First off, I need to say that my wife Chris, my 99 year old mother-in-law Robina and I are deeply grateful to all those with IPSC who so generously offered us shelter from hurricane Matthew. Of the six offers, we accepted the one that we did for reasons related to mom’s difficulty with stairs, etc. I did not realize until after we had arrived at the home of our hosts that I was within walking distance of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia where I was to speak the following Sunday. And that allowed me to make a poor joke “As I live in Bluffton, ordinarily I would have left at 5 am to drive here, but since it was a nice sunny day, I decided to walk.” Wonderful, welcoming and engaged congregation and I want thank Rebecca Drennan and Cheryl Soehl for the invitation to speak there.
 
But back to our accommodations. Our hosts fed, sheltered and entertained in the most gracious manner. My mother-in law-was as comfortable and as well taken care of as we could have hoped for. Our hosts were LDS, commonly known as Mormons, and as I grew up in that culture in Utah we had a lot to discuss. I was quite happy to find LDS participation in our organization and I must say that our hostess Deborah represents this faith in exemplary fashion. The LDS religion has a creed encoded in their 13 Articles of Faith, the 11th of which is “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” As open and willing to discuss religion as they were there was no proselytizing. All in all a most enjoyable visit and a kindness my family will long remember.
 
When Chris, mom and I returned home on Monday afternoon there was massive damage in our neighborhood, apparently a tornado cut a swath through as well as the destruction wrought by the howling winds of the hurricane. Our home was untouched, water and power working for which we are deeply grateful. Several days later we found that although the Port Royal Plantation of Hilton Head Island, where Chris' mom lives, sustained significant damage but her home suffered no damage either.

As Oprah and others often have said, there is no more important prayer than that of gratitude. Thank you!

Recently I was in Beaufort for a meeting of the Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort where Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky was also in attendance.  She and I work together with Interfaith Partners of South Carolina. Afterwards as I often do, I wandered the gracious city of Beaufort; this time out on the north eastern edge towards Pidgeon Point. As I was photographing the marsh and simultaneously trespassing (I can often pull off two things at once) I was called to by a man who asked if I “needed help”. After confirming that I was on private property we began a conversation that within a couple minutes brought us to the friendship between his grandfather Warren Mosby Seay, ThD (Doctor of Theology), pastor of the Beaufort Baptist Church, and Rabbi Julius S. Fisher PhD of the Beaufort Synagogue. After another few minutes I’m invited into the home of my host Andy Kinghorn and his charming wife Betsy, where he played the tape of Rabbi Fisher delivering his eulogy. After which Andy consented to allow me to capture this story on video. Not having my video equipment the sound suffered, I had no tripod and this was not the right lens, but I'm pleased to have the record nonetheless. Here’s the LINK TO VIDEO which is under 2 minutes. Below I've posted the Eulogy that Rabbi Fisher gave, although much is missed in the text as the Rabbi's deep, sonorous voice carries both love and gravitas so beautifully. As it was raining and I had walked several miles from where I had parked under the majestic oaks which line Newcastle Street at the east entrance to the Parish Church of St Helena, Andy offered to drive me back to my truck. We stopped a block away at the Baptist Church of Beaufort to visit Rev. Seay’s grave. Both sets of Mr. Kinghorn’s grandparents, as well as six uncles and aunts are also buried there. All in all a rather unexpected turn of events for me that day for which I am very grateful. This is certainly a fine example of the accord that Judaism and Christianity have reached in South Carolina as well as an inspiring personal testament to the friendships which can arise out of genuine interest in our neighbor’s faith paths.

