Dr. Rev. Michael Kinnamon, Executive Secretary of the National Council of Churches, provides a thoughtful response to the contoversy over building a mosque near Ground Zero in Manhattan, noting that Muslims as well as non-Muslims were killed, and that Christians should treat Muslims as they would like to be treated in such a situation.
For thousands of families, Ground Zero in southern Manhattan is holy ground. Thousands lost someone they love in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and hundreds of thousands know someone who was directly or indirectly scarred by the collapse of the World Trade Center.
The emotional investment in Ground Zero cannot be overestimated.
That is precisely why Ground Zero must be open to the religious expression of all people whose lives were scarred by the tragedy: Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, and more. And Muslims.
No one knows how many Muslims died on 9/11, but they number in the hundreds. One was Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New York City police cadet, emergency medical technician and medical student. When Salman disappeared on September 11, law enforcement officials who knew of his Islamic faith sought him out among his family to question him about the attacks. His family lived with the onus of suspicion for six months until Salman’s body was identified. He was found near the North Tower with his EMT bag beside him, situated where he could help people in need.
The point of this now famous story is simple. Not every Muslim at Ground Zero was a terrorist, and not every Muslim was a hero. The vast majority were like thousands of others on September 11: victims of one of the most heinous events of our times.
But for the family of Salman Hamdani and millions of innocent Muslims, the tragedy has been exacerbated by the fact that so many of the rest of us have formed our opinions about them out of prejudice and ignorance of the Muslim faith.
It is that narrow-minded intolerance that has led to the outcry against the building of Cordoba House and Mosque near Ground Zero. It is the same ignorance that has led many to the outrageous conclusion that all Muslims advocate hatred and violence against non-Muslims. It is the same ignorance that has led to hate crimeand systematic discrimination against Muslims, and to calls to burn the Qur’an.
On the eve of Ramadan on August 11, the National Council of Churches, its Interfaith Relations Commission and Christian participants in the National Muslim-Christian Initiative, issued a strong call for respect for our Muslim neighbors.
“Christ calls us to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:39),” the statement said. “It is this commandment, more than the simple bonds of our common humanity, which is the basis for our relationship with Muslims around the world.”
The statement supported building Cordoba House “as a living monument to mark the tragedy of 9/11 through a community center dedicated to learning, compassion, and respect for all people.”
Now the National Council of Churches reaffirms that support and calls upon Christians and people of faith to join us in that affirmation.
The alternative to that support is to engage in a bigotry that will scar our generation in the same way as bigotry scarred our forebears.
Three-hundred years ago, European settlers came to these shores with a determination to conquer and settle at the expense of millions of indigenous peoples who were regarded as sub-human savages. Today, we can’t look back on that history without painful contrition.
One-hundred and fifty years ago, white Americans subjugated black Africans in a cruel slavery that was justified with Bible proof-texts and a belief that blacks were inferior to whites. Today, we look back on that history with agonized disbelief.
Sixty years ago, in a time of war and great fear, tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans were deprived of their property and forced into detention camps because our grandparents feared everyone of Japanese ancestry. Today that decision is universally regarded as an unconscionable mistake and a blot on American history.
Today, millions of Muslims are subjected to thoughtless generalizations, open discrimination and outright hostility because of the actions of a tiny minority whose violent acts defy the teachings of Mohammed.
How will we explain our ignorance and our compliance to our grandchildren?
It’s time to turn away from ignorance and embrace again the words of Christ: Love your neighbor as yourself.
In that spirit, we welcome the building of Cordoba House and Mosque near Ground Zero.
The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) clergyman and a long-time educator and ecumenical leader, is the ninth General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. The NCC is the ecumenical voice of America's Orthodox, Protestant,Anglican, historic African American, evangelical and traditional peacechurches. These 36 communions have 45 million faithful members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The joy of fasting according to Rumi
One of my favorite poems about fasting (there are not a lot to choose from!) is by Rumi, who captures brilliantly the joy and freedom that comes with a true spiritual fast:
"There's a hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness. We are lutes, no more, no less. If the soundbox
is stuffed full of anything, no music.
If the brain and the belly are burning clean
with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and new energy makes you
run up the steps in front of you.
Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier, read secrets with the reed pen.
When you're full of food and drink, an ugly metal
statue sits where your spirit should. When you fast,
good habits gather like friends who want to help.
Fasting is Solomon's ring. Don't give it
to some illusion and lose your power,
but even if you have, if you've lost all will and control,
they come back when you fast, like soldiers appearing
out of the ground, pennants flying above them.
A table descends to your tents,
Jesus' table,
spread with other food, better than the broth of cabbages."
Irma Raumbauer wrote the "Joy of Cooking" but the joys of fasting are just as delicious, according to Rumi, and also according to my own experience. So many of us are obsessed with food: we either overindulge, or we punish our bodies with diets, merely to gratify our animal nature. But does this obsession with food bring joy? Does it make the heart sing?
Fasting frees us from the demands of the body and opens us up to the joys of spiritual freedom. Rumi compares fasting to Solomon's magic ring which gave him the power to command demons, call up spirits (jinn), and talk with animals. It is amazing how creative and empowered one feels when one is not enslaved by one's body!
I love the concluding line of this poem: juxtaposing Jesus' h
eavenly banquet with the junk food that the world offers.
For the worldly, nothing could be better than a fine restaurant serving gourmet food, surrounded with important people and celebrities. I have been to such restaurant on rare occasions and I can testify the food did not satisfy like the food served at Walteria's hotmeal program for the homeless.
Given what Rumi wrote, it should come as no surprise that feeding the homeless is a crucial Muslim practice during Ramadan. Several mosques in the LA area call these opportunities "humanitarian days. I was pleased to learn that at least some Christians see the spiritual value of fasting while helping/showing love to the poor. I have been told that a Presbyterian Church challenges its young people to fast for one day and feed the homeless. I think people young and old can benefit from this challenge. I believe this is what Rumi meant when he talked about Jesus' table descending to your tent. In the Middle East, a tent is a place of hospitality--the place where Abraham fed the three strangers who turned out to be angels.
Recalling that famous incident, Paul wrote in his letter to Hebrews: "Forget not to show hospitality unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Hospitality is sometimes translated as "love" and rightly so, since the Greek word is "philoxenia," or "love of the stranger.")
Today I am going to Walteria United Methodist Church for their monthly hotmeal program, inshallah. I plan to bring my homeless "daughter-in-Christ" Melissa and her boyfriend Shaun. The poor and homeless community who gather at Walteria are my family in Christ and I always feel that I come closest to heaven when I spend time in their company. In Matthew, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a wedding feast--a party in which all are invited, but the rich and powerful are too busy to attend. So the king invites people from the street, all kinds of people, to join in the party. That's what the hotmeal program at Walteria UMC is like. It is a feast for the soul, with Jesus sitting at the head table.
What better place to celebrate during the holy month of Ramadan?
"There's a hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness. We are lutes, no more, no less. If the soundbox
is stuffed full of anything, no music.
If the brain and the belly are burning clean
with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and new energy makes you
run up the steps in front of you.
Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier, read secrets with the reed pen.
When you're full of food and drink, an ugly metal
statue sits where your spirit should. When you fast,
good habits gather like friends who want to help.
Fasting is Solomon's ring. Don't give it
to some illusion and lose your power,
but even if you have, if you've lost all will and control,
they come back when you fast, like soldiers appearing
out of the ground, pennants flying above them.
A table descends to your tents,
Jesus' table,
spread with other food, better than the broth of cabbages."
Irma Raumbauer wrote the "Joy of Cooking" but the joys of fasting are just as delicious, according to Rumi, and also according to my own experience. So many of us are obsessed with food: we either overindulge, or we punish our bodies with diets, merely to gratify our animal nature. But does this obsession with food bring joy? Does it make the heart sing?
Fasting frees us from the demands of the body and opens us up to the joys of spiritual freedom. Rumi compares fasting to Solomon's magic ring which gave him the power to command demons, call up spirits (jinn), and talk with animals. It is amazing how creative and empowered one feels when one is not enslaved by one's body!
