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Nailed to the Cross

26/3/2016

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Within the Christian tradition Easter is part of what's called the Sacred Triduum - three days of remembering Jesus' journey from his Last Supper with his disciples on Thursday through his death on Friday to his resurrection on Saturday evening and the celebration of this on Easter Sunday.  Good Friday  is the most solemn day in the Christian calendar. The tone is rather sombre and the focus is on the Cross.  The cross, especially the one with Jesus nailed to it, can be rather a disturbing image. I once heard a Buddhist monk complain about a religion that has such a violent image at the centre of it. Does this not encourage violence or suggest that the Christian God is a violent one.? Certainly some past interpretations of the Cross have been violent - God killing his Son to save the world for example. In the Middle Ages these three days were seen as an excuse for attacking Jews for killing Jesus and Jews throughout Europe learned to stay out of sight over these three days.

The problem with religion - or maybe it's the saving of religion - is that there are many interpretations and it's tragic I think when negative ones take hold, without realising the limitations of language and understanding. For Christians the cross doesn't symbolise violence or God's vengeance. Rather it is the climax of Jesus' life. According to  John's Gospel Jesus realises that this is the accomplishment of his life - not in the sense of success but in the sense of a life well lived. Jesus' mission was to challenge the authorities of his time - both religious and political in that he wanted to establish a new way of life which he called the Kingdom of God.  This was a way of life in which individuals and not institutions were at the centre, where the poor, the marginalised, those recognised as sinners and outsiders, women, the sick were included. The focus of Jesus' life was healing, preaching about God's love and God's mercy. His religion was a  religion of the heart from where he interpreted the law. And of course the establishment didn't like it. His way of life and his message was a peaceful protest against dehumanising institutions and he was killed because he was true to this message to the end. The Cross is a symbol of Jesus' integrity, of a self-sacrificing  love and mercy which he lived right to the end of his life. It has to be seen within the context of his life.

Recently I heard someone say that the Cross shows us in body language what mercy and love look like - a commitment that does not run away, that forgives, that serves even those who would abandon you. In John's Gospel it is said that Jesus heart was pierced by a sword. His heart was broken, something which we recognise as coming from loving. But the Cross also shows us what humanity is like - that we react negatively to someone who lives according to an ideal, who is totally loving and merciful and who does not play the power game. We know this to be true from our own time with people like Mohatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Somehow it seems the world cannot cope with goodness. Here in Glasgow we have our own example of that this weekend. A Muslim shopkeeper was murdered by someone of his own faith because he put a message on social media wishing Christiand a happy Easter. Asad Shah was a devout man who often talked of the need for peace between religions and his sorrow at the way in which religions had fallen short of this ideal. It's as though, like Jesus, he has been nailed to the cross because his belief, his ideal disturbed someone for whom the institution was more important than good relations. But hopefully like Jesus his message will not die and his death may even lead others to follow his example.
 
It's understandable that my Buddhist friend found the image of the Crucifixion difficult and disturbing. The violence that we see in today's world shows us that it's a reality and contemporary. The image is also not too distant from some Buddhist texts. Within Mahayana Buddhism the ideal is of a Bodhisattva, a being willing to sacrifice everything, even his or her own salvation for the sake of the enlightenment of all sentient beings. A famous text illustrates this. It's called the Bodhicharyavaharasutra and there is a shortened version called the Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva. Verse 13 reads, ' If in return for not the slightest wrong of mine
                               Someone were to cut off even my very head
                               Through the power of compassion to take all his negative actions 
                               Upon myself is the practice of a bodhisattva.

In this sense Jesus can be seen as a Bodhisattva but perhaps in some way so can Asad Shah.


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Women and Equality

20/3/2016

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Normally at this time the Jewish community is celebrating the festival of Pesach or Passover round about the same time as the Christian community is celebrating Easter. This year it's different and the Jewish community doesn't celebrate Passover until April 22nd. This is because it's a  leap year in the Jewish calendar which is a lunar one and every so often an extra month is added  to adjust it and the holiday cycles to the seasons. Not too different from a leap year that adds an extra day to the Gregorian calendar. This year it's the festival of Purim which coincides with the Christian Holy Week. It's a festival of much festivity and remembers how Queen Esther saved the Jewish people from extermination. I'm not too sure if Queen Vashti figures in the festival but she's a character in the story that I like.

Vashti is married to Aheurus, King of Persia, and refuses to come out of the women's quarters to reveal her beauty to the KIing's guests. Worried that this insubordination might be copied by other women the King is persuaded to put her away and choose another Queen who turns out to be Esther and the heroine in the story.  What I like about Vashti is her freedom not to conform or display herself at her husband's whim. Here's a woman who exercised her freedom and independence by staying in purdah, something more associated with oppression than liberation. Interesting that it shows veiling and purdah as far pre-dating Islam.

