Categories: Articles
      Date: Nov 23, 2008
     Title: Sharing Sacred Prayer: Thanksgiving Interfaith Worship

I'll start by talking about Kids4peace and this extraordinary gathering of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim children, all children of the Book, all descendents of God's Prophet, Abraham, Peace be Upon Him, right here in Vermont.

Kids4Peace is a cross-cultural, interfaith education for peace program, which brings these children together from both Vermont and Israel/Palestine for 10 days. The children are ages 10-12. They are Arab Christian, Arab Muslim, and Jewish. In Vermont, they are American, Pakistani, Indian, Saudi, Bosnian, or Indonesian. They may be children of privilege, they may be immigrant refugees - they are some of the most profound messengers of God I have ever met.

Twenty-four kids, 12 from Vermont, 12 from Israel/Palestine, meet as strangers and part as allies, friends, neighbors, and ambassadors.

How is it done? It is important, because of the history and degree of separation from one another in the Holy Land, that those children and their families spend several important meetings together to begin the process of trust and familiarity before ever getting on the plane. We do the same here with our VT kids during the Spring. The Israeli/Palestinian children join our Vermont kids in Burlington to spend 2 days getting to know each other, playing, singing, running around, and exploring the edges of Lake Champlain at the Bishop Booth Conference Center. Each child meets his/her Peace Pal who is of a different tradition and a different culture - and the process of creating peaceful co-existence is begun.

On Sunday, we move to Covenant Hills Camp right here in Cabot to spend the next 7 days in what the children would call play - but what we know as some of the most profound work we can do together as fellow human beings.

Now, all of us here who are Jews, Christians, and Muslim know that God blessed Abraham with sons Isaac and Ishmael, and promised that there would arise many nations from his descendants. And we know how strained that promise has become as the heirs of Abraham began to disagree on just what that promise meant and to whom. Not one of us here is unaffected by that promise. And it's likely that you've reflected at some level on what that promise has meant to you, personally, or to the land which the desert people considered holy.

When I think of the Holy Land, I become confused and sad because that is where the conflict lays, there, amongst the Holy of Holies, the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, the streets and churches where Christianity had its birth - where peace should reign, where the promise should be kept, but where our children are, instead, born into separation and conflict because we haven't quite figured it out yet.

Figured what out? How to pray together.

The heart of Kids4Peace is interfaith education. Our children are allowed, invited, to cross the cultural and political boundaries that separate them to visit each others sacred places of worship, to sit in silent and respectful observation while the Other prays, to ask questions, touch, smell, and breathe in the deepest, most hallowed moments of each other's lives. And we do it so that we might let the Other know us better, so that we can share that which makes us each a proud child of Allah, Hashem, God, all one in the same, while opening the door to hearing what another child has to say to us.

Imagine going for the first time as a Jew or Christian to the mosque in Colchester. If you are female, you cover your head as Muslim women do and you sit in the prayer room with all the other women to watch your Muslim friends touch their foreheads to the ground and offer their quiet prayers to Allah.

On Friday night, as a Muslim or Christian, you join your Jewish friends at the synagogue. If you are a boy, you put on a keppa, as Jewish men do, and you watch as the Arc opens and the Torah comes out and you listen to the Hebraic prayers and songs.

On Sunday, at the cathedral, if you are Jewish or Muslim, you see the Bishop set the communion table and share the bread and wine of the Eucharist with your Christian friends. You stare at all the icons - the cross, the crosier, the tapestry, the chalice, the basket of bread
. and at each ceremony you think, "What's THAT all about?" No - much better, you ask what's that all about and you get to tell each other the answers.

In this way we teach, we listen, we learn, we come to understand and value what we see. And the important differences seem to take on a magical proportion of appreciation and gladness, far different from the anger and the fear, the misunderstanding, and the distancing we have all been brought up with.

The worst, the most deeply wretched tragedy of conflict is that everyone is a victim. It is impossible to justify war without having someone to hate or something to destroy. It seems to become almost a contest - who is suffering more? Me or you? Me, of course, so I curse you.

Yet, the human spirit suffers a deep, deep loss when it loses the capacity for joy, to feel our hearts lifted in gratitude or in song for whatever small beauties we receive in this life. That is why we pray. That is why we move towards a God from whom we receive blessings and to whom we can say, "thank you."

Wouldn't you say then, that to pray in front of your enemy could be a very scary, impossible thing? When I pray, I am vulnerable, open, tender and perhaps a little bit uncertain about what to say or what I'll hear. But MORE than this, I'm in a peaceful, intimate place when I pray. And here's the thing: I cannot be at peace and hate you at the same time.

That is the blessing we share with each other at camp. We are invited in, trusted, privileged to be allowed to witness what is sacred to each other. And I trust, as I invite you in to witness me at prayer, that I am safe in your presence, even though you might be an outsider. You might be someone I'm supposed to mistrust. I might have heard an awful lot of stories about how you hurt my people. The beauty of children is that they can do it. It is a Godly gift, futra in Arabic, to be born with a knowledge of God - and it is the children who can teach us how to get that back again, if we let them.

This is pretty powerful stuff - and much to be thankful for! It is no wonder that these kids become so close in such a short time. It's no surprise that they can begin to claim themselves as peacemakers who can speak of respect, dignity, sharing, compassion, and listening, using some of the most longed-after peace words in any language. It's magnificent how these kids "get it" so easily and become so ready to move forward, to go home or back to school and their faith communities with a real desire to keep their eyes on the prize of peaceful co-existence. Can we adults even begin to keep up? Prime Ministers and Presidents, watch out! These kids are coming!

So, here we are, all of us, together in this place - and we are doing some of the same work our children do. We are sharing sacred space. We are sharing sacred prayer. We are sharing sacred bread, trusting that, as we do, our differences will be respected and seen as a precious gift to behold. Ameen. Amain. Amen. And from here perhaps we will begin to find ways to talk.

I'll end by sharing some of the words spoken by some of the kids themselves. Remember, they are 10, 11, and 12 years old, yet they possess a wisdom far beyond our understanding: From a Vermont girl - "If everyone trusted each other, their religion, their faith, then we would have peace." From a Jerusalem boy: "I learned to express my feelings, to listen and to be heard by others; to be strong and have courage and to love and live in peace with everyone; to forgive and be forgiven by others; not to hold a grudge for anyone, to be honest and caring; not to complicate things, to live in peace, not only in words but in action."

May we all be blessed by this day, this time, and this way.