In our modern world we are crammed with images fed through electronic media and it is often violence that has an immediate impact on us. Suspicion and fear flare up when individuals are seen committing insane acts of terrorism to carry out a dogmatic proof of a belief or set of ideologies. This always gives rise to an environment where conflict and unpredictability prevails. And images and iconography which we encounter do play up with emotions and feelings; they work by either creating a desire to express a message or simply to reveal the darker side of mankind.

There are many creative minds putting up their works on internet to prove that art has some healing potency to erase tensions and hatred culminating from intolerance and lack of spirituality. There are entire communities on Facebook and YouTube dedicated to creating digital works of art and imagery to show that art can be about peace and shunning aside differences. There are societies and communities set up solely to share pictures to prove that our planet earth is Eden-like despite the destruction of the forests and global warming. Some are producing works of the ethereal and celestial worlds to give a glimpse of the visual conception and the mysteriousness of the other reality. Some seek to transform spirituality as an attainment of non-violence and developing a love for a cosmic feeling of one-ness with the universe, which is why Buddha regularly appears in these images. With scores of posters, wall art, and sculptures dedicated to him, the Buddha has attained a Hollywood star status.

Whether all this is going to make everyone put aside differences, and especially set aside conflict between different faiths, is yet to be proven. But art can certainly quell growing doubts that we are unaware of the need to create bridges to fill the gaps arising from lack of knowledge about other faiths. Many charities working to promote interfaith dialogue are utilizing art as a tool to raise awareness about the cause. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation has created a filmmaking competition for youth are encouraged to show how faith inspires them.

Heaven on Earth Creations is another charity that makes documentaries on interfaith dialogue. Their recent documentary Globalized Soul was filmed all over the globe and describes the emergent universal spirituality that is transforming our world and thus forming a unity from the diversity that the human family generates through art, music and literature. This all could be an indication that we are interested in seeing religion not merely dominated by politics and scholarly debate, and that art is relevant for us to understand the controversies and issues we are facing in today’s world.

I set out to explore how three artists have used faith as a backdrop in their paintings. When humans practice ideologies and beliefs that preach a sense of exclusion, art has an essential transforming effect on those practices because it can be surreal and elusive.

Jane Monica Tvedt, a self-taught Norwegian artist, believes this transforming potential is possible; she says, "[Art] can make human beings think differently, and through paintings we can create thoughts that have never been there before."

Surprised by the scale of the tragedy in her home country, Tvedt has worked out a mission for herself to reach out to people through Facebook and give them a glimmer of the hope of unity and love. Her hazy and romantic paintings seem to have layers of emotions, some brimming with gayety and a celebration of life and others giving expression to more mystical thoughts. Ethereal and delicate characters float in circles and dots of colors. Certainly the viewer experiences a light feeling of being transformed into a nirvana of blissful scenery and people from her paintings. Tvedt draws inspiration from her readings of Quran, Bible, Hindu and Bhuddist scriptures.

If attainment of mystical power can be accomplished from the study of the Holy Scriptures, artist Faiza Shaikh has worked out another medium to reflect her inner thoughts about what faith should generate. She left Pakistan in the early eighties and has been based in London--a city brimming with diversity. Over the years, coming into contact with people belonging to different faiths has enriched Shaikh's own knowledge and outlook, and she likes to believe that her paintings are generating a message that all faiths essentially uphold the same moral principles. Her canvases include raw and bold colors schemes in rich patterns creating a baroquee tapestry. Amidst tension, the viewer finds drama infused with a lyrical vivacity that is neither too subtle nor too direct by use of  gold leaf  etched with the Holy texts that take centre place in her compositions.

