Most of us would like to have the final word in an argument. We would also like to see ourselves as the new and improved version of our predecessors. It should not be surprising, I suppose, that nearly every faith community sees itself as having superseded or supplanted an earlier faith—and resents later religions that claim to have replaced them. As a result, nearly every faith community has a problem with those who came before their founders and those who came after them.
For us Christians, our most troubled interfaith relationships have been with Judaism and Al-Islam. We may or may not respect Buddhists or Brahma Kumaris but we haven’t launched pogroms or Crusades against them. Christians continue to be troubled, though, by the fact that many of the friends and neighbors of Jesus of Nazareth did not follow him. Christians at times have been so angry about this that we have unfairly condemned Jews for “rejecting” Jesus, even if they saw him as a good man, a great teacher or even a prophet—and we don’t persecute Romans, whose ancestors rejected Jesus in a big way. We may resent the way Muslims sometimes speak of Christianity as if it were a rough draft for later revelation—in other words, for treating us exactly the way we have often treated Jews. Muslims, though they honor the prophets of Judaism and Christianity, tend to resent the Bahais. Bahais claim that their guy, Bahaullah, encompasses all religions—except, of course, the ones that came later.
Theologians call the doctrine that my faith replaced yours “supersessionism.” [Note to my fellow boomers: this term does not refer to “Super Session,” the great ‘60s blues album by Mike Bloomfield, and Stephen Stills, though Al Kooper did later record “I Stand Alone,” which is the point of supersessionism.] Christians often are offended when Jews speak as if supersessionism were unique to Christianity and synonymous with anti-Semitism. It is not that this criticism of Christians is entirely off the mark, mind you: I firmly believe that God was revealed in Christ in a profoundly new way but I also fear that much Christian theologizing about the New Covenant replacing the Old Covenant grows out of prejudice against Jews and further feeds it. Christians should reject this sort of thinking, the Apostle Paul insists, because God has not invalidated the Old Covenant: “to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, may he who is God over all be blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:5)
What usually goes unsaid in Jewish-Christian dialogue is “You’ve got a lot of nerve!” Christians sometimes are annoyed when accused of replacement-part theology not only because we often are guilty of practicing it, but also because the Children of Israel were the original supersessionists. The Hebrews went from polytheism to henotheism to radical monotheism: from seeing their god as powerful to seeing Yahweh Elohim as the most powerful of all gods to eventually seeing theirs as the only God, the All-Powerful. Nor did their prophets treat the priests of Baal kindly.
So how can we teach our traditions without trashing those of others? We will wrestle with this question in some detail at our annual meeting on May 6 in Commack. A panel of guests—Rabbi Jerry Davidson of Temple Beth El in Great Neck, Father Manny Gratsias, pastor of Resurrection Greek Orthodox Church in Glen Cove and a former board member of Church World Service and the National Council of Churches, and Sanaa Nadim, Muslim Chaplain at the Stony Brook University, will offer their advice. In the meantime, here are a few thoughts of my own:
We are grateful to the following for their gifts of $500 or more:
We also thank the numerous faith-based institutions, agencies, businesses, and others who gave less but whose gifts are just as important, and we thank the individuals who also gave but asked that we don’t publish their names. Thank you for being a blessing to all those we serve who are in need.
We have eight large families we’re trying to keep from becoming homeless. Although we currently have Emergency Food and Shelter Funds to help with housing needs, these eight families are not eligible according to those guidelines so we can’t use that money to help them.
When they move into a new apartment, our clients get help from other sources with the first month’s rent. However, before they can move in, they are also required to pay a security deposit and a broker’s fee, each of which is equal to another month’s rent. The average amount they have to pay “up front” is $3,000, of which $1,500 is for the security deposit and another $1,500 is for the broker’s fee. It’s extremely difficult to find an apartment that doesn’t come through a broker.
Therefore our most urgent need for this month is to raise $24,000 so we can help these eight families find a place to live.
Alice is a single parent with one son age 15 and one daughter age 12. Alice’s sister also lives with the family. The son was diagnosed with a brain tumor several years ago, but the family fell through the cracks and didn’t get the assistance it needed. Because of the very serious nature of the son’s illness, Alice had to give up her job to care for him full-time. Despite calling all of the agencies in her vicinity, all but ours turned her down. She said they wouldn’t even talk with her. A school in her district was supposed to provide additional assistance, but has not yet done so. Several agencies gave her our number. By the time she talked to us, she was desperate. We helped her with cash assistance to buy her family Christmas presents and a King Kullen gift certificate to purchase food.