I received an email yesterday from Carl Evans, past president of IPSC, sharing a provocative and compelling article titled New Rooms in the Interfaith Movement by Eboo Patel, originally published in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin. Click on the green title to read the entire article. With a certain level of discomfort I recognized myself in a description of a Chicago pastor addressing an interfaith youth core conference that Mr. Patel had attended. “In his self-introduction, the pastor had succinctly articulated what I’ve come to call the three main rooms in the house of interfaith cooperation: liberal theology, progressive politics, and spiritual enrichment. Moreover, he proclaimed that those views weren’t just rooms in the house, but the front porch and the foundation as well… Finally, he noted his frustration that a particular type of Christian was always absent from such gatherings, saying: “There are too many conservative evangelicals who claim the mantle of my faith, who believe that Jesus is the only way, that Christians have the exclusive truth, and who focus their energy on trying to bring others to their view rather than expanding their own spiritual horizons”. A young, evangelical speaker that followed the pastor started with “My name is Nicholas Price, and I think you are talking about me.” He went on to say that “He’d majored in religious studies with a concentration in Islam, and he believed his faith called upon him to seek to convert Muslims and also to cooperate with them. While he was deeply committed to the former, he understood that this space was dedicated to the latter.”

This prompted Mr. Patel to consider more deeply the purpose of Interfaith work. “Is it to bring together theological liberals and political progressives of various religions to share how their different faiths brought them to similar worldviews?” He went on to consider “if this approach excludes, and potentially raises hostility toward, faith groups, then it ought to raise the question of just what it is we think we are doing in a movement called “interfaith.” … My experience during fifteen years in interfaith work is that this is pretty common. Evangelicals are on the outside and are frequently invoked as somewhere between the foil and the enemy.” According to a 2011 Pew Forum study on global Christianity 26.8% of the U.S. population are evangelical Christians. Our Interfaith enterprise will never succeed if we don’t manage to include them in our respectful consideration and in the conversation.

The writer goes on to discuss the work of Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam and his theory of Social Capital. Putnam writes, “…social capital refers to social networks, norms of reciprocity, mutual assistance and trustworthiness.” Mr. Patel summarizes this notion with “Such networks have concrete value in a number of ways, ranging from networks in which people help others find jobs, to networks like neighborhood watch clubs, which reduce crime, thereby helping not only the people who participate directly, but also bystanders.” And further refines the discussion “Putnam’s crucial distinction is between “bonding” and “bridging” social capital. Bonding social capital brings people from like identities and perspectives together in tight networks, whereas bridging brings those from different identities and perspectives together. Putnam claims both are important, likening the first to sociological Super Glue and the second to sociological WD-40. He goes on to make this crucial point: “a society that has only bonding social capital will look like Belfast or Bosnia—segregated into mutually hostile camps. . . a pluralist democracy requires lots of bridging social capital. . .”

David Campbell, who shares similar perspectives with Putnam according to Patel, “writes about how religious divisions in America have changed over the course of the past few generations. The strongest divisions are no longer between people of different religions, but between people of different religious intensities. More theologically conservative evangelicals and Catholics, for example, are bonded in conservative politics. According to Putnam and Campbell, one fallout of this dynamic has been to drive a large group of people away from religion, period, explaining one of the reasons for the dramatic rise of what sociologists are calling the religious “nones.” Another fallout is that the theologically liberal, politically progressive, and spiritually expansive have needed to find spaces to gather and commiserate. One of those places has been in the interfaith movement. And so, interfaith work, as it is currently organized, has become a form of bonding social capital between people who have similar political, theological, and spiritual views.” I certainly am guilty of seeking and enjoying the “bonding” that takes place at the majority of Interfaith events I’ve participated in.

Patel observes that “… if the key divisions in American religious life are no longer among Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, but between conservative religious believers of multiple traditions, on the one hand, and a combination of liberal believers and secularists, on the other, then the bonding social capital nature of the interfaith movement effectively serves to widen and deepen that polarization… The primary purpose and greatest value of interfaith work is as a form of bridging social capital—building relationships among religiously diverse people who have different political, theological, and spiritual perspectives. Effective interfaith work would promote the following perspective: We recognize the deep and different worldviews you bring to the table, and we believe that you can have powerful relationships anyway. Movements exist to solve particular problems. The problem that interfaith work should be seeking to solve is the polarization of people who orient around religion differently.”