Anoma Wijewardene’s work breathes a new meaning to human suffering and the desperate need for peace. She has been drawn to the strife between humans and the environment, between faiths and people. The political strife and civil war of her home country of Sri Lanka leaves haunting traces in the symbolism she creates. Wijewardene's work appears to be a place of the soul; she evoke a sense of divine inspiration and the beauty of form, which comes across in fossil-like figures and icicles of collages or cutout surfaces. In 2002, she showed a collection of her paintings in Delhi seeking to reflect the incidence of the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas. It was her cumulative desire to create a tension in bringing together images from diverse faiths like Buddhism and Islam and so mirror the concept of irreconcilable differences which are only generated by human intolerance.

Modern art has become a global medium, but it is much more than merely an extension of an individual story from the painter. Many artists want to do away with borders and boundaries of intolerance and hate, and seek to share this message in their work.

Yet, even as we are observing that this noblest of occasion, we find that it has seen custom transform into duty and practice descend into commercialization and waste: waste of money, waste of meat, waste of food.

In preparation for the feast, over the last three weeks, you would have been bombarded with emails, text messages, and adverts on who offers the better deal on doing one’s Qurbani at a competitive price.  The hadith of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to “compete to outdo one another for the good things” has become symbolized by market forces as "charities" outbid each other to offer the best price to slaughter a cow, sheep, or goat around the world.

And so, the most noblest and holiest of acts of worship has been denigrated to shopping around like buying a car: "Where is the best price for a cow, goat, or sheep, so that I can get a happier recipient and thus a better reward in the Hereafter?"

And so like in any market system, there are problems such as the manipulation of prices, corruption, and abuse as suppliers try to meet the demands for slaughter.

In the essence of rushing to seek that instant satisfaction of redemption, we trivialize the essence of the need on the ground.  No--the poor, vulnerable and needy do not have meat, but no one stops to ask whether giving them meat for a day would help improve their lives or if doing something else is needed.

Therein lies the problem--the closure of  space for reasoning, debate, and rational thinking about faith, spirituality and practice. A symbolic and recommended (not obligatory) act of worship in remembrance of the Prophet Ibrahim’s (Peace be upon him) sacrifice becomes a literal obligation of animal sacrifice, so that the blood flows deep and the distribution of meat becomes the anchor for the duty.

We have forgotten what the sacrifice is supposed to symbolize.  The story and lesson of Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail (Peace be upon them) deserve to be shared, remembered, and celebrated.  The conversation between father and son in this most hardest of scenarios bears serious contemplation.  In the height of challenging circumstance, the consultation of a parent with his child and the firm but soft acceptance of a parent’s wish by a child highlights a dying relationship in the world today.

Very often, as older people, we neglect to pay those younger than us the respect of equal treatment, often speaking down to them or dismissing their views.  As younger people, we are often quick to rebel against the wishes of the older (and often wiser) generation.  Though such relationships can be open to abuse, this story reminds us of the delicate balance that is necessary in human relationships to ensure respect, understanding and acceptance.

Through showing the ultimate sacrifice of a parent’s closest and beloved possession for the sake of the One to whom you will eventually return, we are taught that whatever we own and are close to pales in comparison to the ultimate possession that we have: Our relationship with The One Most High.  This sacrifice coming at the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca is the very essence of the celebration. In our journey back to the beginning, how much will we be able to sacrifice?

This sacrifice not only reminds us to be thankful for all the blessings that we have, but to be content with them.  We are asked to keep in check our greed as whatever excess we have we are encouraged to share with those who deserve special attention - the poor and needy people, as well as the orphans.  This is the true meaning of the sacrifice that we make so that those in need will benefit.  So the question becomes, is it the principle or the actual act of sacrifice that we need to be thinking about during this time?

The significance of the hajj includes the principle of the sacrifice and the message: "To serve humanity, those in need; those without... To awaken your conscience in the proximity of the wounds and the injustices people face...To move away from your heart, your bad thoughts…To distance yourself from the darkest dimensions of your being, your violence, your jealousies, your superficialities."

By not allowing space for discussion to examine these ideas and principles, we negate the very concept of our heritage and teachings.

