How can we get creative in the Israel/Palestine conflict? Talk by George Lakey , Quaker peace activist, at ICUJP

Please join us online ICUJP Friday Forum November 17th, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific   How can we get creative in the Israel/Palestine conflict? CLICK BELOW TO JOIN ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82780596985 Call in by phone: Meeting ID: 827 8059 6985PASSCODE: 378677 *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 Event Description: Understandably, activist responses to the new outbreak of Israel/Palestinian fighting is moralistic, preoccupied with "who's right and who's wrong." We'll take a deeper dive, trying to initiate a conversation about how adoption of nonviolent means of fighting it out might make a difference to the outcome. The point of the discussion will be to provoke creativity in the midst of a moralistic debate. One dimension of the speaker's thinking is featured on WagingNonviolence.org. Join the conversation with our speaker: Born into a white working class family in a small town in rural Pennsylvania, George Lakey was first arrested in the civil rights movement and risked arrest recently for climate justice as an 85-year old great-grandfather. He’s led social change projects on neighborhood, city, state, national, and international levels. He married a Norwegian woman, played cocktail piano in a hotel, taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College, co-parented a majority Black family, came out publicly as gay, and published ten books on how to make change. He led over 1500 social change workshops on five continents, for Buddhist monks, Russian LGBTQ activists, South African National Congress members, and Northern U.S. students bound for 1964 Mississippi Summer. A Quaker, he has been named Peace Educator of the Year and given the Paul Robeson Social Justice Award and the Martin Luther King Peace Award. His eleventh book, a memoir, is Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice, from Seven Stories Press. “A civil rights legend” – The Guardian Learn More/Here's how YOU can help: Analysis: There are nonmilitary alternatives to Israel’s war in Gaza 7:30 - 7:35  Log in and socialize 7:35 - 7:45  Welcome and introductions  7:45 - 7:50  Reflection (5 min. maximum) 7:50 - 9:15  Program and Q&A 9:15 - 9:20  Announcements 9:20 - 9:30  Closing circle and prayer Start your morning with us! Facilitator: Rose Leibowitz Reflector: Maggie Hutchison ** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am Pacific. ** ----- Here's how to join the online meeting: To join by video conference, you'll need to download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. Click on the link to join the meeting and then enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You'll be able to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees. If you prefer to join by phone, you'll be prompted to enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You won't be able to see the visuals or attendees, but you can view them on the meeting video recording afterward.  If you're new to Zoom and would like to use the video option, we recommend you download the app well ahead of time. ICUJP Friday Forum 11/17/23 Time: 07:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Option 1: Join video conference  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82780596985 Meeting ID: 827 8059 6985 PASSCODE: 378677 Option 2: Dial in by phone only: +1 669 900 6833 US (California) Meeting ID: 827 8059 6985 PASSCODE: 378677 *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 (To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.) ----- Please note: Our Friday Forums and other events are open to the public. By attending, you consent to having your voice and likeness recorded, photographed, posted on ICUJP's website and social media, and included in ICUJP materials and publications for noncommercial purposes. If you don't want to be photographed or recorded, please let the facilitator know. ICUJP has been featured on a few different media venues over the last few  weeks - ICUJP Chairperson Steve Rohde was interviewed on KPFK's long-running program "The Lawyers Guild", hosted by Jim Lafferty and Maria Hall. The program also featured legal scholar and ICUJP supporter Marjorie Cohn. You can listen to the program here: Steve was also interviewed by Jason DeRose of NPR on the difficulty in making definitive statements about the Israel/Hamas tragedies that do not get misinterpreted by either side. He was interviewed along with Tahil Sharma, an interfaith minister with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, as well as Phoebe Milliken of Hartford International University, and you can listen to that segment here. _________________________________________ 22nd Anniversary of ICUJP: 22 years of working for Justice and Peace Twenty-two years ago, Rev. George Regas of All-Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena reached out to clergy, community leaders, and laypeople to come together to seek an alternative to the fear-mongering and vengefulness sweeping much of our nation in the wake of September 11. The message that they wanted to convey was coherent and powerful: “Religious Communities Must Stop Blessing War and Violence.” On that day, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace was born. These past 22 years have been a journey for ICUJP - five Presidents, four California Governors, and numerous crises and issues that would shake the resolve of even the most devout and dedicated of activists. But through it all, we go forward in our mission to be the voice for "the least of these", and our determination to create the change we want to see in the world. On Sunday, September 10th, 2023, ICUJP honored Rev. George Regas's life and legacy, and recognized deserving organizations with the 2023 George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Award. As our theme was "Housing is a Human Right", we were glad to shine a light on the work of Making Housing and Community Happen, All-Saints Church Safe Haven Bridge to Housing, the Office of Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, and the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center. Thank you for your part in keeping the vision of George F. Regas alive as we continue creating a place to gather, organize, pray, and act together united by the fundamental principle that Religious Communities Must Stop Blessing War and Violence. Please consider helping Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace in its mission. ICUJP operates as a largely volunteer organization with a small part-time paid staff. We have survived for over 20 years through the generosity of individuals and organizations like you. Like so many other organizations, our ability to raise donations has been hampered during the COVID pandemic.   DONATE HERE!

