Steven Greeebaum, an earlier coffee-shop owner and the founder of the highly popular ‘Living Interfaith Church’, has recently celebrated the third year of the establishment of his ‘ideal church’ in Lynnwood, Washington. He had long been trying to find out a specific religion which is capable of embracing all its counterparts, and the church developed by him is the perfect result of his efforts.
From a ‘Cafeteria’ to a ‘Holy Mash-Up’
Nothing was actually planned for Mr. Greenebaum. He spent almost a decade searching for an ideal religion, which offers ‘secular ethical teachings’. And then, one Sunday morning while preparing a hot coffee for his cafeteria guests, he simply changed his mind and set about for ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY).
At first, he started his service in the Alderwood Middle School, located in his nearby area. As his concept revolved around an ultimate church that entertains all religions, he opted for clothing bedecked with the emblems of a number of different religious convictions.
The ‘holy mash-up’ of Mr. Greenebaum was decorated with lots of beautiful flowers and candles. He also used colorful stones and ornamented bells for adorning the church nicely. In order to strengthen the objective of his newly opened ‘Living Interfaith Church’, Greenebaum added a portable bookshelf to it and placed the Hebrew Bible, the Koran, two volumes of the ‘Black Elk Speaks’, two volumes of the ‘Humanist Manifesto’, and so on.
Living Interfaith Church Community is growing bigger
In his earlier days of journey, Greenebaum got a lot of hands to help. Some of these congregants were Gloria Parker, Steve Crawford, Patrick McKenna, etc. who played significant role in the growth and development of the church. Now, the Living Interfaith Church Community has around 23 members and all of them came together to enjoy the third year celebration of the institution.
Though there is still long way to go, the service of the ideal church has progressed to a great extent. The traditional way of public worship, which involved a religious poem at first, has been replaced by the Sufi mystic Rumi. Apart from Christian and Muslim rituals, various other religious activities have also been included in the list. There are Hindu, Bahai, Wiccan, Sikh, Shinto, and so on from which the church service has drawn.
The Living Interface Church has a total of 30 regular devotees now. Mr. Greenebaum has become able to get bylaws for his establishment. It has also given a tax-exempt status by the local government.
