Week 9 |
"God - The Beyond In Our Midst": Toward A Global Spirituality... Part II |
October 29 |
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It has been reported that there is a species of fish that lives in the waters off the South American continent that has the ability, with its one set of eyes, to see in two directions - up and down- at the same time.
As it makes its way through the water, it, simultaneously, looks down into the murky depths and looks upward to the sunlight piercing the water's surface!
Looking in two opposite directions at the same time, is for the human, visually impossible; but, attitudinally, achievable. Indeed, looking in two directions at the same time is essentially necessary in developing a global spirituality.
As one begins to participate with others ecumenically and inter-religiously, as one begins to ask the other, "What do you believe?", "Why do practice this ritual?" and "How does this doctrine have meaning for you?", the very same questions you ask will be asked of you.
If you do not have the answers, you know that you must quickly search for them. Thus, the quest for knowledge about the other denomination, the other religion automatically becomes a quest for knowledge of one's own religion, one's own denomination. The more one looks outward, the more one will need to look inward. Living ecumenically and inter-religiously, one imitates that fish and looks in two different directions at the same time.
A global spirituality has its beginnings in the person's willingness to simply gain knowledge and information - about others and about one's self. It is about looking for those values that we have in common as religious people. It is looking for the common meanings that lie beyond the words, rituals and symbols found in our different religions.
One must be willing to live with seeming contradiction, confusion and doubt. One must be willing to let go of quick answers and comfortable categories. One must not see "the other" as an object of conversion, (bringing the other to my way of thinking or my structured belief system), but seeing the other as a fellow human being trekking up the same mountain to God, but traversing a different path.
As we begin to reverence one another, as we speak each other's words, and as we participate in each other's rituals, we will begin to see and understand our own religion and denomination in fresh and revitalized ways.
Developing a spirituality that is global, that is, takes in everyone, allows individuals to live within their own creeds and ritual practices, while respecting those of the other. The spirituality becomes the connector, the link, the space "in-between" where we find God in a newer and more intimate way. That "in-between" space is "The Beyond In Our Midst" where God is found. That "in-between" space is indeed God.
My sabbatical time here in Israel/Palestine is rich with people and experience. Imagine having a seminar on Friday morning with a Palestinian Anglican priest who presents his work on "Palestinian Liberation Theology" from a Christian perspective. On that same Friday, in the evening, attending a Sabbath service in a Reformed Synagogue with a Jewish family and then having dinner in their home. Then the next morning, on Saturday, attending a seminar presented by a Moslem woman on Islamic family practices. All within 24 hours!
Where did I find God in those 24 hours? Of course, God is everywhere. But I most felt God's presence, at those "in-between" spaces. In the words, the gestures, the attitudes, and the silences, as we all tried to make those human connections as Jew, as Christian and as Moslem.
Is God, in this new millennium calling us to new lands? Is God, who is in Judaism, in Christianity and in Islam saying to us, "Come to know me even more deeply in those "in-between" spaces and places where Jew, Christian and Moslem, indeed people of all religions and philosophies, make conscious efforts to touch and connect?"
"God - The Beyond In Our Midst"!
On Thursday, October 26, the Tantur Sabbatical Participants prayed the Way of the Cross along the Via Delorosa in Old Jerusalem. One of the Stations is in front of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate.
Notice the woman and child who are sitting near this one Station of the Cross along the Via Delorosa. The mother is begging for money. It is very difficult to refuse her in such a situation. She knows where to sit for maximum results.
Here is Rabbi Ada Zavidov. The Rabbi is the lady in the picture! The man on the right is Ari Marom and on the left of the Rabbi is Ari's son, Adi. Fr. Jim Profota and I were guests at the Sabbath Service on Friday, October 27 in the Zur Hadassah Synagogue (presently located in a portable building). This is a Reformed Congregation Afterwards we were guests in the Marom home for dinner.
On Sunday, October 29th, I attended Mass at the Greek Catholic Church in Bethlehem. This is the pastor of the parish whose name I failed to get!
The sunlight is beautiful as it streams through the windows of the Greek Catholic Church in Bethlehem. The congregation was "alive" and very participatory! I attended the liturgy with Michael Zoughbi who is a cousin to our parishioner Michael Maria. Afterwards, Michael's cousin, Michael, gave us a tour of the damage caused by the Israeli helicopter and tank fire in and around Bethlehem. The damage done to innnocent Palestinian families and their homes is seen in the pictures that follow.
These four pictures detail the response of the Israelis to the snipers firing from Beit-Jala, a Palestinian city next to Bethlehem, unto Gilo, an Israeli settlement. Our inspection on Sunday, of a number of homes, showed us that the Israelis are over-responding to the sniper fire and that they are responding indiscriminately. Innocent families are being greatly affected. The homes of innocent families were destroyed by the Israeli response!
These are "close-ups" of the weapons of destructions (missiles) that are destroying the homes of innocent Palestinians. By the way, these weapons were made in the United States.
In all of these conflicts, it is the children who suffer! This picture is "plastered" throughout Bethlehem and the West Bank. The picture is of a 12 year-old honor student, on his way home from school, who was killed by an Israeli stray bullet. The student was not involved in the conflict. He happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Palestinians throwing stones; Israelis responding with bullets; innocent children die!
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