An interView with Sande Hart about SARAH, By Stephanie Hughes

Posted on September 14th, 2009 | Filed under Best Practices/Non-Profit

An interView with Sande Hart about her work, her journey, and the organization with which she works: The Spiritual and Religious Alliance for Hope (SARAH).

SARAH is an organization of women who “Like a good parent empowers her children,” practice dialogue, community action events, panel discussions, and who are committed to better understanding one another’s spirituality.  Together, they find their own lives enriched, and work to change their communities for the better.  SARAH enables women to engage in action work and dialogue, and began with the simple yet powerful premise that women were interested in turning to each other, and making meaning together.

The organization was founded nearly eight years ago, in a large group discussion about the after-effects in the community of the September 11^th tragedy.  Sande Hart noted that she “…couldn’t help but notice the intentions of the women on healing and [on the question of] ‘What are we going to do next?’”  Hart sought to explore the women of the group, which led to “Common Ground,” an organization with nearly 70 founding members.  Joined by members of local congregations—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, they went to work in a Mexican village, to talk to other women—this collaboration led to an award-winning documentary, On Common Grounds.

SARAH has learned that these kinds of action events are the best way to bring everyone to the table.  That is, people sometimes fear that “dialogue” might mean “debate,” or defense of deeply held beliefs, or proselytization.  However, most people respond to a call for action, especially for something as simple and immediate as providing a house for a family in need.  And while working together, people find themselves recognizing commonly held believes in “the other,” and the beginnings of relationships start to grow.

From its inception, SARAH has been deeply committed to action projects.  Hart shared that in their experience, people who are unlikely to come to dialogue initially will volunteer their time for work projects, or feel comfortable working with those unlike them.  When asked what works, Hart said, “Action—things in the community, service—[we create] opportunities for exposure.”  She described a recent “Big Sunday” event, where local companies and faith institutions had encouraged employees and members to participate.  Over 1,000 participants mobilized into a community action event.  Later, Hart said, SARAH sponsored “mixers” where participants in “Big Sunday” could socialize with people they’d already met and worked with.  The mixers allow people to build relationships.

I asked Hart about the difficult side of dialogue, the pain that can come from being misunderstood, and the problems that can arise from ignorance.  Hart said, ”If there is no tension in the room, the other side isn’t there.  In tension—[we seek to] find grace and patience.”  This is huge.  Many conveners of dialogue and interfaith events worry about tension, and seek to gloss over differences in hope of making all participants comfortable.  Hart’s experience shows, instead, that places of tensions are places for growth—and her organization seeks not to ignore possible topics of discord, but to create environments where people feel safe enough to work—through discussion, questions, clarification, and continued time spent together—with one another in pursuit of authentic relationship.

For example, one “rule” that SARAH groups follow is the way of saying “ouch.” If someone says something that (usually out of ignorance, not out of malice) offends or hurts, a participant can say, simply, “Ouch.”  In this way, participants are given the chance to own their feelings and articulate them in a neutral way, and respondents are given both the knowledge and the opportunity to reconsider their meaning, and respond.  This is the stuff of true dialogue; the women of SARAH understand that true relationships must weather painful or awkward moments, and that true development cannot always be easy or blithe.

I asked Hart what she has learned from her work.  She responded, “I see how possible it is to make a difference—all I have to do is open my front door and the world will change.  All of this makes me a better member of my community, and--it’s a better tapestry.”  She continued, noting that she has learned, “From my Muslim sisters, hospitality, from my Christian sisters, forgiveness, from my Latter Day Saints sisters, community, and from my B’hai sisters, grace.”  Finally, she concluded, “I really believe I’m so much more empowered to listen to that voice that says ‘You can do this.’”

For more information on SARAH, including how to start a SARAH circle in your area, please visit www.sarah4hope.org.

Stephanie Hughes is a Founding Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ and a graduate of Union Theological Seminary, where she earned her Master's in Church History in 2008 and her STM in 2009. A former schoolteacher, Stephanie received the Most Promising New Teacher of the Year Award of 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri. She is an accomplished playwright with two plays produced at the St. Louis  Repertory Theatre. At Union, she served as Student Senate Co-Chair and on the Student Affairs Committee of the Columbia University Senate.