The Power of God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Incarnate

Rick and I love to share vacation, but I have to confess one of the highlights is to experience worship renewal. Rick had done the searching for “vacation Sunday worship,” away from what we know and are very comfortable with. He had suggested The Peace Abby and I’m always game with diversity, especially when it comes to unique ways of worship! So off to the Peace Abbey we go!

I thank God for the blessing of being a part of worship, gathered in the “shared silence” with fellow pacifists at The Peace Abby in Sherborn, MA ….a renewing and a sharing in the awesome beauty of silence, universally, as children of God, opening us to the Spirit, the ones who are hopeful, universal, and eternal. The God I know as Yahweh, the one who came in the flesh, Jesus the Christ.

Rick & I began in contemplation and prayer in The Peace Abbey’s Multi-Faith Chapel. The chapel offers a sacred environment filled with icons, symbols, sculptures and texts of the twelve major spiritual traditions and also holds the cremation remains of dozens of individuals who chose to bequeath their ashes to the Abbey. A journey in time, in peace and quiet passion and with the one who has been given to me for such a time as this, I thank God for this shared time and precious gift.

A powerful moment came when face to face with the wooden sculpture of Jesus that bears a crown of thorns (barbed wire) that in the past had been part of the fence at the Nevada bombing test sight. What a statement of peace: Holy whoa!

The chimes rang to let the worshipers on the grounds of the Abbey know the gathering will start soon. The gathering started with 15 minutes of silence in the conference center, Quaker Room, then moved to the peacemakers table in an adjacent room. With the gathered body, we passed the Assisi blessing bowl. Each person at the table submerged their hand into the water, (cleansed) and the servant to their right dried their hands. Then one person at the table started a very different ritual. On the table were sculptures of hands. One person around the table, the son of the Abbey’s director, touched a finger to a finger on the sculpture, then he put his hand over his heart. He then offered the finger he had placed on the sculpture to the person on his left. She reached out, touching finger to finger, then placed her hand on her own heart. And so it continued around the circle. The point: to accept each person as a person created by God. Each of us, made uniquely as a child of God, is to be accepted for everything that makes us unique.

For the first time two committed youth recited the Peace Seeds, comprised of the twelve prayers for peace of the major faith traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Muslim, Sikh, Baha’i, Shinto, Native African and American, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian), whoa - very powerful. They were joined by three young adults who as youth had memorized the same prayers.

We also shared the humble commitment of a young boy (the first under age 18), sign The National Registry to commit his life as a conscientious objector. The National Registry for Conscientious Objection was created at The Peace Abbey following the war in the Persian Gulf in early 1991. The National Registry provides men and women of all ages with an opportunity to register their objection to personal, national, and international violence.

After 12 minutes of meditation (silence) the gathering adjourned with the chiming from the grandfather clock, followed by the thanksgiving and verbal appreciation to the youth from three young adults who were asked to be a part of this history being made.

The diversity of faiths and ways of worship show that at the heart of it, we are all connected. We all share a common commitment as children of God, invited to open ourselves, reminding us of the call to reflect in our lives a certain Truth, a Truth about justice, equality, nonviolence, compassion and love.

"Like the bee gathering honey from the different flowers, the wise person accepts the essence of the different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions." -Mahatma Gandhi

"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Buddhist become a better Buddhist and a Christian become a better Christian." - Mother Teresa