Archive for April, 2012

Rev. Leland Stewart, B.S.E., .B.T.
Unity-and-Diversity World Fellowship
29 April 2012(12)

THE ORDINATION OF DR. LINDA GROFF

In the midst of the many, there is the One!

Today is the day when Dr. Linda Groff, who still teaches at California State University at Dominguez Hills, was ordained as an interfaith minister through the Unity-and-Diversity World Fellowship.  The Fellowship is a specialized affiliate of the Unity-and-Diversity World Council, Inc.

Linda has been teaching in future studies, intercultural and interreligious studies, and world affairs.  She likes looking at the big picture and the wholeness of things.  Now that her teaching load is decreasing, she is paying more attention to spiritual matters, starting with the holding of monthly spiritual salons at the Village Church and Interfaith Center on the Westside of Los Angeles.  About fifty people came to the ordination, including four interfaith ministers, six ministers of a variety of faiths, and three other leaders who are in some form of interfaith activity.

Unity-and-Diversity Ministers are those who have a commitment to the well-being of all.  They recognize the diversity of paths uniting in the One Spirit – whether that One is called God, Brahma, Yahweh, Allah, Great Spirit, or by any other name or no name.  They see that every atom in the universe is co-existent with every other atom, that what affects one affects all.  Such committed beings, therefore, are entering into a life of service to the new civilization as listeners as well as speakers, and as servers as well as guides.

Unity-and-Diversity Ministers are those who not only make a place for their own thought and teaching, but who also make room for the ways of all other sincere seekers.  Unity-and-Diversity Ministers are those who work toward the dynamic integration of diversity among all paths.  Such individuals seek the love and light in all paths.  They aim in all humility to serve the good of the whole, transcending the personal self, so as to become clear channels for honoring Spirit as it connects us and all our paths.

Now that Linda has been ordained, she will continue to develop the spiritual salons, aim to complete the writing that she has well begun and which spells out the teachings she wishes to share with the world, and also carry out marriage, funeral, and other kinds of services as requested.  She is now part of a core group for a Sunday morning interfaith service that has just recently begun.  She may well take on some leadership role in that gathering as it develops over time.

We wish Linda well in her ministry and look forward to continuing to work with her.

In the Spirit of Unity-and-Diversity!!!

C/o Unity-and-Diversity World Council, Inc.
P.O. Box 661401, Los Angeles, CA USA 90066-9201
Phone: 310-391-5735; FAX: 310-827-9187 (contact UDC first)
mail: udcworld1@yahoo.com; Website: www.udcworld.org

Sincerely,

Bill McKibben
350.org
On behalf of Interfaith Power & Light

Access TIO’s April 15, 2012 article directly on
the The Interfaith Observer‘s website.

MAY 2 SFIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS WORKSHOP FOR CONGREGATIONS: AN EXERCISE IN RESILIENCE

The San Francisco Interfaith Council (SFIC) will host the fourth biennial workshop on disaster preparedness on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1111 Gough Street. The theme of this year’s conference is ”Building Resilience Beyond Our Walls: Disaster Preparedness Congregations Workshop”

In addition to remarks by SFPD Chief Gregory Suhr and SFFD Chief Joanne Hayes-White, attendees will be briefed by Director of the SF Department of Emergency Management Anne Kronenberg, US Department of Homeland Security Director of the Center for Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships David L. Meyers and FEMA Region IX Administrator Nancy Ward.

The morning will begin with a memorial service remembering those who died in recent disasters.

Congregation Clergy, facilities managers and key volunteers will be seated by neighborhood and engaged to act as resilient teams through a hands-on tabletop exercise developed by the City’s Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN). This exercise, entitled Resilientville, will make its debut at this workshop and simultaneously at a conference being held in Wellington, New Zealand.

A panel of neighborhood stakeholders will give a firsthand perspective of the December 2011 Western Addition fires as well as ongoing congregation disaster preparedness efforts.

