Hello again! Unfortunately I have been very busy and have had trouble attending to this blog. However, I'd like to let it be known that I am still committed to working on it and keeping it updated. I am currently trying to arrange a visit to the Sufi farm I discussed earlier but in the meantime I just wanted to update with a post on what it means to better integrate one's spirituality/religion with nature and why that is important.
It has been my experience that, although the green movement now seems to be in full swing - a legitimately exciting and hopeful prospect for our children and future generations - there does not seem to be a strong tie between this movement and institutional religion. Rather, much of it is associated with those who fall under a secular or "SBNR" (spiritual but not religious) category that seems to go hand in hand an unassailable desire for social change, stronger liberal values, increased environmental awareness, and a return to increased diversity in purchasing local and fairly acquired goods. Perhaps because of the green movement's connection with this demographic traditional religious institutions, often upholding conservative values, have been wary of embracing or even exploring the ideas thus contained by what may appear to them as that which is supported by a young liberal agenda or "hippies."
This, I think, is a big mistake on the part of most religious organizations and one which needs to be rectified as soon as possible. One reason being the spiritual significance of nature and what it does for us as humans; not to mention what it asks of us in return. Often times, as a Christian, I have noticed many firm objectives to work on behalf of the poor through various church-allied volunteer services or other means offered through church. I have also seen these types of programs offered by other religions. These programs are great and I am by no means deriding them. They fulfill what is often (or what should often be) a primary purpose of what many people attest to is a principle foundation of their religious beliefs, which is compassionate care of one's neighbor. However they are often focused on contributing only a very particular set of services. And so when I realize that this is all the church or another religious institution offers I become disappointed and can see why many find religious institutions so unfulfilling.
By limiting their outreach to canned food drives (which, should be mentioned are, usually unhealthy processed foods that can lead to health problems), brief mission trips, and volunteer options that engage only a small part of an overall congregation, religious institutions usually miss the mark when it comes to engaging their overall communities. Then, when people leave or when they do not contribute, they are usually labeled as "secular" or "worldly" and quickly forgotten.
But what if there were programs to engage a wide variety of people's skills and interests? Programs that could help build community and foster relationships with people who are members of that community? And programs which are progressive in the sense that they take the best parts of modernization and apply it to deeply held spiritual values? Now, let's look at one of those areas - that which in the last century we have desperately tried to disconnect ourselves from - the realm of nature, of homegrown food, and of adequate nutrition.
It has been boggling to me why religious institutions have not pushed for greater reform in the area of green and local food, along with increased environmental concern. For one thing, these areas are intimately connected with concerns of social justice. Every part of our physical being depends upon what we give unto, and thus receive in return from, nature. When we allow massive corporations, such as Monsanto, to take advantage of local populations by creating plants whose seed does not germinate or when we think it is okay for poor populations to live off of cheap fast food we are ignoring a vital problem of modern society and thus not living out the beliefs which we hold closest to us. Of course, often times I will hear a call for greater awareness of the environment from clergy or religious establishments but only rarely is this truly backed up by a strategic plan of action.
What we need are religious institutions who are willing to build community gardens or greenhouses with which they can provide nutritious food for the poor. We need religious models that can take an active role in preserving nature through education and through explaining the fact that we must serve the earth if we are to receive from it. And we must learn to support more local ventures so that we can be more deeply connected as a community and foster awareness of each other. This will, in turn, lead to more personal relations that will prevent fear of the unknown when seen in the other and thus prevent alienation and hostility.
Of course, while saying all this, I also realize the hardships many institutions would face in trying to accomplish these goals. There are financial concerns and logistical problems that many institutions may not be even ready to begin with, considering most are already charitable organizations in some shape or form. Yet, I think it would not be too much to ask for them to try or become more aware of other areas in which they can meet with the modern outside world in forming new ideas that connect with people's deeply held interests, the secular and religious alike.
