A Time of Hope

I began writing the following blog on board CO 122 to Copenhagen,
on April 24, 2009. Between jet lag and computer problems, I am finally able to post it.

Children of Abraham,
Lay down your fears,
Swallow your tears,
And look to your heart.
by Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow is a popular artist—an A-list international rock star—currently doing some of the best work of her career. The words from “Out of Our Heads”, on the Detours album, express the hope of centuries. Strife in the Middle East represents an abiding threat to life as we know it. Religion often takes the rap for creating and perpetuating problems involving the region; most serious among those threats is the potential for a cataclysmic nuclear confrontation.

Last week at Congregation Beth Israel (CBI), in San Diego, California, I had the privilege of moderating a discussion about Abraham with four religious leaders. They explained how the father of monotheism is integral to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and still relevant as a model for the 21st Century. The panel included Monsignor Dennis Mikulanis--Catholic priest, pastor, and inter-religious affairs representative, the Rev. Dr. Jim Standiford--a Methodist minister, who serves as pastor of San Diego's First United Methodist Church, Rabbi Michael Berk—senior rabbi of CBI, part of the Reform movement, and Imam Taha Hassane—spiritual leader of the San Diego Islamic Center. These dialogs are part of CBI's adult education program and have been ongoing for ten years.

This program is open to the public and draws an audience from all the faiths represented on the panel. Each year I am impressed by how the differences among religions are discussed with respect. That is to say, we don’t ignore differences, but there is always an atmosphere of collegiality and good will. One challenge for these clergymen, who are all teachers and congregational leaders, is to explain their own faiths to those in the audience who know little about religions other than their own. The panelists explore differences and distinctions that define their faiths as they freely explain their own beliefs. Ultimately, similarities and common ground also emerge.

Perhaps it is California, iconic emblem of the “new” world, on the edge of the Pacific that allows these related but diverse traditions to join together in harmony. In this environment, different approaches to eternity mingle, in hopeful fashion, living possibilities of salaam, shalom, peace to men and women of good will.

As the warrior turned peacemaker, Yitzchak Rabin, remarked, before a zealot from his own “tribe” murdered him, loving our enemies can be a difficult, sometimes unrealistic goal; but living in peace, Rabin emphasized, must become our top priority.

I began this blog less than 24 hours after the dialog, on my way to Denmark and France for a family gathering. As we begin our descent into old Europe, we gain new perspectives on the state of our world. The era of Obama would seem to offer fresh opportunities for reconciliation and to build momentum toward a more peaceful planet.

We have had too much strife and emphasis on differences, “either-or” thinking, during the last eight years. The point is not about trying to make everything and everybody the same. It is respect and tolerance that will sustain us, not a Utopian fantasy world. But this will not necessarily flow from presidents and potentates, moguls or monarchs, it must grow from where we live, whether on the edge of the new world or in the heart of old.