Recent events have revealed that congregations and faith communities are among the first to offer aid in the time of crisis. The SFIC is privileged to count as partners in disaster preparedness the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, SF Community Agencies Responding to Disaster (SF CARD) and the American Red Cross of the Bay Area. This combined effort, along with congregation participation, ensures that San Francisco will be prepared in the event of a disaster.

All costs for this event have been generously underwritten by the California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) and Walter & Elise Haas Fund.

The Network of Spiritual Progressives and the associated Tikkun Magazine have made several Occupy articles available for free.  Here is the list, just click in here to access the articles — they are all worth reading:

Nonviolence vs. “Diversity of Tactics” in the Occupy Movement by Sean O’Brien, Phil Lawson, Matthew Edwards, Kazu Haga, Melissa Merin, Josh Shepherd, Paolo, and Starhawk

Occupy the Climate Emergency by John Stanley and David Loy

Moving Beyond Occupation into Presence: Decolonizing Our Minds, Hearts, and Spirits by Riyana Rebecca Sang

A Conversation with Jeremy Rifkin on The Third Industrial Revolution

Occupy Passover Seders and Easter Gatherings by Michael Lerner

Thursday 19, April 2012

Prevent Water Wars in the Middle East

CELL/Euphrates program:Jordan Valley, 2011

It’s all about WATER.  This week’s Weekly Current focuses on the environmental threats in the Middle East and a Euphrates-partnered trip students can take to the region to address them.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the most water scarce in the world, and drought conditions are only expected to worsen, even as populations rapidly increase.  12 of the world’s 15 most water-scarce countries — Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Israel and Palestine — are in the Middle East, and have experienced 30 years of high population growth, which only exacerbates scarce resources.

In a US intelligence community assessment released last month, analysts concluded that “water problems—shortages, poor water quality, or floods—will risk instability, state failure, and increase regional tensions.”  An earlier 2009 World Bank report on combating water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region also noted, “It is almost a feat that the Middle East, which is plagued by conflicts, has so far managed to avoid major water wars, even though water is a life-and-death economic issue for the people of the region.  But for many of these nations, which already are treading the razor’s edge of conflict, water is becoming increasingly a catalyst for confrontation – and an issue of national security and foreign policy as well as domestic stability.”

Earlier this month, Tom Friedman described in a column titled, “The Other Arab Spring” how the “Arab awakening was driven not only by political and economic stresses, but, less visibly, by environmental, population and climate stresses as well (emphasis added). If we focus only on the former and not the latter, we will never be able to help stabilize these societies.”  Friedman closes with an appeal: “ We and the Arabs need to figure out — and fast — more ways to partner to mitigate the environmental threats where we can…”

Euphrates takes these issues, (and Friedman’s appeal!) seriously, and we not only follow the environmental and resource challenges in the region, but we partner with an environmental learning organization, the Center for Ecological Living and Learning (CELL), to lead three-month study abroad trips to the Middle East, focusing on sustainability and peace.  Water scarcity is a primary subject students tackle, both in the classroom and by doing on-site service projects with environmental organizations, such as Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME).

CELL is currently accepting applications for the next three-month study trip to Israel, West Bank, and Jordan. If you know of students interested in experiencing up close and personally the world’s most pressing needs — peace and sustainability — this is the trip for them!

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Each Thursday, you can look forward to finding relevant, refreshing quick-reads in your inbox that inform you about current events, inspire you with stories of bridge-builders, or offer up tips and tidbits we think are worth a mention!  Just like the current of a river is always progressing downstream, how we think more deeply about the Middle East and our relationship is a constant flow of ideas.  So whether you’re new to Middle East issues or a proven pro, these weekly bulletins can help to round out your knowledge of this critical region, as well as boost your skills as a peacemaker in an era when both are equally critical towards the ultimate goal–personal and global transformation!

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Compassionate Listening Behind Bars
By Andrea Cohen, Senior CL Facilitator

Rolling up to the barbed wire fence of the Washington Corrections Facility for Women, I prepare myself for teaching some of the institution’s residents the practices of Compassionate Listening. It is part of a program designed to help them “turn around” conflict in their lives.

