PODCASTS
2022 Podcasts:
Title: “Clinical Pastoral Chaplains -
Guests: Care for People of All Faiths”
Guests: Kris Sullivan and Rev. Dr. Maureen White
Air Date: April 28, 2022
Ma
Mar 24 “CMPs - Therapeutic Musicians” Roach/Scion
Feb 24 “Living the Baha’i Faith”
Jan 27 “Past-Present-Future Interfaith Explorers 2022”
2021:
Dec 23 “The Interfaith Magic of 2021”
Nov 25 “A Sikh Presence in Sacramento” Goldy Shergill
Oct 28 “Rabbi Nancy-Hands On at Con. Beth Shalom”
Sept 23 “Interfaith in Elk Grove” – Akram Keval
Aug 26 “Finding Our Way Home With Our Heart Light”
July 29 “And at Last We See the Light”
June 24 “Rev Dave’s – Inspiration/Transformation”
May 27 “Durriya Syed – The Interfaith Feminine”
April 22 “Couples Practicing More Than One Faith”
March 26 “Interfaith in America”
February 25 “Talking Interfaith with Moran and Fish”
January 28 “Past – Present – Future Interfaith Explorers”
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Jan 27, 2021 “Interfaith Connection with Rachel Lyman”
Rev. Deborah Phillips interviews Rachel Lyman
On SLC website, “Discovering Spirit Within” podcasts
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MAY 2022 MAJOR RELIGIOUS HOLY DAYS AND OBSERVANCES
*Omission from March Newsletter Holy Days
April 24
Easter – Pascha – Orthodox Christianity
In the Orthodox Church, the feast of Easter is called Pascha, which means “the Passover.” On Pascha, Orthodox Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and this feast is a celebration of the defeat of death. The Eastern Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar, first proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, rather than the Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholic Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. This means the holiday typically falls later than Easter Sunday in Western Christian tradition. In 2022, Protestant and Catholic Christians celebrated Easter on April 17 and Orthodox Christians celebrated one week later, on April 24.
May 1
Beltane - Pagan and Wiccan
Beltane is a fire festival celebrated by the Pagan and Wiccan religions that celebrate summer and the fertility of the upcoming year.
May 2
Eid al-Fitr - Islamic
Eid al-Fitr is an Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan – a 30-day period of fasting. As it ends fasting, its primary event is a big meal.
May 8
Birthday of the Buddha – Buddhism
Buddhists celebrate May 8 as Buddha’s birthday.
May 16
Vesak – Theravada Buddhism
Vesak is the most important Theravada Buddhist festival that signifies the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.
May 24
Declaration of the Bab – Baha’i
May 24 marks the prediction of the Bab who is considered the Messenger of God in the Baha’i faith.
May 26
Ascension Day – Protestant Christian
Ascension Day in the Christian faith marks the 40th day following Easter – the day that Jesus ascended into Heaven.
*A considerate reader sent a note about this omission from our March newsletter.
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Reference: Various interfaith calendars and the information presented may be subject to errors and omissions.
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HAPPENINGS
"DARSHANA" TRAVELING EXHIBIT
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By Rachel Lyman
On Sunday, April 10, 2022, I attended “Darshana” - a traveling exhibit recently developed by HSS – Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA, Inc. a tax-exempt charitable organization. The exhibit consists of approximately twenty-five 30” x 20” panels mounted on easels – each panel honoring a particular aspect of Hindu civilization or the Hindu faith. It is…”an opportunity to deepen awareness of Hindu culture and contributions to society, creating an environment of harmonious coexistence while pursuing Universal Oneness.” The event that afternoon was twofold – to have a premier showing of Darshana, and also to celebrate the Hindu New Year.
The experience I had that day was humbling, glowing and unexpected. As I entered the exhibit room, I was welcomed with smile after smile and gracious helpfulness. It was a family affair; each person dressd in beautiful Hindu traditional garb. As I looked around the room, I soon realized that I was one of few non-Hindus in attendance.
I talked with one of the greeters and introduced myself and my Interfaith Explorers organization. My purpose in going was twofold: to view the exhibit, and to make connections for future Interfaith Explorers events. I mentioned to the greeter that I was friends with Swami Prapannananda from Vedanta Society, and he also knew of the Swami. Just a few minutes later, the Swami entered the hall so I went over to say hello. I learned later that the Swami was one of the main Hindu dignitaries who came to perform an opening ceremony for the new exhibit.