And yet, even while saying all this, I realize my own shortcomings in this area. Often times I will opt for some fast food instead of bothering to take the time to prepare a full meal. Or I will ignore someone I am working in the field with instead of working to foster a better relationship with them because I am more interested in what is going on in my own mind. But at least what I can say for myself is that I am working toward being better and that a large part of that is realizing just how much we who are religious should be learning from the "hippies" in giving back to a Mother Earth that we believe has been given to us a divine gift and which we ought to know has only given its rewards to us ever since.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
St. Ann's Byzantine Catholic Church
As I mentioned in last week's post, this weekend I was able to visit St. Ann's Byzantine Catholic Church in Harrisburg, PA in order to observe a service of the eastern Catholic church. The first thing you recognize about the church is its difference in style from the typical Roman Catholic church. The top of the church is adorned with golden, rounded steeples with Byzantine crosses, which are construed with two totally horizontal bars at the top and one diagonal one at the bottom. The top bar, which is the shortest, represents the INRI label on Christ's cross while the bottom represents the footrest. I was also told by a friend I went with who is a member of the church that the raised right side of the bottom bar indicates the good thief on Jesus' right during the crucifixion who went to Heaven. The lowered part represents the other thief's departure into Hell due to his unbelief and criticism of Christ. Inside there are also many more icons, or religious imagery of particular persons venerated by the church. There were no stain glass windows, although I was told that it is common for Byzantine Catholic churches to have stain glass windows like the Roman Catholic churches.
At the front of the church the sanctuary is separated by a wooden icon screen or iconostasis that consists of three doors: the Royal Doors in the center, the Deacon's Door on the south side and the server's door on the north. It is decorated with Jesus, the Theotokos, or the word used to venerate Mary as the mother of Christ, and the saints. Although some may construe the icon screen as something designed to keep the congregation separate from the priest and from God, it can be defined more fittingly as a link between where heaven and earth meet. Additionally, when the priest leaves the area of the altar and passes through icon screen, he often turns in the same direction of the congregation (east) in order to address God positioned within the sanctuary area (Roccasalvo, 1992: pg. 21-22). There is also a tetrapod before the sanctuary area where an icon is placed so that it may be kissed, and which, during feast days, holds the icon of the Saint whose feast day he or she is being venerated by.
Although the Byzantine Catholics do not use musical instruments during their services, they have hymns that are sung throughout most of the Liturgy. These vocal melodies are used for many responses and prayers and even the Gospel is chanted by the priest, a difference from the Roman Catholic church where it is simply read in a normal voice. A few of the hymns are sung in Slavonic, which is to the Byzantine Catholic Church what the Latin language is to the Roman Catholic church, and the alphabet of which was developed by St. Cyril and St Methodius. Another difference is the more frequent use of incense and the more continual use of body praising, which consists of bowing and the sign of the cross. And whereas the sign of the cross in the Roman Catholic church goes from left to right across the chest, in the Byzantine Church it goes from right to left. Overall, it seems that these additional features strive to draw the physical into the spiritual through the stimulation of our senses in order to make one become more aware of the sacredness of what is going on around them.
Other differences include the Byzantine Catholic church's stronger history of hesychastic spirituality or hesychasm which comes from the Greek, hesychia, meaning quiet. This form of contemplative prayer was the way of the early Christian monks who lived an ascetic lifestyle in the desert. It consists of an aphophatic position in relation to God which derives from the Greek, apo, having a negative connotation, and phemi, to affirm. Thus it is an "attitude of mind which refuses to form concepts of God." In some ways this is very similar to Buddhist thought, and especially Zen Buddhism, which refuses to form conceptual images of enlightenment and instead seeks to experience it for one's self in order to affirm and understand it. On the other hand is cataphatic spirituality which affirms God through what it finds as perfection in the created world (Roccasalvo, 1992: pg. 16-17).