The Buddha said all that we are arises with our thoughts, with our thoughts we make the world. The practice of meditation is designed to observe these thoughts and in so doing realize how we create our world based on our conditioned responses to our experience. During meditation one begins to see how the mind spins out these random thoughts and then attempts to integrate them into a continuous story so we can pretend they have a real substance.
These “stories” are focused in the past or the future, neither of which is where we actually live our lives. The result is we never really experience things as they truly are, that is, free of our conditioned response to them.
Our mind always keeps the focus on us. We are caught up in the never ending struggle to establish a permanent and unchanging self. This despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The Buddha singles out old age, sickness, and death as the clearest indication that like all things we are subject to the law of impermanence. Ignoring this law and seeking a fixed and permanent self is the main cause of our suffering.
To truly live our lives we must give up our notion of permanence and the best way to experience this reality for ones self is to sit in meditation. It needs to be said that this process is not accomplished in one sitting or one year. It is a lifetime endeavor because our conditioning is so strong and ongoing.
Quieting the mind is the way to the realization of the interrelatedness of all things in the Universe and to meet face to face with our true nature. This permits one to live with joy in the midst of pain and sorrow.
--by Bob Festa
The LICC’s Fall Convocation will focus this year on hunger on Long Island: what causes it, what churches and charities are doing to feed those who are hungry, and what changes in public policy could reduce hunger in our midst. Here is some food for thought:“Hunger is the gnawing pain in the pit of a young mother’s stomach as she feeds her children the last of their food while she goes without. It’s the ache in the heart of a father who works two minimum-wage jobs and still cannot afford to buy enough food for his family. … Nearly 35 million U. S. citizens, including 13.1 million children, live with food insecurity, notes the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s July 2003 Food Insecurity Report. . . over the past 20 years, the poverty rate among working families has increased by nearly 50%.”
“The Interpreter” (United Methodist Church), February-March 2004.
“The United States experienced the biggest jump in poverty in a decade in 2001, to nearly 12 percent of the population -- their [the food insecure] ranks are growing. At the end of 2002 the US Conference of Mayors reported a 19 percent increase in the demand for emergency food over the previous year. Food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and other emergency good providers now serve at least 23 million people a year ... they are hardworking have-nots who cannot pay the rent, medical bills and still feed their families."Spending on the cluster of nine domestic food programs rose from $30.3 billion in 1982 to $42.7 billion in 1992 [in 2002 dollars]. In the 2002 fiscal year it had fallen to $38.4 million
"The food-stamp program assumed that families had 30 percent of their income to spend on food...but today poor families use 50 - 80 percent of their income on housing and have far less to spend on food."
"Emergency food is now entrenched in nearly every city and town. It represents a fundamental failure of government to adequately feed its citizens."
“The Nation,” August 18.2003
“The besetting sin of much of the Interfaith Dialogue movement is that it just brings together liberals from each religion….We all sit around and celebrate the fact that we are talking to each other. Then we moan that so many of our co-religionists are not like us.”Ian Markham, “Zion’s Herald” March/April 2004
When Jesuit missionaries accompanied Portuguese traders to Japan in the 16th century, this may have been the first time that Europeans and Asians ever met as equals rather than as conqueror and vanquished. “Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire” tells how a modern nation was forged out of this clash of cultures—and a warrior caste’s struggle with Christianity.
Christians came to Japan with trade rather than conquest. Wracked by civil war, Japan was ripe for conversions. Within 50 years, the Portuguese missionaries had built 200 Catholic churches and had won 250,000 followers. Soon, though, the samurai Tokugawa Ieyasu became the most powerful leader in Japan and assumed the title of Shogun, leading the war-torn Japan into an era of peace that he did not want to see disturbed by a new religion. Ieyasu’s friendship with Will Adams, the first Englishman to set foot in Japan in 1600 and the inspiration for the novel “Shogun,” led him to prefer English and Dutch traders, who did not evangelize, and to expel the Portuguese and Spanish, who combined commerce and conversion. His grandson Iemitsu persecuted native Christians even more ferociously, burning 55 martyrs in a single day.
