knowyourneighbor

A call to arms...and hands

The Lord's work is too vast, too arduous for any one people; God is indeed using more than one people for the accomplishment of His great and marvelous work. Orson F. Whitney

I just can't get this next piece of news off my mind.

The Church's Chief Information Officer (CIO), Joel Dehlin, recently started blogging see www.ldscio.org. Because of the Church's committment to identifying and developing technologies that will further the work of God, Brother Dehlin's stated purpose of the blog is "to have a gathering place for techies who want to understand more about the church's technology."

While it is true that Bro. Dehlin's blog is under the auspices of the church, and KYN-The Back Porch isn't, wouldn't it be terrific if this blog could become one of a number of forums in which we share ideas related to finding common ground with our communities, whether on a personal or institutional basis?

Since launching the Know Your Neighbor website, I have come in contact with many people who are trying to build bridges and to find common ground.

You are doing amazing things.

And I want to know more.

I want to know more about you, to share with you, to support you as we partner with the many people throughout the world that want to do good and be good just like we do.

So, tell me. Tell all of our community, more.

What concerns do you have about bridge-building and finding common ground?

What are you doing individually to build bridges? As a family? As an institution?

Bridge-Building with a Manger

This past week Meridian magazine published an article titled Creches and Carols – A St. Louis Community Christmas Tradition. It was written by a newfound friend, Dana King, who feels as keenly, perhaps even more so than I, the importance of finding common ground.

On the first weekend of December, 500 creches from cultures around the world were displayed at the St. Louis Stake’s Creches and Carols. Despite a snow storm that closed the exhibit the first day, 3000 community members attended this third annual event. Most were either friends of members of the stake or those who had heard about the event from newspaper, TV, and radio announcements. This kind of turnout is typical for large exhibits, says King. And though the data vary on the number, at least 50 major nativity exhibits take place each season, with an estimated 75% hosted by wards and stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One of the reasons crèche exhibits are so popular amongst stakes and wards is that within any given ward, you can typically find 20-30 unique crèches. As ward members start pooling resources across a stake, adding crèches from their friends and community organizations, the number of crèches available for display easily can get into the hundreds and even thousands.

Because so many people in our communities love the Savior as we do, a crèche exhibit provides an opportunity to partner with our community to bring Christ back into Christmas. And, as Holly Zenger, Director of the Midway Utah Stake Interfaith Creche Exhibit and consultant to the St. Louis Creches and Carols Exhibit remarks, [A crèche exhibit] opens up a whole vision of Christ’s work all over the world.

The Midway Utah Exhibit, now in its tenth year draws 10,000 people. In St. Louis, Missouri, where our church is a minority faith, 3,000 isn’t so shabby. In just three years, it has become a large community event, involving Christian, Muslim and Jewish friends. King adds, And while members of the community come to appreciate and respond to us, on the flip side, Latter-day Saints’ understanding and respect for others is expanded.

Creches.
Carols.
Common ground.

7-year-old patron Kendell Carter summed up this bridge-building event best:

It’s about baby Jesus, and that’s what I like.

Me too, Kendell.

Is this something you’d like to try in your stake or ward?

To learn more about organizing a crèche exhibit, contact Holly Zenger at [email protected].

To find out more about what Dana King is doing to build bridges in St. Louis, contact her at [email protected].

Are there ideas that you would like to share for finding common ground, whether on a personal or institutional level? Tell us more.

The Lights of Christmas

Christmas lights symbolize the light of Christ and the love of Christ.

Two recent news stories exemplify the spirit of Know Your Neighbor.

The first example comes from an Arizona Republic article titled Catholics and Mormons join at annual event. Reporter Dianna M. Nanez writes of an on-going friendship between local Catholics and Mormons, a friendship which began as a result of a 1999 letter written by Father Doug Loring, of St. Anne’s Catholic Church, to President John Lewis of the Gilbert Stake, a town with a sizeable Mormon population.