At one end of the room was a stage with about 100 chairs facing it. At the other end were the exhibit panels set up in rows. The two-hour program was emceed by a young Hindu woman who did an excellent job. Prayers were said, and then Hindu dignitaries and local politicians were introduced and asked to come up on stage. The opening ceremony consisted of the Swami and others lighting candles, unveiling one of the exhibit panels, and later two young men blew conch shells.
Short talks were given about the Hindu culture and the exhibit and later a young man played classical music on a mandolin and a woman dressed in costume performed a Hindu dance. People were then thanked for their participation and attendance and I was surprised to hear my name and Interfaith Explorers mentioned with the dignitaries!
After the program ended and I headed over to see the panel exhibits. I was stopped along the way and asked to be part of group photos with Hindu dignitaries. A man by the name of Dr. Nair introduced himself and gave me his business card. I asked him to contact me when the Darshana exhibit is to be shown locally again so I can send word to others about this informative exhibit. Dr. Nair is now on my monthly newsletter mailing list!
At each panel I was greeted by an articulate young man or woman who was ready to explain or to answer any questions. Due to time constraints I could only view about five panels. Traditional food was also offered in celebration of the New Year. As I was leaving, a media person stopped me and asked if I would do a 2-minute video testimonial about my experience. Feeling grateful for the day and the wonderful program and exhibit, I agreed. I did the testimonial and left that day with glowing enthusiasm and hope for future connections with this beautiful Hindu community
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REGIONAL INTERFAITH EVENTS |
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May 15, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. – Vesak - Buddha Celebration - Kim Quang Vietnamese Temple
Vesak festivities commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Kim Quang Temple is located at 3119 Alta Arden Expressway, Sacramento - across from Kaiser Hospital Morse. Park your car in the Kaiser Hospital parking lot and walk to the temple. This is an outside event with an expected large crowd and lunch provided.
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Interfaith Council of Greater Sacramento
For information on other interfaith events during May 2022 in the Greater Sacramento region, go to the ICGS - Newsletter link below.
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Interfaith Explorers Field Trip
Do Nga Dargey Temple
Lions Roar Dharma Center
Saturday, May 28, 2022 - 1:00 pm
3240 B Street (between 32nd and 33rd Streets off Alhambra)
Tibetan Buddhist talk by Lama Jinpa and Tour of Facilities
COVID vaccination card required for entry; masks optional inside; removal of shoes before entering temple; love offering appreciated. RSVP at Spiritual Life Center’ website beginning May 2nd - Connect – Interfaith Explorers – Lions Roar event.
For questions contact Rachel Lyman at (916) 531-2905.
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UPCOMING INTERFAITH EXPLORERS
FIELD TRIPS
SAVE THE DATE: SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2022 – 10:00 a,m. – Interfaith Explorers Field Trip to Vedanta Society of Sacramento – limited to 30 people for tour of Garden of Saints, Lotus Pond, Temple, Bookstore and Q&A with Swami. More more information to come.
SAVE THE DATE: FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 10, 2022 Interfaith Explorers Field Trip to Kim Quang Vietnamese Temple – tour and meditation. More information to come.
For information or questions please contact Rachel Lyman at rachel24@surewest.net.
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PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
For this month’s Program Spotlight we honor Lions Roar Dharma Center. Lions Roar is a Tibetan Buddhist community located at 3240 B Street (between 32 and 33rd Streets off Alhambra Blvd in Sacramento).
The temple at Lions Roar Dharma Center is called the “Do Nga Dargey Temple.” At Lions Roar Dharma Center they offer classes to learn Tibetan Buddhist practice, healing workshops for 12-step programs, and yoga classes. They are a very active community, and frequently hold Buddhist celebrations and host honorable visiting Monks.
Interfaith Explorers is sponsoring a field trip to Lions Roar Dharma Center on Saturday, May 28, 2022 beginning at 1:00pm. Please see the field trip details above under the “Interfaith Adventures” section of the newsletter for more information and how to register. If you plan to go on the May 28 field trip, we recommend that you go to their website at: www.info@lionsroardharmacenter.org to learn about Lions Roar prior to your visit.
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SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
So we continue to share with you pieces from the internet that touch us deep within our Divine. They reach in and remind us we are all one and do it with another language.
