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Principle and Foundations

22/5/2015

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This weekend the Jewish and Christian communities celebrate festivals which come fifty days after the central feasts of Pesach and Easter. For Jews Shavuot remembers the day when God gave the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.  Sages have compared it to a wedding between God and the Jewish people as the feast also celebrates the  eternal covenant between God and His people. It's a moment of renewal and recommitment and one custom is to stay up all night reading and studying the Torah, particularly the ten commandments. 

Pentecost, called such because it's the Greek translation of Shavuot, celebrates the overriding experience of the early followers of Jesus when they felt themselved empowered by the Spirit of Jesus which gave them insight into the message of Jesus and the courage to live it out.  In a way it's similar to the festival of Shavuot, often thought to be a foundation moment for the Jewish community. For Christians the coming of the Holy Spirit is thought to be the foundation of the Church though the final separation of the Christian community from the Jewish community actually  took many centuries.  

The two festivals falling as they do at the same time this year illustrate a difference between the Jewish and Christian communities.  For Jews law is at the heart of their religion and the Torah tells them how to live their life in accordance with God's will.  They know what's expected of them. For Christians the important thing is to follow in the way of Jesus and discern what the Spirit of God is saying to them though Jesus didn't do away with the law. As a good Jew he was faithful to it but  he stressed the spiritual side of it, that it couldn't be lived properly if it didn't come from the heart. Often the two religions are characterised as one being legalistic and the other as spiritual though I have heard some Jews describe this as a bit wishy washy. But both are necessary. To keep the letter of the law without the spirit, without it being an expression of a desire to live a good life is rather pointless - at least that's what Christians believe - but anyone who thinks they're living a  'spiritual' life and breaks the law is not living by the Spirit of God whose presence  is characterised by love, justice, peace, equality, compassion, fidelity, courage. It's a question of emphasis rather than difference. 

This year I'll be celebrating both festivals. Tomorrow evening I'm going to the Synagogue for Shavuot. After the service and meal there'll be an interfaith panel to discuss the ten commandments and/or the ten most important teachings of our faiths.  The Ten commandments are of course also Christian and provide for us a framework for living as much as the Jewish community.  Even so it's been an interesting exercise to work out what I think are the important teachings of my faith -  expressed in personal rather than formal terms. I didn't do it in terms of commandments or laws but rather as the beliefs that form the foundation and principles for my faith and actions.  While I won't list them all here ( though I might in  a future blog, especially after the event) I was struck by how much the idea of death formed part of it.  'Remember that you are dust and into dust you shall return' is important to me and  the foundation for understanding that power, reputation, greed has no lasting significance and to seek them is an illusion. It helps me understand that I am part of a great network of relationships that includes the created world which I must treat with reverance and respect. It helps me understand that all people, created as they are in the image and likeness of God, are equal and the work for justice and reconciliation in all its forms is an expression of this. While it doesn't give me a list of actions it gives me inspiration to try to live in such a way that I'll be living within the law. We'll see tomorrow evening how other faiths respond to this. 


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Dual Belonging

15/5/2015

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One of the fears that people have about interfaith dialogue is that it could lead to confusion and weaken someone's  identity. While many people find that engaging with others confirms their own faith identity, it's becoming more popular for people to admit to belonging to more than one religion. In some parts of the world and some families this is the norm for children living in multifaith marriages who are brought up to respect and even participate in two traditions. It's a bit like being bilingual or having dual nationality and rather wonderful to feel at home in more than one tradition. In Japan homes often have Shinto and Buddhist shrines at opposite ends of the room.  Shintoism is for birth and marriage, Buddhism for death. Each religion is seen to be useful at particular moments of life even if people are unclear about or even uninterested in  the beliefs and it's possible to participate in both without a sense of commitment to either. 

But some interfaith practitioners have found such wisdom and truth in another faith that they feel they can commit to both. A few years ago Paul Knitter wrote a book ' Without the Buddha I couldn't be a Christian' in which he explained how Buddhist teaching helped him make sense of some Christian doctrines to the extent that he took refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha - the declaration that normally makes someone Buddhist. He can happily live a commitment to both faiths and finds that one helps him make sense of the other. And he's not the only one.  

It's become such a phenomenon that the World Council of Churches has had consultations on it, theologians and students of religion have debated it. Some believe it's possible while others are more sceptical.  Purists of course don't like it thinking that it can lead to a pick and mix kind of religion.  And it is possible today to be ordained as an interfaith minister which allows people to conduct services with readings and prayers from a variety of religions. At one level it's as though interfaith has become a religious movement in its own right and one of the reasons why interfaith practitioners often want to talk about inter faith as two words to show it is a movement which brings two or more faiths together. 

