Sermon: What is your Sadhana? (The Hindu-Christian Relation), Jan 27, 2019

Sermon: What is your Sadhana? 

               (The Hindu-Christian Relation) 

Rev. Ha Na Park, Immanuel United Church, Winnipeg

Introduction: 

To begin with, I am really looking forward to sharing what I learned this past week from the United Church’s study guide material: Honouring the Divine in Each Other: United Church-Hindu Relations Today. Before I read the study guide, I thought I had a fairly decent knowledge of Hinduism; I majored in Comparative Religious Studies for my Bachelor and Master’s degrees, I travelled in India and Pakistan for a month with a religious study research group; I even had a few opportunities to visit and worship at Hindu temples and Mosques in India and Pakistan. Back then, I was 13 years younger; my Christian faith journey had just started. There was a passion burning for Christian faith, but I was not yet mature enough. At the same time, my knowledge about Hinduism from books and a very limited in-person direct experience was solely intellectual. So, these were not united with the passion I now have in my heart towards the inter-spiritual and inter-religious quest to understand God and live God. 

Here's the link to the study guide: CLICK

I really want to give kudos to all who worked hard on formulating the study guide, Honouring the Divine in Each Other. 

I find it very satisfactory, bold and brilliant. The United Church needs more works like this for the benefit of a kinder, more open and interesting universe. After my reflection, if anyone wants to learn more about our faith relation to Hinduism and Hindu neighbours on our streets and in our world, please ask me to send you the material, which includes the following questions: 

-Can a Christian participate in Hindu worship?

-Misappropriation of Hindu traditions

-What can Christians learn from Hindus?: Attention to spiritual practice

-Is Jesus the only way? Theology in a Pluralistic World

-Can a Christian also be a Hindu?

-Can a Christian believe in reincarnation? 

Sermon: “Flowing together” 

So, where shall I begin today? During my research, I wondered, what information would be most helpful?

I thought we’d start with Hinduism in Canada. Traditionally, Hinduism was practiced only within the subcontinent of India. The global spread of Hinduism began when significant numbers of Hindus began to leave India and settle in different parts of the world. The initial movement of the population was engineered in the 19^th century by the colonial authorities in India. Often against their will, contract workers were taken to faraway places such as Mauritius, Guyana, and Trinidad, and formed new social structures in those places. 

After that, a second wave of emigration brought significant numbers of Hindu migrants to Europe and North America. In this case, the migrants chose to move, and the sense of displacement or diaspora was not as strong. In 1962, Canada eliminated immigration quotas based on race and national origin, which quickly led to an influx of doctors and professors from South Asia. As the immigration system was opened further, by the first decade of the 21st century, there were approximately a million and a half South Asians in Canada, including Tamil Hindu refugees from Sri Lanka and Hindu Christians.

One of the things I really liked about the study guide was its honesty: for example, The United Church of Canada regrets the church’s condemnation of Hindu worship practices; We regret the use of language of idolatry to condemn Hindu theological traditions; We regret the church’s complicity in colonialism and racism that evolved in the British Commonwealth.

Acknowledging that the major first contacts between Hindus and Christians were made under colonial rule, it is important to learn and care about the impact of the colonial era (which involved a sweeping condemnation of Indian culture) and the immigration history of our Hindu neighbours, if we intend for more genuine inter-faith and inter-religious relationships, friendships and conversations. In order to get to know others, we really need to know ourselves - how have we welcomed Hindus to Canada? How do we see Canadian Hindus represented in Canadian media or in our community? 

Do you have a Hindu neighbour, friend or co-worker? The fun part of this interfaith and inter-religious exploration/journey becomes solid when we begin to share, show and tell the hidden treasure of each tradition’s faith with each other. 

What can Christians learn from Hindus? What are the Gifts Under the Star? How shall we begin the conversation? Here are two helpful suggestions from Honouring the Divine In Each Other! 

Ask, “What is your sadhana?” 

(guided by many pictures of Hindu practices on the screen) 

It is not uncommon for a Hindu to ask, “What is your sadhana, or practice?” Hinduism is far more about spiritual practice than belief, more about ritual than what Christians would traditionally understand as doctrine. It is through a sadhana that a Hindu moves toward spiritual awareness, liberation and perfection. 

