By Tim Shapiro, Congregational Resource Guide Advisor

My Jewish father stood (silently) with my Protestant mom at my baptism in 1959. They had married eight years earlier; a wedding that caused a bit of a fuss in the extended family. The fuss was nothing that wasn’t worked out relatively quickly, resulting in hospitality from both sides of the family.

Since I wasn’t even a year old at the time of my baptism, I don’t recall it. My mom says dad was proud. He made no faith promises on my behalf but he was naturally an attentive and delighted father. So he was present at the baptism.

However, the first worship experience I remember was at my father’s Chicago synagogue. More accurately it was my grandfather’s synagogue. The family story is that he was a founding member. Actually the story is that he was the founding member.

I remember the strange but utterly engaging sounds of Hebrew. The smell of Old Spice on the men who shook my hand, happy to meet Sol Shapiro’s grandson. I wore a yarmulke. I sat silently during the service. I remember feeling like I had entered the most wonderful foreign land I could imagine.

I’m a Presbyterian minister but come by my interest (and my ignorance) of the Jewish faith honestly. My father died when I was six. My mother’s Protestant faith won out. I tell people I’m Presbyterian by death.

When my beloved Aunt Ruth, my father’s sister, died two years ago, we were all deeply moved by the rabbi’s excellent leadership at the graveside. Indeed, my mother pulled the rabbi aside, forgetting her walker for the moment, and said with conviction, “I want you to do my funeral!” Spiritual integrity crosses many a boundary.

I’ve learned many good things from the rabbis in Indiana, including one of my colleagues on staff at the Indianapolis Center for Congregations. The rites of passage are so very important. The festivals are both essential to the family and synagogue life. Scripture is essential. The ongoing interpretation of Scripture is even more important. It is worth debating the vowel points. Many rabbis see their call not only to the local synagogue but as representing Judaism to the wider community.

And I’ve learned that some resources for synagogues are helpful to churches. And, of course, some resources that are helpful to churches are meaningful to synagogues too.

This month I am reading a book titled Sacred Strategies: Transforming Synagogues from Functional to Visionary. The book is written by Isa Aron, Steven Cohen, Lawrence Hoffman and Ari Kelman. It is published by the Alban Institute. Recently, the Jewish Book Council selected this volume for a 2010 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Education and Jewish Identity.

I can imagine this book as being invaluable to many rabbis, and it has much to offer pastors too. The research for Sacred Strategies comes from a study of eight congregations. These congregations, from New York to California, tell many stories of deep engagement with a living faith. Testimony abounds.

And as the authors note:

“Behind their testimonials, lies the larger story, the story of how the synagogues themselves were transformed, from ‘limited liability’ institutions to sacred communities; from shuls with schools to congregations with learners; from having clergy who made hospital visits to having congregants who visit one another; from having a small and somewhat beleaguered social action committee (or no social action committee at all) to joining a citywide social justice coalition that engages a broad range of congregants.”

The authors note that beyond the headlines of megachurches, there are all kind of smaller congregations that are making visionary changes and becoming vibrant communities of learning and action.

Throughout the book, the authors identify visionary congregations and define (in comprehensive ways) what they mean by this term—visionary congregations. One of the most intriguing concepts for me is one that they define and illustrate as meaningful engagement. This is the characteristic of vital synagogues making the space for repeated inspirational experiences that infuse people’s lives with meaning.

Show me how to join that community; one of repeated inspirational experiences that infuse life with meaning.

I know that synagogues have found this book helpful. I hope churches will too.

It must have been back in 1963 or so when I wore that yarmulke in Grandpa Sol’s synagogue. Everyone knew him. He was somebody special. The whole experience was special too—strange, foreign. Just marginally scary in the way that awe is just a bit scary. It was all far more other worldly than the stuff depicted in my favorite television show at the time—Lost in Space.

It was, well, a meaningful engagement that, though I wouldn’t have used the words at that time, infused my life with meaning.

Other resources

• And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible’s Original Meaning, by Joel Hoffman
• The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community, by Ron Wolfson
• Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life, by Lawrence Hoffman