It has been my good fortune to minister in an ecumenical and interfaith environment for most of my career. That people of different faith groups and religious traditions can embrace each other with understanding and respect is an enduring goal of most faith communities.

To achieve a posture of ecumenicity one must aspire to move toward others in a spirit of openness and hospitality. The English word, “aspire” comes to us from the Latin, spirare, “to breathe toward or breathe upon.” So we have embedded in the meaning of the English word ‘aspire’ this wonderful image of breath, wind and spirit. It is a significant etymology: At the heart of an aspiration is the spirit.  The One God whispers toward us the breath of reconciliation; it is an intentional whisper that inclines us to move toward God that we may better hear. In moving toward God we become open to moving toward each other. The closer we are to God the more inclined we are to move toward others. In the majesty and mystery of God’s presence the folly of moving against others is revealed. Somewhere along the spiritual journey toward God it becomes clear that there is no “them;” there is only “us.” 

What God is doing in the spiritual lives of others is none of my business. As a fourth-generation Baptist I resonate deeply and completely with another’s right to free exercise of religion. I embrace it for myself and extend it to others. Freedom in matters of faith is both our Baptist heritage and our national heritage.

But matters of the spirit are not so much about claiming rights as they are about conferring respect. Respecting the faith expression of those unlike ourselves is truly of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul reminds Christians that reconciliation is a gift of God and that God has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us. (II Corinthians 5:18-19) One’s intimate relationship with God is neither comparative nor competitive; it is contiguous.  We touch each other.The aspiration to know and be known by God, the experience of approaching God has taken humanity along many paths.  Our religious edges touch. It is at these touch points that a spirit of ecumenicity fosters and facilitates unity.

In unity we are enabled and emboldened to move beyond respect to reverence. If I can revere that which is sacred to another I have opened the window of reverence.   Reverence moves us together. Our God is One.