I love the concluding line of this poem: juxtaposing Jesus' h
eavenly banquet with the junk food that the world offers.
For the worldly, nothing could be better than a fine restaurant serving gourmet food, surrounded with important people and celebrities. I have been to such restaurant on rare occasions and I can testify the food did not satisfy like the food served at Walteria's hotmeal program for the homeless.
Given what Rumi wrote, it should come as no surprise that feeding the homeless is a crucial Muslim practice during Ramadan. Several mosques in the LA area call these opportunities "humanitarian days. I was pleased to learn that at least some Christians see the spiritual value of fasting while helping/showing love to the poor. I have been told that a Presbyterian Church challenges its young people to fast for one day and feed the homeless. I think people young and old can benefit from this challenge. I believe this is what Rumi meant when he talked about Jesus' table descending to your tent. In the Middle East, a tent is a place of hospitality--the place where Abraham fed the three strangers who turned out to be angels.
Recalling that famous incident, Paul wrote in his letter to Hebrews: "Forget not to show hospitality unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Hospitality is sometimes translated as "love" and rightly so, since the Greek word is "philoxenia," or "love of the stranger.")
Today I am going to Walteria United Methodist Church for their monthly hotmeal program, inshallah. I plan to bring my homeless "daughter-in-Christ" Melissa and her boyfriend Shaun. The poor and homeless community who gather at Walteria are my family in Christ and I always feel that I come closest to heaven when I spend time in their company. In Matthew, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a wedding feast--a party in which all are invited, but the rich and powerful are too busy to attend. So the king invites people from the street, all kinds of people, to join in the party. That's what the hotmeal program at Walteria UMC is like. It is a feast for the soul, with Jesus sitting at the head table.
What better place to celebrate during the holy month of Ramadan?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Fasting for Peace During Ramadan
I began fasting during Ramadan after 9/11, and have been faithfully following this practice ever since. It gets harder and harder because Muslims use a lunar calendar and the month of Ramadan takes place 11 days earlier each year, and the days grow longer and longer. When I started nine years ago, Ramadan took place in November and the days were eight or nine hours long. Now they are 14 hours long. So you are probably wondering:
“Why do you fast for Ramadan if you are not a Muslim?”
I was asked this question while having dinner with Prof. Mohammed Abu-Nimer, a well-known Palestinian professor of peace studies who has taught at Hebrew University and now teaches at the American University in Washington, DC. The author of numerous books and articles relating to conflicts in the Middle East, Prof. Abu-Nimer had come to a Quaker center called Pendle Hill near Philadelphia to give a lecture about the situation in Israel/Palestine. As editor of a Quaker magazine, I was there to hear what he had to say about this topic.
It was my first encounter with Prof. Abu-Nimer, and Pendle Hill is a Quaker Center for Study and Centemplation, so I paused in silence to reflect before answering his question. My response surprised even me.
“I have been fasting during Ramadan since 9/11 to reach out and express my solidarity with the Muslim community,” I replied. “And I also find fasting to be an excellent spiritual practice that helps me to empathize with the poor.”
So far, the words were ones that I had given many times before when asked about fasting. But then came the unexpected part:
“I plan to keep fasting during Ramadan until there is peace in Israel/Palestine.”
Where these words came from, I don’t know, but they felt like what Quakers call a “leading of the Spirit.”
Hearing my words, Prof. Abu-Nimer smiled. He obviously appreciated this response, but I didn’t realize how much until later.
That evening, Prof. Abu-Nimer lectured about the heart-breaking situation in Israel/Palestine. He spoke about the deteriorating political conditions, and how every effort to promote a non-violent solution or approach had met with resistance and ultimately failure.
Finally, someone asked, “Do you have any good news to tell us about what can be done to promote peace?”
Prof. Abu-Nimer paused and reflected, and then he smiled.
“Yes, I have good news,” he said, “I met a Quaker during dinner this evening and he told me that he was fasting during Ramadan until there is peace in Israel/Palestine. This gave me goosebumps…”
At that moment, I had goosebumps, too. I felt as if God had confirmed my leading, and that from now on I really am committed to fasting during Ramadan until there is peace in the Holy Land.
A few months later, I found myself attending a peace event in Tel Aviv on the first day of Ramadan. For two weeks, I had been traveling with an interfaith delegation of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Quakers visiting and listening to Muslims, Christians, and Jews of all backgrounds and political persuasions at refugee camps, settlements, kibbutzim, and cafes. It was a powerful experience that help me connect with the people of this region at a heart level.
On this first day of Ramadan, Muslims and Jews were scheduled to go on a silent peace walk through the streets of Tel Aviv. This event was sponsored by Middle Way.
It was 9:00 AM in the morning, and already 80 degrees. I had had nothing to eat or drink before dawn, as I usually do when I fast during Ramadan, and was wondering if I would have the strength to make it through this four-hour walk in the heat of the day.
Just then an Arab in white robes began addressing us. He welcomed us to this event and spoke glowingly about peace and cooperation and then told us that he had purchased bottles of water and snacks for all participants. No mention was made of the fact that he and other Muslims would not be eating or drinking anything.
I was impressed, and humbled. Clearly this was another sign that God wanted me to fast during Ramadan until these wonderful children of God—these peace-loving Muslims and Jews—know real peace.
Our silent walk through the streets of Tel Aviv is one of the spiritual high points of my life. We didn’t solve all the problems of Israel and Palestine, but for one day we all knew what peace feels like. This was a blessing for which I will always be grateful to God.
I encourage everyone, regardless of religious persuasion, to “fast for peace.” Fasting can teach us feel in our gut (and not only in our heads) what Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are those who HUNGER and THIRST after justice.” Jesus understood from personal experience what hunger and thirst were all about, and why we need to work for justice. Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness. He lived in poverty, in solidarity with the poor. All his life lived in complete and humble submission to the will of God. This is the way to true peace.
Fasting for peace may seem like a small thing, but if we do with a pure intention, only God knows where it will lead and how it will change your life, or even the world.
“Why do you fast for Ramadan if you are not a Muslim?”
I was asked this question while having dinner with Prof. Mohammed Abu-Nimer, a well-known Palestinian professor of peace studies who has taught at Hebrew University and now teaches at the American University in Washington, DC. The author of numerous books and articles relating to conflicts in the Middle East, Prof. Abu-Nimer had come to a Quaker center called Pendle Hill near Philadelphia to give a lecture about the situation in Israel/Palestine. As editor of a Quaker magazine, I was there to hear what he had to say about this topic.
It was my first encounter with Prof. Abu-Nimer, and Pendle Hill is a Quaker Center for Study and Centemplation, so I paused in silence to reflect before answering his question. My response surprised even me.
“I have been fasting during Ramadan since 9/11 to reach out and express my solidarity with the Muslim community,” I replied. “And I also find fasting to be an excellent spiritual practice that helps me to empathize with the poor.”
So far, the words were ones that I had given many times before when asked about fasting. But then came the unexpected part:
“I plan to keep fasting during Ramadan until there is peace in Israel/Palestine.”
Where these words came from, I don’t know, but they felt like what Quakers call a “leading of the Spirit.”
Hearing my words, Prof. Abu-Nimer smiled. He obviously appreciated this response, but I didn’t realize how much until later.
That evening, Prof. Abu-Nimer lectured about the heart-breaking situation in Israel/Palestine. He spoke about the deteriorating political conditions, and how every effort to promote a non-violent solution or approach had met with resistance and ultimately failure.
Finally, someone asked, “Do you have any good news to tell us about what can be done to promote peace?”
Prof. Abu-Nimer paused and reflected, and then he smiled.
“Yes, I have good news,” he said, “I met a Quaker during dinner this evening and he told me that he was fasting during Ramadan until there is peace in Israel/Palestine. This gave me goosebumps…”
At that moment, I had goosebumps, too. I felt as if God had confirmed my leading, and that from now on I really am committed to fasting during Ramadan until there is peace in the Holy Land.
