One of the odd things about producing this newsletter is that I have to write my column at least a month before you read it. This column is about the death of Jesus of Nazareth, not the Mel Gibson movie; at the time I am writing this, I haven't yet seen "The Passion of the Christ," but I have already been planning a Feb. 26 discussion among our Board members, a mid-March clergy gathering, and a May 6 Annual Meeting, all of which will deal in one way or another with how we can teach the distinctive aspects of our religion without defaming other faith communities.
The question is important because false teaching about others faiths has led to pogroms, persecution, and the Holocaust, and religious hatred has fueled everything from the atrocities committed by Christians against Jews and Muslims during the Crusades and against one another in Northern Ireland to those committed against them in civil wars in Indonesia and the Sudan. This question also should be important to every Christian who is interested in church growth and evangelism, because most church-shoppers and other "seekers" these days are looking for a congregation that is clear about what it teaches but also respects other denominations and other traditions.
The crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the key differences between Christianity and Islam. Muslims do not understand how we can say that the All Merciful would let such a terrible thing happen to such a prophet of the Almighty. There is an irony here, one that is seldom noted by either faith community: both Muslims and Christians feel that the other religion does not hold Jesus in high enough regard. Christians object to the fact that Muslims do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah and divine, while Muslims object to the way Christians claim he was tortured and executed unjustly. We who preach the Passion of Christ might do a better job of explaining why the Cross remains what Paul called "a stumbling block and a scandal" if we acknowledged that neither the Jews who came before Jesus nor the Muslims who came later expected God in human flesh to suffer an unjust death in order to save humanity. As Marston Speight points out, "Christians and Muslims agree that Jesus is presently exalted in the majestic presence of God." We differ only in how we believe Jesus triumphed. "We Christians find the cross as the gateway to the exaltation, whereas Muslims see Jesus' exaltation as a sign of God's vindication of his servant after his escape from death."
The torture and execution of Jesus by the Romans started out as only a small stumbling block between the followers of Rabbi Yeshua and the those who followed other rabbis, but Christian anti-Semitism has turned this symbol into a major source of division and terror. As Bruce Rudolf, the pastor of Emanuel Lutheran Church in Patchogue explained to our Board of Directors recently, "When Christians see the cross they focus on God's love, but this symbol speaks to Jews a message of exclusion, humiliation, and extermination."
As Msgr. Donald Beckmann told our Board, "Christians have from the earliest days not wanted to accept the message of the Cross and have wanted to put the scandal and stumbling block off onto someone else rather than admit that all of us have sinned and fallen short. "We don't really want to believe that Christ died for our sins, so we blame the Jews-or the Romans for that matter." We can best avoid prejudice, Don insisted, if we preach God's victory over sin and death "as something we need still."
Shalom/Salaam/Shanti/Paxa
Tom
Recently Father Leonid Kishkovsky of Our Lady of Kazan Russian Orthodox Church in Sea Cliff congratulated North American Antiochian Orthodox Christians on achieving self-rule but added,
"Both the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in American and the 'self-rule' of the Antiochian Archdiocese are not and must not be an 'end unto themselves.' To the contrary, the Orthodox Church in America and the Antiochian Archdiocese are challenged to move 'beyond' autocephaly and self-rule to united orthodox action, mission, witness, and presence in North America. This vision and practice of unity must be inclusive and self-sacrificing.""The Orthodox Church," January/February 2004
"Be the person you were created to be. Nothing else works."LICC Board member Richard Goodman
"Christians need to understand and acknowledge that this story [the Crucifixion], which lies at the heart of their faith, has contributed to centuries of pain for Jews. Recognizing that fact need not diminish the power and meaning of the suffering of Jesus for Christians. Indeed, separating the Passion from its anti-Jewish history is a way of modeling the love for humanity that both Judaism and Christianity affirm. Conversely, Jews need to understand why Christians find the Passion to be a moving and religiously significant story."Rabbi David Fox Sandmel writing on "The Passion of the Christ"
Most Buddhists have meditation as a core practice. The Buddha (Awakened One) gained understanding of himself and the Universe through an intense meditative practice.
What is the nature of this practice and what is its purpose? Part one of this article will review how to meditate and the second part will summarize the purpose of mediation.
The posture strongly effects the meditation. One should sit in a chair or on a cushion on the floor. The back should be straight, the shoulders relaxed and the hands in the lap in a comfortable position. The eyes are open and the gaze is softly focused about three feet in front. The feet should be flat on the floor for those in a chair or the legs comfortably crossed for those sitting on a cushion on the floor.
The simplest form of meditation is to count each in and out breath until the count reaches ten. Then the counting starts again at one. The breath must not be controlled by the mind, but rise and fall naturally.
The breath occupies the attention to the exclusion of all thoughts. The function of the mind is to think, so one discovers thoughts continually arise. These thoughts will be linked together into a narrative and one either stops counting or counts on long past ten. When this happens the thought must be acknowledged, the breath returned to and the counting restarted at one.
