Hi Ifaithers,
The Interfaith Council met tonight with 19 people gathering to eat some delicious veggie pizza. Over 9 different faith traditions were represented. We started by learning about a few holidays that recently passed, including Yom Kippur (the Jewish day of Atonement), Eid al Fitr (the Muslim festival after the end of the month of Ramadan), and Mabon, the Pagan holiday celebrating the harvest. We started the conversation by talking about Yom Kippur and the idea that simply atoning for our sins is not enough, we must put the atonement into action and serve the community. We learned that in the Qur'an there is a similar quote that tells us that those who pray without serving others are not true followers of Islam. In Paganism, the rule of three states that any action you do will come back to you (positive or negative) three times. And in the Sikh and Baha'i traditions, service is a central element of faith.
All faith and non-faith traditions teach us that service to others is very important. What do we get out of it? We posed the question that if service makes us feel good, is it selfish? Is that a bad thing? We also talked about building relationships through serving others, bonds that are incredibly strong. So what does service mean to you, both in your faith and personally? Comments are welcome and encouraged!
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