God's Enormity

If you were one of those who attended the Christian/Islam forum at St. Basil's on September 22, you know what an interesting and thought provoking night it was. For many I am sure, it was outside their comfort zone. (we were told that one of the coordinators of the event received negative e-mails) At the very least, a person could have been expected to have feelings like I did. Those feelings ran the gamut from discomfort and uneasiness to curiosity and the realization of how really big God is. There were over 300 people in attendance. We were treated to a home cooked middle eastern meal and witnessed Islamic pray at sundown at the end of Ramadan. It was sometimes easy to identify our significant differences i.e. "when Adam came down from heaven", the subtle defense of oppression of women in the statement "Islam grants women numerous rights in home and society" "Jesus is recognized as a prophet" and so on. But when prayers were recited and sung in Arabic by the worship leader, you could hear a pin drop in the large auditorium. The reverence for God was unmistakable. It was a special night in which we had an opportunity to be God's instruments in a unique way.