Patel points to a growing segment of Evangelicals which I found hopeful “… what I’m calling the relational turn in evangelical thinking. The focus here is not just on encouraging people to have a personal relationship with Jesus—the heartbeat of evangelical theology and conversion activities—but is on Jesus as an exemplar who built relationships with people of all backgrounds with unconditional love. Increasingly, I’m hearing these mainline to moderately conservative evangelicals underscore that an important part of that unconditionality is that Jesus did not require people to believe as he did to love them, and he did not use his love for them as a bait-and-switch to get them to follow him. For the evangelicals I’m talking about, following Jesus means several things. One is having a personal relationship with him as Lord and Savior. The second is seeking converts to that path. The third is having relationships with people from a diversity of backgrounds in an unconditional way, as Jesus did, not as bait for conversion but as an expression of religiosity. As Bob Roberts says, “I love others not to convert them, I love them because I am converted.”

As for the title of this Blog post Interfaith work: The Easy Tasks versus the Hard Tasks, the easy tasks are the ones I’ve put the most effort into. Some of which are meeting and greeting the folks with whom I love sharing perspectives; the theologically liberal, politically progressive, and spiritually expansive people I’ve come to know through Interfaith work. Other easy, even pleasant tasks involve reading, going to the scriptural texts or peering into the art and iconography. Ironically, recalling that the name of the young evangelical was Nick, I have a dear friend named Nick who is deeply involved in his evangelical faith, and every other Saturday morning cooks (with a little help), for 50 to 70 men who are committed to mission work and the duty of conversion. I do love him and have made some fine connections with men in that group. I rarely attend though, in part because I’ll only go if I can arrive by five AM (and that is a time of day that is easier for me to stay up to than to get up for!) and spend time with this authentically spiritual man, but also because I find myself sometimes reacting strongly against the attitudes and beliefs of a majority of those who attend. As a member of the Unity faith I believe there is only One Presence and One Power in the universe and in my life – God the Good, evangelicals place great emphasis on “Satan” or “the Adversary” and see that Being as the source of evil. Our Unity understanding is that “evil” is human in origin and the product of error thinking, of a cramped and limited view of the world; the word “sin” originally was a term from archery and meant “to miss the mark”.

After a careful reading and heartfelt consideration of Mr. Patel’s article I can see that there is good, if hard, work for me to do on those Saturday mornings. But in compensation the breakfasts are amazing, Nick is a very fine cook, spares no expense, and most importantly, is liberal with that special seasoning called love. Eating at his table feeds the soul as well as the body.

Some of you may know I lived over 40 years in Utah. My involvement with native culture and ceremony began there in the early 70’s. In the news for a while has been the controversy over the proposed Bears Ears national monument in the southwest portion of the state. The Inter-Tribal Logo to the left is a clickable link to the Inter-Tribal Coalition’s website where they have placed a wealth of material and some stunning photos. For many of the non-indigenous peoples these lands offer access to mineral wealth and recreation, all monetized. To the native Elders this is sacred land. Land continuously occupied for over 12,000 years. Here is a listing of the tribes and Pueblos with cultural ties to Bears Ears: Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe, Uintah and Ouray Ute Indian Tribe, White Mountain Tribe and Jicarilla Apache Tribe, San Juan, Kaibab, & Utah Paiute Tribes, White Mountain and Jicarilla Apache, Hualapai Tribe, Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Ysleta Del Sur, Zia and Zuni. I had the great fortune to know many among the Navajo, Ute, Paiute, Apache and Hopi. I have walked many miles and camped in a number of places in the area of the Bears Ears and it is a wondrous, sacred place.

