Welcome the stranger. Reverend Daniel Meeter affirmed that message during his homily on Christmas Eve at Old First Dutch Reformed Church in Park Slope. “If you are Christian, Jew, Muslim or anything else; no matter your beliefs or even your lack of beliefs, all are welcome here,” he told the packed church.
As a Jew, I make a point of attending that church on Christmas Eve. And when Christmas Eve happens to be the first night of Hanukah all the better.
In these dark times, these days of division and demagogeury, it is more important than ever to enter spaces that bring people of disparate beliefs together in an atmosphere of light and introspection. Sitting in the balcony of the church’s upper church hall, I felt part of this incredible community celebration.