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Interfaith activities, right in your congregation’s home

March, 2004
By Diane Lavos

Richard Malmberg, pastor of The Second Church in Newton, and his congregation don’t have a long way to go to participate in interfaith activities with a Jewish congregation. They just step from their sanctuary to their youth chapel, recently known as Chapel Gallery. They don’t merely rent the space to the Reconstructionist Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, they share space. And they share a theological perspective incorporating the modern world into a traditional faith, declares the congregation’s rabbi, Toba Spitzer.

“Given the troubled history between Christians and Jews through most of the past 2000 years, I cannot tell you how proud I am to serve a congregation that would enter into such a relationship,” said Malmberg.

“This is nothing new to Second Church. Fifty years ago, when such relationships were exceedingly rare, Temple Shalom held religious school classes here at Second Church while their synagogue was being constructed. From the 1950s to the present, pulpit exchanges between Temple Shalom’s rabbis and Second Church’s pastors have been common occurrences.”

The collaboration, which honors both what is in common and what is different and unique to each faith, is also a way of creating a personal bridge between Christianity and Judaism for Malmberg. In a sermon given at Temple Shalom of Newton two years ago, he said, “...I was raised a Christian....Yet, when I was 14, my sister told me what was at the time treated like the deep, dark family secret. My mother was Jewish...When I found out the truth, I felt I had been robbed (of an understanding of my heritage) ....I now enthusiastically embrace and honor my Jewish family roots.” Even with the ambiguity that this realization gives him, Malmberg is grateful to be exposed to the faith of his mother and to share its wisdom with his parishioners.

When he welcomed the Jewish congregation last fall, he noted in the church newsletter that “for the past three years, innovative interfaith Bible studies between our congregations have been annual events. My hope and expectation, as we welcome Dorshei Tzedek, is that this will be the beginning of yet another beautiful friendship.” Indeed that is happening.

The cooperation began right away when Dorshei Tzedek moved in. Malmberg and his senior deacons attended the first service. The next day, Spitzer came to Second Church’s service and spoke. The two congregations held a joint potluck supper in late September.

Interesting challenges have ensued, such as how to accommodate cooking for a homeless shelter and a bar mitzvah in the same kitchen. Second Newton cooks and delivers food to United Homes Shelter in Dorchester two Saturdays a month, when caterers for bar mitzvahs often need to use the kitchen. By changing to a flexible schedule for the shelter cooking, they worked it out.

Reconstructionist Judaism springs from the progressive theological movement as well as conservative roots, said Spitzer, and makes a good combination to share with a UCC church. “We are more are like roommates than neighbors,” said Spitzer. “We also have better visibility than in a previous rental church, with a clearly visible sign outside.”

The congregations are similar in size, with Dorshei Tzedek counting 161 families, and Second Church approximately 200. They both fit in well in the voluminous, Gothic gray stone church with numerous offices and doors.