by Maij Vu Mai
What is religious pluralism to the Survivor? To the one who’s lost faith in themselves? Lost faith in other people? Lost faith in humanity? To the one who’s lost faith in their ability to connect because…
by Miranda Hovemeyer
I’ll be honest. I haven’t felt at home in the field of interfaith work for quite a while. During one of the last interfaith conferences I spoke at, I was asked by an older white gentleman why I was there, then insisting…
by Sable Manson
n the spring of 2020, I was working with my higher education colleagues to prepare for an interfaith retreat set on Catalina Island, off the coast of southern California. We had planned numerous…
by Najeeba Syeed
I’ve written about “casserole” hospitality, an ethic of care demonstrated in America’s Heartland found in communities of various traditions who welcome…
by Bud Heckman
Researchers tell us one of the most important assessments made by young people in sizing up any faith is “authenticity.” They are discerning consumers in a marketplace of ideas. Does this tradition/scripture/institution/leader/group appear authentic? One mark of authenticity is its vitality. Is it “vital” in the sense that it has relevance to the ways of the very diverse world we all now live in? It must pass a sniff test.
by Kevin Singer
I remember like it was yesterday; cracking open an old Baptist hymnal to the first hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (Robinson and Wyeth, 1759). “Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace” the first verse begins. The final refrain ends in resounding fashion: “Take my heart Lord, take a seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”
by Vicki Garlock
The recent celebration of Purim – one of the most entertaining holy days in Jewish culture – provides an opportunity to reflect on the ever-present, but somewhat elusive nature of the divine feminine. Queen Esther, the heroine of Purim, is never described in terms of divinity, but her role in the miraculous deliverance of her people...
by Rabbi Rami Shapiro
Wisdom, Chochmah in Hebrew, is the first of God’s manifestations and the means by which creation happens. I am the deep grain of creation, the subtle current of life. God fashioned me before all things; I am the blueprint of creation. I was there from the beginning, from before there was a beginning. I am independent of time and space, earth and sky.
by Vicki Garlock
Some decades ago a friend of mine, a college senior way back then, was attending a conference at a large, distinguished university of “pre-faculty” students, collegians who hoped to pursue a higher-education vocation in the next few years. The three-day gathering culminated in a large banquet, some final comments on the benefits of professordom from several university presidents, and a question & answer session.
by David Parks-Ramage
What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully till she finds it? (Luke 15:8) Meditation is a choice to become intimate with your own life. In meditation, we are quiet and alert, open and available to what is happening now.
by Jonathan Homrighausen
I stood in front of the Ark of the Covenant, holding my incense while I gazed on the golden wings of the cherubim. No, I am not starring in a remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was inside The Tabernacle Experience, an interactive re-enactment of the Tabernacle which the Israelites built in the desert on their journey from Egypt to Canaan.
by David Parks-Ramage
Following his baptism in the Jordan River and his time in the wilderness Jesus emerges into his ministry. His first words? “The time is come. The Realm of God is near.” You can almost feel it in Jesus’ words, finding fulfillment in your hearing. It is here. Now. Present. There is nowhere to look, no far off and away to get to. God is present here, in life. That is the good news.
