Interfaith Engagement: Discovering Stories | By Rev. Vicki Garlock, PhD

It all started the day I realized I would need to leave my office. I was serving as the Nurture Coordinator and Curriculum Developer for Jubilee! Community Church in Asheville, NC, and I was tasked with developing an interfaith curriculum for our Sunday School program. I was raised very Christian, attending a Lutheran Grade School (K-8) and a Catholic High school, so I had some form of religious education six days a week from age 5-15. I was pretty sure I knew how to teach kids about the Bible. But, on this particular day, as I sat looking out my office window, I realized I was stuck.

I had been immersed, for months, in the sacred texts -- the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita, the Qur’an, the Rig Veda and Puranas, the Buddhist Dhammapada, and the hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib. Based on what I was reading, I simply could not figure out how the grown-ups from other faith traditions taught the kids in their communities! That’s when I decided it was time to stop reading and start doing. 

I began with the holidays. My first attempt, which seemed simple enough, was Rosh Hashanah. As it turned out, it wasn’t nearly as straight-forward as I thought. Since Jews don’t handle money on the High Holy days, I needed a ticket, which I did not have. Luckily, our local Chabad House was ticket-free, so I went there. It did not go well. I had no idea the service was over 5 hours long – mostly in Hebrew – so I wasn’t prepared. Three hours in, my restless and hungry self watched miserably as several women in the adjacent room prepared the apples and honey which would be served…eventually. I ran out, ducked into the nearest restaurant, and tried to regroup over my sushi lunch. I sent the Rebbe an apology email the next day. 

Despite my missteps, I learned a lot in those few hours. I learned that visiting a new place of worship wasn’t as scary as I had imagined. I learned that I was, in fact, welcome. And I learned that people are very forgiving. I have since attended too many holiday rituals to count. They include pow-wows; Ganesha Chaturthi, Krishna Janmashtami, Diwali, and Navratri celebrations; Guru Nanak birthday pujas; Tibetan Buddhist smoke ceremonies, meditation sessions, lama talks and sand mandala deconstruction ceremonies; iftars and Eid celebrations; Neo-Pagan solstice, equinox, and cross-quarter holidays; and Hanukkah, Purim, and Sukkot festivities.

But it’s the people behind all those events that embody the true beauty of my interfaith engagement. They have befriended me, corrected me, embraced me, and taught me. They also helped me realized that, in every single tradition, kids are taught in exactly the same way: through stories. They read legends about the Prophet Mohammad, the 10 human Sikh gurus, and the deities who inhabit the dharmic traditions. The delve into narratives about the Buddha, the Hassidic Rebbes, and the parables they told. They explore myths about how the world came to be. And they revel in holiday legends. 

These rich narrative histories allow members of all faith traditions to build community, to teach without preaching, to share ritual practices, and to connect the next generation with the wisdom of their ancestors. But the biggest thing my interfaith companions have taught me is that there is always more to learn – more tales to enjoy, more customs to discover, and more belief systems to encounter. There are over 7 billion people on the planet, and each one represents a unique faith story. And so, with great gratitude and appreciation, my pilgrimage continues.

Rev. Vicki Garlock, Ph.D. is the founder of Faith Seeker Kids, which offers interfaith resources for families, educators, and faith communities. She recently published two kids' books, Embracing Peace: Stories from World's Faith Traditions and the award-winning We All Have Sacred Spaces. She has also published four volumes (for four different age groups) of her Sunday School curriculum Interfaith Made Easy: Peace. Vicki earned her Ph.D. with dual specialties in neuroscience and cognitive development and was ordained as Jubilee's Minister of Education.