World Interfaith Harmony Week Discussion
USM's Office of Religious & Spiritual Life joins the international community in marking World Interfaith Harmony Week, first declared by unanymous vote of the United Nations in 2010. Read about it here, and join us for informal conversation on Wednesday, February 6, 11:30 - 1:30 in the Woodbury Campus Center Dining Room. Anchored by Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Hillel Katzir, Pagan Chaplain the Rev. Cynthia Jane Collins, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Chaplain the Rev. John Haslam, the conversation welcomes any member of the USm community from any religious or spiritual tradition (or none).
Solidarity, Sympathy, and Silence for Boston
The tree on the Portland campus dedicated on September 11, 2011 reminds us that when those attacks took place, we didn’t know how we’d go on, but we have. Another hateful act has rocked our world; more people have died and suffered grave injury. But the tree has continued to grow, to blossom and leaf, to rest in winter, and to begin again each spring. Life is resilient.
The explosions in Boston on Monday were powerful. The pain on the part of those whose loved ones were killed, and on the part of those injured is powerful. The hatred that motivated the act, and the fear and anger it provoked are powerful.
But our gathering in solidarity and sympathy is more powerful still. Solidarity, because it means we are one people, is more powerful. Sympathy, because it means we are being with, feeling with, those who grieve and ache and must heal, is more powerful. Solidarity and sympathy have more power to carry the day. They have the power to redeem this divided, killing, maiming, aching, and yet somehow resilient world.
In solidarity and in sympathy, we hold in our minds and hearts all those impacted by the horrible events of Monday in Boston.
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