It was quite a busy weekend for the executive director of Interfaith Paths to Peace.
I'm not often this busy, but the following items illustrate what a rich variety of interfaith opportunities there are in Louisville (or within a short drive).
On Friday, I drove to Indianapolis for a public presentation by the Dalai Lama at Conseco Fieldhouse. As I said to someone after the event, I have heard the Dalai Lama speak a number of times, and I rarely hear anything new, or anything I didn't already know. But I do hear from him reminders of important spiritual matters to which I should be paying attention. Here's a link to the Dalai Lama's official web site so that you can explore his ideas for yourself.
http://www.dalailama.com/
On Saturday, I drove over to Lexington for that city's annual Peace and Global Citizenship Fair, an outdoor exposition of groups and vendors associated with peace or spirituality. I meant many wonderful people, one of whom reminded me of the words of someone who is not often thought of as a spiritual master. A woman approached my table, saw a copy of my book, A Spirituality for Brokenness, and said to me, "We grow stronger at the broken places." I said to her, "You know who is credited with saying that, don't you?" She didn't. "It was Ernest Hemingway. I am the only person I know who uses that quote citing Hemingway as a Spiritual Master."
Later that evening I had the opportunity to lead a book discussion for a local Jewish group that gathers once a month. We discussed a book by a friend of mine, Rabbi Irwin Kula, who is the head of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. We explored his book called Yearnings: Exploring the Sacred Messiness of Life. In this powerful work Irwin shares an amazing array of stories, wise words, and interpretations that have really opened the eyes of my heart. In the book the Rabbi says that over the years his vision of the mission of his organization has evolved to the point where he now sees CLAL's major task as sharing Wisdom and Practice across religious lines. In many ways I see that as the mission of my own organization.
Here's a link to learn more about Rabbi Irwin and his book.
http://yearnings.irwinkula.com/index.html
The next morning I spoke to the Adult Sunday School Class at First Unitarian Church in Louisville. My topic was "An Emerging Velvet Reformation in Islam." That religion is beginning to undergo major changes that are reflective of a long hidden (or ignored) concern for values embraced by the mainstream of other world religions. A key figure in this Reformation is a Turkish spiritual leader named Fettulah Gulen who is like the Christian master Thomas Merton in that he embraces a deepening of spirituality, a concern for social justice, and a commitment to genuine interfaith dialogue. Here's a link to information about Gulen.
http://www.fethullahgulen.org/
Sunday afternoon I attended a wonderful "Klezmer Fest", a celebration of a Jewish style of music that has all of the liveliness of Dixieland Jazz. If you would like to hear a little, here's a link to a short performance by The Java Jews, one of the bands that performed on Sunday.
I finished my Sunday by attending a religious service at St. Agnes Catholic Church honoring the Louisville Association of Community Ministries on the occasion of their 40th anniversary. These ministries (that provide a wide array of social services in every area of Louisville) were the first in the nation and established a model that has been duplicated in cities across America.
http://www.louisvilleministries.org/
And then came Monday morning and a meeting with the visiting Abbot of the Drepung Gomang Monastery in India...
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