Rev. Josef Walker to be Honored for Interfaith Work

This morning I came across this story from The Kansas City Star about one of my ministerial colleagues, who is close to the heart of several in the Eastgate community.  Rev. Josef Walker, who currently is serving as interim minister at Westwood Christian Church, was previously the pastor of Ridgeview.  On Saturday, he will be honored by the Crescent Peace Society, a local Muslim organization, for his ecumenical and interfaith work.

You can read the article here, but you can also read Joe's full responses to four important questions about interfaith work here.

This is important work for our community and our church.  We live in a culture with many religions and we can either choose to withdraw and keep to "our own" or we can interact with our neighbors.  It is harder to go outside of our comfort zones, but in the end, the relationships that are built across the many things that can divide us -- including religious differences -- strengthen our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces, and our churches. 

And, lest someone start insisting that Christians have an obligation to stand up for the one true faith, I would simply point out that Jesus not only said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light...", he also taught and served in an interfaith environment -- sometimes in ways that scandalized "proper" Jews.