Iemitsu’s brutality led to the Shimabara Rebellion in 1637, when peasants and Christians joined in a revolt that looked like it might succeed. The Shogun then ordered a Dutch warship to fire on the rebels—or be barred from trade. The Dutch complied. Iemitsu closed the nation to foreigners and almost completely eradicated Christianity from Japan. So much for our Protestant prejudices: Catholics worked with merchants, not military men, while Protestant capitalists turned their cannons on fellow Christians.
This uprising was the last civil war in the country’s history, a record matched by few other nations. In peace Japan’s capital, Edo, grew to become the world’s largest city, with a population of more than a million people. Unlike European cities, Edo was clean and safe, with an advanced recycling program. Without war, the samurai read avidly and wrote haiku voluminously. 85% of Edo’s residents could read, and they supported more than 500 bookstores.
Peace and prosperity came, however, at the cost of completely sealing off the island empire. Not until 1853 would American gunboats force the shogun to open her doors to trade. Commerce and Western technology caused a crisis in Japanese culture. In 1868 the 15th shogun stepped down. Ten years later, the samurai class was disbanded.
Skillfully weaving together colorful woodblock prints, excerpts from Japanese diaries, and costumed reenactments of historic events, “Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire” dramatizes the meeting of two proud civilizations that proved better at trade and warfare than they did at sharing religious beliefs. This excellent program airs on PBS on Wednesday, May 26, at 8 p.m. but remember to check the local listings for the public television station in your area.
Catholic Charities invites you to a screening of the highly-acclaimed documentary film “Farmingville.” on Wednesday, May 5th, 7:00-9:30 PM, at St. Matthew’s Church in Dix Hills. Newsday has called Farmingville “required viewing for every decision-maker.” The film profiles the anguish of undocumented immigrants and community residents in Farmingville, Long Island that is rooted in America’s poorly-conceived immigration laws. The documentary will be followed by a panel discussion of what can be done to compassionately and sensibly treat undocumented immigrants
The panel discussion will feature:
Directions to St. Matthew Church:
Please register for “Beyond Farmingville” by April 30 by calling Catholic Charities at 516-733-7078, fax 516-733-7098.
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 religious leaders will discuss these issues—Rabbi Jerome Davidson of Temple Beth El in Great Neck, Father Emmanuel Gratsias of Church of the Resurrection (Greek Orthodox) in Glen Cove, and Sister Sanaa Nadim, Muslim Chaplain at Stony Brook University. There will also be time for a question and answer period.
DIRECTIONS TO TEMPLE BETH DAVID
Take Commack Road North from LIE (Exit 52 from the west, exit 53 from the east) or Northern Parkway (exit 43). Go north on Commack Road, turn left onto Hauppauge Road at 2nd light beyond Northern Parkway. (The Commack Library is on the NW corner, the Hamlet is on the SW corner). Proceed west past the library, Presbytery Center, Gurwin Nursing Home & the YMHA. Turn right at the sign for Temple Beth David. (Parking also available at LIA).
Please mail checks and registration information to:
Long Island Council of Churches
Attn: Anne Vaughan
1644 Denton Green
Hempstead, NY 11550
Phone: (516) 565-0290
Your $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.
Include the following information with your check: your name, address, phone, church/organization, number attending, and the total enclosed.
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
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, and religious issues, including the experiences of congregations that have sought to welcome these communities. The conference will be Wednesday, June 2, from 8:30 to 5:30 at the Huntington Townhouse.
