We are here. It
is good to be here. But why are we here?
What has called us? Here.
Fortitude is the spiritual quality from our First Peoples that
we are exploring this month at the Interfaith Community Church. And we certainly need to inhale
of it in this day and in this age. A little earlier we resolved to be like the
Samaritan: NOT to pass by on the other side. Indeed, our roots compel us to not
pass by. But so many do. So much
hate. So much intolerance. So much
hurt. What are we to do?
Virtually every religion instructs us to be with each other,
to sustain and help each other. Not to pass by a neighbor in need. And yet we build walls. We build walls
between races. We build walls between generations. We build walls between religions, and walls between groups within religions. Every conceivable way of dividing ourselves we have found. And
it must stop. It must stop.
There is an old Jewish saying, though I have a feeling
there are equivalents in every religion and culture: “If not now, when?”
I am here, today, because I believe in Interfaith. I believe in it passionately and with every fiber of my being. I
believe that Interfaith can be a strong, sustaining light to even the darkest corners of the earth. And if not now, when?
Today we embark upon a five month journey together. “The Gift of Living Interfaith.” There’s
more in that title than may first meet the eye. There’s the gift of living
Interfaith: a dynamic Interfaith that breathes and has roots, and we’ll explore some of those roots today. An Interfaith with history and purpose – a past, a present and a future. As Judaism is a living faith, and Christianity, and Islam and Earth Spirituality and
Buddhism and so many others are all living faiths, what about a living Interfaith? As
my brother Jamal says, “Let’s think on that a moment.”
But there is also the gift of Living interfaith, living
our beliefs – embodying in ourselves this Interfaith we embrace. Living,
daily, in how we treat each other, how we act towards each other; how we show respect, not tolerance but respect towards our
differing religious paths. Not just thinking Interfaith, intellectualizing, theorizing
but living it – committing to it, making it truly a part of who we are.
And let us think on that.
And lastly, there is the Gift of Living Interfaith. In a world that for over three thousand years has drawn religious lines in the sand
and said, “If you do not believe as I do: you must stand on that side of the line.” In some eras, standing on “that side of the line” has meant merely discrimination, prejudice,
demeaning jokes. In other eras, like ours, it can mean hate, torture, and murder. And it has to stop. It has to stop. And if not now, when?
The Gift of Living Interfaith is the gift of respect, it is the
gift of love, it is the gift of peace. It is a gift beyond calculation of value;
a gift beyond measure. But like any gift, it must not only be accepted, it must
be unwrapped. Part of what we’ll be doing over the next five months is
unwrapping this amazing…and complex… and sometimes demanding Gift of Living Interfaith.
So, where do we start?
I believe a good way to start is to realize that Interfaith, as we know it, is really very recent. Some people like to point to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893. It had marked the first formal gathering of some representatives of the world’s religions, both east
and west. It was a good thing, an important moment, but Interfaith as we know
it did not flow from that Parliament of the World’s Religions.
There have been, of course, teachings among the Baha’i
for example that envision the unity of religions. These are important, valuable
teachings. But still that is not Interfaith.
At the outbreak of World War I, the “Fellowship of Reconciliation”
was formed in Great Britain. It brought Christians together who opposed the war, but only Christians.
A year later, in this country, a United States Fellowship of Reconciliation was founded. It not only argued against war, but for various forms of social justice. And here other faiths were included…not all, but more than just Christian. Good roots. Strong roots.
We shall not “pass by.”
But when does the term “interfaith” enter?
The Oxford English Dictionary or "OED" traces the word faith
back to the 14th century in England, though spelled fayth.
I confess I cannot possibly pronounce for you the words in the 14th
century sentence that is quoted using fayth.
It appears in American dictionaries a little earlier, but interfaith
as a word worth defining does not appear in the OED until the mid 1970's. Quoting the May 6th, 1967 Economist, the OED notes the sentence: "It is joining with 39
other firms and an interfaith group to provide 1,500 new jobs."
What had changed? In
the 1960’s what had changed? And what has interfaith got to do with jobs? Who had linked bringing differing faiths together with social justice and done it
in such a way that the world sat up and took notice? The answer, I believe, is
the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. A Southern Baptist preacher, who brought
together Jew, Christian, Muslim and Agnostic, to march together, hand in hand for civil rights. Their faith, however you spell it, brought them to the South to march because their faith demanded it. Dr. King is remembered, and justly so, for his stance on civil rights. His leadership. His dream, a dream that touched our hearts
and our souls. But he should also be remembered for bringing people of good will
from a multitude of faiths together: to ACT on their faith. He made it impossible
for a person of conscience to “pass by.”
Dr. King spoke eloquently of social justice as a religious
matter. As a matter of faith. A
matter of Interfaith. And we listened.
This is not to say that individual religions have ignored
social justice. Far from it. Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, Unitarians. I could tell you stories about
Theodore Parker, the Unitarian minister known as the chaplain of the underground railroad in the years just before the civil
war … a minister who kept a loaded pistol in his church office to protect the runaway slaves he was hiding at the church
in case someone came looking for them. So yes, yes, individual religions
have long been a part of the quest for social justice. But the walls between
the religions were always there.
I remember being taken aback when reading a wonderful book called
“The Miracle at Philidelphia” that in arguing over whether our Constitution should be ratified, one of the arguments
against ratifying was that if the Constitution passed as written, not only could Jews and other heathen run for office, but
so could Roman Catholics! That was in the 1780’s. But it has taken a long time to dismantle even that wall.
I’m not quite old enough to remember Al Smith and his run
for President in 1928. He was a Democrat.
He lost to Herbert Hoover. But a large part of what defeated him was that
he was Roman Catholic. And the fear was that if Al Smith won, the Pope would
rule America. 1928.
So there were not only walls between Christian, Jew, Muslim but
between Protestant and Catholic. Dr. King not only broke down the walls of segregation;
he broke down the walls of religion as well. Social justice: as a spiritual imperative.
Dr. King dreamt of a day when people will be judged not by the
color of their skin but the content of their character. Yet he also lived the
dream that people be judged not by the religion that they practice, but how they practice their religion.
THAT is Interfaith. That
is the heritage we inherit. These are our roots.
They may be but a half century old, or a full century if we go back to the World Parliament of Religions and the beginning
of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Whichever, they are young roots: but they
are strong and they are healthy and they nurture us.
Over the next five months, we’ll be exploring that
gift of Interfaith. Next month we’ll move beyond our roots. We’ll look at Interfaith as a spiritual practice. Our
roots are in social justice. Civil Rights.
They will always be. But how tall the tree? How large the canopy?
For a class in seminary, I’ve just this past week finished
reading an essay by a man who insists that there is only one right belief about God. Other
beliefs should be tolerated. After all, most mean well. But there is only one right answer…and by odd coincidence, he has it.
The gift of Interfaith, is the gift of understanding that,
as a Japanese folk saying puts it, “There are many roads to the top of Mount Fuji.” Many roads. Or, as Mathew Fox has put
it, “One River,
Many Wells.”
Let us take a few moments now, to dwell in silent prayer
and meditation. Do we understand the nature of this incredible gift
that is ours, here? Do we appreciate the community that we establish, here? The hope that we nurture, here.
May
it be so.
