The following article is about The Fountain, a new church founded and pastored by my friend and Omega Brother, Rev. Paul Anderson of Raleigh, NC
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/...ace-cause.html
RALEIGH, NC -- The 8 a.m. service at Temple Beth Or each Sunday is as religious as any other.
Except it's not Jewish.
The men and women who gather here amid the towering ark, menorahs and Hebrew inscriptions are Christians - mostly African-American Baptists, to be precise. They form one of the city's newest congregations. It's called The Fountain of Raleigh, and its home - for the time being - is in this Jewish synagogue.
Tonight, as Jews around the world celebrate Passover, a festival in which they recall their liberation from slavery in Egypt, the 520 families that form this Jewish community are also hailing their shared bond with another people whose memories of slavery are much fresher. The coming together of the groups is especially significant given the tensions that have historically marked relations between Jews and blacks.
"It shows the liberation that God gives not only from bondage, but also the liberation of our current society, that we are free to choose," said the Rev. Paul Anderson, pastor of The Fountain. "We choose to be together. That resonates with me."
The unusual arrangement allows the two communities to share a space and get to know to each other better. The Jewish congregation gathers for services Friday nights and Saturday mornings. The Christian community holds church services Sunday morning. The Creedmoor Road building bustles with activity on Wednesday night when members of both groups gather for adult education, Hebrew school, Bible study, or choir rehearsal.
Sharing peace and love
And although the two groups worship separately, increasingly they are finding other ways to join together.
In January, during Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Anderson and Rabbi Lucy Dinner exchanged pulpits. Later that month, a panel discussion on the latest scientific findings on mammography drew women from both groups.
Both congregations opposed the Wake County school board's recent decision to scrap its busing for diversity policy; now they're looking for ways to unite on a host of other issues.
"As we look at what a synagogue and a church do, there's more we can do together than apart," saidDinner.
On a recent Sunday morning, church members sang hymns to Jesus, "Thou Art Worthy" and "Because He Lives" in the sanctuary. Down the hall, Jewish congregants prepped tables with matzo, parsley, hard-boiled eggs and grape juice for a children's mock Seder, or ritual Passover meal.
"There's just so much peace and love in here," said Carrie Smith, a member of The Fountain. "It's a blessing to be here."
Lexie Hallman, Beth Or's music director, was likewise effusive.
"It's great for the kids to be exposed to a faith tradition other than their own right here in our building," she said.
Dinner said she never would have considered the arrangement had the temple not tried it before.
For three years before its addition was completed, members of Beth Or drove to White Memorial Presby terian Church in Raleigh for the Jewish High Holiday services.
At first, the Jews were uncomfortable with the prospect of holding Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services in a church. But they were so warmly received by that church that they grew to love the annual pilgrimage, as well as their newly acquired Presbyterian friends.
A faithful friendship
So when Anderson told Dinner he was starting a new church and looking for a place to meet, Dinner felt confident her congregation was experienced enough in interfaith cooperation to host. The Beth Or board of trustees' decision to welcome Anderson's church didn't surprise her.
"It really showed me an evolution in the culture, not just of Temple Beth Or but in the greater community," she said. "There's so much more openness."
Of course, it helped that the two clergy members knew each other.
For the past 17 years, while Dinner had been rabbi at Temple Beth Or, Anderson led Baptist Grove Church in North Raleigh. Over the years, their paths crossed at interfaith Thanksgiving services, Holocaust remembrance ceremonies, and at meetings of the city's human relations commission.
In October, Anderson resigned from Baptist Grove, which had grown to 900 members. Soon thereafter, he decided to start a new congregation. The Fountain's first service at Beth Or was Dec. 6. The group met in the social hall, which features a wall-sized mosaic of the tree of life, a perfect backdrop for the budding church.
The church has grown to 180 people and meets mostly in the congregational hall, a large, multipurpose room.
Juan Isler, a frequent church participant, said he didn't know much about Judaism when he started coming to the temple. He remembers gazing at a memorial plaque at the entrance to the sanctuary and studying the Hebrew inscription from 1 Samuel: "Them that honor me, I will honor."
"As a result of coming here, I've looked up this temple and other Jewish traditions and try to see what this stuff means," he said.
As Beth Or begins planning for next year, it is consulting more with the church to see if the two congregations can team up. Food drives, for example, can be shared; so can some mission projects, such as the Mitzvah Day, when the synagogue is planning a "good works" blitz at local nonprofits.
"We have so much choice in our society," Anderson said. "But when you choose to do something that is against the grain, it says something else - that not only are you free but you want more understanding and more insight."
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