Dear Ones of St. Columba's, 

I recently started working one day a week as the chaplain at the Annie Wright Schools in Tacoma.  So far it has been really fun and really challenging as I interact with kids from every type of faith background including no faith background.  I am asking them to answer three questions for themselves as we look at different world religions; who am I? what do I believe? how will I live (based on those beliefs)?  I believe that these three questions follow us around our whole lives ever evolving and changing as life continues to ask them of us.  We can try to busy ourselves or run from these questions, but regardless of what we do or how we live they remain present.  

Religion helps us to answer these questions.  It doesn’t hand us the answers but it gives us stories to root ourselves in and a group of people to work out what these stories mean and what they say about who we are, what we believe, and how we will live.  

I am hopeful that by practicing the Way of Love together and by being a part of a small group at St. Columba’s we can work out these questions together.  When I asked the elementary students why inter-belief dialogue might be important one student answered, “Because someone might be the only one who believes a certain thing and they might feel alone, but if they could share that belief and be listened to then we would all at least know about the belief and maybe they wouldn’t feel so alone.”  Yes.  They get it.  When we share our beliefs with one another we have a chance to be seen and be known and maybe feel a little less alone.  I feel blessed to be on this journey with all of you.

Peace, 

Meghan