Mountain Area Interfaith Forum was birthed by the hope of a men's social ministry group at Congregation Beth Ha Tephila.  Composed of women and men from Jewish, Unitarian, Earth Religions, Christians, Sufi and other practicing groups, it has held panel forums on issues ranging from the marking of life events to gender, the environment to life and death. Many persons from All Souls have attended these panel forums.  (May 14 is the next forum - see your Epistle) Its purpose is to create awareness, engender community and feed the 'soul' of our local community.  Jack Ingersoll and I have served on the MAIF planning group for the past year.

At today's planning meeting, the issue of Palestinian/Israeli dialogue was raised.  Various Christian oriented members had invited Jewish members to gatherings dealing with this issue.  There can be tensions between what some might term the more 'liberal Christian' approach to Israeli/Palestinian matters and how many Jews, including 'liberal Jews' approach them.  MAIF members involved in the recent conversations mentioned how important the relationships created over the past year were to this discussion.  At the same time, the tension of the many convictions was present in the prior conversations and in our time today.  Both were equally experienced: relationships that held us together, and matters that were anything but easily reconciled.

I found myself reflecting on this in the meeting and later during the day.  These different convictions do not a simple, 'live and let live' approach allow.  This is not the blessing of unions or legal civil unions, this is not should there be a stimulus package or not, this is about human lives on all sides of the equations, human violence, hope and day to day existence on all sides.

I am not here to delve into the political particulars of this issue.  Today I found myself in a room full of people you would want to be your neighbor, both tangibly and spiritually, and our differences were a source of real relational pain.

After the resurrection the disciples are told they will be led to places they do not choose.  I imagine they hoped resurrected life meant no more pain and certainly not being led to pain.  I would love to have remained in a 'nice interfaith' place with these folks.  Today we were led, invited into deeper life.  As Charlotte mentioned in her recent sermon, the 'old maps' no longer suffice.  A new path must be found.

 I am not sure where this will lead.  I do know that staying in relationship while facing these differences will require some breaking, some offering of our lives to each other.  True community always does.

Seeking new life,

Todd Donatelli