David Gray – Looking Outwards and Opening Doors to Multi-Faith Partnerships
The Rev. Dr. David Gray is the spiritual leader and pastor of Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland, well-known for his congregation’s efforts to build interfaith relationships.
Gray has served at Bradley Hills since 2009. Over that time, he has worked to strengthen his congregation’s ties to both Jewish and Muslim congregations in the area.
In 1964, Bradley Hills began renting space to a small group of Jewish families who needed a place to worship. The church continues to do so today. While on the most basic level, this kind of relationship is transactional, “[It’s] much more than that,” Gray said, speaking to American University Radio WAMU 88.5 in 2012.
He emphasized the ideals the two congregations and their respective faith traditions have in common: a mission to better the world and to enhance appreciation of religious diversity.
Gray’s counterpart at Bethesda Jewish Congregation echoed the sentiments, describing the situation as “spiritual siblings sharing sacred space.”
A cross, a star, and a crescent
In the late 1990s, Bradley Hills wanted to renovate its facilities and invited the Jewish congregation into the planning. The result: Covenant Hall, a dedicated worship space alongside the church that was created specifically for the synagogue.
The relationship truly has become one of family. In the 2012 American University Radio piece, Rabbi Elhanan Schnitzer noted that the two congregations share a ketubah that remains housed in Covenant Hall. This Hebrew word refers to a traditional marriage contract, typically beautifully decorated and displayed. The ketubah was prepared by the two congregations together in 2003, on the occasion of a formal partnership contract.
Gray noted that Covenant Hall represents a space for shared learning about each congregation’s traditions and how to work together to effect positive change in the world. He also pointed out that an aerial view of the two sanctuaries resemble a cross on one side and a Star of David on the other. The curve of the edge of the building, he said, is akin to the shape of a crescent—which brings the Muslim part of this story into focus.
Under Gray’s leadership, Bradley Hills has also worked to build relationships with the Bethesda area’s Islamic communities. This outreach and partnership work has included shared expanded Thanksgiving services that include all three of the Abrahamic faiths—Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Idara-de-Jafaria Mosque in Burtonsville and other congregations—celebrating together. The three faith groups also come together on social action and philanthropic efforts that build community far beyond any of their individual borders. In addition, the Bradley Hills congregation provides worship space to Muslim congregations such as the Maqaame Ibrahim Islamic Center of Bethesda.
A life of service
David Gray grew up in Dayton, Ohio. He was active in his Presbyterian congregation as a young man and entered the ministry out of a desire to teach and provide care for people in times of struggle. Today, he provides pastoral counseling services to hospitals and colleges in the region and in his own congregation emphasizes a blend of traditional and contemporary worship programs.
Before coming to Bradley Hills, Gray earned a history degree from Yale University and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, followed by a JD from Northwestern University School of Law. He studied at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, receiving both a master of divinity and a doctorate in ministry.
Gray pursued a career in public service and law before ministering at several Washington, DC congregations. He also held senior positions with the New America Foundation, a think tank dedicated to helping the United States realize its highest ideals and address the problems created by rapid technological and social change.
As a former Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy with the U.S. Department of Labor, he served as a point person on regulatory policy issues. And he served as counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Governmental Management, as a legislative aide to members of Congress, and as a term member on the Council on Foreign Relations.
A prolific writer, Gray once blogged for the Huffington Post and has been published by USA Today and the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of books, including Faith in Service and Spiritual Calcium.
United We Stand
The interfaith service uniting congregants from Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, Bethesda Jewish Congregation, and the Islamic Community Center of Potomac was named to the HuffPo’s list of the “15 Religious Moments in 2015 That Give Us Hope for the New Year.”
The sense of solidarity and respect among the three congregations is well illustrated by the title of their 2017 post-Thanksgiving service discussion: “Justice League: United We Stand.” Two years later, in his November 17, 2019, sermon during that year’s interfaith Thanksgiving service, Gray’s opening remarks emphasized that these gatherings reflect all three faith groups’ commitment to mutual understanding, love, and support—virtues “sorely needed in our world” during an especially “divisive time.”
The interfaith discussion among Gray and the Muslim and Jewish leaders present centered on the concept of charity. The leaders stressed the fact that people living in relative prosperity are charged by all the great faiths to help meet the desperate needs of people struggling with poverty.
Echoing the central point of his lifetime of public service and spiritual leadership, Gray asked everyone present in the sanctuary to turn to someone they did not already know with a greeting of friendship.
As a Christian minister, Gray’s outreach to other faiths is increasing inter-religious dialog at a time when poisonous anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise. Gray’s exemplary moral leadership also provides an inspiring model for both individuals and organizations to combat the polarization and xenophobia that have taken hold of much of our public discourse.