A Quaker Perspective on Mysticism and Activism For Spirit Seekers

I shared this with a group of Methodists who wanted to know more about how the Quaker practice of contemplative worship and mysticism is linked to social activism/prophetic witness. 

What Do We Mean by Mysticism and Prophetic Witness?

Mysticism is the belief that people can directly experience God or true reality, rather than through books, ritual or other people. People who practice this are called mystics. Mystics usually experience this direct connection through contemplation, or silent worship.

The prophet is distinguished first by a face-to-face relationship with YHWH. The prophet then serves as a witness of YHWH and ministers by speaking and actuating the word of God. In an intimate encounter, a prophet hears from God, receives a word to be shared with God's people, then acts.

What do prophets and mystics have in common? How are they different?

Have you ever had a direct experience of the Divine that led you to take action?

Quakers believe that everyone can have a direct experience of God through the practice of contemplative worship. Some Quakers feel called to prophetic witness either individually or collectively as a result of waiting and listening for the Word of the Lord. For this reason, Quaker worship is sometimes called “listening” or “expectant” worship.

When we sit in contemplative silence during times of pain and experience the healing power of Spirit, we can become more compassionate listeners. This led the Quaker peace activist/mystic Gene Hoffman to develop a technique called “Compassionate Listening.” She brought together Israelis and Palestinians and taught them how to listen to each other’s stories nonjudgmentally and compassionately. This has proven to be a powerful tool for reconciliation. Her work is being carried on by Leah Green through the Compassionate Listening Project.

After 9/11, Gene Hoffman’s insights had a profound effect on me:

“Some time ago, I recognized that terrorists were people who had grievances, who thought their grievances would never be heard, and certainly never addressed. Later, I saw that all parties to every conflict were wounded and that at the heart of every conflict was an unhealed wound. I began to search for ways to heal these violence-causing wounds.” [1]

In addition to listening compassionately, Quakers also see themselves as “speaking truth to power” (a phrase coined by the Quaker activist Bayard Rustin), like the prophets of old.

“Like the Hebrew and Christian prophets whose lives [early Quakers] used a models, they experienced God as a living, energizing power that spurred them to confront corrupt institutions and to form communities of believers” (Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, 2001,  p. 3).

Have you ever felt Spirit or God leading you to take some action to correct or protest an injustice? Describe what this was like for you. What did you do?

Quakers believe that we can have a mystical/prophetic experience collectively when we sit in contemplative silence together, seeking to hear and do the will of God. This was also the belief of early Christians, as Rohr explains:

 

Richard Rohr on Prophetic Witness

Christianity has given little energy to prophecy, which Paul identifies as the second most important charism for building the church (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11). Too often, when Christians talk about prophecy, we think prophets make predictions about the future. In fact, prophets say exactly the opposite! They insist the future is highly contingent on the now. They always announce to the people of Israel that they have to make a decision now. You can go this way and the outcome of events will undo you or you can return to God, to love, and to the covenant. That’s not predicting the future as much as it’s naming the now, the way reality works. The prophet opens up human freedom by daring to tell the people of Israel that they can change history by changing themselves. That’s extraordinary, and it’s just as true for us today.