A discipline of sadhana might be meditation, chanting, or other forms of ritual behaviour. It might be done for personal purpose, for example, to gain something deeply desired or for the purpose of one’s own enlightenment. But the highest form of sadhana is done for the spiritual benefit of the cosmos. 

Hindus also might helpfully ask us Christians, “What is your practice?” This would be a welcome question to the great mystics of Christianity. We have long had traditions of meditation, centring prayer, and spiritual exercises. But the Hindu would ask this question of all of us! How is it possible to be faithful without a practice? What rituals bring meaning and purpose to your daily life? 

So, here’s the question for us! What is your daily, purposeful, spiritual practice (for the benefit of the cosmos)? For we Western Christians, (We might need more adjectives such as mainline, liberal, questing) may be overemphasizing words of faith rather than a daily practice of meditation, action and devotion (bhakti). 

Honouring the Divine in Each Other suggests another way for finding hidden treasures in both the Hindu and Christians paths.  If we remember that English, or any spoken language, alone is not a perfect vehicle for a heart-felt, deep sharing of each one’s truth, we, Hindus and Christians, can talk about how we experience God! (Even though it is thoughtless to use the term ‘monotheism’ and put Hindu practice in the fixed frame of monotheism as if it were parallel to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Hindus think of Brahman (the ultimate reality) as One, and children grow up praying to “God”! They are shocked when they are sometimes told in school that they believe in “many gods.”

One of the most awkward elements of any conversation between Hindus and Christians may be the initiation of the discussion of the nature of God or deity. Christians during the colonial era condemned the Hindu worship as idol worship and misunderstood that they worship “many gods”. While we know that kind of language is very offensive to Hindus, we are often unsure of how Hindus do speak about deity/God. 

It is important to learn that most Hindus will point out that all worship is directed toward one ultimate reality, Brahman. Each form or image expresses different attributes of the one divine power; devotion to one of these images is an expression of devotion to the ultimate. The multiplicity reflected in the gods and goddesses of Hinduism is rooted in an understanding that the ultimate/Brahman is a mystery far deeper and more complex than can be represented in a single image of divinity. 

By the way, I take great delight in finding this treasure — many names/images — , because therein also lies a rich potential for Christianity! Last Sunday we learned that Muslims speak of ninety-nine names, or the thousand and one names for God in Arabic, Allah. Nowadays, with the aim of overcoming patriarchy, colonialism and other restrictions, Jewish people and Christians alike are rediscovering many metaphors in the scripture that celebrate the multiple ways God’s presence is known in the lives of the faithful people! 

For example, lately I learned that (I am looking forward to reading the book Saving Paradise to learn more about the metaphors) before Christianity became the religion of empire in the 3^rd century CE, and before the cross and atonement theology became the central, orthodox Christian faith expression and image of Christ, the early church used and had many life-affirming images; they filled their sanctuaries with them! 

For example, Christ (or Christ-consciousness) was portrayed with the image of a mirror (as each of us), tree of life, water, rain, shepherd, teacher, healer etc. The potential of rediscovering many more images and metaphors (and icons) is so fabulous and important! It frees Christianity to be a more life-affirming religion. The book, Saving Paradise, says, “Once Jesus appeared as crucified and dying was virtually all Jesus seemed able to do, paradise disappeared from the earth.” 

And hear this! I find this very interesting and exciting: Hindus generally take great delight in describing their devotion and joy in attending to the images in their home altars or temples. (The pictures) These are ishta-devatas or deities of “choice”, and, if you get to have an opportunity to have conversations about them it often leads to a rich and meaningful time of sharing personal experience of God and the spiritual life. 

I remember one time when I was going to pick up my older son from his friend’s home, and the father greeted me. He was a Hindu, and when I pointed at the big picture of Krishna on the wall in a very nice frame, (the picture of Krishna disguised as the charioteer, instructing the warrior Arjuna, “Our bodies are known to end, but the embodied self is enduring, indestructible, and immeasurable; therefore, Arjuna, fight the battle.” 

At that moment of the war, the young hero Arjuna is depressed because he does not want to go to war against his relatives. My neighbour took such delight in explaining the story and his faith with great pride, at length! 

