Muslims; to listen to a dharma talk with the Buddhist students and hear a sermon with the Baptist; to be with the Episcopalian students for the Eucharist and with the Hindus for puja; to light Advent candles with the Roman Catholics, offer prayers at the flaming chalice with the Unitarian Universalists and keep silence with the Quakers” (Paulsell, 2012, p. 35). Seeing the differences between various ritual practices, holy books, music and conceptions of the divine, and observing the family resemblances and shared concerns, is what Thomas Merton called the “wider Oikoumene” of the human family. As our ministers and priests are able to share the distinctive wisdom of their traditions and are able to work across boundaries within their own communities, so will they be able to articulate a common command to “love our neighbors as ourselves” (Paulsell, 2012, p. 35).
F. Seeing the Other In a 2010 sermon, Chapel of the Cross Rev. David Frazelle spoke about vision, or seeing “the other,” in this case an uninvited woman of the city and a known sinner, in relation to Jesus and Simon the Pharisee. The woman, it turned out, was a “living example of the blessedness of the poor, the week, the merciful, and those who mourn. And, ironically, she was a better and more appropriate host than Simon.” (See sermon, attached as Appendix C.) In the story, Jesus asked Simon, “Do you see this woman? You have no water for my feet, no kiss of peace, no oil for my head, even though you were my supposed host. But this woman has bathed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, and kissed and anointed them. Simon, do you see this woman?” Frazelle concluded with the uncomfortable question that God puts before us: “How do we see and respond to the other? To those who belong to some category of person different from
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