A few months later, I found myself attending a peace event in Tel Aviv on the first day of Ramadan. For two weeks, I had been traveling with an interfaith delegation of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Quakers visiting and listening to Muslims, Christians, and Jews of all backgrounds and political persuasions at refugee camps, settlements, kibbutzim, and cafes. It was a powerful experience that help me connect with the people of this region at a heart level.
On this first day of Ramadan, Muslims and Jews were scheduled to go on a silent peace walk through the streets of Tel Aviv. This event was sponsored by Middle Way.
It was 9:00 AM in the morning, and already 80 degrees. I had had nothing to eat or drink before dawn, as I usually do when I fast during Ramadan, and was wondering if I would have the strength to make it through this four-hour walk in the heat of the day.
Just then an Arab in white robes began addressing us. He welcomed us to this event and spoke glowingly about peace and cooperation and then told us that he had purchased bottles of water and snacks for all participants. No mention was made of the fact that he and other Muslims would not be eating or drinking anything.
I was impressed, and humbled. Clearly this was another sign that God wanted me to fast during Ramadan until these wonderful children of God—these peace-loving Muslims and Jews—know real peace.
Our silent walk through the streets of Tel Aviv is one of the spiritual high points of my life. We didn’t solve all the problems of Israel and Palestine, but for one day we all knew what peace feels like. This was a blessing for which I will always be grateful to God.
I encourage everyone, regardless of religious persuasion, to “fast for peace.” Fasting can teach us feel in our gut (and not only in our heads) what Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are those who HUNGER and THIRST after justice.” Jesus understood from personal experience what hunger and thirst were all about, and why we need to work for justice. Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness. He lived in poverty, in solidarity with the poor. All his life lived in complete and humble submission to the will of God. This is the way to true peace.
Fasting for peace may seem like a small thing, but if we do with a pure intention, only God knows where it will lead and how it will change your life, or even the world.
Monday, August 9, 2010
"How Will War Ever End?" Remembering Hiroshima
The First Congregational Church of Long Beach (the most liberal church in the South Bay, and proud of it!) is sponsoring a series of peace events this month. What a wonderful church this is--the embodiment of the liberal spirit, thanks in part to the leadership of Rev Jerry Stinson. A sign on the pastor's study says: "Don't believe everything the pastor tells you. Think for yourself!"I took part in the Hiroshima Day vigil, which took place last Thursday and attracted over over 100 people. It was an interfaith event with messages by a Hindu, two Muslims, two Buddhists and a Christian Quaker (yours truly).
This coming Sunday (July 15) at 2:00 PM, the First Congregational Church of Long Beach will sponsor an event featuring Captain Paul Chappell, a graduate of West Point who was a US army officer in Iraq. He will speak about United States Security in the 21st Century. Captain Chappell is the author of How Will War Ever End? and The End of War. He is currently serving as the Peace Leadership Director for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
Here are the message I gave at the Hiroshima vigil this past week:
Tonight, we are gathered together to remember what most Americans prefer to forget: we were the first, and the only, nation to use nuclear weapons. Sixty five years ago, in August 1945, we dropped two atomic bombs, one on the city of Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki, that killed over two hundred thousand people. Tens of thousands of others died slowly and painfully of illnesses caused by radiation.
I say we Americans prefer to forget this fact because I have been to the Museum of Nuclear Energy—what used to be called the Atomic Museum—in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and I can testify that there is absolutely no indication that atomic weapons ever hurt anyone. There are no pictures of the victims, not even pictures of the ruined cities, on the website or in the museum, even though it professes to be “objective.” I asked about this and was told that such images might upset the children who go there.
Unlike the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan, the Nuclear Energy Museum in New Mexico doesn’t promote peace, except for the “peaceful use of nuclear energy.” What our museum does is encourage children to become “little Einsteins” and develop new uses for nuclear energy.
As a result, children who go to this Nuclear Energy Museum think that atomic bombs are cool. I know this for a fact since I have read the guest book and seen the comments by children who fell in love with the bomb thanks to this “objective” museum funded by our tax dollars.
As a Quaker, I have protested at the nuclear test site in Nevada and been arrested along with other people of faith who passionately oppose nuclear weapons. I have also protested at the nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, at an event sponsored by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Abolishing nuclear weapons, and indeed, abolishing war, is one of the goals that we Quakers share in common with people of good will in all faith traditions. Friends, we need to remember, and to remind our fellow Americans, that over 200,000 human beings—precious human beings, made in the image of God, just like you and me—were killed in one of most horrific holocausts of human history. We Americans are responsible for those deaths.
Many of those killed were children. Even those who survived the inferno of the blast, suffered lethal consequences. We are here under a cloud of paper cranes to remind us of one such Japanese child, a twelve-year-old named Sadako Sasaki who died of leukemia in 1955. She was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped near her home by Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima. Her story poignantly reminds me us of the human cost of war.
We are here today not only as an act of remembrance, but also of repentance. We are here to say: “Never again..” We are here to pledge ourselves, before God and before each other, that we will do what we can to end the scourge of nuclear weapons.
Now is the time to take action. President Obama has called for nuclear disarmament, and has signed a treaty with Russia aimed at reducing our nuclear stockpiles, but we must not rest until all nuclear weapons have been abolished.
I’d like to close this reflection by reciting the words of a song by Fred Small called “Cranes over Hiroshima.” For the sake of our children, and our children’s children, let’s take these words to heart:
I say we Americans prefer to forget this fact because I have been to the Museum of Nuclear Energy—what used to be called the Atomic Museum—in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and I can testify that there is absolutely no indication that atomic weapons ever hurt anyone. There are no pictures of the victims, not even pictures of the ruined cities, on the website or in the museum, even though it professes to be “objective.” I asked about this and was told that such images might upset the children who go there.
Unlike the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan, the Nuclear Energy Museum in New Mexico doesn’t promote peace, except for the “peaceful use of nuclear energy.” What our museum does is encourage children to become “little Einsteins” and develop new uses for nuclear energy.
As a result, children who go to this Nuclear Energy Museum think that atomic bombs are cool. I know this for a fact since I have read the guest book and seen the comments by children who fell in love with the bomb thanks to this “objective” museum funded by our tax dollars.
As a Quaker, I have protested at the nuclear test site in Nevada and been arrested along with other people of faith who passionately oppose nuclear weapons. I have also protested at the nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, at an event sponsored by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Abolishing nuclear weapons, and indeed, abolishing war, is one of the goals that we Quakers share in common with people of good will in all faith traditions. Friends, we need to remember, and to remind our fellow Americans, that over 200,000 human beings—precious human beings, made in the image of God, just like you and me—were killed in one of most horrific holocausts of human history. We Americans are responsible for those deaths.
Many of those killed were children. Even those who survived the inferno of the blast, suffered lethal consequences. We are here under a cloud of paper cranes to remind us of one such Japanese child, a twelve-year-old named Sadako Sasaki who died of leukemia in 1955. She was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped near her home by Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima. Her story poignantly reminds me us of the human cost of war.
We are here today not only as an act of remembrance, but also of repentance. We are here to say: “Never again..” We are here to pledge ourselves, before God and before each other, that we will do what we can to end the scourge of nuclear weapons.
Now is the time to take action. President Obama has called for nuclear disarmament, and has signed a treaty with Russia aimed at reducing our nuclear stockpiles, but we must not rest until all nuclear weapons have been abolished.
I’d like to close this reflection by reciting the words of a song by Fred Small called “Cranes over Hiroshima.” For the sake of our children, and our children’s children, let’s take these words to heart:
The baby blinks her eyes as the sun falls from the sky
She feels the stings of a thousand fires as the city around her dies
Some sleep beneath the rubble, some wake to a different world
From the crying babe will grow a laughing girl
Ten summers fade to autumn, ten winters' snows have passed
She's a child of dreams and dances, she's a racer strong and fast
But the headaches come ever more often and the dizziness always returns
And the word that she hears is leukemia and it burns
Cranes over Hiroshima, white and red and gold
Flicker in the sunlight like a million vanished souls
I will fold these cranes of paper to a thousand one by one
And I'll fly away when I'm done
Her ancestors knew the legend - if you make a thousand cranesFrom squares of colored paper, it will take the pain awayWith loving hands she folds them, six hundred forty-four
Till the morning her stumbling fingers can't fold anymore
Her friends did not forget her - crane after crane they made
Until they reached a thousand and laid them upon her grave
People from everywhere gathered, together a prayer they saidAnd they wrote the words in granite so none can forget
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
(This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
No more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
Sing a song of peace, dream a dream of peace in the world
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Memorial for Gene Hoffman this Sunday
The memorial meeting for Gene Hoffma, Quaker peace activist best known for her Compassioante Listening work, will take place 2:00-4:00 PM at the Casa de Maria Retreat Center, 800 El Bosque Rd, Santa Barbara CA, on Sunday, August 8.