And hear this! “Hindus generally find the Christian’s effort to explain the divine and human aspects of the Christ figure fascinating. They are often more eager than their Christian friend to hear about the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit.” Isn’t that so fascinating? It made me wonder, Why? No surprise. Hindus, like Christians, are people of stories. Their gods and goddesses, for example, Siva, who takes a wide variety of forms as an ascetic in the Himalayan mountains, as Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance (dancing the cosmic dance), and as a family man with his wife Parvati and sons of Ganesha and Skanda, create and recreate, destroy and restore the universe and teach how we uphold the life of the holy, in greatly revered sacred texts like the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. 

The real benefit, the true gift of interfaith and inter-religious engagement with our neighbours is that it teaches us that our Christian passion and commitment works best in serving for the benefit of all people and all living things in the universe, rather than assuming the superiority of our religion/faith. Reincarnation, which means “flow together”, depicts the ultimate condition of interconnectedness. In this universe, in this cosmos, in this world, on this earth, at home, at each time, in each relation and at each incarnation of new enlightenments, we progress towards perfection and to be released (liberation, moksa) from what makes us suffer. 

… Finally, again, I ask you and me, “What is your sadhana? What is your practice, to make our universe be kinder, just, more open, more interesting and more loving?" 

Sermon: "Nearest in Love" (Islam), Jan 20, 2019

Sermon: “Nearest in Love”

Malala Yousafzai, the winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, said in a recent interview, “Often people talk about refugees and immigrants in numbers and in figures, and we hear ABOUT refugees, we never hear from refugees.” She continued, “My father often says, ‘If you want to know about a Muslim person, do not know them through the news. Go and visit your next-door neighbour who is a Muslim and talk to them.” 

If we contextualize interfaith dialogue, its benefits, the meaning and the practice in our daily life, we are simply and intentionally following Jesus’ great commandment and teachings such as “Love one another” “Love your neighbour”, and “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Interfaith dialogue is about paying attention to the other, rather than to our reaction to them, and befriending our neighbours as friends. Very often, those transformative friendships are cross-cultural and cross-generational. 

Before we learn about one lesson from Islam and our Christian relation with Islam, let’s break down what “neighbour” can mean. The Spanish language has two words for the one English word that gives two senses of “neighbour”. The Vecina/o means one who lives nearby (near home), like the person over the back fence or in the apartment next door. Projima/o means one with whom someone lives in a relationship of accountability. What I learn from these two words for neighbour is that even though we don’t have (or we don’t think we have) any Muslim person or family near our home or on our street it can’t be used as an excuse to not learn about Islam and to not learn from Islam and the Muslim way of life. We truly need to seek out ways to understand and know each other.

On a personal level, if someone said to me, “I am obliged to love you because you are my neighbour”, I would be offended, because it would make me think, “Is my significance to you dependent on your religious belief that the action of loving your neighbour will help you be a better person?” The teaching “Love your neighbour” must be understood in the light that we ought to love our neighbour because of our, and their, innate worth. Every person has immeasurable worth as God’s children and the truth about our dignity and importance calls us to know each other; therefore, we are in a relationship of accountability with one another – we are all neighbours. 

In fact, Muslims and Christians together comprise over one-third of the world’s population, and increasingly we now interact daily as neighbours, friends and co-workers. I’m sure many of you have Muslim friends, neighbours, and co-workers.

I am grateful for my Friday group, (whom I meet on the second and fourth Fridays). We meet at Rainbow Resource Centre. There, I have met several Muslim friends; every time I see them I get to know them a little better. We build trust and liking. I find that many of them can talk to each other in Arabic, even though they have different nationalities (Syria, Egypt, and Pakistan, in particular.) “All Muslims must learn Arabic to read the Quran.” I am especially thankful for my blossoming friendships with a few of them, one of whom is a young Trans woman originally from Syria, who lived in Turkey before coming to Canada, just four months ago. Another person is Muhammad from Pakistan. Until very recently he was the educator at the centre, and taught me by words and examples, that even though he is queer, his faith in Islam and his sexuality cannot be separated. He is himself, a whole person, with his faith being the anchor of his life, and his hope is that we all know we are spiritually connected. Sadly, however, they taught me that Islamophobia (the fear of Islam as the religion and Muslims as people) is real, not only in Canadian society in general, but also in the LGBTQ community. The community is influenced by the association of Muslims with terrorism and the belief that the Islamic faith supports it. 

