The Purpose of Faith: Interfaith Dialogue & Responding to Darkness in the World

Photo by Trista Wynne

Offering our fellow human beings hope, love and light when they are in the midst of deep despair, pain and darkness -- this is one of the highest callings of humanity.  I wrote this on the Facebook wall of one of my youth just a few minutes ago.  I serve as youth adviser in a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Sunday mornings following my service and musical offerings in our Christian Church because I have a high value on interfaith dialogue and study.

I originally hopped online this morning thinking I might post a response to Boston from a Christian perspective, in particular from a Christian leader’s perspective as I am a seminary-trained woman preparing for the possibility of ordination and pastoral leadership.  But then I read my youth’s post about an interaction they’d had with a stranger where they were thanked afterwards for being the brightest moment in the past year of my life and for enlightening me with your perspective of the world.  And I was reminded that no matter what our faith tradition is, one of our highest callings is the offering towards our fellow human beings of hope, love and light in the midst of great despair, pain and darkness.  So, my post this morning is shaped a little differently than originally intended.

Searching for My Reflection in Your Eyes

Earlier today I spent a good deal of time with dear friends from college.  Our conversations were incredibly fruitful!  Among other very important things, we wondered together about the origins of my numerous food sensitivities.

My soul-sister wonders how many of my food issues may be a way of my body punishing itself for not living up to certain expectations, (both perceived and real).  Although there have been a number of benefits to changing my diet (including increasing the amount of natural and whole foods in my system) there are enough foods that cause my body trauma for us to wonder if there is an emotional link.

How many of my recent ailments have something to do with shame or guilt?  I'm not yet sure how to identify and/or combat it if there is that link.  But it does inspire a prayer...

Beloved,

I have a great deal yet to learn about myself.  I have much to learn about (and much to experience of) Your love.  I desire to see You looking at me.  I want to watch Your eyes as I take of my clothing and let You look at me.  I want to feel the heat of passion and compassion as You draw near, as you caress and as You love me.

Photo by Trista Wynne

No one and nothing else can fill this desire.  It is for You alone.  You are my Beloved.

Yesterday, through conversations with another prayer-sister, You helped me to see how guilty or ashamed I feel for "not measuring up".  Right now I feel completely inadequate -- as a wife, as a daughter, as a lover, as a friend, as a minister, as a spiritual leader and as a nanny.  Overall, as a person, I feel that I have failed.

You alone can make me whole. I'm looking for my reflection in Your eyes.

I feel guilty for having been born into a society that oppresses and enslaves other nations to do our bidding.  I feel guilty for living when my food, electronics and clothing are grown or created with the spilled blood of my fellow human beings.  The problems, the sin, is societal.  I feel powerless to stop it...

You alone cane make the world whole.  Help us see our reflection in Your eyes.

Amen.

On Christianity, Poverty & Wealth

While sitting at a coffee shop in an affluent area, I found my spirit grating within me. I had just been riding the public transit, praying for and talking to my fellow riders, and have been recently having my eyes opened to many of the reasons for poverty throughout the world. When I overheard conversation regarding vacation homes, new businesses and how much little dog’s outfits cost, I thought I might scream. Instead I brought out my pen and let my spirit connect with the Spirit of Grace and Truth.

*****

Ah, Lord, I wonder what I am doing here! I am deeply passionate about things that many of these people just let pass them by. Lord, what would You like to come forth out of this? I definitely hold the issues of Christianity, Poverty and Wealth close to my heart, but I do not yet know what to do about the issues I am learning about.

Lord, let my mind, heart, body and passions be fertile ground for Your Spirit’s seed. May the pathos and teachings of Jesus till the soil and nourish the tree of life taking root, and may the harvest be full, abundant and for Your glory. Please grant me courage and wisdom and inspiration to speak, act and write in ways that would grow Your Kingdom. Is there someone here You would like me to talk to today, or maybe to learn from them, or maybe simply to overcome my own prejudices?

Father, forgive me for just looking at the surface instead of the poverty within the conversation around me. Please help me to see people as You see them. Lord Jesus, You looked at the rich man with pity, mercy and compassion; help me to do the same. Spirit of Peace, infuse my inner being with Your grace and add an extra dose of love.

Perhaps the way to minister to the world at large is to soften the hearts of the rich towards the poor and likewise to do the same with the poor towards the rich. We are at such odds with one another and filled with such animosity, one toward another, that no compassion is shown.

I wonder what the churches around these areas, and others like them, teach about money. Lord, please let Your truth be known! Help the rich and poor to dialogue together. Help us to listen to one another in compassion and love.

What do You say, Lord? What would an ideal economic structure look like and how could we go about fostering such a system within our communities? I trust that Your Spirit will flow through my studies and dialogues to help me reflect Christ in my paper on this topic, but also in my life, teaching, writing, prayers, reflections, worship leadership, art, song and dance.

Oh Jesus, Beloved, when You walked the earth in the flesh, how did You feel towards Rome? I sometimes focus on the poor and other underdogs in Your life and forget that You also walked and talked and ate with powerful tax collectors, rich teachers and influential leaders in Your time. Always You did so to mend the broken stratification system. Always You taught those who thought they had power that the powerless were worthwhile and on the same level as them. Lord, teach me. Help me to see all people as equal. I do not want to stratify anymore. I want to break free from the system I was born into and to experience the freedom that comes from never seeing anyone as less than myself, and never seeing myself as anything less than Your Beloved. You are the Lover of all.

I want to see the world through Your eyes, to experience the love and compassion that You felt, and to shine as brightly as You shone. In order to fulfill this desire, which has been placed on my heart by Your own Spirit, I must be filled with You. And in order to be filled with You, I must be emptied of my prejudices, my judgments and my own sense of shame and guilt. O Lord, have mercy!

Enlighten my eyes from the inside out. I suspect that You are already living in every person in the world but are seen most clearly shining through the lens of community. Help my vision to be enlightened and healed by You. Here I am, Lord! Let me see with Your eyes, hear with Your ears, and to taste, smell and touch Your way as I walk throughout this world, amen.