I enjoyed the Byzantine Catholic Liturgy and its more rhythmic pace very much. The whole Liturgy is very beautiful, from all the beautiful art adorning the walls and ceilings of the church to the smell of the incense and the sounds of the unanimously sung hymns. In two weeks I will be going back to a Slavic festival held there which I can't wait for. At that point I also hope to update with more pictures of the beautiful artwork of the church.
There was a funny story after leaving the church with the friends I had visited there to go to a local diner. One of their daughters found a snapping turtle under their car which I and my friend's husband wrangled out from beneath of. We threw it into my car and went to find a nice creek for it to dwell in.
Once we had stopped by our prospect creek my friend's husband took the snapping turtle out of the back of my car and proceeded toward the water source. At this moment a man in a red pickup came by honking his horn. He went slightly past me and on the back of his car I could see an image of a figure peeing on the letters PETA. As you may be able to guess by now, he wanted to consume the turtle we had just hoped to save. We ended up leaving the turtle on the other side of the guard rail near the creek and kindly told him that he could be the one to get it if he wanted to, which he promptly did after we drove off. More irony is accrued from this experience given the fact that I was talking about eating turtles as we were driving toward the creek.
To many this may perhaps seem an unfortunate occurrence. However, when we consider in what way this man was acquiring his food, naturally from the environment around him, and the fact that he would probably be slaughtering it himself, we should remember that for those of us who buy meat from commercial farms, we are even more to blame than we might this man. Although we may feel pity for the snapping turtle we may not harbor the same feelings for the chickens and cows that we eat almost every day, and even though they live in even worse conditions than this turtle must have in order to provide us with food. Furthermore, if this man was poor, this would have certainly been a valued find for him. Perhaps that day it was more important to provide a man with a meal than to save a turtle who had regardless lived a healthy life in a natural environment.
Next week I am hoping to journey to a farm which is also associated with a Sufi Retreat Center. I hope to learn more about the contemplative Sufi tradition and the practice of Dhikr, which I understand to be a meditative religious exercise.
Peace be with you,
Matt
At the front of the church the sanctuary is separated by a wooden icon screen or iconostasis that consists of three doors: the Royal Doors in the center, the Deacon's Door on the south side and the server's door on the north. It is decorated with Jesus, the Theotokos, or the word used to venerate Mary as the mother of Christ, and the saints. Although some may construe the icon screen as something designed to keep the congregation separate from the priest and from God, it can be defined more fittingly as a link between where heaven and earth meet. Additionally, when the priest leaves the area of the altar and passes through icon screen, he often turns in the same direction of the congregation (east) in order to address God positioned within the sanctuary area (Roccasalvo, 1992: pg. 21-22). There is also a tetrapod before the sanctuary area where an icon is placed so that it may be kissed, and which, during feast days, holds the icon of the Saint whose feast day he or she is being venerated by.
Although the Byzantine Catholics do not use musical instruments during their services, they have hymns that are sung throughout most of the Liturgy. These vocal melodies are used for many responses and prayers and even the Gospel is chanted by the priest, a difference from the Roman Catholic church where it is simply read in a normal voice. A few of the hymns are sung in Slavonic, which is to the Byzantine Catholic Church what the Latin language is to the Roman Catholic church, and the alphabet of which was developed by St. Cyril and St Methodius. Another difference is the more frequent use of incense and the more continual use of body praising, which consists of bowing and the sign of the cross. And whereas the sign of the cross in the Roman Catholic church goes from left to right across the chest, in the Byzantine Church it goes from right to left. Overall, it seems that these additional features strive to draw the physical into the spiritual through the stimulation of our senses in order to make one become more aware of the sacredness of what is going on around them.
