"Faith that crosses beyond barriers and regulations" (August 20 2023)
Sermon: Faith that crosses beyond barriers and regulations Scripture: Isaiah 56:1-8 and Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 Date: August 20, 2023 Location: United Church of Hyde Park 0. opening In the past several days, the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions held their annual conference at McCormick Place in Chicago. The theme this year is “ Defending Freedom and Human Rights .” [1] There were more than 10 thousand participants representing around 200 different religions. This year is my first time to be at this gathering. Before I attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions, I always assumed the largest gathering of multiple religious people was AAR (American Academy of Religion) or SBL (Society of Biblical Literature). Apparently, I was wrong. I noticed there are so many differences among people there: their religions, skin color, cultural background, the way they worship, and food they eat, and the clothes they wear. I felt I am but a member of a larger g...