A Letter to our Muslim Friends

سلام

(Arabic for “peace”)

 “I want to end by saying that peace and love for everyone is a basic fundamental principle of both this school and of Islam.  In light of recent events, all our hearts, tears, and prayers go to those who lost loved ones in the recent attacks.  I want to say that these terrorists claiming to be of Islam are not Muslims because terror has no religion.”

(A quote from a teenager from the Islamic School of Upper Westchester)

To our brothers and sisters of faith in the Islamic School of Upper Westchester, we want you to know we stand with your community in this time of such senseless violence carried on in the name of religion.  We know you represent Islam as a religion of peace.  We know you and love you as individuals, families and a community of faith that shares much more than just these walls.  We share a commitment to peace, love and justice for all God’s children; and we celebrate our common bond as descendants in the faith of Abraham.  We pledge to you our friendship and our dedication to countering the fearmongering and scapegoating of Muslims in our nation.  In this Christian season of Advent we renew ourselves to praying for and actively speaking up for God’s peace, pas, shalom, salaam.

Your brothers and sisters of PCMK

The aftermath of the latest mass shooting in California has been so hateful and ignorant, I felt we needed to do and say something as a church.  We have the privilege of hosting the Islamic School of Upper Westchester in our building.  We share more than just the roof we gather under.  Our women get together, along with the women from the Mount Zion Apostolic Church, in May for a Mothers' Day Tea.

Last month our 3 youth groups got together for our first Interfaith Youth Event.  At that latter event we got together for bowling and pizza, and each youth group had a spokesperson tell about life in their faith community.  The young man from the Islamic School moved us all as he spoke less than a week after the Paris attacks.  It seemed as though he felt the weight of the whole Muslim world on his shoulders.

I share with you some of his words and our letter of response that I invited the congregation to sign after worship this last Sunday.  Nearly 100 members of PCMK have signed it!  It is the least we can d to stand up for a group of decent people who are being vilified in some very offensive and ominous ways.

See you in church (the one we share with our Muslim neighbors),
Pastor Dale