For the benefit of the voiceless, it is imperative that we not lose our way by being driven blindly by traditional practices or by commercialization, and to return to the very essence of the message that is part of all Abrahamic Faiths: respect and love of human beings (especially those who are vulnerable and have been unjustly treated). This is a manifestation of the love for the Almighty.

So this festive season, let us return to the essential.  Let us remember that this is, more than anything, a feast of fraternal atmosphere that is shared by all.  Thus, in reaching out to address the true objective of spirituality through prayers and good deeds, let us remember the responsibility we have to the poor.  Let us avoid the waste and, more importantly, the wasted sacrifices.

May the Almighty, who loves you, guide and protect you.  May there be peace and respite for all those who are suffering. May you spend time with your loved ones in an atmosphere of happiness; Happy Feast!

Yet whilst it would be easy for the post mortem to just focus on the failure of the system to anticipate and ultimately handle and control such riots, it would be a shame to simply gloss over examining some of the causes of the initial riot and the subsequent snowballing incidents of looting and criminality.  This is where it gets a bit comlicated.  The riot had multifaceted elements and a proper approach to examining the riots and its causes is akin to the peeling away of the layer of onion skins.  This is not to say that what happened in any way is to be justified, but explanations need to be sought.

The government on its part is perhaps keen to highlight these incidents as more of a criminal nature as opposed to anything deeper such as disaffection and poverty, despite David Cameron’s statement to parliament on its recall from the summer break, acknowledging the potential  ‘context’ of the riots. In a way there is some justification to regarding some of the incidents as criminal especially in some of the copy cat incidents that followed the initial wave of riots on Saturday night.  An opportunity was seized on Sunday morning to loot stores and this was followed by other people in the following days especially with the riots that took place on Monday and Tuesday.  Yet to simply blame this on criminality is perhaps to be slightly naïve and to put a band aid on a very deep cut. What is needed is to go to the root of the problem.

There is an element of the people who rioted especially on Saturday night (and on subsequent nights), that feel disengaged not just from the political process (largely because politicians have also disengaged from them) but also from mainstream society (that constantly ignores them), who have no focus for their energy, anger and resentment, no sense that they can change society and no reason to feel responsible for the consequences of their actions.   These are people who suffer from a structural inequality which is all too obvious in the poverty you see in the communities where they live.  They have very little currently in their lives and very little to look forward to.  Thus one should not underestimate the frustration felt by social exclusion, disenfranchisement and wasted lives that many of these youth have.

It is also obvious that successive Governments took the eyes of the ball with regards this issue. For the last decade or so, the Government has been focused its program called Prevent (Preventing Violent Extremism) which based  on a security agenda deals with mainly one community. By concentrating a majority of resources on counter terrorism measures that ended up scrutinising a certain section of the community from a security perspective and focussing on a minority within that community, real social issues which were conflated with security priorities ended up being sidelined and  opportunities to address them appropriately wasted.  Thus not only did a majority of the counter terrorism initiatives fail but a greater sense of isolation, disillusionment and a decline in community cohesion was the result.

The copy cat riots that followed the Tottenham one, in many parts of London and other major cities of the UK, though display a more sinister and disturbing problem.  It shows a crass disregard for other people and property and judging from the wide section of people, who did the looting, is not confined to a specific class, race or even educational level.  These events were symptomatic of an unsustainable need to consume and acquire in the face of declining morals.  It is no coincidence that these riots took place at the same time of a global financial meltdown.  The corruption of the politicians, media and police and the recklessness that has condemned our economies to its decline and the big companies that evade taxes, might be different in appearance but they all have a common denominator: Greed! As one commentator explained, the moral decadence of the criminality displayed on the streets is not that different to the moral disintegration at the higher echelons of society. The need to get more and more without ever stopping to think of the consequences! The unequal consumer society that we have become obsessed with , leading to the constant desire to acquire more and more of the better toys and the designer label clothes, in order to affirm our status with material things whilst regaling in our individuality, means that morals and ethics can be disregarded.  This is where the biggest eye opener has come from the riots.   Decency and humanity have been swapped for selfishness and greed.

