A Glass of Water with Don Mackenzie

The Interfaith Amigos (Rabbi Ted Falcon, Imam Jamal Rahman and Rev. Don Mackenzie) just finished the last touches on their upcoming book “Religion Gone Astray: What We Found at the Heart of Interfaith” 60 minutes before I arrived at   One by one, each man shook each other’s hand and gave brotherly hugs as two of them parted at the end of their meeting.

Mackenzie, a 16-year-resident of Lake Forest Park, chose a chair across from me.  I sipped my glass of water as he told me that their second book would be fresh off the presses at the end of October of this year but is available for pre-orders now.  “Religion Gone Astray” will cover such topics as:

1. Homophobia
2. Exclusivity
3. Violence
4. Inequalities between men and women

We began our interview that took us through Mackenzie’s life from birth to current day.

Patch:  Tell us about your early years

Don Mackenzie:  I am the eldest son of Donald Matthew Mackenzie Sr. and Ruth Mackenzie.  I have a younger brother.  I was born in Chicago, 1944, the suburb called Harvey that is about 159th Street South of the loop.  My paternal grandparents had a farm on 180th Street South and so I spent the first six months of my life there. 

I come from a very strong Scottish lineage.  My great-grandfather Roderick Mackenzie was a pastor on the island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and along with the Countess of Dunmore formed the Harris Tweed Industry.  Fishermen wives were already weaving this fabric but they needed organization so it was an outreach project of the church.

My dad was a college dean and college president.  My mom taught piano and was a gifted musician.  I think that there was in my home always openness to thinking about Christianity in ways that were non-traditional.  My parents were Presbyterian and I grew up Presbyterian.  My dad was a conscientious objector during World War II which was not really a popular time for that.  I think there were times when my parents thought seriously about becoming Quakers.  I understood that my parent’s objections towards war were based on religious and spiritual convictions.  So, in church experiences I had, I was always on the lookout for that kind of sensibility and rarely found it as a kid. 

Patch:  Tell us about your travels

Don Mackenzie:  In 1965 I was a lifeguard at the Nile Hilton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt via a Macalester College program.  When I got to Cairo I wrote to the headmaster (Douglas Hill) of the school in Lebanon.  I wrote, “I am here and I would love to stop in Lebanon and meet you and see the school and see to the possibility of applying for a job there.”

In 1966, a month before graduating from Macalester, it was mandated that I attend a talk by the Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary (Elmer Homrighausen) at Macalester’s chapel.  I graduated from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  The day after graduation, I married my college sweetheart, Judith. 

Judy and I lived and worked in Lebanon from October 1966 through June 5, 1967:  On June 5th, Judy & I were literally shot at 3 times during the evacuation of The Six Day War in Lebanon.  It is an uprooting that never leaves you. We did not know that we were not going to come back.  So we really didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to our friends.  There was an open wound in our souls for all of those years. 

Patch:  Did you have an epiphany to become a minister?

Don Mackenzie:  Yes, there are two times that I can point out.

After I finished in Cairo, I flew to Beirut, Lebanon.  Headmaster (Douglas Hill) met me at airport. 

First Epiphany:  Hill took me into the mountains of Beirut and I had one of those moments where you can see forever because I was looking out and I could see Beirut, the Mediterranean Sea and more.  It was a hot day and I was up a couple thousand feet above the water.  I felt that I was in the right place at the right time. 

Second Epiphany: A month before I graduated from Macalester College the Dean of Princeton Seminary (Homrighausen) spoke at our college chapel.  This was about April/May 1966.  Chapel was required but I really didn’t want to go.  After listening to Homrighausen, I said “That guy is a real human being, I like him.” I spoke to the chaplain of Macalester (John Maxwell Adams – Walter Mondale’s father-in-law).  Adams made a different plane reservation so Homrighausen could stay back and talk to me.  I told Homrighausen we were going to Lebanon.  He said why don’t you stop by Princeton and I will show you around?

We were taken to Turkey and then Rome after the evacuation in Lebanon.  We paid our transportation back to NY then eventually moved to Princeton where I took three years of classes at Princeton Seminary and got my doctorate degree at New York University.

Patch:  What will it take to bring peace to the Middle East? When will there ever be peace?  How will that come about?

Don Mackenzie:  If I really knew the answer to that, it would be miraculous.  I think that there won’t be peace in the Middle East from now on.  We could wipe out the Taliban.  Everybody in Afghanistan then could go into caves and when we leave, they will simply come out again.  Tragedy doesn’t even come close to describing it all.  We still haven’t learned lessons from history.  So I think that until we learn to get over the sort of “we versus they” sensibility which as has been historic – peace will be yet to prevail.

We need to realize we are part of the same thing.  We need to help each other.  There will be tragic consequences if we don’t learn to help each other.

Patch:  Tell us about your kids

Don Mackenzie:  Mary is 32 yrs old.  She is studying at Berkley, attaining her Masters of Systemic Theology degree.  Mary hopes to get a PhD and teach religion at a Catholic University or seminary.  Alice is a bartender in Venice, CA.  Alice is 28 yrs old.  Our children are adopted from Korea.  We chose to live in LFP because we liked the idea of being nearby Shoreline where there is some Korean population, Korean culture.

Patch:  What is the one food you’ve eaten since childhood that “to this day” you can never forget?

Don Mackenzie:  The food that my brother and I would identify immediately was a brand of chili from a chili parlor in a town where we grew up in a town called Carlinville, IL.  The chili was called “Taylor’s Mexican Chili.”  It is without a doubt in my mind the best chili in the entire physical universe.  You can still buy it.  I think you can get it on-line.  We used to go to the restaurant and eat it there.  The Taylor family learned this recipe from a Mexican man who was passing through town some 100 years ago and needed some money and so he shared the recipe in return for some help.

Patch:  Tell us about one single event from your travels with The Interfaith Amigos that stands out in your mind.

Don Mackenzie:  It was May 2010. We were on Mount Fuji, Japan.  There is a yearly event called Prayers for Peace.  There were 10,000 people there doing a kind of spiritual Tai Chi.  Ted, Jamal and I were three of eight religious leaders invited to offer prayers for peace. It was really very moving.  I was watching the 10,000 people.  That was extraordinary. 

Patch:  Your family and The Interfaith Amigos are two big priorities in your life now.  What other pursuits are worthy of your time, talent and energy?

Don Mackenzie:  I have this country music band called “Life’s Other Side.”  I was in Nashville this past May performing with the band.  It doesn’t take too much time but is very important to me.

Patch asked a professional colleague to share something about Mackenzie

Dave Shull, a former colleague of Mackenzie’s at University Congregational United Church of Christ had this to say “Don told this joke several times.  A skeleton walks into a pub and says to the bartender give me a beer and a mop."

Shull’s current work is as pastor of Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ in Sammamish. In addition, Shull is the Program Planner and Supervisor at Recovery Cafe, a community-building healing community for people, traumatized by homelessness, addiction and other mental health challenges downtown Seattle.

All joking aside, Mackenzie and his pals (Falcon and Rahman) continue their work promoting peace through creating understanding between the many faiths and the diversity of people in this world.