As important as the Bears Ears issue is, I was prompted to write because of a long held concern with the endangered nature of so many sacred places. All religions with strong ties to the earth have their sacred places. I became radicalized about this issue and worked on the fringe of the environmental movement not because species, including Homo Sapien, were endangered by rapacious attitudes towards lands and natural resources, but because I couldn’t tolerate the ugliness being made in places of beauty where the mark of the creator was still clear, imprinting the land. Early on I sensed the hallowed nature of certain places. In later years I participated in ceremony throughout the deserts and mountains of Utah. My last trip back to there was to attend the Parliament of the World’s Religions in October 2015 and I was deeply gratified by the solemn welcome, and for the guidance and wisdom offered by the indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Among them the Paiute, the Ute, the Goshute, and the Navajo And for the sacred fire which burned continuously throughout the Parliament, there were elders present to facilitate the offering of prayers and tobacco twenty-four hours a day.

I arrived in Utah early enough to spend three days in the remote House Range of the west desert. Emptying and cleansing myself were part of it, but I had two sacred tasks specifically to attend to. The making of my “intention” as the stick one plays the drum with is sometimes known, and the painting of the drum, which my lodge helped me make the week before. The weekend following the Parliament was a reunion, a gathering of Aho, a large spiritual family my wife and I have been connected with for some thirty years.  That final Sunday evening I would ceremonially awaken this drum at a sweat lodge, or Inipe ceremony. A Shoshone elder sang a special song in that lodge as his gift to my drum. This drum has since served me well and I say thank you again to those who made it possible. Reconnecting with that awe inspiring patch of the desert that I knew well, left me with an assuring sense of belonging to our mother earth again, I have sometimes struggled with maintaining that nurturing connection here in South Carolina. It also renewed my commitment to speaking out for the protection of sacred lands and the access of native peoples to them for the spiritual practices that have sustained them and their lands across more than a dozen millennia.

Yesterday I traveled to Beaufort, SC to attend a meeting with the Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort. I approached them about becoming involved after attending the Mother Emmanuel Nine Annual Memorial Service which they had produced so beautifully. See my earlier post for more about that event.

I parked in the shade next to the beautiful Parish Church of St. Helena which is in fact in historic Beaufort on Church Street. Getting out of my truck I saw Mayor Billy Keyserling walking my way and had a chance to chat for a few minutes on the way to our meeting which was being hosted this month at First Presbyterian. I had worked with Billy in 2001 as a computer consultant but had not seen him since his election as mayor. He has always seemed to me to be a well inattentioned, soft spoken and very capable gentleman, who has deep roots in the city of Beaufort. Entering the church we were joined by Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky, who has also been active in Interfaith Partners of South Carolina.

The meeting lasted several hours with a group composed of various Ministers, Rabbis, the honorable mayor Billy Keyserling, the Chief of Police, his Sargent in charge of community relations as well as a few others with stakes in the community. I had hoped that the organization might expand into Beaufort County but it became obvious that there were deep issues specific to the city of Beaufort which needed to be addressed before they can expand their scope. Rev. Smalls of Grace Chapel AME who heads up the group, did make it clear that I would be welcome and encouraged me to attend in August.

The vast majority of the time was spent discussing the problems that exist between our black citizens and various law enforcement agencies. While it should be noted that the Beaufort Police Department was recently commended by the Department of Justice for the way in which its employees match the demographics of the community, it is obvious that there have been incidents and ongoing conflicts from the past which are not easily forgotten. All in attendance were anxious to develop approaches and programs to address these concerns. Rev. Smalls announced that their new church building will soon be completed and they intend to repurpose their historic chapel on Charles Street as a Center for Social Justice.

Later in the afternoon I met with Dimitri Cherny for dinner, he is running for Congress in the first district. I discussed this meeting with him to compare his perceptions with mine, in the context of his work along similar lines in Charleston. Dimitri has been involved with the 'Black Lives Matter' movement for the past few years in Charleston, has worked with the Chief of the Charleston Police Department in related matters, and with the Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM), which currently has the participation of twenty congregations. It was a very fruitful discussion. I can assure you that good work is being done by people of all races in these two cities at least, although there IS much left to be done yet.

