2009: A pivotal year for hope by people of faith.As with every new year, people make resolutions to change for the better. People want growth to occur. I do. It is important to my spirit. In fact it is a ritual that I look forward to more than any other during the year. Prior to the new year, the days are getter darker and darker and we have faith that at some point it will reverse. That demarcation of time when the sun returns and daylight increases, my spirit draws from the itself a way to grow. I carry hope that by recognizing and stating aloud that I have a "not so positive" trait that I can liberate myself from past behaviours. At this last solace I wrote on pieces of paper what I did not want in my life the following year - wars, jealousy, bad haircuts. Then I burned them in a fire and they went up in ashes. On January First I resolved to be more graceful - inwardly and outwardly. People all over have faith that they can be better. I believe we have the will to change so we can make a difference. So will 2009 be a pivotal year? Why as a community of different faiths do we believe this topic is of more importance this year than last? Do we recognize that we are so interrelated that individually we each have an influence on others? Or do believe that often it is just one person that effects us all? Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, and locally David Dunscomb and Jean Vercourteren. They have had a dramatic influence on us. I think we need both -- we need a Barack Obama and each single soul so that we can influence the local, national and international realities. In the past few years there have been many of us sitting at tables discussing the new, current travesty. We struggled to state our views and bring some relief to the injustices. At times we only have been able to decide when to meet next and who is in charge of bringing snacks. The past disappointments sit at the table with us today. Are we planning to act on our hopes or have we networked ourselves to complacency? I worry that when we grab our hats and return to our own houses of worship that we won't remember the singular issue that gathered us together to a peaceful spot of interrelatedness and reliance. I worry that our differences are seen as stumbling blocks rather than another blessing. During the mid 1990s a sermon by Rev. Arpad Szabo, Rector of the Protestant Theological Institute of Romania stated that "The Western world espouses four types of faith operating today:
I worry the devotion we have to our methods for serenity will have us stuck in the political, economic and cultural realities we have now. I worry that the entrenchment we have in fear will tear us completely apart. It is a blessing and honor to learn how others love and attain grace and peace. We all want that relationship to either ourselves or with an entity outside of ourselves. I hope our conversations can spark resolutions. Resolutions to act and not regress. In my opinion, we need to develop our strengths in ourselves as well as in our towns, our country, and beyond. We need to discuss our state of being such as the financial struggles on main street, versus Wall Street, the ripple down effect of you and me deciding to buy gourmet meals versus deciding how our children will learn to be critical thinkers and compassionate participates in their lives. And change our belief about being invaluable by using the energy, ideas and different points of view we have within us as a complete community. The 1940's song, "Mister In-Between" encourages us to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. Bringing the different faiths together is crucial to this. And just as critical is recognizing those who choose to not use the spiritual and religious organizations: the disenfranchised. I believe uniting by collaboration and open mindedness is a pivotal way for growth to occur. Janus, the god for which January is named, had the ability to see the past and future. He is used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future; of one vision to another. This is a new year. We can have a commitment to change that focuses on communities not corporations, on eco-solutions not profit; on compassion not derision; on frugality not hand-outs. We need to see where the discussions lead. I believe we can manifest what we hope. - Trish Leighton 1/11/09 |