A Personal Perspective
by
Rev Barry King
Why an Interfaith Ministry?
I have now worked in the Interfaith Ministry for over 30 years. When I started in the ministry, the idea of an interfaith community and the notion of a personal connection to Spirit was a mystery to most and an affront to some. Today, it is gratifying to see that there has been a positive change towards embracing diversity and towards a more inclusive positive spirituality. There is, however, still much to do. One of the reasons, I dedicated myself to the Interfaith Ministry because of the intolerance and misunderstanding of other spiritual paths I saw and experienced in my search for a positive form of spiritual practice. This intolerance of other ways meant that there were loving souls who worshiped the God of their understanding and because of this, they lived in fear. These people lived in fear because their faith has taken them along a different path. They were persecuted because they understood God differently. These people could have been you or me. They loved their children. They were kind and considerate and lived on the whole a Spiritual life. If we have learned anything, it should be that enough wars have been fought in the name of God’s Love and that enough souls have suffered at the hands of those who would "save" them because they are different. The message of the interfaith ministry is a simple one, “The paths are many paths, the truth is one - love thy neighbour.”
God is Love
It has always seemed inconceivable to me that people should suffer because they worship and love the Divine Source - God of their understanding. It is so sad that some souls feel that they need to fear God or that they need to instill in others a fear of God. I believe that to fear God is to pervert a basic truth - “God is Love. A loving God does not punish those who seek understanding and who are doing their best to meet the challenges they have chosen in this life. It is the nature of the spiritual seeker to challenge their perception of the world that they live in to grow in understanding and awareness. Much has been accomplished by those challenging the universally accepted truths of their time. We are the benefactors of truth seekers throughout the ages.
I am pleased to say that the notion of an Interfaith community is much more acceptable today than it was 25 years ago. It is true that many still have a difficult time understanding how a Ministry can exists which embraces all traditions. We celebrate the ceremony, symbols and articulations of the Divine's message of unconditional love through all traditions. It should also be noted that we encourage our members to reject the negative thought forms grounded in the physical such as intolerance, hatred, jealousy, greed, fear, etc.. These are by nature not spiritual qualities and we believe they should have no place in spiritual practice.
I have now worked in the Interfaith Ministry for over 30 years. When I started in the ministry, the idea of an interfaith community and the notion of a personal connection to Spirit was a mystery to most and an affront to some. Today, it is gratifying to see that there has been a positive change towards embracing diversity and towards a more inclusive positive spirituality. There is, however, still much to do. One of the reasons, I dedicated myself to the Interfaith Ministry because of the intolerance and misunderstanding of other spiritual paths I saw and experienced in my search for a positive form of spiritual practice. This intolerance of other ways meant that there were loving souls who worshiped the God of their understanding and because of this, they lived in fear. These people lived in fear because their faith has taken them along a different path. They were persecuted because they understood God differently. These people could have been you or me. They loved their children. They were kind and considerate and lived on the whole a Spiritual life. If we have learned anything, it should be that enough wars have been fought in the name of God’s Love and that enough souls have suffered at the hands of those who would "save" them because they are different. The message of the interfaith ministry is a simple one, “The paths are many paths, the truth is one - love thy neighbour.”
God is Love
It has always seemed inconceivable to me that people should suffer because they worship and love the Divine Source - God of their understanding. It is so sad that some souls feel that they need to fear God or that they need to instill in others a fear of God. I believe that to fear God is to pervert a basic truth - “God is Love. A loving God does not punish those who seek understanding and who are doing their best to meet the challenges they have chosen in this life. It is the nature of the spiritual seeker to challenge their perception of the world that they live in to grow in understanding and awareness. Much has been accomplished by those challenging the universally accepted truths of their time. We are the benefactors of truth seekers throughout the ages.
I am pleased to say that the notion of an Interfaith community is much more acceptable today than it was 25 years ago. It is true that many still have a difficult time understanding how a Ministry can exists which embraces all traditions. We celebrate the ceremony, symbols and articulations of the Divine's message of unconditional love through all traditions. It should also be noted that we encourage our members to reject the negative thought forms grounded in the physical such as intolerance, hatred, jealousy, greed, fear, etc.. These are by nature not spiritual qualities and we believe they should have no place in spiritual practice.