In my minister’s musings in the April newsletter, I speak about Jon Batiste. He is a third-generation musician from New Orleans. Jon calls himself an instinctive musician. He talks about the spiritual magical language of music. He talks about how it reaches just the people who need healing as if guided by radar. He implies it reminds us there is no separation, that we are all one. He reminds us that joy is available every moment of every day!
Recently he was nominated for 11 Grammy awards and ended up winning five of them. Call up his ‘official’ video of the song ‘Freedom.’ It is filled with spirit and joy and love and all that is god. Here are but a few of the lyrics you will hear:
When I move my body like this
I don’t know why but I feel like freedom
I hear a song that takes me back
And I let go with so much freedom
Free to live (how I wanna live)
I’m gon’ get (what I’m gonna get
Cause it’s my freedom
When interviewed, he speaks to the truth that we are here to speak our voice, to live our joy, to be who we are. When we are fully in this place, we are fully authentic.
It is so important as we find spiritual practices that they inspire us and take us higher. This may not be the song for you but there is one that will do so. It could be music; it could be a video of baby goats in pajamas hopping up and down bales of hay in a barn (so cute!) Find your spiritual practice on-line and it immediately becomes this wonderful ‘touchstone’ to check in to for refueling. Find yours and let me know what works for you – share it! Have a great month.
Rev. Dave Lyman, Senior Minister, Interfaith Explorers
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INTERFAITH IN ACTION
Sacramento Regional Conference
April 23-24, 2022
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Dave and I were slated to attend the opening day of the Baha’i Sacramento Regional Conference in Elk Grove on April 23, 2022. Unfortunately, both of us were under the weather and weren’t able to attend. I want to honor what happened at this conference, however, because of its impact and importance on global peacemaking. Kedi and Jared Davidson, our February 2022 podcast guests from the Baha’i faith, invited us to attend and were very involved in the success of this regional conference.
Below is Kedi Davidson’s account of what happened. “Over the past weekend, April 23 - 24, 2022, Elk Grove hosted the Baha’i Sacramento Regional Conference – just one of over 10,000 world conferences held around the Globe. Over 300 attendees from the Greater Sacramento from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and ages joyfully participated. Each global conference was called for by the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith - the Universal House of Justice, which just launched a World Baha’i Community 9-Year Plan. Over the course of the 9 years, Baha’i communities will come together to discuss ways to build spiritually vibrant communities using the society-building power of their Faith, and when they do they will “welcome all who labor alongside them in this undertaking.”
The Sacramento Regional Conference began with opening remarks made by people from Baha’i regional institutions and as well as a beautiful welcoming speech by the Mayor of Elk Grove, Bobbie Singh-Allen. On the first day of the conference, participants discussed three areas: (1) the vision of Baha’u’llah, the Prophet and Founder of the Baha’i Faith who said that humankind “…may work for the betterment of the world and live together in concord and harmony,” (2) how far the Baha’i Community has travelled since the historic visit to American 100 years ago by Baha’u’llah’s eldest son, Abdu’l-Baha - who brought a message of peace and love, entreating humanity to put away their differences and work for the betterment of their neighbors, and the world, and (3) the characteristics of a vibrant community wherein relationships “are founded on the oneness of mankind, universal participation, justice and freedom from prejudice.”
On the second day of the conference, participants (with heightened enthusiasm from the previous day), discussed concepts which have already been introduced into societies around the globe such as: (1) educational endeavors and the training institute which builds capacity in youth and adults, helping them to become resources for humanity to assist in bringing about spiritual and material progress in their communities, (2) how the youth were given a “sacred charge” to seize “every opportunity - in their schools, universities, and in spaces dedicated to work, family, or social interaction - to encourage more souls to benefit from the institute’s programs,” and (3) social transformation - where the population of an entire community needs to become protagonists of their own development, and of the “collective effort.”
At the conclusion of the conference, Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen presented a framed Resolution by the City Council of Elk Grove to “RECOGNIZE, APPRECIATE, AND HONOR BAHAI WORLD CONFERENCE Sacramento Regional Conference 2022, “Fostering a culture of peace - Bringing together the Well-Wishers of Humanity.” Before presenting the resolution, the Mayor asked all young people at the conference to come on stage to accept the Resolution on behalf of the rest of the participants. This was an unexpected and very special and astonishing spectacle.
