A Jewish carpenter and a cross

I have attended quite a few religious services in this past week - my first Good Friday morning and afternoon services, my first Tenebrae service and my first Saturday night Easter Vigil, complete with bonfire, drum, candles and procession. They were all deeply moving and for varied reasons.

At the church where I presently worship, there is a day program for stroke survivors. It is a place for stroke survivors to fellowship and socialize, spending time with friends and making new ones. Father Joe, the priest in charge of St. Andrew's Episcopal church asked one of the participants - a carpenter who is also Jewish - to make a cross for the parish to celebrate Good Friday.

The wood was chosen - then lovingly fashioned into a cross - for religious services in a religion with which the carpenter likely had/has significant differences of opinion. The deep stain was applied and buffed to a high polish. It stood in the Narthex (entry to the church) complete with a crown of thorns. The sight was indeed moving.

When the Father explained the origin of the cross, I began to weep openly - the significance of it was so very real.

At one point during the service, we were advised by the priest that we could go forward and show a sign of respect - he went out of his way to explain to the congregants that a sign of respect could be anything from kissing, to kneeling, to genuflecting etc. There were a few Catholics at the service that night, and as is traditional at Easter - a few people who come to service once a year to show their love for the Saviour. He was explaining various modes of worship/respect in order to make them feel at ease. Feeling at ease is not something we all are able to do in church, particularly during High Holidays or Holy Week and even more so if we are not regular attendees.

I touched the cross and said a prayer and went back to my seat - a changed person - after all these years of calling myself a saint - as in a Latter Day Saint - one who follows the Saviour, I finally understood the crucifixion and suffering, as well as the Easter season.

On Saturday, I reaffirmed my Christian faith - helped along by a very dear friend. My mother sang a beautiful solo and many friends were in attendance. It has been a long path - this journey that I am on - the story is not finished - I continue to walk with God and remember that he loves all of his children - regardless and in spite of their religions.

This I believe - Judith Warner Blog

As my regular readers know, I am on a spiritual journey. I have been for several years. Having been raised Episcopalian and attended parochial school, I left the Episcopal faith of my youth and I joined the Mormon faith at the tender age of 17 and left it after 23 years mostly over doctrinal issues surrounding the gay rights issue, women's equality and racism that continues to permeate parts of the church - read - Utah - after some 30 years of their being forced by the ACLU to accept blacks into full fellowship.

This year, I wanted to attend Passover services - the High Holidays - It is Holy Week and it seemed only fitting that I should be able to attend those services in addition to my own. At Congregation Kol Ami in Salt Lake City, I attended an interfaith service once and was so moved by the service, the beauty of the synagogue, the music and the general feeling of faith, spirituality and goodwill. I am in a new home now, and know enough about the Jewish faith to know that one doesn't just "show up" at High Holidays - one has to be a tither, which I am not - not to the Jewish faith at least.

I was encouraged to see that our President Obama held the FIRST ever - can you believe it? First ever Passover Seder dinner at the White house last evening. How many presidents have come and gone and missed the opportunity to speak volumes to their staff, the country, indeed the world - that we recognize that we live in a global world - a world where there are many religions.

I came across this blog post from Judith Warner this morning. She too has been on a spiritual journey - she is Jewish by heritage, attended a parochial Episcopal school for 9 years and celebrates Easter and Passover.

Please read the story - it is heartening to see that we are all on a journey, no matter our faith: http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/this-i-believe/

Happy Passover, Happy Easter. Shalom and God bless.

Violence among men

On a day when President Obama has introduced a council on women and girls, we reflect on the recent shootings that have taken place around the globe - Students massacred in their high school in Germany, British soldiers, senselessly murdered by IRA terrorists, the minister shot before his beloved flock in Illinois over the weekend, and the unspeakable mass shooting in Alabama yesterday where at least one small child was killed and another awaits serious surgery to remove a bullet from near an artery according to news reports.

These shootings took place all over the world and yet they were all perpetrated by men. Why are men more prone to kill so violently and so many at one time?

We should call for a day of prayer where we can abstain from the senseless violence that has overpowered the world - we need peace at a time when we celebrate the one who brought peace - Easter and Passover being the holiest of holidays for so many of us. Easter vigils and Passover Seders are going to be held in upcoming weeks and we would all do well to remember how fortunate we are to be alive in this frenetic world in which we live.

Comments are welcome - particularly from men who have strong opinions on what I have written.