I met a bunch of Muslims through the Friendship Kitchen, free cooking classes for newcomers, in my last congregation. The Muslim participants inspired me so much, when I asked the question to the group, “What is the best thing that has happened today or recently?”. Astoundingly, all of them said, in their turn, “That Ramadan (the lunar month of fasting) started.” They looked very cheerful and happy, even though they didn’t eat (because they were fasting) the meal shared after the cooking class! I wondered two things, “Are they not hungry? How are they so joyful?” 

Muslims are expected to follow what are called the five pillars of Islam. The Muslim participants’ joy amazed me, and made me wonder what if we, as Christians, embraced Lent as a time for spiritual fasting with the same joy that our Muslim neighbours showed as they welcome Ramadan? (By the way, Islam means “serving God” and Muslims means “people submitted to the will of God.”) The five pillars of Islam are: 

To bear witness that there is no god but God, and that Muhammad is the prophet of God. 

To perform ritual worship (salat) five times daily at appointed times.

To fast from break of dawn to sunset during the month of Ramadan. 

To give alms (zakat) regularly. 

To go on pilgrimage (hajj) once in a lifetime, health and wealth permitting. 

Here, I would like to ask you one question. Do we worship the same God? I guess, you already know the answer, but might not quite know exactly how it works. I did the same. Interestingly, this question is more of a problem for Christians than for Muslims. The answer is yes, we worship the same God. The first important lesson we need to explore in the interfaith relation of Christians and Muslims is that we share a common heritage. Muslims are following in the tradition of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in worshipping Allah, the Arabic name for God. It is really cool that Muslims and Christians are related, and in fact, we are in close kinship! 

In Genesis, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation (Gen. 12:1–3) and that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky (Gen. 15:1–6). Sarah, however, was barren. So she brought Hagar, her slave girl, to Abraham so that he might at least have a child through her. When she became pregnant, Sarah was jealous and Hagar fled to the wilderness. There an angel comforted Hagar and told her that her son was to be called Ishmael and that her offspring would “greatly multiply” so that “they cannot be counted for multitude” (Gen. 16:10).

After Ishmael was born, Abraham received a further promise that Sarah would conceive and give birth to a son to be named Isaac. Abraham, both incredulous and overjoyed about the promise of Isaac, nevertheless interceded before God for Ishmael. And God answered, “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation” (Gen. 17:20). In Genesis 25:13–15, we have the record of Ishmael’s lineage, which leads to Arabia. Muslims trace this lineage on to Mecca and Muhammad.

The Qu’ran explicitly denies that Jesus died on the cross and that Jesus can in any way be identified with God and these two are irreconcilable points of difference with Christian faith. Plus, Christians believe in the Trinity, (God, Christ, the Spirit being one God, yet in three persons) and Islam rejects it. However, it is important to know that Islam gives immense honour to Jesus as a prophet within Islam, and believes that God vindicates Jesus by not allowing him to die on the cross. (In the same respect, whenever Muslims speak the name of Jesus, they add “The peace and blessings of God be upon him”, the same words reserved for the name of Prophet Muhammad.) 

We worship the same God. I hope that knowing this, our perception about our relations between two faiths and religions, changes how we perceive our Muslim neighbours. While Jewish people do not accept the Christian understanding of a triune God, few Christians would argue that Jewish people worship a different God. It is very possible to speak in the same way of the God witnessed to us by the Qu’ran. Different conceptions and ways of speaking of God do not negate our common orientation to the one God known by many names. Christians and Muslims worship the same God, the God of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael. We are the “nearest”, neighbours, in affection and shared heritage. 

In fact, fourteen hundred years ago the Qur’an stated that Muslims and Christians will surely find themselves as the “nearest in affection” or “nearest among them in love” (Surah 5:82). Today, however, the relationship is clouded by tensions, mistrust and violence. In some Muslim-majority countries, Christians have charged Muslims with systemic discrimination and worse. Muslims complain of the continued colonialism and exploitation of the West (money, armaments, military power), linking Christianity with Western hegemony and abuse. Reconciliation is at the heart of our faith and our being the church.

May we truly seek to understand and know each other, who are the “nearest in love” through friendship, crossing over differences and acknowledging our kinship. 