There is some controversy over the use of the words “Ecumenical”, “Interreligious” and “Interfaith”. Some might say that what I am addressing here is not strictly “Interfaith”, but the work I am involved has elements of all and I choose to use Interfaith as an umbrella word placing the emphasis on the highest level of dialogue. I wanted to share this because you’ll find that although I am quite enamored of and committed to the spiritual ideals of the Interfaith movement in general, for me this is a spiritual practice and discipline; nevertheless I do see profoundly practical needs finding remedy in dialogues just like the one I attended earlier that day.

In these times, with the tragedies our nation is experiencing all too often and with the increased intensity and focus we’ve seen this summer, it is essential that differences are resolved. To my way of thinking no one is better equipped to facilitate this than we in the Interfaith movement. Faith leaders can initiate these conversations from the pulpit and facilitate the hard talks that are necessary within their communities. They can then come together in organizations such as The Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort to share these findings amongst themselves and arrange forums to communicate their concerns and propose solutions to the various authorities that can then implement policies, programs and procedures that will make a difference.

An older email that I hadn't looked at until today yielded a link to a very useful and thought provoking article. Clicking on the image above will take you to it. I want to thank my friend Holli Emore of Interfaith Partners of South Carolina for bringing it to my attention.

My own personal aspirations are toward a kind of universal religion, not mandatory, not to replace anyone's belief system, but for those who are not deeply grounded in a particular tradition and love the notion of a transcendent vision. Unfortunately, my perspective is the thing that frightens some of my friends, who adhere to various orthodox religions, about the Interfaith movement, and I think that the perspective I've gained from this article will be very useful in keeping an open dialog with them. In truth, another deep attraction to the interfaith movement for me is a profound love and appreciation of human diversity (languages, cultures, folkways and cuisines!) and I do celebrate the differences! Here are the seven principles and excerpts from Mr. Burklo's amplifications of them. Be sure to to see the full article.

Seven Principles of Interfaith Engagement
by Jim Burklo on April 19, 2016

Here I offer some basic guidance about how people of different faiths can engage with each other in meaningful and productive ways. This advice is the product of 36 years of interfaith work, culminating in my present job as Associate Dean of the Office of Religious Life at the University of Southern California.
 
1) The world’s religions are different from each other. That ought to go without saying, but there are many people who believe that each religion is just a different path up the same mountain, or that they are different languages to express the same experiences. They can be forgiven for this, because indeed there are threads and themes that look familiar across the lines of faith. My colleague at Stanford, Robert Gregg, former Dean of Memorial Church, once wisely said that the world’s religions are many paths up many different mountains. But when you get to the top of any of the mountains, you can admire a beautiful mountain range. …
 
2) The differences between religions are different. The difference between Hinduism and Islam is not analogous to the difference between Christianity and Judaism. Furthermore, these faiths have substantially different endogenous definitions of religion. Judaism as a religion is quite different than Christianity as a religion. For one thing, Judaism has an intrinsic ethnic identity that Christianity lacks. The failure to account for the differences between the differences results in deep misunderstandings in interfaith contexts. An example is the website “Belief.net”, one of the earliest attempts at interfaith engagement online. The very title of the website reflects a Protestant Christian bias. For evangelical Christianity, religion is defined first and foremost by belief. But many other faiths are defined more by rituals and practices than by doctrinal assertions.
 
3) Religions, and sects of religions, have different ways of understanding religious differences. But these differences don’t necessarily impede interfaith engagement. Diana Eck of the Harvard Pluralism Project defines three general ways that religions relate to each other. Pluralism is the idea that other religions may be as good for others as mine is for me. Inclusivism she defines as the assumption that other religions may have truth and value worthy of engaging, but whatever is good in them is but a lesser reflection of the ultimate, authoritative good of my own tradition. Eck defines exclusivism as the assumption that other religions are wrong at best and evil at worst, and that my faith is the only true one. … I do think that pluralism makes more room for appreciating the faiths of others than does inclusivism or exclusivism. But these latter two approaches still can allow for very rich interfaith conversations.
 