Gene was my dear friend and mentor, and I will be there "officiating" at the request of her family.
Here is her obituary--may she continue to rest in peace and may her life remind us not to rest until there is peace!
In Memoriam: a Tribute to Gene Knudsen Hoffman
Elinor Gene Knudsen Hoffman—Quaker peace activist, pastoral counselor, workshop facilitator, poet, columnist, author, actress, and mother of seven children—was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 3, 1919, to Valley (née Filtzer, from the Midwest), and Thorkild (“Tom”) Knudsen, who emigrated from Denmark in 1909 to found a successful dairy business.
On July 19, 2010, Gene died peacefully at Villa Alamar in Santa Barbara, California, where she had lived for six years.
Encouraged by her parents in the arts at an early age, Gene studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, in New York, and in Europe. She performed on the radio (including her long-running show, "Stories Children Love") as well as on stage, and her acting career continued through the 1960s.
In 1942, Gene married Raymond Boshco, with whom she had two children, Nikolas (1944) and Valley (1945).
In 1948 she divorced Ray and married Hallock Hoffman, the son of a prominent businessman and Republican political leader, Paul Gray Hoffman.
Hallock resigned his commission as captain in the Air Force and became the associate regional director of the American Friends Service Committee. Much to the chagrin of their conservative parents, Hallock and Gene became ardent liberals and pacifists.
Hallock and Gene had five children together: Paul (1949, d. 1994), Erik (1950), Kristian (1952), Nina (1955), and Kaj (1957).
Gene and Hallock became members of Orange Grove Quaker Meeting in Pasadena in 1951. Also at this time, Gene began writing a newspaper column and became involved in peace and social justice work. When she wrote a column favoring the United Nations, she was fired from her columnist job.
Gene took a strong stand on civil rights and sent her children to an integrated school in Pasadena—not a common practice for families of her background in the 1950s. When she published an article on her family’s experiences with integration, she was invited to become the first white columnist for the African-American newspaper the Amsterdam News.
Gene also took a controversial stand against the loyalty oath. In 1954, she became involved with a lawsuit against the city of Pasadena because it used a form requiring property owners to swear a “non-disloyalty oath.” The case was ultimately decided by the California Supreme court and the oath was removed.
The Hoffman family moved several times during the 1950s, following Hallock's job at the Fund for the Republic: the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. They lived in Pasadena, then in White Plains, New York, and finally settled in Santa Barbara in 1959, where Gene spent the rest of her life.
Gene and Hallock made their various homes into creative spaces. They offered their children art and music lessons, and had a room in the house dedicated to art and stocked with supplies. Gene read aloud to the children in the evenings while the children illustrated the stories she read.
Gene and Hallock also hosted many foreign exchange and some Native American students in their homes, and held classes and gatherings for young people.
Hallock and Gene threw legendary New Year's Eve parties; they wrote politically satirical plays and had friends act in them as part of the celebrations.
During the sixties, Gene was active in the Santa Barbara theater community. She acted at the Lobero Theatre and elsewhere, and wrote reviews of local productions for the Santa Barbara News Press.
In the 1969, Gene had a nervous breakdown. She signed herself into a mental hospital, and afterward emerged with new insights that aided her on her journey to becoming a pastoral counselor. She wrote a book about her experiences called From Inside the Glass Doors.
Gene and Hallock divorced in the early 1970s.
Gene explored peace activism and various psychological and spiritual therapies in the 1970s. She was deeply involved in re-evaluation counseling, and she was instrumental in founding the Night Counseling Center in Santa Barbara. She also hosted the Peace Resource Center in her house, and created the Gathering Place there, a space where people who worked toward bettering the world could meet free of charge.
She taught poetry for personal growth and healing for many years in various venues around Santa Barbara, including at La Casa de Maria and the psych ward at Cottage Hospital.
Gene studied the philosophy of Martin Buber, was fascinated by the life of Muriel Lester, met with David Reynolds to study Morita Therapy in Japan, and went on retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh, buddhist monk and peace activist. She organized a retreat for Vietnam vets with Thich Nhat Hanh, and based the international program she founded, Compassionate Listening, on his teaching that " we must listen to both sides of any conflict before we take actions."
The Compassionate Listening Project's motto is, "An enemy is one whose story we have not heard." Leah Green, executive director of the Compassionate Listening Project, and others continue Gene's work in the world.
Gene received a master's degree in pastoral counseling from Goddard College.
She traveled the world to study the peace movement and spent a year as a student at Pendle Hill, a Quaker adult study center near Philadelphia.
A member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) for over fifty years, Gene traveled many times to the Middle East and the former Soviet Union during the 1980s and 1990s to do reconciliation work. She worked with the FOR on the Forbidden Faces and the Seeds for Hope projects in the former U.S.S.R.
Gene has published articles, books, and pamphlets about her experiences in Israel and Palestine, including Pieces of the Mideast Puzzle (1991) and No Royal Road to Reconciliation (1995).
When Alaskan hunters and fishers and indigenous people came into conflict over hunting and fishing rights, Gene helped to arrange Compassionate Listening sessions through the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
She has written extensively and given innumerable workshops and talks about peacemaking. Her work has inspired many others, including Cynthia Monroe, AFSC staff person in Alaska, and Leah Green, founder of Mideast Citizen Diplomacy’s Compassionate Listening Project. Gene has worked with such notable peace workers as Adam Curle, Herb Walters, Virginia Baron, and Richard Deats.
In 2003, her articles and essays were collected in a book called Compassionate Listening: the Writings of Gene Hoffman, Quaker Peace Activist and Mystic, edited by Anthony Manousos.
Gene summed up her approach to peacemaking: “The call, as I see it, is for us to see that within all life is the mystery: God.... By compassionate listening we may awaken it and thus learn the partial truth the other is carrying, for another aspect of being human is that we each carry some portion of the truth. To reconcile, we must listen for, discern, and acknowledge this partial truth in everyone.”
Dennis Rivers, a Berkeley-based web designer and interpersonal communications skills specialist who has made some of Gene's work available for free online, observed that Gene’s “calling was to carry pastoral counseling out of the pastor’s study into public life. What has energized her work over the years is the Quaker teaching that ‘there is that of God in every person.’”
Judith Kolokoff, former AFSC regional director in the Pacific Northwest, said of Gene: “She is a real prophet. And she’s a remarkable facilitator. She has the capacity to bring out the very best of the truth in each individual.”
Leah Green writes, " I honor you, Gene, for your remarkable lifetime quest in service to personal and collective healing. Thank you for your love, belief and investment in me personally, and in our wider community of compassionate listeners. You are and will remain the founder of Compassionate Listening, and the birth-mother of a movement."
For some of Gene's writing, see:
http://www.newconversations.net/communication_skills_open_source_library.htm#gkh
Gene is survived by six of her children, Nikolas Knudsen (Laurel) Boshco Hoffman, Valley Via (Richard) Reseigne, Erik Thorkild (Deirdre Hallman) Hoffman, Kristian Robert Hoffman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and Kaj Lathrop Hoffman; six grandchildren: Shane Knudsen Boshco, Rayven Angel Boshco, Jack Rorian Pierce Boshco, Julianna LaRee Thompson Boshco, Brian Nikolas Paul Boshco, and Connor Wolf; her sister, Marie Christensen; her nephew, Neil Christensen; and her niece, Karen Dugas.
