We know that “God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” that “love
covers all offenses,” and that He entreats us to make our
highest call that of love. A form of this type of love can be
seen where participation in dialogue intersects with faith to
create interfaith dialogue. For without love, our dialogue would
be “nothing but a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
One question that has often surfaced about our commitment to
interfaith dialogue is how people can genuinely engage in it without
compromising or corrupting their own faith. It is this deeper
implication of love that encourages us to practice using it as
the formula for every interaction, including interfaith dialogue.
With genuine love as the central theme, we need not dump our faith
on someone or fear feeling dumped upon, but seek to find commonalities
and learn from one another, a process which deepens our personal
relationship with God as well as those of other faiths. The present
condition of our world impels us toward greater understanding
of others, because it is through that insight that we can become
comfortable with our own beliefs as well as respect those of others!
Please pray with us this month for Confronti’s endeavors
as it holds its annual “Seeds of Peace” conference,
hosting pairs of Israeli/Palestinians to speak in Italy and Switzerland
about peacemaking in a place where love more often that not seems
absent.
Look for Confronti’s updated Web page coming soon at http://www.confronti.net/
(click on the link named “English”).
See our family’s most recent events on http://www.finseth.org.
Share your latest news and prayer requests with us! Our e-mail
is finseth@tele2.it, and
if you’d like to be on our email list for updates and important
articles regarding interfaith dialogue and related issues, let
us know!
Last, but never least, we praise God and give thanks for you
and your faithful support and prayers!
Grace and Peace,
Terry and Michele Finseth
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
183
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