The two-day conference was amazing. Everyone I talked to who attended expressed great enthusiasm and joy for bringing the knowledge they gained back to their respective communities."
Namaste,
Rachel Lyman
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MINISTER’S MUSINGS
Hey,
Another favorite time of year for me. My plants are planted and each day are getting drenched in sunlight. This is a time of quickened growth. That is true in our gardens and in our lives and world!
Once in a while someone comes along who doesn’t just express joy but radiates it to the world. This month I want to share with you some thoughts from Grammy Award winning musician Jon Batiste.
He is a musician from New Orleans; when he speaks there is a minister talking! He said on winning five Grammy Awards, “there is no best – its’ all subjective. We create a piece of music that will reach the world; it will touch exactly the person who needs to hear it to heal.”
His new wife Suleikajaouad has cancer. They consider their marriage the ultimate act of resistance and possibilities. Jon has said, “We need to remember joy is always available to us, no matter what the situation. It is our job to accept and surrender to the joy available and live life to its fullest. Our obligation is to live our fullest voice.” '
Listen to Jon’s voice on his Grammy Award winning video “Freedom.” It is not just a video to watch but something in which to participate. His songs are magic and speak to spirit and heart. His album is filled with his father, his nephews, and his grandfather – all talented musicians. I consider the video “Freedom” a spiritual practice. Join me!
Rev. Dave Lyman, Senior Minister, Interfaith Explorers
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RACHEL'S CORNER
Still another month has passed – unbelievable! But it’s been a full and spiritual one – with so many Holy observances; Easter for Christians, Ramadan – a time of fasting for the Muslims, Passover - a sacred time for the Jewish community, and new year celebrations for the Baha’is and Hindus. I think because I’ve been so involved in interfaith work for so long, I feel these Holy days even more deeply than ever and now they have become a part of me. I participate in many of these observances with friends from various faiths, so that it feels like home to me; sacred, familiar, comfortable celebrations – now a part of my own spiritual practice.
In the “Happenings” section of this month’s newsletter, I relate an experience I had recently when I attended the opening of a new Hindu traveling exhibit displaying Hindu culture and religion, along with their new year’s celebration. I was one of the few non-Hindus there, but despite that, because of my previous interfaith connections, I knew the Swami who officiated at the opening ceremony! When I identified myself as an “interfaith explorer” I was treated like royalty; as if I was one of the invited celebrities that day! This experience was yet another one where I felt close to my loving brothers and sisters of another faith.
And now I’m getting excited, for although COVID still looms over our heads, people are beginning to meet more and more “in person” paving the way for in-person interfaith field trips. In May and June, we have several visits lined up (see the section on “Interfaith Adventures” for more information.) But I know this is only the beginning. I know and feel that more communities will want to connect and open their doors to those of us who want to learn – to honor – and to make friends with our brothers and sisters.
So again I have to thank each and every one of you who stay open to learning about other faith traditions; who are willing to break down walls of separation and keep building those bridges of understanding and love. Namaste to you for each moment you step up to become an interfaith explorer and fulfill the role of the peacebuilder you have come here to be.
With blessings and gratitude,
Rachel
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NUTS AND BOLTS
Sign up for the Interfaith Explorers Newsletter:
If you are not on our monthly mailing list to receive this newsletter, go to: Spiritual Life Center’s website: Connect–Interfaith Explorers–sign up for mailing list. In addition, you will receive special interfaith event announcements periodically.
Newsletter Story Contributions Welcome
If you have a bridge-building interfaith story – a story of connecting with people of other faiths or cultures, please submit your story by the second week of the month to: interfaith@slcworld.org.
Interfaith Explorer Wednesday Night Program
2022: June 15 – Hybrid Youth Focused Program
Program details to follow in the future.
2021: Aug 4 “Rituals of Light Part I”
Sept 15 “Rituals of Light Part II"
Videos can still be viewed on SLC’s website: Connect – Interfaith Explorers page – click on links to watch videos.
Mission Statement for Interfaith Explorers
“Interfaith Explorers builds bridges by providing
interfaith education and events of different faith
traditions in the greater Sacramento region.”
Thank you for joining us on this interfaith exploration journey.
Rachel Lyman and Rev Dave Lyman, Interfaith Explorers
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Spiritual Life Center | Interfaith Explorers
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