One in three of us will require a blood transfusion sometime during our lives, but fewer than 5% of Americans donate blood—and less than 2% of Long Islanders do. Here are some places and times that you can give the gift of life if you are 17-75 years old (or have a doctor’s note if you are over 75), weigh at least 110 pounds, and are generally in good health:
| Long Island Blood Services Community Blood Drives for May | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Organization | Address | Town | Time | Chairperson | Phone # |
| 5/2/2004 | St. Raymond | St Raymond School | East Rockaway | 08:00AM - 01:30PM | Marguerite White | (516)887-9197 |
| 5/3/2004 | Christ Lutheran Church | 189 Burr Rd. | E. Northport | 02:45PM - 08:15PM | Andrea Moon | (631)499-3414 |
| 5/3/2004 | First Presbyterian Church-Babylon | 79 E. Main St. | Babylon | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Gail Rogals | (631)666-0297 |
| 5/4/2004 | LICC Islip | Presbyterian Church | Islip | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Linda Ball | (631)273-9078 |
| 5/7/2004 | St. Frances de Chantal | 1309 Wantagh Ave | Wantagh | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Robert DeMarco | (516)679-9898 |
| 5/7/2004 | St. Frances Cabrini | 134 Middle Country Road | Coram | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Cliff Mitchell | (631)924-7938 |
| 5/8/2004 | Mid Island Club | Community Church of the Nazarene | Wyandanch | 11:00AM - 03:00PM | Connie Hendrickson | (917)956-8630 |
| 5/10/2004 | St. Brigid's Church | 101 Maple Avenue | Westbury | 04:00PM - 09:30PM | Lisbeth Caiafa | ( ) - |
| 5/10/2004 | LICC Huntington | Old First Presb. Church | Huntington | 03:15PM - 08:45PM | Stephanie Lange | (631)757-9348 |
| 5/10/2004 | LICC West Hempstead | St. Andrew Lutheran Church | W. Hempstead | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Doris Fritzen | (516)292-3224 |
| 5/10/2004 | Abiding Presence Lutheran Church | 4 Trescott Path | Fort Salonga | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Tammy Barkey | (631)269-5317 |
| 5/11/2004 | Gloria Dei Lutheran Church | 22 E. 18th St. | Huntington Station | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Pat Draser | (631)549-7469 |
| 5/12/2004 | Ascension Lutheran Church | 33 Bay Shore Rd. | Deer Park | 02:30PM - 08:00PM | Evelyn Conrad | (631)643-8333 |
| 5/14/2004 | Grace Lutheran Church Youth Group | Grace Lutheran Church School | Malverne | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Bob Gallopini | (516)536-0971 |
| 5/14/2004 | Holy Trinity Cluster | St. Marks Episcopal Church | Medford | 04:00PM - 09:30PM | Trish McGlynn | ( ) - |
| 5/15/2004 | Grace Cathedral | 886 Jerusalem Ave. | Uniondale | 09:00AM - 02:30PM | Jean Frances | (516)485-4013 |
| 5/16/2004 | Ismali Center | 280 Community Drive | Lake Success | 10:00AM - 03:30PM | Salem Merchants | (516)829-1445 |
| 5/17/2004 | Trinity Lutheran Church | 40 West Nicholai St. | Hicksville | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Peg Ruhs | (516)822-4867 |
| 5/17/2004 | Holy Trinity Lutheran Church | Yaphank Middle Island Road | Middle Island | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Vita Ross | (631)924-3566 |
| 5/18/2004 | Bible Baptist Church-Syosset | 187 Cold Spring Rd. | Syosset | 04:00PM - 08:00PM | Jim Euell | (516)571-0310 |
| 5/18/2004 | Presbyterian Comm.Church of Massapequa | 150 Pittsburgh Ave. | Massapequa | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Joan Tischner | ( ) - |
| 5/19/2004 | Grace Gospel Church | 214 Falcon Ave | Patchogue | 03:30PM - 07:30PM | Laura Bonelli | (631)698-3048 |
| 5/20/2004 | St. Thomas More | 115 Kings Rd | Hauppauge | 04:00PM - 09:30PM | Ed Rogan | (631)366-1085 |
| 5/20/2004 | Commack Methodist Church | 486 Townline Rd. | Commack | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Elaine White | (631)864-2813 |
| 5/21/2004 | United Methodist Church of Lake Ronkonkoma | 792 Hawkins Avenue | Lake Grove | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Helen Foy | (631)981-1030 |
| 5/22/2004 | Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle | Higbie Drive | Smithtown | 09:00AM - 02:30PM | ( ) - | |
| 5/23/2004 | Hicksville Christian Church | 105 Broadway | Hicksville | 09:00AM - 01:00PM | Daryl Ernest | (516)455-0641 |
| 5/24/2004 | St. Philip Neri | Parish Center | Northport | 03:00PM - 08:30PM | Patti Adam | (631)757-2711 |
| 5/24/2004 | St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church | Shrine Place | Greenlawn | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Maria LaMalfa | (631)261-7272 |
| 5/28/2004 | Christ The King | Indian Head Rd | Commack | 03:30PM - 09:00PM | Ken Shelby | (631)499-9284 |
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