(Image taken from St. Ann's homepage)
Other differences include the Byzantine Catholic church's stronger history of hesychastic spirituality or hesychasm which comes from the Greek, hesychia, meaning quiet. This form of contemplative prayer was the way of the early Christian monks who lived an ascetic lifestyle in the desert. It consists of an aphophatic position in relation to God which derives from the Greek, apo, having a negative connotation, and phemi, to affirm. Thus it is an "attitude of mind which refuses to form concepts of God." In some ways this is very similar to Buddhist thought, and especially Zen Buddhism, which refuses to form conceptual images of enlightenment and instead seeks to experience it for one's self in order to affirm and understand it. On the other hand is cataphatic spirituality which affirms God through what it finds as perfection in the created world (Roccasalvo, 1992: pg. 16-17).
I enjoyed the Byzantine Catholic Liturgy and its more rhythmic pace very much. The whole Liturgy is very beautiful, from all the beautiful art adorning the walls and ceilings of the church to the smell of the incense and the sounds of the unanimously sung hymns. In two weeks I will be going back to a Slavic festival held there which I can't wait for. At that point I also hope to update with more pictures of the beautiful artwork of the church.
There was a funny story after leaving the church with the friends I had visited there to go to a local diner. One of their daughters found a snapping turtle under their car which I and my friend's husband wrangled out from beneath of. We threw it into my car and went to find a nice creek for it to dwell in.
Once we had stopped by our prospect creek my friend's husband took the snapping turtle out of the back of my car and proceeded toward the water source. At this moment a man in a red pickup came by honking his horn. He went slightly past me and on the back of his car I could see an image of a figure peeing on the letters PETA. As you may be able to guess by now, he wanted to consume the turtle we had just hoped to save. We ended up leaving the turtle on the other side of the guard rail near the creek and kindly told him that he could be the one to get it if he wanted to, which he promptly did after we drove off. More irony is accrued from this experience given the fact that I was talking about eating turtles as we were driving toward the creek.
To many this may perhaps seem an unfortunate occurrence. However, when we consider in what way this man was acquiring his food, naturally from the environment around him, and the fact that he would probably be slaughtering it himself, we should remember that for those of us who buy meat from commercial farms, we are even more to blame than we might this man. Although we may feel pity for the snapping turtle we may not harbor the same feelings for the chickens and cows that we eat almost every day, and even though they live in even worse conditions than this turtle must have in order to provide us with food. Furthermore, if this man was poor, this would have certainly been a valued find for him. Perhaps that day it was more important to provide a man with a meal than to save a turtle who had regardless lived a healthy life in a natural environment.
Next week I am hoping to journey to a farm which is also associated with a Sufi Retreat Center. I hope to learn more about the contemplative Sufi tradition and the practice of Dhikr, which I understand to be a meditative religious exercise.
Peace be with you,
Matt
Monday, July 1, 2013
Update on Future Excursions
One of my top priorities for this blog is to make it as diverse as possible with all different religions getting an equal representation. Unfortunately this is difficult due to the small amount of religious places of worship and congregations other than Christian churches in the area that I am currently living in. Also, some of my attempts to visit certain places has failed due to unforeseen circumstances. However, I would like to update by saying that while next week I am visiting another Christian institution, a Byzantine Catholic church, I plan to visit an Islamic Dhikr the week after, and that I have other places in mind for after that and which I am in the process of setting up visits to. Because of the difficulty and time required in setting these visits up and traveling there, you can expect to see a Christian visit posted about every other week and a non-Christian visit posted on the complementary weeks. However, I will try my best to also post about other religions through other ways, as well, such as commenting on or reviewing books I have read that deal with another religious tradition.
The Roman Catholic Church - St. Paul the Apostle Parish
This week I decided to do a post on the parish that I grew up in and whose summer bazaar I talked about in a previous post. If you are not Catholic but are interested in learning more about Catholic beliefs than I hope this entry will be of help to you. To begin I should say that I have been raised Roman Catholic and still practice and profess my beliefs as a Roman Catholic today.
