Today the stakes are so high. Our species has come a long way, but we seem to be losing our way as well. True elegance seems displaced by loudness and bragging, bigotry and bombastic appeals to the reptilian brain, to more hatred and wars and projection and “I win, you lose” mentalities.
In the Middle East today, decades of violence toward Palestinians are coming home to roost. What Bishop Helder Camera called the “spiral of violence” is in full swing.
The first violence is poverty and oppression; the second is the rebellion against it, often led by young people (and in Gaza today 80% of young adults are unemployed and the average salary in Israel is $55k and in Gaza is $1200 annually). The third is the repression of the rebellion.
There is no excuse for the barbarism of Hamas attacks last week; but neither is there any moral justification for destroying the lives of all 2.3 million Palestinians in response.
I am moved by what science is learning today, that our species is in league with at least 15 other hominid species who were our cousins, Neanderthal, Denisovan, and 13 more that we have recently identified.
But the hard fact is this: They are all extinct. All our hominid brothers and sisters are gone. We who call ourselves Homo sapiens are the last ones standing.
What do we say to that? That a church–a Gathering–of the Fellowship For All Peoples is possible. It has been incarnated in the city of SF for 79 years.
It was a vision 79 years ago and it is today, and by this honor being bestowed upon it becomes more than ever a vision for our future:
That Fellowship of all peoples is possible wherever we are, however we worship, whomever we love, whatever our culture or language or music or dress or cuisine.
Has there ever been a more pressing time for a Church or Gathering For the Fellowship of all peoples?
See Matthew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion.
And Fox, Christian Mystics, pp. 203-217.
Banner Image: Compassionate human hands. Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash.
Corrections: Yesterday’s DM omitted to credit the ensemble of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women who composed the music in Yael Deckelbaum’s video. Also, the banner image caption was inadvertently exchanged with that of another women’s circle led by Jalaja Bonheim: the banner photo was taken in Ithaca, NY. We regret the errors.
Queries for Contemplation
What does a “Church or Gathering for The Fellowship of All Peoples” mean to you?
Recommended Reading
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
3 thoughts on “The Church For the Fellowship of All Peoples as a Landmark, continued”
The Gathering Of All Peoples
Feel the ancient rhythmic beats drumming
The hearts desire of our Divine Mother
As She dances with rattling shells on Her feet
Rocking our souls awake to Her essence
That we may begin to move together
In unison with Her Sacred dream for all.
Link our voices as one that we may begin
To sing a Universal song of the power
And joy of peace between all nations
Invoking faith in the healing virtues of
Love, compassion, mercy and justice
Your fragrant perfume broken open.
Become in us the breath of new life
Blowing through hollow soul reeds
Harmonious tones of transformation
Fluttering in the winds of Your Spirit
A wave of hope rising across barren
Blood stained lands drenched in despair.
Gather all together in Your comforting
Consoling embrace as vines growing
within the branches of the Sacred Tree
Rooting all brothers and sisters as the
Landmarkers of the past preparing the
Way of the future peace yet to come.
It means a friendlier world; which will affect us personally in a big way. The only time I meet people of other races and cultures is on the street when I am passing them; or in a work, business setting (clerks in stores; aides in hospitals}. To have a church like this, means that we would be gathering together to get to know each other. Novel concept.
This church is the beloved community realized–would that it could spread.