Thus in this regard, we as a society all are culpable as we have allowed markets to dictate politics and community life in our drive to become more and to acquire more.  The culture of the society has become one fed on individual achievements influenced by social status and virtual friendships. We devalued social interaction to ‘chatting’ with  so-called friends on Facebook; we have allowed the smartphone to become an appendage of our  bodies and  we have become desensitised to violence as a result of what we listen to, what we watch  on tv, what we read and what electronic games we play.

The truth of the matter is that as we peer into the mirror to ask questions as to what went wrong, we are faced with a shattered mirror in the analogy of Sir Richard Burton in the The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, who wrote “Truth is the shattered mirror strewn In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own”. Thus parts of the truth are everywhere and the whole truth nowhere! It is with individual pieces that we start.

From the Government’s perspective, they need to quickly distinguish between political policy and lived experiences.  They will have to stop developing a set of policies that put people into silos and that view things through a security lens in order to understand the diversity of a cosmopolitan society at the grass roots where everyone actually knows each other and respects each other.  If anyone thought multiculturalism at a practical level had failed causing people to dislike the country that they live in, then the evidence of various immigrant communities who readily stood up to defend their neighbourhoods during the riots points to the contrary.  The Government will have to acknowledge that something more than just enacting policy will have to be done. Yet unfortunately, in the debate in Parliament following David Cameron’s speech, MPs seemed to skirt around the issues of tackling the degeneration of moral values in society instead choosing to talk about policy, funding and policing.  It was as if the proverbial elephant in the room was ‘how do we tackle moral decline?’

So maybe it is not up to the politicians to take the first step.  Perhaps it is up to us as communities and society who will have to swap markets for morals in politics, business and community life.  We have to rediscover the moral agency that will allow us to apply universal ethics and values to our daily lives.  This is not something that can be enforced by a government, but is something that has to be internally generated before it can be lived.  For this, we will have to go back to the basics to develop a shared language of morals, ethics and values, which will feed into respect and understanding.

In essence, we will have to rediscover a spirituality of commonality which will allow us to recognise the common space and substance amongst all doctrines that will provide the fuel for social change and trigger action for the unity of humanity. This shared language will enable us to develop a set of ideals that continue to stir our collective conscience; a common set of values that bind us together despite our differences; a running thread of hope that makes this improbable experiment of reconciling and rehabilitation of vulnerable communities possible. These values and ideals will have to be living, which cannot find expression on paper or monuments or in the annals of history books, but which remain alive in the hearts and minds of people inspiring us to pride, duty and sacrifice. These living values will have to help us to build on shared understandings and should be the glue that binds every healthy society.

The concept of spirituality of commonality that we need to develop as a society in response to the terrible incidents of the last week has to be an awareness of the interconnection of all things to provide the fuel for social change.  It has to recognise that diverse doctrines have a common space and substance as we all belong to this world and we need to live in peace with everything and everyone and protect it for those who come after us. It has to be about a sense of duty and sacrifice on behalf of those who are voiceless.  It has to allow us to value behaviour that express mutual regard for one another, honesty, fairness, humility, kindness courtesy and compassion.

People might scoff at the naivety of this statement but the point is that we have no choice.  We have got to a position where something new needs to happen. For too long, narrow interests have vied for advantage with ideological minorities seeking to impose their own versions of absolute truth. It is time we reassembled the pieces of the broken mirror.

In order for this to happen, as many people have already been talking about, we need to engage: with each other, at different levels and ultimately with the authorities. The Bishop of London talked about nourishing relationships in order to develop an understanding of right and wrong. I would go even further to say that an extension of nourishing relationships and engagement is the concept of linking and partnership for mutual learning.  What we need is a change of paradigm of the post Second World War twinning initiative between towns in England, France and Germany which was done as a means to prevent future conflict in Europe through international friendship and solidarity at community level. What we need now is the development of partnerships in solidarity between towns, local authorities, schools, hospitals, religious organisations, youth clubs to not only understand each other but to strengthen communities, add to social cohesion and contribute to personal and professional development through friendships made and work undertaken across the partnerships.  Whilst this is needed within the UK, it is also a feature that this should be undertaken between the UK and counterparts in the Global South.