Beginning meditating students should limit their sessions to 5 minutes and gradually increase to 25 -30 minutes. There will always be thoughts, only a stone has no thoughts, as one Zen Master put it. The practice is to recognize the thought as soon as it is formed, to let it go and return to the breath.
by Bob Festa
Tom Goodhue will tell a children's sermon from his most recent collection of children's sermons, "Sharing the Good News with Children" (St. Anthony Messenger Press).
The next Christian-Jewish-Muslim Dialogue on the Middle East Conflict will take place on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 at 7:30 PM, at Plainview Jewish Center (95 Floral Drive). The program is "Abrahamic Voices from the Holy Land" featuring Imam Khalid Abu Ras, Rev. Samuel Fanous and Rabbi Ariel Picard. Please join us for this interesting presentation and discussion. RSVP to the American Jewish Committee 516-942-2651 or email mattesc@ajc.org.
Few disagreements in the church are more divisive than those surrounding sexuality. People of faith often have such conflicted feelings about issues such as homosexuality that it is difficult for them to minister to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered.
The LICC is co-sponsoring a conference to help clergy, social workers, therapists, educators, parents and others to understand better the needs of the LGBT communities of Long Island. Terrence McNally, playwright and author of "Love! Valour! Compassion!" will give the keynote address. Workshops will address health, education, legal, domestic violence, and religious issues, including the experiences of congregations that have sought to welcome these communities. The conference will be Wednesday, Jun2 2, from 8:30 to 5:30 at the Huntington Townhouse.
Thursday, April 22, 2004, 8:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
The cost is $25 per person. Scholarships are available for clergy.
Breakfast and lunch are included.
Seating for this conference is limited, so please register early.
For information, including scholarships, call Barbara Strongin, 516-496-7550.
Mail registration to:
AIDS Interfaith Conference, c/o FEGS Long Island Division
6900 Jericho Turnpike, Syosset, New York 11791-4414
Name: ____________________________________For directions, call Herbert Leiman, 516-365-7445.
Phone number: _________Fax Number:__________
Address: ________________________________________
E-Mail: _______________________________
Faith Community: _____________________________________________
Lunch (please select): Meat___Tuna___Egg___Vegan___Kosher___
Number of persons in my party ____ *
(Please list any additional names on a separate sheet.)
My check payable to the Health & Welfare Council/AILI in the amount of $25 per person is enclosed.
I need handicap accessibility_______.
I am unable to attend, but I am enclosing a tax-deductible contribution payable to Health & Welfare Council/AILI** for $___ to show my support of AIDS Interfaith Long Island.
Hicksville United Methodist Church
Hicksville, New York
May 26, 2004
Topics include:
For registration information contact:
Lombard Mennonite Peace Center
1263 S. Highland Ave., Suite 1N
Lombard, IL 60148-4527
630-627-0507
www.LMPeaceCenter.org
Temple Beth David
100 Hauppauge Road, Commack, N.Y.
Thursday, May 6, 2004 - 11 AM to 2 PM
This year's theme will be "How do we tell the stories of our faith traditions without defaming the religious traditions of other faiths?" For example, when Christians see the Cross, they focus on God's love, mercy and inclusiveness. Jews, by contrast, see pogroms, destruction and exclusion. While Christians and Muslims both revere Jesus, each tradition has very different ideas about Jesus' suffering and each believes the other's tradition is not appropriately respectful of Jesus.
Christians see Christ's suffering as the atonement for the sins of all. They believe Muslims don't sufficiently respect Jesus because they see him as a Prophet but not God in human flesh. Muslims, by contrast, believe that only the evil and unjust could suffer a death as terrible as Roman crucifixion, and so they suspect that Christians do not sufficiently respect Jesus when they emphasize his suffering. This is the dilemma - to tell the stories that are meaningful to each of our faith without distorting the faith traditions of others who believe differently. A panel of prominent Long Island clergy and lay religious leaders will discuss these issues, followed by a question and answer period.
Please complete the form and mail it to:
Long Island Council of Churches
Attn: Anne Vaughan
1644 Denton Green
Hempstead, NY 11550
Phone: (516) 565-0290
$30 Registration includes lunch. Make checks payable to the Long Island Council of Churches. Please register by May 1st so we can confirm the number for lunch with the caterer. Registration at the door will be $35.
RESERVATION FOR ANNUAL MEETING AND LUNCHEON 2004
(check one)
Mr. Mrs. Ms. Rev. __________________________ # attending ____
Address _______________________________________________________
City _______________________________ State ____ Zip ______________
Church/Organization _____________________________________________
Phone _______________________ Total enclosed ____________________
The Long Island Council of Churches is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit. All gifts are deeply appreciated and are tax-deductible.
Tom Goodhue
Executive Director
Long Island Council of Churches
1644 Denton Green
Hempstead, NY 11550
voice: 516-565-0290, ext. 206
fax: 516-565-0291
email: licchemp@aol.com
Web: www.ncccusa.org/ecmin/licc