A memorial for Gene will be held at La Casa de Maria, 800 El Bosque Road, on Sunday, August 8, from two to four p.m.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Compassionate Listening Project.
http://www.compassionatelistening.org
The Compassionate Listening Project
P.O. Box 17
Indianola, WA 98342
USA
Gene was my dear friend and mentor, and I will be there "officiating" at the request of her family.
Here is her obituary--may she continue to rest in peace and may her life remind us not to rest until there is peace!
In Memoriam: a Tribute to Gene Knudsen Hoffman
Elinor Gene Knudsen Hoffman—Quaker peace activist, pastoral counselor, workshop facilitator, poet, columnist, author, actress, and mother of seven children—was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 3, 1919, to Valley (née Filtzer, from the Midwest), and Thorkild (“Tom”) Knudsen, who emigrated from Denmark in 1909 to found a successful dairy business.
On July 19, 2010, Gene died peacefully at Villa Alamar in Santa Barbara, California, where she had lived for six years.
Encouraged by her parents in the arts at an early age, Gene studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, in New York, and in Europe. She performed on the radio (including her long-running show, "Stories Children Love") as well as on stage, and her acting career continued through the 1960s.
In 1942, Gene married Raymond Boshco, with whom she had two children, Nikolas (1944) and Valley (1945).
In 1948 she divorced Ray and married Hallock Hoffman, the son of a prominent businessman and Republican political leader, Paul Gray Hoffman.
Hallock resigned his commission as captain in the Air Force and became the associate regional director of the American Friends Service Committee. Much to the chagrin of their conservative parents, Hallock and Gene became ardent liberals and pacifists.
Hallock and Gene had five children together: Paul (1949, d. 1994), Erik (1950), Kristian (1952), Nina (1955), and Kaj (1957).
Gene and Hallock became members of Orange Grove Quaker Meeting in Pasadena in 1951. Also at this time, Gene began writing a newspaper column and became involved in peace and social justice work. When she wrote a column favoring the United Nations, she was fired from her columnist job.
Gene took a strong stand on civil rights and sent her children to an integrated school in Pasadena—not a common practice for families of her background in the 1950s. When she published an article on her family’s experiences with integration, she was invited to become the first white columnist for the African-American newspaper the Amsterdam News.
Gene also took a controversial stand against the loyalty oath. In 1954, she became involved with a lawsuit against the city of Pasadena because it used a form requiring property owners to swear a “non-disloyalty oath.” The case was ultimately decided by the California Supreme court and the oath was removed.
The Hoffman family moved several times during the 1950s, following Hallock's job at the Fund for the Republic: the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. They lived in Pasadena, then in White Plains, New York, and finally settled in Santa Barbara in 1959, where Gene spent the rest of her life.
Gene and Hallock made their various homes into creative spaces. They offered their children art and music lessons, and had a room in the house dedicated to art and stocked with supplies. Gene read aloud to the children in the evenings while the children illustrated the stories she read.
Gene and Hallock also hosted many foreign exchange and some Native American students in their homes, and held classes and gatherings for young people.
Hallock and Gene threw legendary New Year's Eve parties; they wrote politically satirical plays and had friends act in them as part of the celebrations.
During the sixties, Gene was active in the Santa Barbara theater community. She acted at the Lobero Theatre and elsewhere, and wrote reviews of local productions for the Santa Barbara News Press.
In the 1969, Gene had a nervous breakdown. She signed herself into a mental hospital, and afterward emerged with new insights that aided her on her journey to becoming a pastoral counselor. She wrote a book about her experiences called From Inside the Glass Doors.
Gene and Hallock divorced in the early 1970s.
Gene explored peace activism and various psychological and spiritual therapies in the 1970s. She was deeply involved in re-evaluation counseling, and she was instrumental in founding the Night Counseling Center in Santa Barbara. She also hosted the Peace Resource Center in her house, and created the Gathering Place there, a space where people who worked toward bettering the world could meet free of charge.
She taught poetry for personal growth and healing for many years in various venues around Santa Barbara, including at La Casa de Maria and the psych ward at Cottage Hospital.
Gene studied the philosophy of Martin Buber, was fascinated by the life of Muriel Lester, met with David Reynolds to study Morita Therapy in Japan, and went on retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh, buddhist monk and peace activist. She organized a retreat for Vietnam vets with Thich Nhat Hanh, and based the international program she founded, Compassionate Listening, on his teaching that " we must listen to both sides of any conflict before we take actions."
The Compassionate Listening Project's motto is, "An enemy is one whose story we have not heard." Leah Green, executive director of the Compassionate Listening Project, and others continue Gene's work in the world.
Gene received a master's degree in pastoral counseling from Goddard College.
She traveled the world to study the peace movement and spent a year as a student at Pendle Hill, a Quaker adult study center near Philadelphia.
A member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) for over fifty years, Gene traveled many times to the Middle East and the former Soviet Union during the 1980s and 1990s to do reconciliation work. She worked with the FOR on the Forbidden Faces and the Seeds for Hope projects in the former U.S.S.R.
Gene has published articles, books, and pamphlets about her experiences in Israel and Palestine, including Pieces of the Mideast Puzzle (1991) and No Royal Road to Reconciliation (1995).
When Alaskan hunters and fishers and indigenous people came into conflict over hunting and fishing rights, Gene helped to arrange Compassionate Listening sessions through the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
She has written extensively and given innumerable workshops and talks about peacemaking. Her work has inspired many others, including Cynthia Monroe, AFSC staff person in Alaska, and Leah Green, founder of Mideast Citizen Diplomacy’s Compassionate Listening Project. Gene has worked with such notable peace workers as Adam Curle, Herb Walters, Virginia Baron, and Richard Deats.
In 2003, her articles and essays were collected in a book called Compassionate Listening: the Writings of Gene Hoffman, Quaker Peace Activist and Mystic, edited by Anthony Manousos.
Gene summed up her approach to peacemaking: “The call, as I see it, is for us to see that within all life is the mystery: God.... By compassionate listening we may awaken it and thus learn the partial truth the other is carrying, for another aspect of being human is that we each carry some portion of the truth. To reconcile, we must listen for, discern, and acknowledge this partial truth in everyone.”
Dennis Rivers, a Berkeley-based web designer and interpersonal communications skills specialist who has made some of Gene's work available for free online, observed that Gene’s “calling was to carry pastoral counseling out of the pastor’s study into public life. What has energized her work over the years is the Quaker teaching that ‘there is that of God in every person.’”
Judith Kolokoff, former AFSC regional director in the Pacific Northwest, said of Gene: “She is a real prophet. And she’s a remarkable facilitator. She has the capacity to bring out the very best of the truth in each individual.”
Leah Green writes, " I honor you, Gene, for your remarkable lifetime quest in service to personal and collective healing. Thank you for your love, belief and investment in me personally, and in our wider community of compassionate listeners. You are and will remain the founder of Compassionate Listening, and the birth-mother of a movement."
For some of Gene's writing, see:
http://www.newconversations.net/communication_skills_open_source_library.htm#gkh
Gene is survived by six of her children, Nikolas Knudsen (Laurel) Boshco Hoffman, Valley Via (Richard) Reseigne, Erik Thorkild (Deirdre Hallman) Hoffman, Kristian Robert Hoffman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and Kaj Lathrop Hoffman; six grandchildren: Shane Knudsen Boshco, Rayven Angel Boshco, Jack Rorian Pierce Boshco, Julianna LaRee Thompson Boshco, Brian Nikolas Paul Boshco, and Connor Wolf; her sister, Marie Christensen; her nephew, Neil Christensen; and her niece, Karen Dugas.
A memorial for Gene will be held at La Casa de Maria, 800 El Bosque Road, on Sunday, August 8, from two to four p.m.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Compassionate Listening Project.
http://www.compassionatelistening.org
The Compassionate Listening Project
P.O. Box 17
Indianola, WA 98342
USA
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The journey of love continues....
I've been on the road for six weeks, traveling nearly 7,000 miles across the USA, and am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed in Culver City, CA, tomorrow night.
I've written this reflection because it's been 14 months since Kathleen "graduated" and July 20 would have been her 58th birthday; and I feel as if Kathleen has been with me throughout this journey of love.
