated with me during Restoring the Neighborhood. This event provides a time for Baptists and Jews to gather and discuss their faith over a shared meal and reflect upon their commonalities. This dialogue is sponsored by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Jewish Committee. It is only the fourth time these groups have met, but many more dialogue’s are expected in the future.
Being my first time to attend this event, I must admit I did not know what to expect. But after several hours of fellowship and dialogue with my fellow Jewish and Baptist brothers and sisters, I left with a refreshed and renewed faith.
On the surface, one might assume that Baptists and Jews would not agree on many things, but this could not be further from the truth. Baptists and Jews both have a passion for justice and service and this was made evident through the evening’s theme: “Fulfilling the Mission or Purpose of our faiths.”
Rob Nash, Coordinator of CBF’s Global Mission, reminded those gathered about Baptists historically pursuing religious liberty, not only for themselves but for people of all faiths. Rabbi Sugarman expressed the Jewish perspective by proclaiming the Hebrew Scriptures call for “Justice, Justice.” He explained that the first justice strictly affects you, while the second justice is justice to others and has no benefit to one’s self and is selfless.
The Baptist and Jewish perspectives on service can be viewed through the dynamics of “Grace” and “Tikkun Olam.” Baptists strive to be God’s grace in the world in order to be a part of God’s mission. Jews focus on the Hebrew phrase “Tikkun Olam” which means “to repair the world.” Jews see service as partnering with God in order to restore and repair the world. By comparing these two views of service one can see that Baptists and Jews are striving for the same thing though they may use different words and phrases.
What I will take from this dialogue is that we, Jews and Baptists (and all faiths for that matter) possess the Divine spark of God’s creation. We are all God’s children making a beautiful mosaic on this earth and we are each engaging in God’s mission of grace and restoration. We might have different words and practices and even different traditions but we are really two sides of the same coin.