 The dual belonging that is the focus of interest and debate among scholars is not pick and mix but an appreciation of the integrity of each religion to the extent that someone feels at home in both. But even in ordinary interfaith relations, when someone identifies with only one tradition a mutuality occurs, at least it has for me. Something like holy envy can occur in realising the strength in another religion's practice that you might like to see in your own. Someone else's belief can help recapture forgotten traditions in your own. Buddhism has helped many Christians rediscover Christianity's meditative and mystical tradition. The focus on mindfulness has reminded many of Christianity's belief in the sacrament of the present moment.  And Christianity has encouraged a new sense of engaged Buddhism. And it can happen with other religions too.

The reason I've been reflecting on this is I've recently seen the DVD of 'The Life of Pi'. I've always loved the incident in the book (not shown to the same extent in the film) in which Pi and his parents encounter three holy men from three religious tradions - Hinduism, Islam and Christianity all of whom claim him as their own as he's been visiting each of them and learning about their faith. While the three are happy to see someone so keen on God they all agree that " he can’t be a Hindu, A Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose”  Pi's reply was “Bapu Gandhi said ‘All religions are true’ I just want to love God”  And it seemed to do the trick as we're told "
The three wise men pulled away with stiff, grudging smiles on their faces". Hard to disagree with that!

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The Last Taboo

7/5/2015

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I've noticed a change in the way funerals are celebrated, at least in some Christian denominations, which I don't really like.  Recently I was at the funeral of a good friend which turned out not to be a funeral as I understand it but a celebration of her life.  The actual interment or cremation had happened before the service and was only open to close family members who then joined a sizeable congregation to remember the person concerned. There were hymns, prayers and tributes  which gave an account of achievements and a life well lived. But there was something missing for me. 

For one thing death was hardly mentioned. Of course sympathy was offered to the family and sorrow was expressed at the person's passing but there was no real attempt to make sense of death or what it might mean.  It's often said  that death has become the taboo subject of our culture, so much so that there was an attempt to initiate a national conversation about it  here in Scotland a number of years ago.  Many people today have never seen a dead body, been to a wake or an internment. Death has become something private, to be hidden away and it feels as though some Christian denominations are colluding in this. I've heard people say it's easier for the family to have their grieving in private which allows them to be more composed during the public service. But why should we be afraid to show grief in public?  Are  grief and tears not an expression of a love that lasts beyond the grave?  Bereavement is one of the most painful experiences there is but it's also one of the most human and perhaps we should be giving those who mourn permission to express it openly. Some cultures are better at doing this than those like our own that feel it's important to show a stiff upper lip.

All religions believe that death is not the end but a transition to a new way of being, though they don't agree what that might be. They see funerals as a rite of passage, an expression of sorrow and farewell, a way of supporting  someone as they let go of life and move on to whatever comes next. For me the funeral of a  friend with whom I have talked about life and death is such an opportunity and not to be able to do this because the actual funeral has taken place privately is a loss. I feel I haven't somehow shared this moment with them. While it's good to honour the person's life, it's also important to me to participate in this rite of passage and to bid them farewell in a context of such a  rite of passage.  I'm not sure if it's true at present but at one time the Catholic Church forbade eulogies at a requiem mass and while I wouldn't go this far I do understand the sentiment.
 
It also strikes me that while close family are naturally the ones who are most bereaved none of us simply belong to our family but to a much wider network of contacts and relationships, many of which will be unknown to our family. Many of these contacts will have their own private memories and be affected by the death and I'm sure, like me, would want to participate in the funeral.  

Where else is death to be acknowledged and talked about if not in a religious funeral?  Death is perhaps the last and greatest mystery of all. But no matter what our faith teaches about it, it's important to integrate it into life and not be afraid of it. Some cultures say that we only really live once we have faced the reality of death and funerals can help us do this. It's good too to remember that our life is greater than our life span.   Each of us is p
art of a story much greater than our individual lives, greater than our work or achievements. Our life story includes the effect and influence we have on the many people who come into contact with us. It will include the good that still lives on in the world because of our presence in it.  In this sense those who have died are not distant from us but ever present with us and our life and influence does not cease with our death no matter what our faith teaches about the particulars of life after death. 

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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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