The question of the veil came up at a recent scriptural reasoning session on Women and Equality. The Jewish text was from Genesis 38 and tells the story of Tamar who had been more or less abandoned by her father-in-law and had to resort to subterfuge to be sure she had  future security. We're told she took off her widow's garb and "covered her face with a veil" and, wrapping herself up, sat down by the roadside, knowing that Judah, her father -in law would pass that way. And so he did but seeing her veiled took her for a prostitute or harlot and wanted to sleep with her. As a result she became pregnant and when Judah discovered this he was ready to have her burned until he realised the child she was carrying was his. At first glance it looks as though Tamar is the immoral one even though it's Judah who asks to sleep with her. It's not a culture in which equality was even in human consciousness but it was a culture in which women needed the protection of men and Tamar wasn't given it by her husband's family as was the custom for widows at the time. To survive she had to take things into her own hands and ensure her safety and security by veiling and being taken for a prostitute. Here veiling is not a sign of religion or respectability  - the opposite of Vashti.

The Christian text was taken from the story of the woman caught in adultery as told in John's Gospel.  It actually spoke more about inequality than equality as there must have been a man involved in the act and he wasn't brought before the crowd to be stoned as the woman was. The point of the story is that Jesus refused to condemn the woman and acknowledged that sinners should not judge other sinners as we are all in the same position. The Islamic text also underscored the inequality of women as it was the story of the conception of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, held in high regard in Islam. What revealed the position of women was that Hannah, the mother of Mary, was taken aback when her child was a girl and not the expected boy. According to the story this didn't matter to God who favoured Mary and had a plan for her. 

It's not possible for religious scriptures to have any concept of the equality of women and men as we understand it today as they all grew out of a patriarchal society and reflect that society. Even if the scriptures are seen as the Word of God, the truth of this word has to be discerned within the cultural expressions of it. There is truth in it, no doubt, but that truth can only be expressed in the language available to it. So much of religion is cultural and finding the truth can be difficult. I often wonder about this with regard to the veil in Islam. For some Muslim women it 's seen as integral to their Islamic identity but there are others who look upon it differently. Culturally the veil has had different meanings - a sign of respectability or the opposite as in the story of Tamar.  It's we who impose meaning on it and in so far as that meaning helps us live a good and upright life and is an expression of genuine faith then it's good. But it might be that for some women not wearing the veil does exactly the same and that's good too.

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Faith in Older People

13/3/2016

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A good and long standing interfaith friend of mine recently did the Time for Reflection at the Scottish Parliament. We're rather proud of this  tradition. When the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999 there was much debate about whether there should be a chaplain who said prayers before general debates as in the Westminster Government.  The Scottish decision was not to have prayers that were identified with a particular religion or christian denomination but to have a weekly Time for Reflection which could be led by people of all faiths and none. I've done it and many of my friends have done it which brings the seat of Government close to ordinary citizens.

The topic for last week's Time for Reflection was the Elderly and in her presentation my friend mentioned a small charity that both of us are involved with - Faith in Older People. It's focus is to support and encourage a recognition of the spiritual needs of older people and to make care homes, faith communities and others  aware of the need to cater for and deepen people's spirituality as they  journey towards the end of life. On the whole faith communities have a great respect for old age but present day society seems to look upon the elderly as a problem and many try to run away from the reality of growing old by face lifts, botox etc.  I liked what my friend said and thought I would like  to share it on this blog. So with her permission  she becomes my first guest blogger!

Time for Reflection, March 1st
Thank you Presiding Officer for the opportunity to take part in Time for Reflection. The last time I addressed this parliament was in 2003 when I was an active retired woman in my mid-60s. Now I am an active older woman in my late 70s. So when do I become elderly? Will I be invited back when I am 90?

As a trustee of Faith in Older People for the last few years I have been able to reflect on the needs of older people beyond the physical dimension. The spiritual aspect of their lives becomes more compelling as they come face to face with their impending mortality.

In the Jewish Scriptures there is a commandment to honour the elderly no matter their contribution to society.  High profile elderly people command much respect – Her Majesty the Queen is approaching her 90th birthday. We remember Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and many others. But what about ordinary people whose achievements are unknown and unrecognised except by their families and their communities? They often become just a name above a hospital bed. My late mother embodied her own philosophy for life which was, ‘You have to be a good person’. Few people in Scotland will know of her good deeds, nor those of many other remarkable older people throughout our country. 

In 1998 a book of photographs taken in a Marie Curie Hospice by Colin Dickson was called ‘Remaining Human’. In his preface he said that he had taken the photographs to show that faced with the prospect of death, most people remain completely human.  He said, ‘Until you are dead you are still alive…their lives are still going on and they can laugh and be sad and be generous and be cruel, in other words be people just like other people.’  Those observations could apply equally to the elderly.