When a white supremacist group, the Devil Dogs, arrived in Gilbert, Father Loring, hoped that a co-operative effort amongst religious denominations could quell rising tensions. He had just been to Glamoc, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and seen firsthand the devastating impact of religious warfare. He shares, “[Glamoc] was a town not different from Gilbert, beautiful homes and people used to providing for themselves, torn apart by religion and politics….Thinking of what I’d seen in Glamoc, and what was happening with the Devil Dogs and our teens, it was too much.”

Subsequent to Loring’s letter and a meeting to seek out common ground, the Catholic and Mormon congregations have joined forces in numerous service projects, culminating with an annual joint Christmas concert at the Mesa Temple.

The second example, appeared in the Pembroke Mariner and Reporter, and was titled Lights add to neighborly atmosphere. Reporter Sarah Wolfgang writes of a Pembroke, MA neighborhood with some “twenty families that are pretty close. For the decade the homes have existed, most everyone…has been there right along.”

This Christmas, their neighborhood decided to buy a single light for each of the trees that line their street – one light at the base of each tree that would shine upwards on its trunk and branches. Why go to all this trouble? One neighbor Beth Dwyer says “[To create] a winter wonderland.” But it seems to go deeper. I can’t help but think that this street lined with lights symbolizes the light of Christ, a light which shines brightly in the hearts of these neighbors who reach out in love one to another.

Is there an opportunity for your stake, ward, Elders’ Quorum, Relief Society, Scout troop to partner with other faiths and community groups to do good?

Have you shared with your loved ones, especially the children in your life, what the Christmas tree lights and the outdoor holiday lights symbolize?

Just like we seek to be

For the most part, our neighbors want to make the world a better place, just like we do. They are kind and loving and generous and faithful, just like we seek to be. Elder M. Russell Ballard

Thirteen year-old Chelsea Kennedy, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who lives here in Clinton, MA recently had a conversation with her cousin Meagan, who lives in a predominantly Mormon community. When sharing stories about their lives, Meagan told Chelsea, "I'm not sure if I want Anna to hang out with my group of friends because she's Catholic." Chelsea replied, "If you don't give her a chance, you'll be doing what a lot of people do to me in Massachusetts because I'm Mormon."

Juxtapose this conversation with an interchange in nearby Northborough, MA. Kate MacLean, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, born with Down Syndrome, has been the dutiful manager of the Algonquin High School Women's Volleyball team for 4 years. Kate's dream of playing on the team came true last month when the team asked her to play in one of the final games of the season. With this gesture, over a dozen young women not only paid tribute to Kate for her service, they taught the community about kindness and generosity. If you would like the full article, I can e-mail it to you.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised at the goodness of these teenagers. After all, Northborough, MA is a community where, the clergy meet once a month to figure out what good needs to be done that can only get done by doing it together. The senior member of that group is Father Jim Houston who has been the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church for 15 years. Father Houston invites Algonquin choral groups to sing at St. Rose's Christmas Eve midnight mass, and then uses this as an opportunity to know and love the kids in the community regardless of their faith.

It is he who, when tragic events have struck Northborough, has sponsored interfaith services. For one such event, Father Houston asked LDS youth Nathan Heaps to represent the Mormon faith at an interfaith prayer meeting; their friendship was such that, while serving a mission, Nathan corresponded with Father Houston.

It was Father Houston’s parish that passed the plate for LDS teenagers Reed and Rob Nixon, nearly 11 years ago, after the boys were injured in an auto accident (Reed was paralyzed from the neck down, Rob from the chest down), raising over $4,000.

And it was he, who, when learning that teenagers Reed and Rob were priests, respectfully responded, so am I.

Quoting Patti Heaps, Nathan's mother, "Father Houston is a good man."

You know what I'm going to say.

If only. If only Chelsea's cousin, Meagan, could come to Northborough for a day, and see that there are many people in the world, maybe even especially Catholics, who strive to be just as good as we seek to be.

Is there a person in your community who has really made your town or neighborhood a better place?

Why not include them on your Christmas card list -- you don't need to know them personally -- and tell them thank you.