4) Different issues make for surprising interfaith bedfellows! Understanding the nuances of different faith perspectives on social issues is important for those who want to promote interfaith cooperation, to seek common ground where possible, and make room for disagreement where possible. … Understanding the historical and theological reasons for these differing views will help greatly in promoting interfaith engagement.
 
5) It’s good to know something about the world’s religions: I have spent my entire life studying my own tradition, Christianity, and the more I learn, the more I discover there is to learn. The older I get, the more boggled I am by its depth and breadth. I can only presume that this is the case for the other faiths, too. Effective interfaith leadership requires curiosity and humility. …regardless of your level of education in world religions, there is so very much more to know that could affect your relationships with people of other faiths. Ask questions, and then ask more questions based on the answers.
 
6) In America today, “innerfaith” exploration is part of interfaith engagement. The trend in religion in the US is toward increasing heterodoxy. Catholics are doing yoga. Evangelicals are going to tarot card readings. Jews have been practicing Zen meditation for decades. … But as the number of religiously unaffiliated people grows rapidly, we need to make room at the interfaith table for them. We need to make room for overt atheists, too. We need to ask questions. Where and how do you find support from other people for your spiritual journey? How do you experience spirituality, and what practices do you employ to evoke or express it?
 
7) You can grow in your own faith tradition through deep exposure to other traditions. One reason to get involved in interfaith work is to look more critically at your own faith, take it more seriously, and become more curious about it. … Any risk of temptation to switch religions is outweighed by the benefit of going deeper in one’s faith as a consequence of interfaith dialogue.

Until this past year Bahá'í was little more than an exotic name to me. A favorite spiritual tune, one which is performed almost every week at my Unity church is Daniel Namod’s One Power, which includes these words as the chorus:

                Call it God, call it Spirit
                Call it Jesus, call it Lord
                Call it Buddha, Ba’ha’ulla
                Angel’s Wings or Heaven’s Door
                But whatever name you give it
                It’s all One Power, can’t you see
                It’s the power of the love in you and me

Ba’ha’ulla is of course the name of the founder of Bahá'í. Last year as a part of our series on world religions we had Ms. Marylyn Harrison speak to us about this religion. I was excited to learn how profoundly its tenets aligned with my interfaith values. Just these past couple of months I’ve begun to know a little more about this faith through Victoria Smalls, a member of Baha'is of Beaufort County, and who spoke a beautiful prayer from her scripture last month at the Grace AME Chapel during the memorial for the Mother Emmanuel Nine.

I had found an article a while back which I revisited today entitled How the Baha'i Faith became South Carolina's second-largest religion which had been published in June of 2014 in The Post & Courier. Intrigued? I certainly was. When I investigated the source of a chart in the article I found the map which opens this posting. It was a surprising and delightful graphic. If you wish to read the article, the articles title above is a link. Here is a quote from the article:

“Baha'i basics
Founded in Iran in 1844, the Baha'i Faith teaches two core principles: the oneness of mankind and the oneness of world religions.

Baha'is believe in God's ongoing revelations to humanity through the central divine figures of the world's major religions. That includes Zoraster, Krishna, Buddha, Abraham, Moses, Christ, Mohammed and Baha'i founder Baha'u'llah.

These divine messengers each brought new teachings that advanced people's understanding of God based on the cultures and times they live in. While the social teachings differed, the essential spiritual messages did not (believe in God, be honest, loving, truthful, giving and so forth).”

The oneness of mankind and the oneness of religion is also the message that Swami Vivekananda shared in his keynote speak to the first Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.

On June 16th Rev. Nat Carter and I attended this moving interfaith memorial at the historic Grace Chapel AME Church on Charles Street in Beaufort. The memorial marked the first anniversary of the tragic shooting which took place at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on June 17th 2015. Nine lives were taken including The church's senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney who was also a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 45th District from 2000 until his death. 

