By Diane Frankle

Recent violence, threats, and attacks against Muslims and Jews are painful reminders that many in our communities face fear and the threat of violence. How might Episcopalians faithfully respond and stand in solidarity with our neighbors?

Jesus has called us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Loving the stranger requires us to be in relationship with those different from us. Right now, Jews and Muslims are confronting antisemitism and Islamophobia in many forms, and it is an act of grace to extend a hand of friendship and let our neighbors know that we value and support them.

Episcopal churches can develop relationships with neighboring synagogues and mosques through programs like Interfaith Bridges from Building Bridges Together. Building Bridges Together is a nonprofit whose mission is to develop trust and relationships among Christians, Jews, and Muslims through shared meals and facilitated, structured, small group dialogue.

Interfaith Bridges programs are available for faith communities that want to develop stronger relationships with their neighboring churches, mosques, and synagogues. These programs allow participants to develop friends and allies with people of different faiths. Building Bridges Together also offers Interfaith Bridges programs for colleges and universities.

In an Interfaith Bridges program, participants share personal experiences and stories. This is “heart work,” not “head work.” Through sustained dialogue, participants become friends and allies. As they listen to each other’s stories, attitudes change and soften. Participants begin to envision ways to work together and support each other. Friendships continue after the program concludes.

I founded Building Bridges Together in 2019 with my husband, Bob Frankle. I am an Episcopalian active in my local parish, All Saints Episcopal Church Palo Alto, California, and he is a member of Congregation Beth Am, a Reform synagogue in Los Altos Hills, California. We have been married over 40 years and have engaged in interfaith dialogue programs between Christians and Jews in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2013.

In 2018 we saw a need to expand our work to include Muslims. With the help of an interfaith advisory board, we developed new tri-faith and bi-faith programs, which launched in 2022. More than 200 people have participated in these programs, including many from Episcopal churches.

Building Bridges Together completed a busy spring holiday season with almost 40 participants (Jews, Christians, and Muslims) sharing an instructional interfaith Passover Seder at a local Episcopal church. At least 10 participants had never attended a Seder meal. Attendees celebrated the Israelites’ release from bondage with song, ritual, food, and drink. All shared stories about times they acted in faith, not knowing how things would turn out. Each left with new friends, new stories to tell, and new songs to sing.

Interfaith Bridges programs are available to Episcopal churches throughout the U.S. If you are interested in building relationships with your neighboring mosque and/or synagogue, contact Building Bridges Together at info@buildingbridgestogether.net.

Diane Frankle is a “recovering” Silicon Valley corporate lawyer, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, who co-founded the nonprofit Building Bridges Together with her husband, Bob. She serves on the San Francisco Bay Area Advisory Board of Facing History and Ourselves.