Reclaiming my faith and joining HopeGateWay United Methodist Faith Community at age 40, after living most of my adult life alternating between
“spiritual but not religious” and “too smart for church”, has been a profoundly
moving and important personal experience. It’s also been very challenging at times, as
the hate-filled behavior of people who call themselves Christians (see:
Westboro Baptist Church or hundreds of other recent examples) makes me angry and ashamed to be associated in even the minutest way with
anyone who claims to follow the teachings of Christ. In fact, organized
religion in general gets a bad—and often well-earned—rap for hurting,
alienating and shaming people who need to hear the message that they, too, are
beloved children of God, the Universe or whatever higher power they may (or may
not) believe in.
Today, however, I was proud of my affiliation with
HopeGateWay, with Christians and other people of faith throughout our
community, as I attended “Neighbors Standing Shoulder to Shoulder,” an event
hosted by USM's Multicultural Student Affairs, the Maine Council of Churches, the USM Muslim Student Association, and several other groups. More than 20 people representing a wide array of faith
traditions—including Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, Quaker, Methodist,
Unitarian Universalist, Catholic, Ba’hai and many others—spoke about the thread that
weaves us all together: the call to love our neighbors as ourselves. A
particularly powerful moment among many was when two young Muslim women spoke
about the fear that rippled through their community when news of the murders of
a Muslim family in Chapel Hill, NC occurred several months ago, and the
challenges of having their faith judged based on the actions of people who
bastardize Islam and the Koran to justify acts of violence.
One of the pastors of my church, Rev. Sara Ewing-Merrill,
shared the following message written by pastor, poet and composer, Steve Garnaas-Holmes*, that to me was a beautiful reminder that we are
more alike than different:
We are not separate things, but parts of one living Being.We are no more separate than the fingers on a hand.There is one body, and we are all it.We serve the poor because they are us.We love the stranger because in them we know ourselves.We side with the oppressed because they hold our wisdom.We honor those who are different because they complete us.We respect those who horrify us, for they are within us.We bring the Other to our table: it is theirs, for we are theirs.We include them in our compassion, for we include them.This is the mystery of the Holy Trinity, that in all there is One.
There is One of us, and the oneness, the One, is Holy.
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| Executive Director of Maine Council of Churches and Unitarian Universalist pastor, Rev. Sue Gabrielson, welcomes people to the event. |
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| Ashok Nalamalapu, representing the Hindu community, speaks. |
Thanks for posting this Jen.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with non-religious parents who always said "We don't believe in God but if you do one day, we will support you fully!"
Needless to say, I mispronounced the word Bible at the age of 13. I had always assumed religions are a set of rules to follow to have a good life after death. I assumed religions fought against each other because they believed in different gods.
It wasn't until I was in college and took a class on the major sectors of religion in the world that I started to understand. It pointed out all of the beautiful things that religion can be and how each religion can make the world a better place. It also pointed out that most religions support each other. It was an interesting class to take as a non-religious person because I was able to look at each religion for what it was. I wish I could have gone to the seminar you wrote about as I think I would have found it very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Hannah
This sounds like a really powerful event Jen. I too have always aligned myself with the "too smart for church" category. In the past few years, however, I have found within myself aligning with another group: "too human to ignore my need for spiritual connection." I think its really easy in modern society to be against organized religion. Yet, I think we all, on some level, need that type of connection. Perhaps this the collective unconscious Jung was talking about. Maybe I'm going down a rabbit hole of theory here, but perhaps the religions you mentioned, the ones that spread alienation and shame, are simply stuck in ego development. They are not developed enough to see beyond themselves. They cannot "love the stranger" or tap into the collective unconscious because they don't know themselves yet. Neighbors Standing Shoulder to Shoulder, sounds like an event full of people who are have reached that next level. People who have overcome their own egos. What a beautiful thing that is.
ReplyDeleteYou raise important points about the importance of faith, and also the "bad rap". The event you attended illustrates the best of religion and spiritual leaders that "walk the walk" and how powerful they can be in building community.
ReplyDeleteHey Jen, Thanks for bringing the community building elements religion can offer to light. I have never associated with organized religion but I have been a foreigner in foreign lands and been brought to churches by my host families. I always enjoyed the part in the Catholic ceremony when everyone shook the hands of those around them. I appreciated people looking in my eyes and accepting me as a human regardless of my difference in beliefs, language and appearance. It seems as though you have found a community that supports your spirituality and your ethics as a human being!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am wary of organized religion, I have also seen the importance of faith in the cultures and people that I have worked with. I think that for many people religion creates a place of commonality and a physical space to be together. Our society desperately wants to minimize peoples need and or desire to congregate by the simple fact that we are able to do most anything we need to from the comfort of our home or office.A friend of mine is a Deacon at his church, they have been meeting to decide how best to build the congregation as it has dwindled considerably. They are talking about putting on events that will bring people out as the promise of being saved is not nearly enough anymore.
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