The concept of linking and partnerships are increasingly important to people (especially those with counterparts in the Global South) because with the increasing global nature of the workforce; movement of industries and companies; the narrowing of the information border and the gradually interdependency we as a globalised community seem to be becoming, people (especially the youth) in the UK need to understand the cultural contexts of other countries so that they develop the skills to be employed in far flung areas; they develop the skills to interact with each other and ultimately they develop the skills to respect one another. It increases not only community cohesion within the UK but will also contribute to social skills and global cohesion.

Organisations currently working in the field of linking and partnership such as BUILD (which is a coalition of 45 international development agencies committed to the development of sustained partnerships between communities in UK with counterparts in developing countries) will vociferously tell you that they see that issues such as unemployment, marginalisation, mental health problems, obesity, drugs, gangs and gun culture can and have been addressed through community partnerships undertaken between the UK and  the Global South.  So linking works!!

Thus there is a need and an opportunity now more than ever to promote the linking of communities to harness more cross-community collaboration, in the interests of peace, tolerance and wellbeing.

Within this spectrum of partnership and linking, we cannot disassociate ourselves from the role of faith.  As we talk about the development of new morals, ethics, values and spirituality, we need to consider faith and the role that faith organisations will have in adding to this new narrative. Faith provides a narrative and a space in which one can start to explore some of these discussions of ethics and morals.  In many of the smaller communities (especially the minority ethnic and immigrant communities), faith and faith organisations play a pivotal role in responding to the demands and pressures of the local community, where they operate with local knowledge to address specific community problems.  They are highly active in many fields of social service, healthcare, education, human rights, youth development etc. They are self reliant, capable of harnessing the communities’ manpower, skills and resources. They serve very often as role models; variously taking a stand against corruption, developing infrastructure, delivering “sharp end” programmes and offering relief, healthcare and educational resources- where they would not otherwise be found. They are invariably unswerving in their zeal and commitment and many organisations work entirely voluntarily in a spirit of service.

Though there is a character to the religious playing field, that complicates matters with an undeniably, as strong a history of internecine strife and struggle, discrimination as they do of cooperation and collaboration and a problem of religiosity, we cannot ignore their voices and their role.  Thus it is against this framework of potential disagreement and division, which we need to build and sustain links. The report “Engaging With Faith”, drawn up on behalf of The Commonwealth Foundation, by Professor Ian Linden and Andrew Firmin, recommends that we should strive to, “support joint working between inter faith networks, by promoting North-South, South-South linking, sharing of practice and focussed exchanges.”  But what is needed is something more: linking, between and within faith (and non faith) communities-and certainly faith hub, to faith hub, rather than focussing on inter-faith networks, within the global north and more specifically between cities, towns and communities in the UK.

We need to realise that each of us (with our own faith, culture and community spirit) have a bit of that shard of broken glass from the shattered mirror.  Only by piecing them together can we ever hope to move out of our silos and attain a much more cohesive community that better understands, respects and accepts each other.  We need to collectively work such that breeding violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate.  We need to ensure that our youth are given accurate information about other traditions, religions and cultures.  We need to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity and to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings.

Linking, partnerships, engagement all mean the same thing: a sense of cooperation that leads to better understanding which should be encouraged and supported.  This is a powerful tool for the promotion of dialogue, tolerance and harmonious living.  Existing initiatives need to be strengthened and new ones started that have sustainable footprints in the community whilst providing a space for all stakeholders of society to play a role.  The concept of linking should be enhanced through a comprehensive education strategy, both formal and informal, that breaks down the seemingly insurmountable divide of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This education should begin at home, within families and small communities, where the benefit of dialogue and linking can be seen and felt. It should roll through schools, institutes of higher education and ultimately politicians, legislators, governments and multi-lateral organisations.

