What I Do Daily is Most Important

If I am to tell you the truth, I have no idea why students come to the Haven. The Haven, a spiritual center, is open once a week for the Lower School students.  The students must give up the loved lunch recess to come to the Haven. When I was in elementary school, growing up in North Dakota, I would have done anything to get out of the cold, but this is Indiana.  In particular, elementary children (and maybe especially boys) love recess because they can run and play to their hearts’ content. Yesterday I had twenty first and second graders come to the Haven. Thirteen boys and seven girls gave up their recess where we were quiet, read, used a singing bowl, and held a ribbon to connect ourselves during prayer time. They leave saying it’s the best time ever. I don’t get it.

What I do know, beyond a shadow of doubt, is that I am blessed to be doing what I am doing at Canterbury School. As the religion teacher at a college prep school I take seriously and am honored by the role I have in the spiritual and moral development of the children at our school. Canterbury School is based on Christian principles but our hope is that no matter what faith is practiced, all children will feel welcome at our school. It is this multi-faith context that has lead me to be active in multi-faith dialogue. As important as the multi-faith efforts are to me, I realize that my real impact is what I do every day.

With the understanding that what I do daily is most important in the next few months I will be involved in several multi-faith endeavors and dialogues. I will post the details as they unfold but I wanted to make you aware of what they are:

• February 5:Speaking at Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Wayne
• February 7: Haven Interfaith Parent Open House for Canterbury School parents
• February 8: A Seed of Common Ground (an interfaith group I belong to Fort Wayne) is sponsoring of movie and discussion, The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain 
• February 21: Attending Project Dialogue at Vanderbilt University 
• February 24: Meeting with local hospital chaplains on creating a Multi-faith room
• April 11: Moderating “A Multi-faith Event: How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices” at Canterbury School
• April 17: Moderating a multi-faith forum at Taylor University
• April 19-21: Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education in Los Angeles
• April 26: Hosting a multi-faith dialogue for a local community

Why Must I Suffer?

The topic has been chosen and the speakers finalized for the next Interfaith Event. The title of the Interfaith Event is “Why Must I Suffer”. The event will be held November 9^th from 7:00-8:30 pm. There are six speakers for the event. The speakers are:

Arjai Rinpoche, Buddhist Monk

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjia_Rinpoche)

Robert Rogers, Catholic (http://intothedeep.org/)

Dr. Prasad Mantravadi, Hindu, Radiation Oncology Associates, Physician

Amani Elhefni, Muslim, Universal Education Foundation Islamic School,

Principal

L. Michael Spath, Protestant, D.Min., Ph.D.Religious Studies - Department

of Philosophy; Peace and Conflict Studies Indiana University Purdue

University Fort Wayne; Indiana Center for Middle East Peace

Rabbi Mitchell Kornspan, Jewish, B'nai Jacob Congregation

The purpose of the Interfaith Events is to learn about other faiths through a common topic or experience. The topic of suffering, which is a universal experience, is dealt with in all religions. I foresee a thought provoking evening. Hopefully you can attend the event.

Depending on God

Once again this year I was invited by my Muslim friends to the Taste of Ramadan. The Taste of Ramadan is an 'iftar', a community meal to break the fast during Ramadan in which the Muslim community in Fort Wayne hosts people like me, a non Muslim. The Taste of Ramadan organizers invite Muslim and non-Muslim speakers to speak on various topics before the fast is broken. We broke our fast at 8:53 pm. Fasting is not easy and as much as I was trying not to watch the time, I was completely aware of the time. The organizers had a wonderful meal prepared with food from around the world. As a community we broke our fast together.


Once again this year I decided to fast for one day. Ramadan lasts for thirty days so my fasting for one day is quite insignificant. As a Christian I have to admit that I have never fasted as a spiritual discipline. Many Christians do, but I have not. That is not something I am proud to admit. As I fasted again this year I realized that there is something powerful about coming  together as a community, as in the Muslim faith, that says we are doing this together. This being my second year of fasting for one day (and it truly is insignificant) I begin to sense the power and life changing force of the spiritual discipline of fasting. Quite honestly, the first year I fasted, my mind was on survival. I remember opening and closing the refrigerator and pantry doors what seemed like a zillion times. I remember counting down the hours. But since I had done it once, this year I knew I would survive. I knew it was not a good idea to stay around my home so I kept my mind and body occupied. And when I did get hungry (at 2:30) I prayed. I prayed that my life would depend on God as much as I depend on food to maintain my life. During my one day of fasting I did not wonder if I would survive, but instead I begin to contemplate my dependence on God. My insignificant one day of fasting made me admire my Muslim friends for their discipline, but I also became, maybe somewhat envious, because I experienced how fasting deepens a person's spiritual life. As a follower of Jesus I am thankful for what my Muslim friends are teaching me. Maybe next year I'll fast for more than one day.


I'm wondering if there are spiritual disciplines that you do or have partaken in that have deepened your faith? If so, please post a comment and let me and fellow readers know about your discipline and how it impacted your faith.

An Interfaith Event: When I Die

Shalom! My summer has been filled with growth and God's grace. The academic calendar is such a wonderful thing because it typically gives me the opportunity to become refreshed with new ideas. This summer, though, was different. There has been much sadness and pain experienced with those I care about. And there has been much celebration and joy with those who I care about.  Isn't that the how life works? Even amongst our pain we celebrate, and when we celebrate we often have pain. My own growth comes out of much sadness and much joy. I'm reminded that God is a God of completeness and wholeness.  I am often asked why I even bother with this endeavor of Interfaith Dialogue, because it seems so hopeless to many. These verses from Psalms 25:4-5 are my prayer. "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Amidst the sadness and the joy, my hope is in God for He desires us to live in peace.
I am just now getting the last Interfaith Event, "When I Die" up on YouTube. I apologize for the delay for many of you have asked about it. Here is the link to the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrAsedoVqv0&feature=related
I am anticipating a great year filled with God's hope of living in peace.

Connecting at the Heart

During my first several years of working as the religion teacher I had a difficult time understanding my context. We were a school based on Christian principles not Christian faith. I was constantly asking myself, what did that mean for me as the religion teacher? The school’s religion curriculum used the Bible as a textbook, we celebrated Christmas and Easter and yet there were students from many different religions at the school. I often felt like I was walking on a fence trying to balance the school’s curriculum with the many different faiths that were represented at our school. Attending the school at that time were Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, Mormons and Earth traditions. I was not aware of any Muslims at the school even though there were many Muslim families living in the community.

Ten years ago a Muslim family moved to Fort Wayne and they wanted to send their oldest, who was going to go into kindergarten, to Canterbury School because of its strong academic reputation. So as parents they came to see me.  They weren’t asking the question, ‘what good are you going to do for my child?’ they wanted to know if I was going to harm their child. The exact same questions my husband and I had asked seven years earlier.  I understood that this conversation was important.  When the parents came to see me I started the conversation by talking about understanding their fear. I wanted them to know that even though I am Christian and they are Muslim, I too had faced that same fear when we sent our son to Canterbury School. We immediately connected as humans, as parents. We connected as parents who valued and tried to raise our children in the faith and belief system that we followed.  Then I went through the curriculum showing exactly what was taught and how it was taught.  This was my first understanding of the importance of interfaith dialogue to connect with others in what we have in common. We both were parents trying to raise our child in the manner we believed to be important. They did not ask me to change and I did not ask them to change.

This family has become dear friends to my husband and me. They did enroll their son in our school and they participated in my first interfaith group. They have taught me so much. They have helped me see that I do not need to feel like I am walking on a fence. Instead my own faith is deepened while I’m making new friends and learning about other faiths.