New Orleans Interfaith Initiative

03/29/2025

03/29/2025

In honor of my dear friend, Cindy Van Dam, who so understood the value of dialogue between us all!

It’s a great human temptation to believe that we know other people more deeply and more accurately than we do. And to judge them for not being us. It’s a temptation we must fight.

01/10/2025

Hope people in town can come to this and maybe donate to Unity or the Harry Tompson Center. I answer a phone for our church and we get almost daily requests for help with rent often from people who face homelessness.

01/05/2025

A new goal for a new year for this page. I want to post about spiritual practices that we share and how they help us to deepen our connection to God and to goodness.
First topic: Waiting on God a Time of Refreshment
I am inspired by an article in a magazine published by my faith. The author said that she had struggled while waiting for a blessing she desired. She knew God could answer her prayer and felt a little abandoned that he hadn’t. Then she read Isaiah 40:31 “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” What?! Waiting could be a good thing?

How could she change her view of waiting. Then she heard the word wait differently, as if God were calling her, “Wait sit with me. Spend time with me.

She has come to realize that waiting on the Lord can be a time of joy and gladness as described in Isaiah 51:3 “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” She works to remember that she can feel joy if she focuses on Jesus and His gospel because He Is Joy.

“Waiting gives us the opportunity to sit with God, learn more of Him, see more of His hand, feel more of His love, hear more of His voice, and ultimately receive more of His abundance. As I look back on times I felt like God was making me wait, I see the abundance of spiritual treasures He offered me. I see loving and supportive friends, priceless moments of comfort and revelation, lessons about the security and power of keeping sacred covenants, and a deeper connection to my Savior, Jesus Christ.”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2024/06/digital-only-young-adults/when-god-says-wait?lang=eng

01/02/2025

These are sad days for our city.
Pray for those who were wounded and the families of those killed, and all the people who witnessed something horrific. Then remember to look for something to sing about each day

So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
-Matthew 6-34

01/01/2025

May we all make the effort to be kind, to respect others, to reach out in love, work for equality and justice, and lift our hearts to God

Let not religious or political ideology - dogma - beliefs or opinions be the cause of separation and division between the family of humanity.
One World 🌍 One People,

12/30/2024

This is why I don’t want to take my Christmas decorations down yet.

12/25/2024

These words of a rabbi bring life to all.

“The morning breaks, the shadows flee;

Lo, Zion’s standard is unfurled!

The dawning of a brighter day,

The dawning of a brighter day

Majestic rises on the world.

“The morning breaks, the shadows flee,” that, in essence, is general conference for me. These wondrous lyrics of, and for, life speak in soulful metaphor of light and hope renewing. They sing of symbolic dawn always rising, and arising before us symbolically always. Though the clouds of life and darkness are ever so real, “morning” always “breaks,” and “the dawning of a brighter day” always yet awaits.”

He wrote an article that describes the beauty and power of a hymn and a conference meeting of my faith better than I can. Thank you Rabbi Joe Charnes.

12/17/2024

Wonderful to see his joy in praising God

12/03/2024

I’m sorry I couldn’t resist. Members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would probably baptize the squirrels and send them on missions.

And then there is this:
The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will.

At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.

The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water-slide.

The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out pans of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much damage a band of drunk squirrels can do.

But the Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy! They baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.

Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel since.