I've been traveling in the ministry since Memorial Day, sharing with Quakers my concern about the interfaith movement and the Parliament of the World's Religions (see laquaker.blogspot.com).
It's been a long, physically exhausting, but spiritually rewarding journey. During the past six weeks I've given presentations in San Jose, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Colorado Springs, Denver, Billings (MT), Sioux Falls (SD), Minneapolis, Des Moines, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Roanoke, Nashville, Little Rock, and at Intermountain Yearly Meeting in New Mexico and at the Friends General Conference Gathering in Bowling Green, OH. Next week I plan to give presentations at Pacific Yearly Meeting in Claremont, CA, inshallah.
During this amazing journey I have learned a lot about my fellow Americans by staying in people's homes and learning first-hand what was happening in their region. Everyone I went I have been treated with generosity and kindness, for which I am very grateful.
I have tried to reciprocate this kindness by picking up hitchhikers along my travels. From them, I have had glimpses of what life feels like to those who are not as fortunate as we are. A month ago, not far from Flagstaff, I picked up a student exploring the US by hitchhiking (as I did when I left college), but most of those I picked up were middle aged men who are the itinerant underemployed--men with limited skills and educations, who take whatever odd jobs they can find, and have no permanent address. Odd jobs are scarce, and the police don't take kindly to those without a fixed domicile. Few Americans pick up hitchhikers these days and few seem to take seriously what Jesus said in Matthew 25: "As you do to the least of these, you do for me."
I am glad I picked up these itinerant strangers: they have all been good company who made my long hours of driving more pleasant.
Speaking of the homeless, please hold in your prayers Melissa and Shaun, the homeless couple in Torrance who was very dear to Kathleen and who have adopted me as their "father in Christ." (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEXJZ749_5g). Melissa just celebrated he 33rd birthday and is in good spirits, despite her worsening disability. I'm sorry to report her wheel chair needs new treads, and Medical won't cover the cost ($120), so help is needed. If you feel led, send a card to her PO box: Melissa Earnhart, 1820 W Carson St. #202 PMB 116 Torrance CA 90501.
Despite these economically hard times, I have good news to report about the interfaith movement. There are many signs that America has become a more tolerant and religiously pluralistic society. Even in small communities like Billings and Sioux Falls, there are interfaith councils and activities. In Nashville, Tennessee, the "buckle of the Bible belt," there are over 10,000 Kurdish Muslims and they have plans to construct a mega-mosque. Some who cling to the "old-time religion" are resisting this change, but many mainstream Christians (including the Methodists and Quakers) are supporting the Muslims.
(See
http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=12808779
http://media.www.vanderbiltorbis.com/media/storage/paper983/news/2008/11/12/Newsfeatures/Nashville.Kurdish.Community.Thrives-3534811.shtml
http://www.icntn.org/)
I find it encouraging that many heartland Americans are making a real effort to reach out to people of other faiths in the spirit of friendship and cooperation.
There were other levels to this trek besides my interfaith ministry. Kathleen and I planned to make a road trip like this one during in the summer in which she was diagnosed with cancer. We had hoped to visit national parks and Friends as we wended our way to Pendle Hill, the Quaker center where we met and fell in love, and where planned to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.
Since Kathleen shared my concern about the interfaith movement, I felt as if her spirit has been with me on this journey of interfaith. (I was also accompanied in spirit by a support group from my Quaker meeting, who kept in touch with me by email and phone, and held me in the Light, and for whom I am very grateful.)
One of the highlights of my trip was visiting Kathleen's father in Eminence, MO. I was deeply moved by the gracious and loving welcome I received from my father-in-law and his wife Edibeth. I also received a gracious welcome from Ginger Woods, Kathleen's room mate at Smith College. I stayed with Ginger and her family in Haverford, PA. It felt wonderful to be shown hospitality and love by those who loved Kathleen, and to realize that such love can deepen after a loved one passes to the next stage of existence. It is as if Kathleen's spirit is drawing us closer together!
I want to honor Kathleen's memory by recommending two books that have helped me this summer by providing evidence that there is life beyond what we know on this material plane of existence:
"Surviving Death" by Scott Degenhardt. Written in a popular style, but encompassing a lot of research, this book is based on actual cases of people who have had brushes with death, and helps us to understand what the next life may be like. This book was lent to me by a Quaker in Nashville who shares my conviction that this life is a prelude to eternal life. It addresses many important questions, including why there are so many religions. (The simple answer, according to one who had an after-death experience, is that multiple religions are needed because people have diverse spiritual needs and temperaments.)
"Continuing life: the evidence of the survival of death through mediumship" by Angela Howard, a British Quaker. Her book is also based on experiences of those who have been in contact with loved ones who have passed. The intro is by David Hodges, a British Friend who founded the Friends Fellowship of Healing (which has produced a number of useful pamphlets on spiritual healing, grieving, etc.). Hodges is a biological scientist and was a university lecturer for many years and he obviously takes psychical research seriously.
I am wondering if any of you reading this have had experiences with loved ones who have passed. I'd love to hear your stories, and may use them in an article/pamphlet I am working on.
I have felt in touch with Kathleen spiritually over the past year and often commune with her in prayer and meditation. I know that my life has been changed as a result of her spiritual presence, just as the lives of Jesus' disciples were changed by his death and resurrection. I have been led to continue Kathleen's pastoral work and serve as clerk of pastoral care in my Meeting--a role I have never played until Kathleen's death. I have become a better listener and more able to discern people's spiritual states and conditions. I attribute this new sensitivity and calling to Kathleen's abiding spirit, and to God's amazing grace.
The most memorable psychical experience I have had occurred a few weeks after Kathleen's death. I went to the DMV to transfer the title of Kathleen's Honda into my name alone so that I could sell it. I arrived early and was first in line so that I could avoid the crowds. When the DMV opened, I entered the nearly silent office and the black woman who was supposed to serve me was singing a familiar hymn: "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Deeply moved, I sang along with her! When we finished, I told her this was the hymn that my wife and I had sung every morning of her cancer journey. We both fell into a moment of silent reflection and felt a spiritual presence that could only have been Kathleen's. As we went about our routine business, we began to share from our spiritual lives. The black woman told her about the challenge of being a Christian and working at the DMV--how hard it was sometime to be patient, loving, etc. I shared with her some of my challenges after Kathleen's death. It was as if we were both in church, not in the office of the DMV!
I have had other similar experiences that have convinced me that Kathleen lives on, and continues to inspire me and others to live in harmony with God's boundless love. I hope that you also feel the presence of those who have passed on but are willing to inspire and guide us, if we need their help.
Yours in peace and friendship,Anthony ManousosNew home phone: 310-889-0784Mobile: 310-755-4497 New address: 3817 Albright AveLos Angeles (Culver City) CA 90066-1161New blog: http://laquaker.blogspot.com/"The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious, and devout souls are everywhere of one religion; and when death has taken off the mask, they will know one another, though the liveries they wear here make them strangers."--William Penn.
I've written this reflection because it's been 14 months since Kathleen "graduated" and July 20 would have been her 58th birthday; and I feel as if Kathleen has been with me throughout this journey of love.
I've been traveling in the ministry since Memorial Day, sharing with Quakers my concern about the interfaith movement and the Parliament of the World's Religions (see laquaker.blogspot.com).
It's been a long, physically exhausting, but spiritually rewarding journey. During the past six weeks I've given presentations in San Jose, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Colorado Springs, Denver, Billings (MT), Sioux Falls (SD), Minneapolis, Des Moines, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Roanoke, Nashville, Little Rock, and at Intermountain Yearly Meeting in New Mexico and at the Friends General Conference Gathering in Bowling Green, OH. Next week I plan to give presentations at Pacific Yearly Meeting in Claremont, CA, inshallah.
During this amazing journey I have learned a lot about my fellow Americans by staying in people's homes and learning first-hand what was happening in their region. Everyone I went I have been treated with generosity and kindness, for which I am very grateful.
