Mural is dedicated to showing commonality of religions

By RABBI GEORGE STERN

THROUGHOUT America, where freedom of religion has led to a more vigorous religious sector than in any other Western country, polls show growing agreement that religions share many core values.

Tomorrow at 3 p.m., at 7047 Germantown Ave., the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM) - a 40-year-old alliance of 50 Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Unitarian congregations; two seminaries, and other faith-based institutions - will dedicate a stunning mixed-media mural recognizing the many religious streams comprising NIM, the city and the nation.

One of the latest creations of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, it was designed by artists Paul Downie (paint) and David Woods (ceramic and glass). A committee of community advisers and a hundred adults, teens and children helped create the final product. Titled "Walking Together," the mural is dominated by five windows depicting Eastern religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, into which life-size figures of an older man and a young girl walk.

The figures represent the day-to-day work of NIM in creating a "vibrant, just and caring society, grounded in the shared values of individuals and diverse faith traditions and mindful of the interconnectedness of life."

In the central window, multicolored, clasped hands surround the NIM tree logo, symbolic of the roots and the continuing dynamism of our religious traditions. A column of individual tiles depicts each NIM partner.

The dedication program will feature remarks by Jane Golden, executive director of the Mural Arts Program; muralists Downie and Woods, and NIM board chair Bessie Jordan Byrd. Musical selections will feature Gloria Simpson Garrett and Cantor Naomi Hirsch.

Northwest (now Neighborhood) Interfaith Movement was founded in 1969 by idealists whose experience creating an integrated community proved to them that a congregation-based grassroots organization could mobilize stakeholders across religious, racial and ethnic lines to respond systemically to issues facing the broader community.

With initial funding from the Presbytery of Philadelphia and significant support from the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Chestnut Hill), founding director Rev. Bruce Theunissen brought together 13 Christian, Jewish and Unitarian congregations.

Early on NIM responded to problems faced by older adults and started Northwest Victim Services and Northwest Meals on Wheels, now both independent. Later, under the direction of the Rev. Richard Fernandez, NIM identified poor child care and deplorable boarding-home conditions as demanding broad-based community responses.

Today NIM is the premier neighborhood-based training organization for child-care providers, establishing neighborhood-based outreach to current and potential providers throughout the city. NIM staffers serve as resident advocates in half of the city's long-term-care facilities.

Believing that people of faith have an obligation to respond to the needs of the entire community, NIM sponsors teen-leadership programs, maintains Resources for Older Adult Living

to help adults remain in their homes, supports a Healthy Homes project to bring environmentally safe pest control to child-care facilities and low-income seniors and families, and, with its partners, annually honors the work of volunteers and professionals for their community service and social-justice advocacy.

Other activities include annual Interfaith Children's Sabbath and Martin Luther King celebrations.

The public is invited to join in dedicating Walking Together, which will honor Elaine Dushoff, longtime NIM board member and community builder. Visit NIM's Web site, www.nimphilly. org, for more details.

Rabbi Stern is executive director of the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement

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