Something that many do not know about the Catholic tradition, including many Catholics, is that in addition to the western Roman Catholic church, there are also other eastern churches that are an equal part of the entire Catholic church. These are not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is a similar but separate denomination of Christianity. And just as the Roman Catholic branch accepts the apostolic succession of the pope in Rome, so do the eastern Catholic churches, as well. So when one hears "Roman Catholic" they should be aware that, although a large part of the Catholic church in its entirety, is only one part of a body of interconnected churches.
All Catholics are required to attend mass, the Catholic word for our church services, on each Sunday of every week. In addition, most Catholic churches will offer daily masses, usually in the early morning. The mass is divided into a Liturgy of the Word and a Liturgy of the Eucharist, each of which take about the same amount of time.
The Liturgy of the Word is comparable to most other Christian services and consists of the reading of scripture and the singing of hymns. This week one of the hymns was "Transfigure us O' Lord."
Something that many do not know about the Catholic tradition, including many Catholics, is that in addition to the western Roman Catholic church, there are also other eastern churches that are an equal part of the entire Catholic church. These are not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is a similar but separate denomination of Christianity. And just as the Roman Catholic branch accepts the apostolic succession of the pope in Rome, so do the eastern Catholic churches, as well. So when one hears "Roman Catholic" they should be aware that, although a large part of the Catholic church in its entirety, is only one part of a body of interconnected churches.
All Catholics are required to attend mass, the Catholic word for our church services, on each Sunday of every week. In addition, most Catholic churches will offer daily masses, usually in the early morning. The mass is divided into a Liturgy of the Word and a Liturgy of the Eucharist, each of which take about the same amount of time.
The Liturgy of the Word is comparable to most other Christian services and consists of the reading of scripture and the singing of hymns. This week one of the hymns was "Transfigure us O' Lord."
The Liturgy of the Word is also when one hears the Gospel, or "The Good News," which are the narratives of Jesus' life contained in the four books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When the Gospel is presented and carried to the pulpit by the priest, the Alleluia is sung. As the priest announces which section of the Gospel is being read from, Catholics sign their foreheads, mouths, and hearts with the sign of the cross, signifying the desire for Christ to be reflected upon our minds, to be issued from our mouth, and to be within our hearts. Catholics will also often make a sign of the cross that proceeds from the head to the central region of the chest and then to each side of the body.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist is distinct from Protestant churches in that while many Protestant churches will on occasion take time for a communion meal in which they partake of bread and wine/grape juice in order to reflect upon Christ's death, recalling the Last Supper of Christ, Catholics believe that the bread and wine are actually transformed in a process called transubstantiation into the literal body and blood of Jesus, which are together referred to as the Eucharist. Because Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity which also contains the Father and the Holy Spirit, and because the Holy Trinity encompasses all of Heaven, the Eucharist also provides a form of heaven on earth. This creates in the mass a meeting place between heaven and earth and also connects it to all other masses that have ever been said or which will ever be said. In some ways it is similar to the idea of Shabbat in that the mass is paradoxically its own sacred "time" that exists out of time and is a place where the Divine descends down to earth to meet us. If, after Catholics have received communion, there is any of the Eucharist left, it is placed into the tabernacle where it is used for veneration or to be used at a later mass.
The tabernacle
Catholics also differ from Protestants in our veneration of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Typically, icons and other images are also used in Catholic churches for purposes of veneration of the Saints, people officially recognized by the Catholic church as those who have inherited eternal life and who have contributed their lives first and foremost to God.
An image of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, or "The Holy Family" above a baptismal font
Catholics also differ from Protestants in that we profess a belief in Holy Tradition in addition to Holy Scripture and not a belief in sola scriptura or in the bible alone. This ties into our belief in the apostolic succession of the popes, where we consider Simon Peter the first pope.
Next week I hope to go to a Byzantine Catholic service in order to compare the western and eastern traditions of the Catholic church. If you are not familiar with the Catholic church I hope this has been an informative introduction and that you will seek to learn more about its rich history and beliefs.
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