Through my involvement with the Scottish Jewish Archives I have had the privilege of interviewing older members of our community. I have learned of the challenges they faced growing up during the war, their service to our country both in wartime and in peace. It is so important to hear their voices and experiences and their contribution to the Scottish story.
I will finish by quoting Rabbi Berel Wein, ‘May we all be blessed to come to the fullness of our lives with all our days attached to us in serenity and achievement.’

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Interreligious Friendship

6/3/2016

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The Elijah Interfaith Institure in Jerusalem has just produced a book on Interreligious Friendship. It's the result of a discussion  on the same topic by the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders that took place in Oxford in 2012. It's a good title but at a price of £54 it's beyond the means of most of my interreligious friends. We talked about it at a recent meeting on the Council of Christians and Jews and we agreed we'd buy one copy and pass it to whoever is leading our regular conv
ersations which we usually base on the chapter of a book.  It should make a good topic for conversation.

Included in the book but also published separately is what's called An Interreligious Manifesto which has some very interesting points in it.  One of the things that surprised me though is the introduction to the manifesto states that 
"While it may seem obvious that forming friendships with people from different religions can be both a prelude to dialogue and an outcome of it, we should not ignore the obstacles to or, at least, warnings against such friendships that all our religious traditions include".

​I must say I have never encountered these warnings or obstacles. Of course I have been aware of different teachings within our religions which can be interpreted as exclusive but I have found that anyone willing to engage in dialogue is usually open to learning about others and establishing good relations, though of course there are some who appear to be at the table only to defend their position.  One of the things I have appreciated about my work in interfaith has been the friendships which have emerged from a common working together, sharing the high points and low points of one another's lives, simply sharing meals and above all learning about the faith of others as well as sharing my own. The comment, however, makes me realise how lucky I am to live in a country where freedom of expression and worship is allowed; where a government values diversity and has a sense of common citizenship and where religious communities on the whole are not at loggerheads with one another. I know this is not the same everywhere especially in those parts of the world where a religion is closely identified with politics or nationalism.  For me one of the joys of interfaith work has been the joy of making good friends. And sometimes I feel closer to friends in other faiths than I do some people in my own.


The Manifesto is talking about specific interreligious friendships and distinguishes betwen friends and neighbours with whom we share aspects of a common life - a silent dialogue I have heard it called and the dialogue of life, as the Catholic Church calls it, is seen authentic dialogue.  But interreligious friendships are more intentional and focussed on a sharing of faith, spirituality, experience and commitment. They're not a means to an end that is political or even social though i do believe they sow the seeds of peace in our world. They also bring about personal transformation as we learn to appreciate difference and gain insights into our own faith. The manifesto suggests that one of the most effective ways of doing this is to study and read the scriptures of other faiths with an open mind, open to the insights of others. This is certainly true for me and one of the reasons why I appreciate scriptural reasoning so much. This allows believers of different faiths to reflect on scriptures with a common theme. It's edifying to hear how believers understand their scripture, see  the similarities and differences but also see the wisdom which we can all apply to our own lives. I like it because it allows for some depth to the conversation which often gets to the heart of our faiths so that it is indeed a dialogue of heart to heart.  It's this kind of dialogue that develops the trust and respect that enables us to ask the  hard questions. This sometimes helps us understand the complexities and tensions within religions and of the need for all of us to support what is best in each of our faiths. The world needs faiths to stand up for one another and to speak well of one another.  In this the manifesto is echoing the words of Pope Francis when he wrote to the Muslim community in 2013 when he called on Christians and Muslims to think and speak respectfully of other religions and their followers and to do so not only in the presence of someone from another faith "but always and everywhere, avoiding unfair criticism or defamation". This in turn reminds me of a quote of Diana Eck's that I came across "people of every religious tradition depend upon one another to interpret one another fairly and accurately. We are the keepers of one another’s image …. This is a sacred trust"    

 The final recommendation of the manifesto is that " every person seek at least one friend from another religion. How that friendship is practiced and the depth of its engagement will vary according to individual circumstances. But it only takes one friend to change our orientation, to broaden our horizons, to open our heart and to make us ready for the transformation that interreligious friendship produces". And in doing this we can even move beyond friendship as in the story of the man crossing the desert who is frightened by the vision of a huge ugly ogre coming steadily towards him. He is very frightened. As the ogre approaches he doesn't seem so huge but certainly ugly and threatening. When they eventually meet and look into one another's eyes they recognise one another as brothers - and of course sisters!


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    I am  a Catholic nun, involved in interfaith relations for many decades.  For me this has been an exciting and sacred journey which I would like to share with others.

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