Tan Sen, the master musician at the court of the Moghul Emperor, Akbar, had some fifteen musical instruments in the Emperor’s chamber, which he had tuned to one frequency. Upon playing just one instrument’s musical note, the other fourteen started to resonate, to the astonishment and delight of the audience.  Ideally this story can serve well as a metaphor for how communities can work in harmony to achieve an enlightened result.

What potential is there for inter-religious connections in your community?

The United States is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world, and yet many individuals and congregations struggle with establishing authentic relationships with people of other religious traditions.

This course offers an opportunity to reflect on the potential for interreligious community in their own religious lives and relationships, and in their own communities, as well as to gather some practical skills and resources for this task.

A foundational conviction is that interreligious dialogue not only deepens the understanding and respect we have for other religious traditions, it can profoundly impact our understanding and experience of our own.

June 6 - July 22

Registration deadline: May 30. Cost $225; $175
for groups of 3 or more. 2 Continuing Education
Units available. Register here.

“Your Turn” is a segment of IndyKids newspaper in which kid readers offer their take on a particular topic, proving that kids, too, can have a say in important current events.

When the March 2011 issue’s “Your Turn” asked girls at a public school  in the Bronx why they wear a headscarf, the purpose was to help confront misconceptions kids (and adults) may have about Muslim girls and women, that can only be dispelled by asking and becoming informed.

Also in the March 2011 Issue, one of the young women had the opportunity to share her personal experiences in "My Hijab." She wrote, "Wearing a hijab in the Bronx, where there are more people who don’t wear it than people who do, is really hard, but since I’ve been wearing the hijab ever since I was seven years old I don’t mind wearing it. People ask me questions about it and I answer. Most people are nice but some can be really rude and judgmental."

IndyKids is a free national newspaper, website and teaching tool that aims to inform children on current news and world events from a progressive perspective and to inspire a passion for social justice and learning. It is geared toward kids in grades 4 to 8.

A typical American childhood is one that is oversaturated with commercialism and sheltered from the real struggles and injustices in the world. From its first issue of in 2005, IndyKids has worked against that to bring kids in the United States closer to kids worldwide and the genuine issues they face. IndyKids is not afraid to take on difficult topics such as the financial crisis, same-sex marriage, healthcare, wars, immigrant and labor rights, and global warming. It presents these issues in a way that is easy to understand, and mixes in stories of kid activism, science news, recipes, and puzzles.

IndyKids aims to encourage kids to form their own opinions and become part of the larger movement for justice and peace.

I grew up in the quintessential small Midwestern town--content with staying put in the ways of the past yet constantly being pushed forward by the reality of time. The Mississippi River is its life source, giving birth to the industry and commerce that sustains town’s population of 40,000 people.  Pickup trucks often outnumber cars in grocery store parking lots, the county fair draws huge crowds each summer, and season tickets to local high school’s basketball games are a hot commodity. Diversity is not accepted and only barely tolerated.  Racial and ethnic minorities constitute only 5 percent of the population. Interaction between racial groups is limited, the result of inequitable housing policies that redlined minority groups into concentrated areas of town.

I  was first introduced to the politics of race on the playground of Adams School. Navigating the social landscape of recess can be an incredibly difficult process. A white male classmate, approached me at recess confidently stating that I must be dirty and rotten because why else would by skin be brown? As the other students laughed profusely, I became acutely aware of my status as the “other”.  My skin was indeed brown and as much as I tried to wash it off, I soon realized there was nothing I could do to change that. Once confident and bold I began to feel helpless. Throughout the year, the taunts and comments would escalate with little intervention from the teaching staff that was never trained in issues of diversity and discrimination.