I have tried to reciprocate this kindness by picking up hitchhikers along my travels. From them, I have had glimpses of what life feels like to those who are not as fortunate as we are. A month ago, not far from Flagstaff, I picked up a student exploring the US by hitchhiking (as I did when I left college), but most of those I picked up were middle aged men who are the itinerant underemployed--men with limited skills and educations, who take whatever odd jobs they can find, and have no permanent address. Odd jobs are scarce, and the police don't take kindly to those without a fixed domicile. Few Americans pick up hitchhikers these days and few seem to take seriously what Jesus said in Matthew 25: "As you do to the least of these, you do for me."
I am glad I picked up these itinerant strangers: they have all been good company who made my long hours of driving more pleasant.
Speaking of the homeless, please hold in your prayers Melissa and Shaun, the homeless couple in Torrance who was very dear to Kathleen and who have adopted me as their "father in Christ." (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEXJZ749_5g). Melissa just celebrated he 33rd birthday and is in good spirits, despite her worsening disability. I'm sorry to report her wheel chair needs new treads, and Medical won't cover the cost ($120), so help is needed. If you feel led, send a card to her PO box: Melissa Earnhart, 1820 W Carson St. #202 PMB 116 Torrance CA 90501.
Despite these economically hard times, I have good news to report about the interfaith movement. There are many signs that America has become a more tolerant and religiously pluralistic society. Even in small communities like Billings and Sioux Falls, there are interfaith councils and activities. In Nashville, Tennessee, the "buckle of the Bible belt," there are over 10,000 Kurdish Muslims and they have plans to construct a mega-mosque. Some who cling to the "old-time religion" are resisting this change, but many mainstream Christians (including the Methodists and Quakers) are supporting the Muslims.
(See
http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=12808779
http://media.www.vanderbiltorbis.com/media/storage/paper983/news/2008/11/12/Newsfeatures/Nashville.Kurdish.Community.Thrives-3534811.shtml
http://www.icntn.org/)
I find it encouraging that many heartland Americans are making a real effort to reach out to people of other faiths in the spirit of friendship and cooperation.
There were other levels to this trek besides my interfaith ministry. Kathleen and I planned to make a road trip like this one during in the summer in which she was diagnosed with cancer. We had hoped to visit national parks and Friends as we wended our way to Pendle Hill, the Quaker center where we met and fell in love, and where planned to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.
Since Kathleen shared my concern about the interfaith movement, I felt as if her spirit has been with me on this journey of interfaith. (I was also accompanied in spirit by a support group from my Quaker meeting, who kept in touch with me by email and phone, and held me in the Light, and for whom I am very grateful.)
One of the highlights of my trip was visiting Kathleen's father in Eminence, MO. I was deeply moved by the gracious and loving welcome I received from my father-in-law and his wife Edibeth. I also received a gracious welcome from Ginger Woods, Kathleen's room mate at Smith College. I stayed with Ginger and her family in Haverford, PA. It felt wonderful to be shown hospitality and love by those who loved Kathleen, and to realize that such love can deepen after a loved one passes to the next stage of existence. It is as if Kathleen's spirit is drawing us closer together!
I want to honor Kathleen's memory by recommending two books that have helped me this summer by providing evidence that there is life beyond what we know on this material plane of existence:
"Surviving Death" by Scott Degenhardt. Written in a popular style, but encompassing a lot of research, this book is based on actual cases of people who have had brushes with death, and helps us to understand what the next life may be like. This book was lent to me by a Quaker in Nashville who shares my conviction that this life is a prelude to eternal life. It addresses many important questions, including why there are so many religions. (The simple answer, according to one who had an after-death experience, is that multiple religions are needed because people have diverse spiritual needs and temperaments.)
"Continuing life: the evidence of the survival of death through mediumship" by Angela Howard, a British Quaker. Her book is also based on experiences of those who have been in contact with loved ones who have passed. The intro is by David Hodges, a British Friend who founded the Friends Fellowship of Healing (which has produced a number of useful pamphlets on spiritual healing, grieving, etc.). Hodges is a biological scientist and was a university lecturer for many years and he obviously takes psychical research seriously.
I am wondering if any of you reading this have had experiences with loved ones who have passed. I'd love to hear your stories, and may use them in an article/pamphlet I am working on.
I have felt in touch with Kathleen spiritually over the past year and often commune with her in prayer and meditation. I know that my life has been changed as a result of her spiritual presence, just as the lives of Jesus' disciples were changed by his death and resurrection. I have been led to continue Kathleen's pastoral work and serve as clerk of pastoral care in my Meeting--a role I have never played until Kathleen's death. I have become a better listener and more able to discern people's spiritual states and conditions. I attribute this new sensitivity and calling to Kathleen's abiding spirit, and to God's amazing grace.
The most memorable psychical experience I have had occurred a few weeks after Kathleen's death. I went to the DMV to transfer the title of Kathleen's Honda into my name alone so that I could sell it. I arrived early and was first in line so that I could avoid the crowds. When the DMV opened, I entered the nearly silent office and the black woman who was supposed to serve me was singing a familiar hymn: "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Deeply moved, I sang along with her! When we finished, I told her this was the hymn that my wife and I had sung every morning of her cancer journey. We both fell into a moment of silent reflection and felt a spiritual presence that could only have been Kathleen's. As we went about our routine business, we began to share from our spiritual lives. The black woman told her about the challenge of being a Christian and working at the DMV--how hard it was sometime to be patient, loving, etc. I shared with her some of my challenges after Kathleen's death. It was as if we were both in church, not in the office of the DMV!
I have had other similar experiences that have convinced me that Kathleen lives on, and continues to inspire me and others to live in harmony with God's boundless love. I hope that you also feel the presence of those who have passed on but are willing to inspire and guide us, if we need their help.
Yours in peace and friendship,Anthony ManousosNew home phone: 310-889-0784Mobile: 310-755-4497 New address: 3817 Albright AveLos Angeles (Culver City) CA 90066-1161New blog: http://laquaker.blogspot.com/"The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious, and devout souls are everywhere of one religion; and when death has taken off the mask, they will know one another, though the liveries they wear here make them strangers."--William Penn.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Gene Hoffman, Quaker peace activist, rests in peace
My dear friend and teacher Gene Hoffman passed away this week. This was not unexpected, or even sad news, since she has been in the final stages of Altzheimer's and unable to speak or to recognize people for a long time. Nonetheless, I will miss her. I used to visit her at the Atzheimer's facility and her bright blue eyes were always radiant when she saw me, and I loved spending time with her, holding her hands and gazing into her luminous face and feeling her loving presence. She will always have a place in my heart.
Her son asked me to write an obituary for Gene, so I am including a draft here. It was drawn from the book of her writings called Compassionate Listening, which I edited.
Elinor Gene Knudsen Hoffman—Quaker peace activist, pastoral counselor, workshop facilitator, poet, columnist, author, actress, and mother of six children—was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 3, 1919 to Valley and Thorkild (“Tom”) Knudsen, who emigrated from Denmark in 1909 to found a successful diary business. On July 21, 2010, Gene passed away peacefully at an Alzheimer’s facility in Santa Barbara, California, where she had resided for six years.
Encouraged in the arts at an early age, Gene studied acting in New York and at the Pasadena Playhouse. She performed on the radio as well as on stage, and her acting career continued through the 1960s.
In 1942, Gene married Raymond Chamberlin Boshco, and bore him two children, Nikolas (1944) and Valley (1945). In 1948 she divorced Boshco in order to marry Hallock Hoffman, the son of a prominent businessman and Republican political leader, Paul Hoffman. Hallock resigned his commission as captain in the Air Force and became the associate regional director of the American Friends Service Committee. Much to the chagrin of their conservative parents, Hallock and Gene both became ardent liberals and pacifists.
Soon after the birth of their son Erik Thorkild (1950), Gene and Hallock discovered Orange Grove Quaker Meeting in Pasadena. When she and her husband were accepted into membership the following year, Gene remembers “dancing down the street, feeling exultant that I had joined so great a company of seekers, people of God. I felt that together Hallock and I would perform miracles.”
