I was a very young girl when I realized I had an interfaith heart. I was baptized Methodist, raised Lutheran, and had dear friends who were Catholic, Baptist and Jewish. I was intrigued by different faith traditions and at 8-years-old begged my parents to let me go to mass with my best friend, Marybeth, which they finally let me do - only once. I also wanted to attend
synagogue with Eddie Kramer but that wasn't an option in the 1950s. I was drawn to "holy houses" of all shapes and sizes. I felt the presence of the Divine everywhere.
In college, I fell in love with yoga and Hindu teachings and also took my first World Religions class. I was enthralled and knew I had found my true home within the Perennial Tradition. It seemed God was everywhere at once! I ended up becoming a teacher of comparative religions and taught this
subject to juniors and seniors in Grand Rapids Public Schools. Today, as co-founder/co-director of the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute, I am still guiding others as they learn how the Sacred is experienced by people of various traditions (and none).
Considering the times in which we are living, I feel blessed to have an interfaith heart. I wonder, might you have one too?
Beginning January 13, 2020, I will be teaching an online program that explores the heart of our religious/spiritual traditions. We call it "Interfaith/Interspiritual Wisdom Training."
If you have an interfaith heart, this program will help you deepen your knowledge of how seekers experience the Sacred in their unique ways. This track eventually leads to an unfolding awareness that beneath each tradition runs a river of ultimate truth shared by
many.
This one-of-a-kind training program is ideal for those in the caring professions who are encountering people of various spiritual traditions: educators, social workers, therapists, life coaches, chaplains, spiritual and secular community leaders, spiritual directors, clergy and lay servants, and more.
It's also designed for the "regular people" who simply want to be way-showers of interfaith understanding and harmony. You?
Completion of the 5-month, online program results in a certificate in Interfaith/Interspiritual Competence.This will prepare you to companion and serve seekers of various religious, spiritual and ethical traditions no what you do in life.
(I'd also love to talk with you further if YOUR interfaith heart has been touched by what you've read here.)
And for those of you who like to travel and learn, you may want to join our optional Interfaith Urban Pilgrimage in Chicago in
June, 2020: an exciting opportunity to visit various holy houses, share food and meaningful conversation with people of other traditions.
The times are a'changin', friends, and it is essential for our future, for the well-being of humanity, that we learn to honor and befriend our brothers and sisters everywhere. For, after all, there is only One of us here.
“Pure Presence” is a unique protocol I developed for sacred listening to transform our ability to offer presence—the deepest empathy and spiritual care—to whomever we are with. It is presence without agenda. It is presence that welcomes each individual we
meet with wholeheartedness and compassion, not any easy thing to do today given our ethnic, religious and political differences.