Commentary by Bob Cornwall

Bridges can be simple or elaborate, but the purpose is the same; they make it possible to cross from one side of a divide to another. Living as we do in a world full of chasms needing to be bridged, whether they be language or ethnic barriers, gender or generational barriers, it's time to get started with the building project. One of the most pressing needs in our world today is the divide that separates religious communities. With the rhetoric reaching fever pitch, we need calm and reasoned conversation.

They say that doctrine divides and action unites. Building bridges happens best when we join together in a common cause. The end result is a relationship between workers that can lead to understanding. Building bridges isn't easy, in part because there are usually significant obstacles to overcome before the bridge building ever begins. The biggest obstacle is the sense of security that the chasm provides. As long as the chasm is in place we don't have to venture very far from the safety of our belief systems.

Although staying behind the divide may be safe, there's much to be gained by building the bridge and crossing to the other side.

Consider for a moment the biggest religious issue of our day - the divide between the Muslim world and a nominally Christian West. Much of the current international turmoil results from misunderstandings and miscommunication on both sides. We talk at each other, but we don't listen. Perhaps a bridge will help bring peace.

One long established bridge-building exercise is called ecumenism. It's a word long used in Christian circles to speak of efforts at bringing unity to the many factions within the Christian community. The fact that Christians still remain divided might suggest that these efforts have failed, but as long as there are people committed to the vision, the vision hasn't failed. I've long believed in this ecumenical vision. In fact, it's foundational to my own denominational tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a movement born on the American frontier with a vision of bringing unity to the disparate frontier religious communities. In recent years I've discovered a broader form of ecumenism, one that seeks to build bridges not just within the Christian community but to other religious traditions as well. If it did nothing else, Sept. 11, 2001, should have been a wake up call to the need for building bridges across faith lines.

True interfaith conversation takes us beyond mere toleration to creating relationships that change the dynamics of public life. Such action begins at the local level as we begin to recognize the diversity that exists in our midst. From there it moves on to understanding and then to respect for the differences that mark our traditions. Such an effort is already underway in Lompoc, although it's still small and fledgling.

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For the past few months a small group of people, both clergy and lay, have been meeting. We call ourselves “Lompoc Interfaith” and our founding principles are simple - respect, openness, and inclusion. We talk about our differences and our similarities. We're also looking for projects that can bring us together as a community. One of those projects involves the plans for the new hospital's interfaith chapel.

We're still at the relationship-building stage, and so the movement remains fragile. In order to make this a safe place to gather, we come together with the assumption that understanding rather than conversion is our goal. Our guiding principle might best be defined by the Hebrew words “tikkun olam,” which can be translated as “to repair the world.” Because we recognize the brokenness of our world, a brokenness to which we all contribute, we come together looking for a way to bring healing to a broken world.

Speaking for the group, I'd like to invite the community to join us in expanding the circle of conversation, so that we can fulfill our calling to bring healing to the community. We try to meet monthly - though we've taken a summer holiday. We also have a medium of communication - a blog site - that can be reached online at the following address: http://lompocinterfaith.blogspot.com. So, please stop by our blog to see when next we meet and join us in building a bridge to somewhere.

Dr. Bob Cornwall is pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Lompoc (www.lompocdisciples.org). He can be reached at lompocdisciples@impulse.net or by writing to First Christian Church, P.O. Box 1056, Lompoc, CA 93105

September 15, 2006