It means a time when you and I need to center down and know what we really believe. This way when we begin to go out on that limb, if you will, and click, click, and open up that web site and see and hear some traditions that differ from our own, we'll realize that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may, in fact, be speaking to us. In New York I am a part of a small group of about fifteen that meet once a month for breakfast. There are three imams from Islam in that breakfast group, three rabbis from Jewish tradition, two Roman Catholic priests, and then an assortment of others from the more traditional Protestant groups. I never miss that breakfast.
Nothing stands in the way of getting there.
I learn more, grow more, hear more, develop more in that context than anywhere else all week, because I am listening to different voices about how God works. Part of the reason you've come today, I know, is a chance to hear a different voice about how God might be working in my life and in your life. That's what happens when we all come together with different sorts of traditions. The fear gets so great that we begin to build walls higher and higher. You know the folks I am talking about.