Sartell church invites Muslim speakers to educate

by Frank Lee

news@thenewsleaders.com

Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell will kick-start an adult education series on Jan. 10 that is intended to bridge the divide between Christians and Muslims.

It’s an attempt to reduce the ignorance, fear and stereotyping that may exist, particularly in light of the tragic terrorist events in France and hate crimes in the United States by extremists.

“There is a lot of tension in our community, a lot of mistrust and lack of understanding of our neighbors – particularly neighbors who are Muslim in our community,” said Stephen Reetz, a former church council member and president of the congregation.

Islam is the second-largest (after Christianity) and one of the fastest-growing religions with about 1.6 billion followers – or almost a quarter of the world’s population – according to some experts.

“Rather than get caught up in the media and a lot of the anger and anxiety that you hear about today, we’d just like to talk directly to some people of the Islamic faith and give our community and congregation the chance to form their own opinions as people,” he said.

Islamic neighbors

Reetz is a financial associate at Thrivent Financial in St. Cloud and said the Sartell church is trying to take a leadership role as a Christian congregation living out their faith.

“It’s a step toward peace and understanding and growth in our community . . . as opposed to just reacting to what we see in the mainstream media,” Reetz said.

My Neighbor is Muslim is the title of the free and public adult-education series at Celebration Lutheran; those interested do not have to belong to the church to attend.

“The format is we’ve asked these invited speakers to just share about their lives, whether they have a background as a refugee or whatever,” Reetz said. “We want them to tell their story . . . not to come and try to explain what Islam is, which you can study in a book.”

The series will be held six Sundays and four Tuesdays, with audience participation in the form of questions solicited anonymously and more Muslim speakers to be announced.

“It isn’t really designed to be a quizzing-them session, and it’s not designed to be a lesson on Islam but rather how Islam plays out in their lives,” Reetz said.

Changing community

Jeff Sackett is lead pastor at Celebration Lutheran Church, and Elizabeth Strenge is pastor of congregational life at the Sartell church.

“Because of the changes in the greater St. Cloud area, the number of people who live here now who are Muslim, we had a sense this was a good time for this,” Sackett said of the church’s adult-education series.

Celebration Lutheran took a lead role with a special worship service when the Verso paper mill in Sartell closed in 2012 after an explosion and many were left jobless.

“There are many commonalities with prayer and practicing your faith and giving and certainly serving the greater good between Christianity and Islam, but there are also differences,” Strenge said.

The weekly series will be held at 9:40 a.m. Sundays, starting Jan. 10 and ending Feb. 14, at Celebration Lutheran in Sartell and 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, starting Jan. 12 and ending Feb. 2.

“We think by entering into this process, we can help our people not only get to know their neighbors better but also sharpen their own faith,” Sackett said.

Religious tolerance

Zurya Anjum is a psychiatrist and Muslim from Sartell who has agreed to speak at the church about her faith and her family.

“People have so many misperceptions about the religion and what it stands for and what we believe in, and I hear so much of that, so I welcome any opportunity to let people know who we are, what we believe in – the true religion,” Anjum said.

“People are distorting Islam for their own good, but that is not the right thing to do,” she said. “I want people to understand we are not a religion of violence. We want to live peacefully and our religion teaches tolerance for everybody.”

Anjum said her religion “does not allow killing of innocent people, of women and children in a war.”

“What we’ve been saying to our people is Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, and these are the neighbors God has given us to love,” Sackett said. “They are people who are in our communities now. And because they are our neighbors, we feel we should reach out to them and get to know them rather than learn about them through viral stories or splashy news productions.”