MWR : Muslims and Christians

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July 19, 2010 issue

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Tags: Congregations

Muslims and Christians

Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Gainesville, Fla.

By Richard K. MacMaster

We inaugurated the meeting house gallery May 2 with “Konbalon,” a public opening of an exhibit of oil paintings by Jeff HansPetersen, a member of our congregation. He told the story of how he made the paintings during a three-month stay in Haiti. The exhibit will continue through the summer.

Several from EMC joined members of the Atlanta and Americus (Ga.) churches for a retreat May 28-31. The theme was from the book The Naked Anabaptist.

Pastor Eve MacMaster led an ecumenical prayer service June 6 for the people of Gaza and for peace in Palestine and Israel.

We began a Saturday discussion series, “Christians and Islam: a conversation of hope in the midst of conflict,” May 15, with a panel of local Muslim friends on “Living as a Muslim in America.” The series continued through June with good attendance by Muslims and Christians; it will resume in September. After the session May 29, Muslims, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Mennonites worked together unloading a truck and setting up 90 chairs in our meeting house. “Solutions to Violence: The Moral Equivalent to War” began a new series of Saturday discussions June 26 led by Don Smith, formerly clerk of Gainesville Friends Meeting.

We made sandwiches after church May 15 and June 27 for distribution to the homeless by Wayne Martin and Monty Keeling.

Debra Miller, Mennonite Foundation representative in Sarasota, spoke in our adult forum June 27.

Wedding: Lia Brenneman and Charles Maxwell Orr, June 26.

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