by Desirée Botha
Did you ever wonder what a girl from Kansas had in common with a scarecrow, tin man or lion? The yellow brick road of course....miles and miles of yellow brick. Okay, there was actually more to it than that. They took a journey together. Four individuals trying to find answers which seemed kind of impossible to solve. And if you are as lucky as Dorothy Gale, you meet true friends and companions to take the journey with you. Sure, the Oz crowd may have been different from each other, had different problems to solve, and looked at life uniquely, but despite all of that, there they were together.
I think in life we all find our own roads to travel and sometimes they're not the roads we think we're going to take. The road I find myself on is interfaith specifically the Abrahamic Faiths. Three faiths (Islam, Judaism and Christianity), which encompass over fifty percent of the world's population. We are different, but I'll bet a Kansas farm, we have startlingly commonalities too. As I explore what it is to share Father Abraham, the patriarch of our faith communities, I wonder if there are others on the same brick road, other people of faith wanting to try to understand each other. I'm a Christ follower but I have so many things to learn from all people of faith. Maybe we only have a track of pavement in common. Pilgrimages are kind of like that. You journey with strangers, and by the end they aren't strangers any more. I guess that's what I hope.
Part of me wants to stay home in Kansas, and skip the whole adventure. But, great stories don't start out that way, do they? They start with one thin yellow brick only a shoe width across. How do we fight ignorance, mistrust, and intolerance? By doing the opposite: learning, trusting and inclusiveness. That's the true message of Oz.
I've gone to a few interfaith events across town and loved the spirit of friendship and interest people had in each other. But, I think a journey mostly starts where you live. I don't live across town. I live here on the North Shore. So, are there other North Shore travelers on this interfaith journey just like me? Pilgrims who find this particular journey important. The yellow brick road awaits, and it's really going to suck if nobody wants to skip down the path with me. Singing is optional