Dear Friends,
Today is the last of our week of reflections for Interfaith Harmony Week. This week of reflections is dedicated in remembrance of the love and wisdom shared with us by Rev. Andrea J. Goodman, Co-founder and President of The Interfaith Peace Project.
World Interfaith Harmony Week is an annual event observed during the first week of February. The General Assembly of the United Nations designated this week to point out that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace. The General Assembly established World Interfaith Harmony Week as a way to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith.
REV. ANDREA J. GOODMAN
August 30, 1950 – December 31, 2021
Cofounder and President of
The Interfaith Peace Project
May her memory be for a blessing!
THE SIKH TRADITION
Interfaith Harmony Week
February 7, 2022
Declaration of Revolutionary Love
We declare our love for all who are in harm’s way, including refugees, immigrants, Muslims, Sikhs, LGBTQI people, Black people, Latinos, the Indigenous and the poor. We stand with millions of people around the globe rising up to end violence against women and girls who are often the most vulnerable within marginalized communities. We vow to see one another as brothers and sisters and fight for a world where every person can flourish.
We declare love even for our opponents. We vow to oppose governmental policies and laws that threaten the rights and dignity of any person. We call upon our elected officials to join us, and we are prepared to engage in moral resistance throughout this challenging time. We will fight not with violence or vitriol, but by challenging the cultures and institutions that promote hate. In so doing we will challenge our opponents through the ethic of love.
We declare love for ourselves. We will practice the dignity and care in our homes that we want for all of us. We will protect our capacity for joy. We will nurture our bodies and spirits; we will rise and dance. We will honor our mothers and ancestors whose bodies, breath and blood calls us to a life of courage. In their name, we choose to see the darkness not as the darkness of the tomb—but of the womb. We will breathe and push through the pain of this era to birth a new future.
Valerie Kaur, Sikh,
Civil Rights Attorney,
Spiritual/Social Activist
RESPONSE
Andrea stood by and for the Abused, especially women
If abuse is part of my life story, I will hold myself with great gentleness. I will realize the child within me still hurts. I will honor the child I was for she is the person I am. I will not deny the abuse in my life nor shall I let it be the totality of my story or myself. I will honor the child within me for that child survived. She has become my mentor, my guide, my wisdom. I will honor her courage. Today I will light a candle in her honor and bathe myself in the light of her beauty, wisdom and courage.
I will recognize my story in the stories of others. I will seek ways to share my story with other suffering and recovering people. I will testify to the courage of claiming my dignity and finding my voice. I will resist all forms of abuse in religious practices, beliefs, or teachings. I will resist the temptation to believe the Divine would ever harm another let alone those abused by the powerful. I will stand with other suffering people becoming a chapter of hope in the book of their lives.
Today I will rededicate myself to the sacred practice of self-care, self-acceptance and active love of self for the sake of others.
Today I will consciously and conscientiously seek to support those who advocate for those abused, neglected and rejected by the powerful, the greedy, or those motivated by false teachings and prejudice.
REFLECTION
Wonder is where love begins. When we choose to wonder about people we don’t know, when we imagine their lives and listen to their stories, we begin to expand the circle of who we see as part of us. Children of God, beholding others.
See No Stranger
Valerie Kaur
Off