The prophets ultimately reveal a God who is “the God of the Sufferers” in the words of Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878–1965. I’d like to put it this way: it is not that we go out preaching hard and difficult messages, and then people mistreat and marginalize us for being such prophets (although that might happen). Rather, when we go to the stories of the prophets and of Jesus himself, we discover the biblical pattern is just the opposite! When we find ourselves wounded and marginalized, and we allow that suffering to teach us, we can become prophets. When we repeatedly experience the faithfulness, the mercy, and the forgiveness of God, then our prophetic voice emerges. That’s the training school. That’s where we learn how to speak the truth.

The prophets were always these wonderful people who went to wounded places. They went to where the suffering was, to the people who were excluded from the system. They saw through the idolatries at the center of the system because those who are excluded from the system always reveal the operating beliefs of that system. Speaking the truth for the sake of healing and wholeness is then prophetic because the “powers that be” that benefit from the system cannot tolerate certain revelations. They cannot tolerate the truths that the marginalized—the broken, the wounded, and the homeless—always reveal.

A favorite Bible passage for Quakers:

The story of Elijah from Kings 19:9-13

9 And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Why did Elijah run away? Was he simply afraid? Did he lose faith in God?

Have you ever experienced times when you needed to withdraw from a difficult situation to find clarity? During this time of withdrawal,  did you seek God’s guidance and experience a “gentle whisper” or “still small voice” giving you wisdom on how to deal with this situation?

Elijah is asked the same question twice by God: “What are you doing here?” How do you think Elijah’s mountain-top experience changed the way he responds to this question?

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[1] See Compassionate Listening and Other Writings by Gene Knudsen Hoffman: Quaker Peacemaker and Mystic, 2002, ed. by Anthony Manousos.

The Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign: A Multifaith Approach to Countering Anti-Muslim Discrimination

 

Please join us online ICUJP Friday Forum November 3rd, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific    The Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign: A Multifaith Approach to Countering Anti-Muslim Discrimination Join video conference here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85795929427 Call in by phone: +1 669 900 6833*  Meeting ID: 857 9592 9427 PASSCODE: 800955 *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 Event Description: Participants will explore the importance of multifaith solidarity work, the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign's specific framework for practicing it, and discuss strategies and tactics for building a more pluralistic and inclusive nation where all people are treated respectfully, fairly, and with dignity. Shoulder to Shoulder is a national multifaith coalition that connects, equips, and mobilizes faith communities in the United States as strategic partners in countering, addressing, and preventing anti-Muslim hatred, discrimination, and violence. Join the conversation with our speaker: Nina M. Fernando serves as Executive Director of the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign: Standing with American Muslims, Advancing American Ideals, a multifaith coalition of religious denominations and faith-based organizations committed to countering and preventing anti-Muslim discrimination and violence in the United States by building a society where all are treated with dignity and respect. She first joined the Shoulder to Shoulder team in 2017. Learn More/Here's how YOU can help: Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign Faith Over Fear Training 7:30 - 7:35  Log in and socialize 7:35 - 7:45  Welcome and introductions  7:45 - 7:50  Reflection (5 min. maximum) 7:50 - 9:15  Program and Q&A 9:15 - 9:20  Announcements 9:20 - 9:30  Closing circle and prayer Start your morning with us! Facilitator: Steve Rohde Reflector: Jasmine Hailey ** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am Pacific. ** ----- Here's how to join the online meeting: To join by video conference, you'll need to download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. Click on the link to join the meeting and then enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You'll be able to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees. If you prefer to join by phone, you'll be prompted to enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You won't be able to see the visuals or attendees, but you can view them on the meeting video recording afterward.  If you're new to Zoom and would like to use the video option, we recommend you download the app well ahead of time. ICUJP Friday Forum 11/03/23 Time: 07:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Option 1: Join video conference  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85795929427 Meeting ID: 857 9592 9427 PASSCODE: 800955 Option 2: Dial in by phone only: +1 669 900 6833 US (California) Meeting ID: 857 9592 9427 PASSCODE: 800955 *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 (To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.)