inter-faith-ful

This week has been rather inter-faith-ful for me:

Catholicism: Firstly, i lead devotions yesterday at CPE. Trying to be different and creative, i delved into some of my past devotional practices and lead a 'Jesus Rosary' session. The Jesus Rosary just is the same as the Catholic rosary, just substituting the Jesus prayer in place of the Hail Mary's. My 4 fellow CPE classmates (all catholic religious) were very surprised to have a Presby/Quaker leading them in the rosary.

Judaism: Last night i joined the labyrinth crowd for a rather irreligious Passover meal at Kevin's house. There was wine, good food and even some espressos and/or single malt afterwards. I've been to a few Christianised Passover meals before, so it was really interesting to experience this tradition with an eclectic bunch of people with no background in either Judaism or Christianity.

The reflection and discussion before the meal focused on Jewish spirituality, specifically the notion of chosenness and what it does in light of suffering. We got talking about the problems in Jerusalem and how some Jews believe that the Messiah will only come when the temple has been rebuilt. The 'minor' problem here is that there is a temple on the temple mount already: the Dome on the Rock mosque. Kevin's 'solution' was so simple, yet profound: "Why don't they just share the building?" he said. Now there's an inter-faith, communal answer for world peace.

Islam: Today i got off CPE early and joined a Muslim friend of mine at Friday Prayers (Jumu'ah) at his local Mosque. Nazeer took me to a Nikaah a while back, but i've wanted the full mosque experience, to get more of a feel of the Muslim faith. The experience was not as worship-ful as i would have thought, though very liturgical (but not in a restrictive, conforming way). I'd liken it more to a Catholic Mass (though not as sacramental), rather than a charismatic worship service. The sermon was on a few of the attitudes of the Prophet Mohammed, which i found pleasantly surprising. I can't remember them all - it was hard to keep track with all the Arabic words and quotations from the Qur'an in the sermon - but one that stood out is the the Prophet (and Allah) hold forgiveness higher than justice. Watching a few thousand men kneel, bow and pray all in unison was something, and the call to prayer and recitation of the Qur'an was beautiful. All in all, it was not as 'moving' or 'holy' as i would have thought, but it was still a privilege to partake (or rather observe) this sacred time.