Finding no comfort at school, I ran as fast as I could into the open arms and loving heart of Bethel A.M.E. Church. At my church, I was no longer an “other”.  Sunday mornings the pews filled with bodies in endless shades of brown--copper, russet, mahogany--each unique and striking. My heart leap with each chord Sister Oliver struck on the organ and note Brother Bumbry sang. From Rev. Pendleton’s pulpit I heard stories about those who had worshipped there before.  Families who boldly swam across the Mississippi in search for freedom, sustained by the unfettering belief that God would provide a way. At the altar of the church, I gave my life to Christ and as a teenager first heard the call to pursue ordained ministry.

My early encounters with intolerance as child engrained in me a deeply held empathy for those are oppressed and marginalized because of who they are. Genesis 1:27 states that, “God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Institutional discrimination on the base of their gender, race, class, and sexual orientation often robs individuals of their full human dignity thus distorting the image of who they truly are as children of God. Through my work in the interfaith and food justice movements, I have seen the ability of the human spirit to persevere against the greatest odds. I have witnessed public housing residents, long forgotten by those in power, rise up and organize their communities to increase basic access to affordable healthy food. I have beheld young women and men of all faiths and none at all stand in solidarity with the Muslim community in the midst of rampant Islamophobia based on the shared value of compassion for their fellow man.

In the midst of these and other experiences, I have begun to discern my calling. I believe I am being called to work in a ministry of reconciliation. By reconciliation, I am referring not only to the reconciliation of God to his people, but also of people to one another. This process of healing begins by actively seeking to correct the social inequities that continue to drive individuals apart. Inequities such as food insecurity, health disparities, and environmental degradation which often have disproportionate consequences for those who are historically marginalized in the United States including women and people of color.  Our current historical moment requires a vision of ministry that is not exclusively limited to the pulpit, but works in concert with community organizing and advocacy strategies seeking to create change.

In last night's State of the Union Address, President Obama told the American people that, "Our destiny remains our choice." For a long time I ran away from my destiny, my calling, out of fear--- fear of the unknown, fear of judgment, and fear of reliquishing control. This fall, I made a choice to stop running. I am seeking ordination in the A.M.E. Church as the first step in pursuing this my call.As I stand in anxious anticipation of the steps yet to come, I remember the words of the psalmist: "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?"

This article was originally published on State of Formation.

Just into our first semester of school our community may already be looking to us to play a rabbinic role and we want to live up to their, and our own, expectations. The jobs we are being offered, on the whole, are not asking us to come sit with a group of folks and talk about how confusing or complicated our personal prayer life is. They want us, understandably, to decode the basic outline of a Shabbat prayer service, or to teach new tunes for the holiday liturgy, or perhaps to look at the meaning of certain central prayers.

I have found for myself that it can become all too easy to slip into the role of leader and facilitator without fully allowing myself the space or giving myself the permission to be in the not knowing. And though the job opportunities may not include this in their descriptions, the place not knowing, at least with regards to prayer, is where most people reside. It’s useful and important to learn the skills—the pronunciation, tunes, choreography, nusach (traditional melodies)—but to evolve a deep and authentic prayer life we also need to continually asking ourselves: why? Not only do we need to sit with those questions to experience prayer in a true and rich way for ourselves, but also so we can relate honestly and compassionately with those who will be looking to us for leadership and guidance.

This past semester at school we tried something new. In addition to gathering as a whole community twice a week in the morning before school for prayer, we added a component called Tefilah (or Prayer) Groups. Each Thursday after our communal prayer experience we gathered in small groups of about 10 students and one faculty member. In these groups we had the opportunity to process, investigate, question, and uncover our relationship to prayer as guided by the prompts of our faculty member and the probing questions of our fellow students.

Our tefillah group, lead by my teacher and mentor Rabbi Ebn Leader, explored the large and perpetually-present questions of prayer. We looked at our conceptions of Gd and asked the question: where is Gd in my prayer? Through our discussions I became more cognizant of the fact that I regularly go through a week of participating in prayer without really bringing Gd into my consciousness. The systems we’ve designed to connect to the Force of the Universe are powerful and have been honed and molded over centuries, but it’s the quality of attention that we bring into these modes that makes them work for us or not.