In the 1950s, she began writing a newspaper column and became involved in peace and social justice work. When she wrote a column favoring the United Nations, she was “fired” from the columnist job that her father had secured for her. Taking a strong stand on civil rights, Gene insisted that her children attend an integrated school in Pasadena—something that was not common for families of her background in the 1950s.When she published an article on her family’s experiences with integration, she was invited to become the first white columnist for the African-American newspaper, the Amsterdam News. Gene also took a controversial stand against the loyalty oath. In 1954, she became involved with a lawsuit against the city of Pasadena because it used a form requiring property owners to swear a “non-disloyalty oath.” Partly because of her family connections, her case attracted media attention, and Gene received hate mail from anti-communists.
During this period she also bore three more children: Kristian Robert, Nina Kiriki and Kaj Lathrop.
In the 1960s, Gene’s marriage to Hallock came to a tumultuous end and Gene had a nervous breakdown. Signing herself voluntarily into a mental hospital, she emerged with new insights that enabled her to become a pastoral counselor. She wrote a book about her experiences called Inside the Glass Doors.
During the 1970s, when her children were full-grown, Gene decided to devote herself full-time to peace activism. She traveled around the world to study the peace movement and spent a year as a student at Pendle Hill, a Quaker adult study center near Philadelphia.
An active Quaker and member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) for over fifty years, she traveled dozens of times to the Middle East and the former Soviet Union during the 1980s and 1990s to do reconciliation work. In 1989, after American planes downed two Libyan planes, she went to Libya with an FOR delegation to meet with Libyan leaders. She has met with and listened to Palestinians and Israelis, and published articles, books, and pamphlets about her experiences, including Pieces of the Mideast Puzzle (1991) and No Royal Road to Reconciliation (1995). When Alaskan hunters and fishers and indigenous people came into conflict over hunting and fishing rights, Gene helped to arrange Compassionate Listening sessions through the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). She has published over one hundred articles as well as books, poems and pamphlets and given innumerable workshops and talks about peacemaking. Her work has inspired numerous others, including Cynthia Monroe, AFSC staff person in Alaska, and Leah Green, founder of Mideast Citizen Diplomacy’s Compassionate Listening Project. Gene has been rightly called a “pioneer” in the Compassionate Listening movement, and has worked with such other notables as Adam Curle, Herb Walters, Virginia Baron, and Richard Deats.
In 2003, her writings were collected into a book called Compassionate Listening: the Writings of Gene Hoffman, Quaker Peace Activist and Mystic.
Gene summed up her approach to peacemaking as follows: ““The call, as I see it, is for us to see that within all life is the mystery: God. It is within the Contra [opponent of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua], the Nazi, the Africaaner, the Israeli, [the Palestinian], and the American. By compassionate listening we may awaken it and thus learn the partial truth the other is carrying, for another aspect of being human is that we each carry some portion of the truth. To reconcile, we must listen for, discern, and acknowledge this partial truth in everyone.” Dennis Rivers, a communication skills instructor from Santa Barbara, observed that Gene’s “calling was to carry pastoral counseling out of the pastor’s study into public life. What has energized her work over the years is the Quaker teaching that ‘there is that of God in every person.’” Judith Kolokoff, former AFSC regional director in the Pacific Northwest, said of Gene: “She is a real prophet. And she’s a remarkable facilitator. She has the capacity to bring out the very best of the truth in each individual.”
Her son asked me to write an obituary for Gene, so I am including a draft here. It was drawn from the book of her writings called Compassionate Listening, which I edited.
Elinor Gene Knudsen Hoffman—Quaker peace activist, pastoral counselor, workshop facilitator, poet, columnist, author, actress, and mother of six children—was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 3, 1919 to Valley and Thorkild (“Tom”) Knudsen, who emigrated from Denmark in 1909 to found a successful diary business. On July 21, 2010, Gene passed away peacefully at an Alzheimer’s facility in Santa Barbara, California, where she had resided for six years.
Encouraged in the arts at an early age, Gene studied acting in New York and at the Pasadena Playhouse. She performed on the radio as well as on stage, and her acting career continued through the 1960s.
In 1942, Gene married Raymond Chamberlin Boshco, and bore him two children, Nikolas (1944) and Valley (1945). In 1948 she divorced Boshco in order to marry Hallock Hoffman, the son of a prominent businessman and Republican political leader, Paul Hoffman. Hallock resigned his commission as captain in the Air Force and became the associate regional director of the American Friends Service Committee. Much to the chagrin of their conservative parents, Hallock and Gene both became ardent liberals and pacifists.
Soon after the birth of their son Erik Thorkild (1950), Gene and Hallock discovered Orange Grove Quaker Meeting in Pasadena. When she and her husband were accepted into membership the following year, Gene remembers “dancing down the street, feeling exultant that I had joined so great a company of seekers, people of God. I felt that together Hallock and I would perform miracles.”
In the 1950s, she began writing a newspaper column and became involved in peace and social justice work. When she wrote a column favoring the United Nations, she was “fired” from the columnist job that her father had secured for her. Taking a strong stand on civil rights, Gene insisted that her children attend an integrated school in Pasadena—something that was not common for families of her background in the 1950s.When she published an article on her family’s experiences with integration, she was invited to become the first white columnist for the African-American newspaper, the Amsterdam News. Gene also took a controversial stand against the loyalty oath. In 1954, she became involved with a lawsuit against the city of Pasadena because it used a form requiring property owners to swear a “non-disloyalty oath.” Partly because of her family connections, her case attracted media attention, and Gene received hate mail from anti-communists.
During this period she also bore three more children: Kristian Robert, Nina Kiriki and Kaj Lathrop.
In the 1960s, Gene’s marriage to Hallock came to a tumultuous end and Gene had a nervous breakdown. Signing herself voluntarily into a mental hospital, she emerged with new insights that enabled her to become a pastoral counselor. She wrote a book about her experiences called Inside the Glass Doors.
During the 1970s, when her children were full-grown, Gene decided to devote herself full-time to peace activism. She traveled around the world to study the peace movement and spent a year as a student at Pendle Hill, a Quaker adult study center near Philadelphia.
An active Quaker and member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) for over fifty years, she traveled dozens of times to the Middle East and the former Soviet Union during the 1980s and 1990s to do reconciliation work. In 1989, after American planes downed two Libyan planes, she went to Libya with an FOR delegation to meet with Libyan leaders. She has met with and listened to Palestinians and Israelis, and published articles, books, and pamphlets about her experiences, including Pieces of the Mideast Puzzle (1991) and No Royal Road to Reconciliation (1995). When Alaskan hunters and fishers and indigenous people came into conflict over hunting and fishing rights, Gene helped to arrange Compassionate Listening sessions through the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). She has published over one hundred articles as well as books, poems and pamphlets and given innumerable workshops and talks about peacemaking. Her work has inspired numerous others, including Cynthia Monroe, AFSC staff person in Alaska, and Leah Green, founder of Mideast Citizen Diplomacy’s Compassionate Listening Project. Gene has been rightly called a “pioneer” in the Compassionate Listening movement, and has worked with such other notables as Adam Curle, Herb Walters, Virginia Baron, and Richard Deats.
In 2003, her writings were collected into a book called Compassionate Listening: the Writings of Gene Hoffman, Quaker Peace Activist and Mystic.
Gene summed up her approach to peacemaking as follows: ““The call, as I see it, is for us to see that within all life is the mystery: God. It is within the Contra [opponent of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua], the Nazi, the Africaaner, the Israeli, [the Palestinian], and the American. By compassionate listening we may awaken it and thus learn the partial truth the other is carrying, for another aspect of being human is that we each carry some portion of the truth. To reconcile, we must listen for, discern, and acknowledge this partial truth in everyone.” Dennis Rivers, a communication skills instructor from Santa Barbara, observed that Gene’s “calling was to carry pastoral counseling out of the pastor’s study into public life. What has energized her work over the years is the Quaker teaching that ‘there is that of God in every person.’” Judith Kolokoff, former AFSC regional director in the Pacific Northwest, said of Gene: “She is a real prophet. And she’s a remarkable facilitator. She has the capacity to bring out the very best of the truth in each individual.”
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