The Emanuel  AME church was founded in 1816 and it is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South, often referred to as "Mother Emanuel". It is the oldest historically black congregation south of Baltimore. The memorial was organized in a most commendable way by the Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort. The sanctuary was packed with representatives of all the mainline churches as well as other faiths including Bahá'í, Judaism, Orisa (a west African based indigenous religion), and Islam. Rev. Nat and I represented Unity at the faith roll call.

Among the most memorable moments for me were the beautiful reading from Bahá'í scripture by Ms. Victoria Smalls and the address by former state representative Bakari Sellers (pictured above), a friend of the much lamented Clementa Pinckney, who had been born in city of Beaufort, SC.

Nine candles were lit, the name of a victim spoken by a faith leader with the lighting of each one. A 10th candle was lit in memory of the Orlando victims. The candle for Sharonda Coleman-Singleton was lit by Ms. Smalls who had known her in college. This was unbeknownst to the person who assigned the candles to the faith leaders who lit them, and for me much increased the poignancy of this ceremony.
 
This is a prayer from the sacred texts of the Baha'i' Faith by 'Abdu'l-Baha, as read by Ms. Victoria Smalls from the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'í s of Beaufort County.
 
O Thou kind Lord!
Thou hast created all humanity from the same stock. Thou hast decreed that all shall belong to the same household. In Thy Holy Presence they are all Thy servants, and all mankind are sheltered beneath Thy Tabernacle; all have gathered together at Thy Table of Bounty; all are illumined through the light of Thy Providence.
O God! Thou art kind to all, Thou hast provided for all, dost shelter all, conferrest life upon all. Thou hast endowed each and all with talents and faculties, and all are submerged in the Ocean of Thy Mercy.
O Thou kind Lord! Unite all. Let the religions agree and make the nations one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth as one home. May they all live together in perfect harmony.
O God! Raise aloft the banner of the oneness of mankind.
O God! Establish the Most Great Peace.
Cement Thou, O God, the hearts together.
O Thou kind Father, God! Gladden our hearts through the fragrance of Thy love. Brighten our eyes through the Light of Thy Guidance. Delight our ears with the melody of Thy Word, and shelter us all in the Stronghold of Thy Providence.
Thou art the Mighty and Powerful, Thou art the Forgiving and Thou art the One Who overlooketh the shortcomings of all mankind.

This presentation arose out discussions I had with Franciscan Sister Annie whom I met at the Eldering retreat offered through Mepkin Abbey's Contemplative Aging Institute, under the direction of Father Guerric Heckel. The video and book were produced by Sister Annie's colleague Sister Kathleen Warren, OSF. I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Parliament of the World's Religions 10/18/15. The beautiful icon is the work of Franciscan Iconographer Br. Robert Lentz.

In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan
Since September 11, 2001, violence between Muslims and Christians, who together make up more than 50 percent of the world’s population, has escalated radically. More than ever we need models for peacemaking and ways to educate one another on our common ground. Pope Frances took his name in honor of St. Francis and he has done a great deal to live up to that name. The Vatican’s Treaty with the Palestinian state is the most recent evidence of his efforts. This class will present a 44 minute video In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan: A Model of Peacemaking and will be followed by a group discussion. This video shares the story of St. Francis and Sultan Malek al-Kamil and a little-known thirteenth-century peace initiative in the Middle East. In 1219 during the Fifth Crusade, Francis took it upon himself to cross battle lines and reach out to the enemy. These countercultural efforts of Francis, a simple friar, and Malek al-Kamil, the leader of the Muslim forces of the Levant, made these men most unusual in their time. This video examines their efforts on behalf of peace in order to help us, in our time, negotiate inter-religious misunderstanding and hostility, and other difficult encounters between conflicting peoples.

A presentation I developed out of a retreat I did at Mepkin Abbey on Contemplative Aging.