A powerful question that we asked during our sessions and the one that took central stage in many of our discussions was: what is my goal in tefillah? It seems like such a simple and uncomplicated question in many ways but asking it has helped me to clarify what it is I am looking to get out of a prayer experience. Do I aim to feel gratitude, to worship Gd, to connect to community, to go inward, to sit with sadness, to repent, to feel myself in relation to the grandeur of the universe, to find a place of deep meaning within the Hebrew words, to feel comfort, to gain strength?

I learned that it was not so simple to figure out what my goal was in prayer, but that when I was able to do so establishing a goal helped me to focus my attention and energy in a specific direction. It also helped to open up many more important questions. If I determined that my goal was to worship Gd, I had to then ask the questions: what is Gd and what sort of tefillah would be fitting for Gd’s worship?

Towards the end of the semester we began to look at a question I found fascinating: what role does risk play in my tefillah? Is it a positive aspect that helps challenge us and open us up? Is it a negative aspect that limits us and closes us off? Is it the essence of our prayer? Ebn described that what he sees in the majority of synagogues across America is prayer being used to comfort people and to help strengthen ideas that they already hold, or already desire to hold. At a time when we require a radical shift in consciousness in order to live more sustainably on this planet, and, ultimately, to ensure the future survival of life on Earth as we know it, our prayer needs to go beyond helping us to holdfast to our entrenched ideas. Comfort and support is important, especially during these radically changing and challenging times, but so too is risk-taking and openness, not just to adapt to change but to initiate change.

In a traditional Jewish practice one engages in prayer four or five times per day. With this amount of time, energy, and attention directed toward prayer, what is our goal, and what sort of prayer life do we imagine could serve that goal? To the extent that our prayer is about serving Gd by serving the world at large, a key aspect of our prayer must be to help us learn to risk. To step across the great divide from the known that isn’t working to the unknown that contains our future. May our prayers help us to risk releasing that which is no longer useful and to risk opening ourselves to that which we can’t yet imagine.

This article was originally published on State of Formation.

We struggle sometimes with how to be with one another in the face of a tragedy. One common response has been to adopt this event as evidence for some pre-existing political narrative. But I think this response is at worst deeply insensitive, and at best woefully incomplete.

In the wake of this shooting, we can talk about limiting violence in political language – and we should. As the factors contributing to the shooting become clearer we can talk about gun access and mental health care and homeland security and whatever else is relevant – and we should. But first and foremost, we have to be concerned with the human cost of what has happened.

On Saturday 6 people died, and 14 people were injured. Among those dead are a woman who was standing next to her husband of 50 years, a 30-year-old former social worker, and a 9-year-old girl. You can read more about them here.

Given this reality we have to be able to turn to one another and grieve, and share the work of mourning these tragedies, so we can build one another up to believe in people again as well as protect society through political action.

Many religious traditions have a tool to approach this enormous challenge. It’s called lament. We cry into the wilderness to shout our grief, our confusion, and even our anger, without immediate promise of any balm but faith.

This week I’ve been praying for the victims and their families with Psalm 23…”Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” I’ve been reading John 11, when Lazarus’s sister Martha cries to Jesus (as I imagine, in confusion and frustration), “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

One of the most moving pieces I have read since Saturday was about Representative Giffords’ synagogue, Congregation Chaverim, coming together as she struggles for her life in the hospital. They held a healing service to pray for her recovery and speak of her goodness, and the Rabbi’s daughter cried “Why, why, why, why?”

Sometimes that is all we can do. We pray for a better day. We speak of what goodness has been in the past. We cry to God in lamentation for answers we know may not come, or that we may never understand. And we turn to one another, not to make a point but simply to recognize that something terrible has happened, and hope that it will never happen again.

This article was originally published on State of Formation.

interView with Marc Sapir