On The Journey

On the journey

Sussex interfaith Day

Worth abbey 9 June 2007

Report by Richard Boeke, Horsham Interfaith Forum

“And who is my neighbour?

And Jesus answering said,

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. …

and a priest passed by on the other side …

and a Levite passed by on the other side …

But a certain Samaritan had compassion on him and went to

him and bound up his wounds.”

On The Journey - 727

At Harvard Chapel, I once heard a morning devotional in which a friend suggested that the Good Samaritan may have been Jesus himself. Jesus may also be identified as the traveler who was left “half dead.” For he said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

727? Why I am wearing a badge with the number 727? On the 9^th of June Over 20 from Horsham joined dozens at Worth Abbey for Sussex Interfaith Day. The last presentation was by the brother of OMAR. Omar for five years has been a prisoner in Guantanamo: not allowed visits from his family: his letters are censored. . He is number 727. Shirt 727. In Guantanamo, he does not have a name. To me, he is like the wounded man on the Jericho Road. “Shall I pass by on the other side?”

Each day we have the riddle: are we called to continue some “greater quest,”
or called to stop and help some wounded soul upon the way?

Father Paul Fleetwood welcomed us to Worth Abbey, the site of the BBC TV Series, THE MONASTERY. Bonnie Evans-Hills of Brighton presided in the morning and introduced the first speaker, Laura Moffatt, MP from Crawley.

She told us of the recent report of THE COMMISSION ON COMMUNITY COHESION, which focused on the need for promoting local relationships, including a common language: “Not speaking English is the single biggest barrier to integration.” As evidence of the growing government concern for interfaith friendship, she sited Tony Blair’s plans to start an interfaith foundation as he ends his 11 years as Prime Minister.

The next speaker was Brian Pearce, who has led the National Inter Faith Network since its small beginnings in 1987 (encouraged by the World Congress of Faiths). At the start there was resistance. Some found the effort for interfaith cooperation to be heretical (some still do). Gradually the National Bodies of most faith communities joined, as well as national interfaith bodies. Local inter faith groups now number over 250. The NIF was called upon to arrange a Millennium event in the House of Lords, and a Golden Jubilee event two years later. In between were riots in Bradford and the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City. “How do we deepen the dialogue? How do we bring more young people into the inter faith movement? How do we find a common language for religious and non-religious?” He closed with the Jewish saying,

“You are required to continue the work.

You are not required to complete it.”

The third morning speaker was Ian Chisnell, of the South East England Faith Forum. He told us of his career changes from electronics to salesman, to County Ecumenical Officer for Churches together in Sussex. In the lively discussion, which followed, Laura Moffatt told of the huge collision in Parliament over the issue of Faith Schools. Ian Chisnell gave a history lesson:

“When the missionaries were sent out, they were prepared for new cultures. Now, we are living in a new culture and many are now prepared.”

As I listened to the speakers at Sussex Interfaith Day, I was reminded that when I was a minister in California, each week I encountered people who were kind of spiritual junkies, moving from a "quick fix" in one weekend retreat, to "total immersion" in a different "path" a week later. After a while some would take up a practice, settle in a spiritual home: become Buddhists or join an Evangelical church.” But in some groups they would park their mind at the door. One of the most compassionate places in San Francisco was PEOPLE’S TEMPLE. They fed the poor. They welcomed all races and cultures. Their leader worked with politicians for social justice. Once I sat at his table at a fund raising dinner for a U.S. Presidential Candidate (Senator Frank Church). From behind his dark glasses, the minister told me about his church. His name was Jim Jones. Less than ten years later, he would lead 100s of his followers in mass suicide at Jonestown in South America.

Jonestown is a lesson that NOT ALL spiritual practices are good. We can be too tolerant. As an opponent of Adolf Hitler wrote, “my judgment I kept flexible too long.” To me, whatever your spiritual practice may be, it needs to involve both head and heart: To be thoughtful and to be compassionate.

The small group discussions which followed the morning speakers were enriched by Muslims from “Brighton Voices in Exile,” (BVIE) thanks to Mary Jane Burkett.[1] At lunch, a vegetarian feast was provided by Crawley Interfaith Network . Thanks to Fatima Mirza & Vikki Jacobs!

As we ate lunch beside the lawn, a Christian asked me “do you repent?” He pressed the point “Do you repent now of your sins?” I answered, “I have repented of sins in the past, but I don’t keep carrying them around with me.” But as I said this, I admitted to myself, “sometimes an old guilt comes back like a ghost.” Does dwelling on it help? Can religion put too much stress on guilt? Does the proclamation of Hell Fire and Fear encourage national leaders to make preemptive strikes? Or to build weapons that provoke other nations to build more weapons? Can the very effort for security increase the danger of war? Is there more health in compassion and forgiveness?

“A certain Samaritan had compassion on him.”

Robert Coles, a student of the human rights movement, tells the story of a little black girl at the time of the first integration of schools in Louisiana. Each day as she walked to school, protected by police, surrounded by hundreds of jeering racists, she would stop, just before walking the final gauntlet to the school.

Coles observed her. He asked her, what did you do when you

stopped? She answered, "I prayed, father forgive them, for they

know not what they do."

After prayers and a walk by the beautiful Secret Garden of the Abbey, Steven Inness of Crawley presided in the afternoon. Featured were two Muslim Speakers. Harun Combes from Worthing Mosque sited three major problems for believers:

1) The rising tide of secularism. “Shall we teach atheism in school? In Islam, politics and religion are linked together.” When they call believers the chief source of war, do they forget the Nazis and the Communists?

2) Increasing religious fundamentalism: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, & Hindu.

3) Polarization of beliefs. Hardening lines of separation between traditions.

The last speaker was Abubaker Degahyes of Brighton. He told of his brother, OMAR, number 727 in Guantanamo Prison. For five years OMAR has been held without charge, often in a solitary cage. Like other prisoners, he is not identified by his name, but by his number 727. For five years his family has not been allowed to speak to him. His mail is censored. Jackie Chase of Brighton joined Abubaker and told us of the SAVE OMAR CAMPAIGN: “Our brothers and sisters are being tortured and flown across the world.” A man in the audience said, “why does the media only give the bad news?”

Before we split into small groups for closing discussion, Margaret Owen from Godalming came to the microphone. She told us “My daughter, Elizabeth, was badly injured in the bombing of the London Underground at Edgeware Road. The passengers on her right and left were killed. The suicide bomber responsible was Mohammed Siddiq Khan. He and his accomplices have been on television many times. The plastic surgeon who …saved Elizabeth’s leg was Umraz Khan. … Between Elizabeth’s various operations, he flew out to the Indian sub-continent to operate on the survivors of an earthquake. As far as I know, he has never been on television at all.”

727 was a vivid memory as I watched TV on the night after our interfaith day. Colin Powell, the former U.S. Secretary of State, called for Guantanamo to be closed, “NOT TOMORROW, BUT TODAY.”

On the Journey: What should I do? Around the world, religions have answered with a version of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. To the question, “who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered with the story of The Good Samaritan.

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[1] BEIV also provided a booklet containing the texts from the talks by Dr. Marcus Braybrooke and Rabbi Jackie Tabick at the 13 March Sussex Interfaith Day, MEDITATION AND SOCIAL ACTION. See www.worldfaiths.org