This past weekend I had the wonderful experience to attend a Bar Mitzvah. What a great way to recognize a young man’s progression in life. The service, the prayers, the songs were very joyous. My wife, son and I were honored to be in attendance.
Sunday morning when I attended church the full experience of the Bar Mitzvah became apparent to me. In the temple, this young man read many passages in Hebrew (without vowels or punctuation). One of the passages he read was from Isaiah chapter 6. On Sunday morning the assigned Old Testament reading was from Isaiah chapter 6. This same passage was read in churches and synagogues on the same weekend all around the world.
For all the differences between the Christian and Hebrew faiths, there we were reading from Isaiah chapter 6 on the same weekend.
That got me to think about all the similarities between the Christian and Hebrew faiths. This area is certainly not my expertise. However, I suspect we are more alike than many people would care to admit. Clearly, there are differences – many are very obvious and fundamental. Our differences make us and our faiths unique. But when it comes to stewardship of the earth, love for your neighbor, respect for others our guiding principles are the same. We share the Hebrew Bible, and we share a faith and love in the LORD our God. We both pray for guidance, and we pray for the departed and we pray for those in need.
Our similarities allow us to walk together and work together, to laugh together and cry together. We are all brothers descendant from Abraham; we can celebrate our commonalities and respect our uniqueness.
Shalom my brothers and sisters, shalom.
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