The Nov. 24 Sun Journal article “Hope House feeds neighbors” has drawn questions. In it, Bruce Willson is quoted as having said, “We’re a community. We’re all neighbors.” He talked of inclusion as he began the meal with a prayer that mentioned God and Allah. “They’re the same guy,” is what he is quoted as having said.
Actually, he said, “They’re the same God.” He did not use the disrespectful term “guy.”
He also gave thanks for neighbors, friends, food and other blessings, and spoke to God using two terms, “God” and “Allah.”
“Allah” is Arabic for “God.” It began being used by Arab Christians and Jews to represent the one and only God more than 500 years before Muhammad. Jesus the Christ used the nearly identical Aramaic version of the word, “Alaha,” when he spoke about God. Arabic translations of the Bible use “Allah” for “God,” and Christians in the Arab world today, along with Muslims, pray to Allah.
If the room had been full of neighbors from a Spanish culture, Willson might have prayed to “Dios.”
But different languages aside, we at Hope House are honored to have shared Thanksgiving with our neighbors from various cultures who joined us in offering up thanks to God.
Seemed a bit like that first Thanksgiving.
Jan and Bruce Willson, directors, Hope House
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