How do you get to Carnegie Hall, etc.

Our UK/IRE team started an Interfaith Council, and they asked me to record a short video for Interfaith Week, which is this week.  Here is what I said:  

Thanks very much to the team for inviting me to share a “Thought for the Day” for Interfaith Week.  I think it’s wonderful that you’ve created this forum, and in a society which so often seems to want to put up walls and emphasize the differences between faiths, it’s been such a joy to hear people talking about how many consistencies there are across different faith traditions.

So I wanted to share a thought today about the practice of faith, and how important and powerful I think faith practices are.  I think that so often when we talk about faith, we talk either about identity (like “I am a Christian, or a Muslim, or an agnostic.”) or about beliefs (like “I believe in Heaven and Hell,” or “that my God is the one true God.”)  Now, identity and beliefs have their place, but it can be problematic to talk about faith only in those terms.  Focusing on a religious identity can reduce people into camps: “these people are my people, and the rest of you are outside the tent.”  Focusing on beliefs can lead to problematic debates about which beliefs are “true,” and which aren’t.  Beliefs also have a way of evolving over time.  Most importantly, thinking about faith only through that lens of identity or beliefs keep us mired in our own subjective reality – as we focus on who we are and what do we think, we turn away from other people, and we turn away from God.

I think the practice of faith, on the other hand, is different.  When we attend a house of worship, we take time out of our weekend for quiet, and reflection, and communion.  When we pray we make ourselves humble and vulnerable before God.  When we fast, we demonstrate self-restraint, and we set our own desires aside.  Similarly, when we meditate, if we do it correctly, we intentionally turn off our monkey brains and seek a stillness which is kind of a prerequisite for experiencing the divine. 

Now, I’ve just named a few “traditional” religious practices, but I would argue that practices which bring us closer to God are not restricted to formal faith traditions, or even to people who consider themselves religious.  Doing charity work, spending time in nature, or going for a long run are all practices that help us feel a connection with something greater.  And that’s what any faith practice is about: helping us turn away from ourselves, toward God, and toward others. 

So, this week, I encourage you to think about how faith is practiced, and maybe renew your commitment to a certain practice, or try a new one.   One theme that comes through in every faith practice is one of sacrifice.  In today’s world of instant gratification, the concept of sacrifice doesn’t play so well.  But I’m reminded of a great quote from Nasim Taleb: “Love without sacrifice is theft.  Particularly the love of God.”

Homemade Prayers Vol. 2

 

TCS

Dear God,

Thank you for the TCS* guy,

who comes to set me free

when the car won’t start.

It’s reassuring to see

how orderly everything looks

under the hood,

even though I know

the orderliness is

more or less

an illusion.

Amen.

* Touring Club Suisse, like Triple-A in the US.

Tresspasses

Dear God,

My bad.

Amen.

Sunrise

Dear God,

This morning,

Your indigo sky looks

Somehow both indifferent and loving,

Above the rooftops of the city,

Whose façades of metal and glass strain to reach You,

but know they can’t.

The sky knows what’s going on down there:

People going about their business, etc.

She tolerates patiently,

Like a mother waiting for the child’s tantrum to fizzle out,

Before it falls,

Spent and inarticulate,

Back into your embrace.

Amen.

Homemade Prayers Vol. 1

Metaphors 

Dear Lord

Lead me not into cheap metaphors,

like, “Running is like faith, because

you suffer but you persist

and try to be disciplined

and at the end you feel something

approaching glory.”

Also please lead me not into

trying to sound clever

all the time

by, for instance,

trying to avoid cheap metaphors.

Amen.

BA214

Dear God,

Normally,

I’m not into those prayers

which ask for Your direct intervention

in things.

Like people who pray for their football team to win,

or to get that big promotion

or even for a sick person to get well.

I feel like You don’t really like to get involved

in things like that.

And that what we really should be praying for

is Your help in living through whatever might befall us.

I feel like

that’s more Your scene.

Having said that,

it would be great if this airplane didn’t crash

into the North Atlantic.

Just putting it out there.

Amen.