Building an Interfaith Community
One of the challenges of the Interfaith perspective is to build of a sense of community when each faith component of that community could see itself as exclusive or ultimately right. An example is the use of the term interfaith to define a mutli-denominational Christian congregation. For us, the Interfaith community is by definition a multi-faith community bringing together people from all faiths and traditions to celebrate the many faces of God. The goal of the Interfaith Ministry is to help people understand that loving souls no matter what their faith are equal in the eyes of God and will stand together in the world of Spirit.
Many have had Experiences with Spirit
Over the years, it has also become quite clear to me that many, if not most, people have had experiences which they cannot explain through their understanding of the physical world. These experiences can be defined as spiritual, psychic, or intuitive and are difficult to articulate using language. Such experiences are the foundation of all religious traditions yet they are not considered valid unless performed by the “faithful.” They are miraculous by nature and are too often filed away as experiences that they cannot share because people do not understand them. To many people in today’s technological world, if it cannot be understood in terms of our present understanding of the world then it cannot exist. It is also true that our busy pace and our total immersion in the physical separates us from our connections to our spiritual dimensions. We in the Interfaith community are able to validate experiences of Spirit and provide a structure through which people from all faiths can understand them and share them.
If all those who have had valid, concrete experiences with the unseen world of Spirit would stand and be counted, I believe it would cause a gasp which would be heard around the world. How could such a widely experienced phenomena be so unacknowledged and unrecognized. The amazing thing is that it is not that we have to prove that all experiences people have with the Spirit world are real and valid. It is only necessary to prove that one of the many hundreds of millions of experiences is real. The is either a Spirit realm or there is not. We need only universally validated experience or one personal proof to validate its reality. Allowing ourselves to be embattled by those who will not accept our understanding and reality give more strength to non-belief of a truth. This does not mean that our reality is any less valid or that it is wrong. We must speak our truth or we will be overwhelmed by those who would pervert the truth for their own gain or purposes.
One of the challenges of the Interfaith perspective is to build of a sense of community when each faith component of that community could see itself as exclusive or ultimately right. An example is the use of the term interfaith to define a mutli-denominational Christian congregation. For us, the Interfaith community is by definition a multi-faith community bringing together people from all faiths and traditions to celebrate the many faces of God. The goal of the Interfaith Ministry is to help people understand that loving souls no matter what their faith are equal in the eyes of God and will stand together in the world of Spirit.
Many have had Experiences with Spirit
Over the years, it has also become quite clear to me that many, if not most, people have had experiences which they cannot explain through their understanding of the physical world. These experiences can be defined as spiritual, psychic, or intuitive and are difficult to articulate using language. Such experiences are the foundation of all religious traditions yet they are not considered valid unless performed by the “faithful.” They are miraculous by nature and are too often filed away as experiences that they cannot share because people do not understand them. To many people in today’s technological world, if it cannot be understood in terms of our present understanding of the world then it cannot exist. It is also true that our busy pace and our total immersion in the physical separates us from our connections to our spiritual dimensions. We in the Interfaith community are able to validate experiences of Spirit and provide a structure through which people from all faiths can understand them and share them.
If all those who have had valid, concrete experiences with the unseen world of Spirit would stand and be counted, I believe it would cause a gasp which would be heard around the world. How could such a widely experienced phenomena be so unacknowledged and unrecognized. The amazing thing is that it is not that we have to prove that all experiences people have with the Spirit world are real and valid. It is only necessary to prove that one of the many hundreds of millions of experiences is real. The is either a Spirit realm or there is not. We need only universally validated experience or one personal proof to validate its reality. Allowing ourselves to be embattled by those who will not accept our understanding and reality give more strength to non-belief of a truth. This does not mean that our reality is any less valid or that it is wrong. We must speak our truth or we will be overwhelmed by those who would pervert the truth for their own gain or purposes.