With all of my jewelry, money and identifying information left behind, other than the driver’s license which I’m required to give the guard for safe-keeping, I’m ready to meet the women who have voluntarily signed up for the workshop. After going through multiple levels of security and passing a number of residents clothed in loose gray sweats along the way, my colleagues and I finally arrive at the education building where fifteen women are waiting for us.

I know nothing about the women – what they’re in for, how long they’ve been there, who is a wife or a mother, and whether there are some who might be there for the rest of their lives. What I see before me is a very diverse group of women curious about what we have to offer and perhaps wondering why we’ve traveled so far to offer it.

After introductions, we do a brief centering and exploration of what it means to be fully present with our hearts – from that special place of beauty that lives within each of us at the core of our being. And then we practice. The women experience what it’s like to be listened to without judgment, interruption or fixing. They practice reflecting back the facts, feelings and values contained in each other’s stories. They laugh, they cry and they’re grateful. They’d like us to return, and we do. A few sessions later, I gift them with a copy of Practicing the Art of Compassionate Listening, and they excitedly read to each other – clearly understanding the power of our work and wanting more.

This is just the beginning of my story about teaching Compassionate Listening to women behind bars. A number of my fellow CL colleagues on both coasts have been doing similar work with incarcerated men and women in their communities. Why do we keep going back? Because we have something important to share – skills and practices that can make a difference in the residents’ relationships with themselves, their families and the people they interact with “on the inside.”

By what stroke of fortune, circumstances of birth and personal choices made, am I not the one living behind barbed wire? What are these women there to teach me – about courage, patience and commitment to growth? Without regard to how we’ve each arrived at this moment, now is the time when, perhaps together, we can help heal our world…from the inside out. A lofty goal that truly begins one heart at a time.

The following letter was received not too long ago from Emi Miller.  Emi is Chair of URI Charlotte’s International Day of Peace Committee, and she also administers an Interfaith Healing Prayer List.

Dear Interfaith Friends of URI,

May All Love Surround You!

I hope you are well, and ~

This is an invitation to join a World-Wide, Interfaith Healing Prayer List.

THIS WORLD-WIDE, INTERFAITH HEALING LIST is comprised of members of many of the Religious and Spiritual Families, and prayers are said for those on our Healing List by our Members, some who attend monthly Healing Prayer Circles in their own Religious Communities, and also by many Members who simply pray daily in their own homes.

Below are some instructions for adding someone’s name to our Interfaith Healing List:

This Healing List is for those who are gravely ill, and who are in need of DEEP OR URGENT Healing — from a World-Wide Healing Circle, whose focus and strength comes from the Combined Hearts of many people, from many Paths, and Spiritual Traditions.

All of our Interfaith Healing List Members desire — and are willing to support World Peace — through daily prayer, and have a desire to Pray together with others of All Faith Traditions. Our Members unite their Hearts together daily, and send combined Healing Prayers to all who are on our List Members may also be called upon to join their Prayers together to help in times of urgent world situations or natural or disasters.

PLEASE NOTE: Before posting anyone’s name, It is a requirement that those whose names are listed have asked to receive our Interfaith Healing Prayers. If they are unable to ask for themselves — if they are young children or are very ill — then a family member, or a close friend, who knows their wishes, may place their names here.

You are invited to send us names of those in need for our NEXT Healing List.

Please send all names for directly to this list:
Members:

healingfamily@yahoogroups.com

or:

New Members Subscribe Here:

healingfamily-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You can also email me directly:

neshamah_emi@yahoo.com

Please let us know at the end of each month how those whose names you have posted are doing, so that their names can be removed in a timely basis. If we don’t hear from you the person’s name will be removed usually in one month from the Active Healing List. If we hear from you, they may remain on our Long Term Healing Prayer List for several months.

You are welcome to re-post  someone at any time — if there is still a need — or if their illness has returned. Please feel free to add you own name, if needed.

Please remember to send only those who are in urgent need of combined prayer….

with all love, blessings,
and gratitude,
Emi Miller

——————–

Dr. Emi Miller, R.N., HN-BC, L.Ac
Integrative Holistic Health
(704) 804-3353 Cell