Gifts Under the Star - Interfaith Dialogue is our theme for Epiphany!, Sermon on Jan 6, 2019

Sermon: Gifts under the Star

In the Magi story, there are many elements that make this story wonderful and unique, and one of them is the gifts they bear. It is so easy to see that when we sing, “We Three Kings.” Can we sing, “We three kings of (the) Orient are/ bearing gifts we traverse afar/ field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star.” One resource notes that most children might assume that ‘Orient Are’ is the place the kings come from. Is it true? The more accurate grammar for this verse would be: “We three kings of the Orient are bearing gifts.”

So, in the story, what are the gifts of the Three Wise Ones? Traditionally, we understand that the Magi presented gold to the infant King in token of his royalty, the frankincense in token of his divinity, and the myrrh, of his sufferings. The gifts are an expression of faith and reveal the true identity of Jesus: Love Incarnate who would suffer for our sins. 

In our contemporary world, I think Gifts are something we need to truly reflect on. In our affluent part of the world, many families can afford to pile gifts and presents for their loved ones under the Christmas tree. The next day of Christmas is Boxing Day, traditionally, a day marked by charitable giving, but nowadays, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, when we buy for ourselves – Christmas day, part two. I appreciate the questions that Amy Allen in “The Gift of the Magi”, asks:, “The season of Epiphany moves us from a season of indulgence, to a season marked by gift-giving that honours God. What kind of gifts do we give? And how do these gifts honour God by honouring the dignity and agency of all of God’s children?” 

I am sure many of us have witnessed how a little baby can bring so many people around them to gather and adore the child – both relatives and friends. A little baby has a very special super power to make everyone be a Magi. Imagine Epiphany as something like “The first baby shower.” What kinds of gifts would you bring? Not just cute baby clothes or blankets or toys, though as someone who received them at a church baby shower for Jah-bi when my family was in Ladysmith, I can tell you I appreciated every gift, wrapped not just in paper but in love. What gifts should we give, if these gifts are to honour God by honouring the dignity and agency of all of God’s children? 

I thought, (and the Worship Cluster Elders approved), that we might explore these questions through the season of Epiphany until we enter Lent in March, pondering the gifts we can bring to the baby shower to honour Jesus and his true relation in the world with all of God’s children. The gifts that are spiritually important, relevant and timely to the situations in the world, and practical to heal divisions and bring peace. 

Then, I had an epiphany! Another use of Epiphany in our English-speaking world is to describe a moment of sudden revelation or insight. “I get it.” Another way to say this is, “I can see the light!”, and that is what Epiphany is really about, seeing the light. 

One of the gifts that, as the modern Magi, we can bring to Jesus and to one another is dialogue, in the light of interfaith conversations and understanding. The following is the reflection I shared with our Elders: 

“Epiphany celebrates the appearance of the star which guides three Magi to meet Jesus. The Magi, from other countries, are those who interpret the unusual signs in the sky and seek wisdom. What’s interesting to me is that the Magi travel from far countries to come and meet Jesus, bringing three treasures or gifts, gold, myrrh and frankincense, but there’s no reference in the Bible that they are converted to Judaism and Christianity. I think it really is nicely analogous to the interfaith dialogue between two religions or mystic/spiritual traditions, without trying to make the other change their custom, belief and practice. In the genuinely and thoughtfully arranged interfaith dialogue and conversation (and, the first step should be to learn what we need to know to have a mutually supportive, transformative dialogue and conversation) we may be able to advance and deepen the understanding of our partner’s faith and traditions, as well as our own spirituality. I believe that genuine conversations can be achieved only in the relationship of friendship, which is based on equality, justice, mutuality and solidarity.” And, as we may have experienced and learned through our own passionate friendships, friendship is the journey that eventually curves and spirals to return to ourselves and find who I am, who we are, ourselves. Epiphany is the season to follow together the light, the Star, that leads us into wisdom and interfaith understanding and justice through friendship and cooperative encounters.”

So, I ask you to approve my proposal that through this season of Epiphany, our theme will lead us as the people of God to find the meaning, knowledge and gifts of interfaith dialogue and together, weave them into a Star Conversation. I would like to suggest that we give it a good name like “Gifts Under the Star.” 

The United Church has published a few good study guides to help local congregations start a well-guided conversation while learning about interfaith dialogues and other religions and faith, putting forward the question, “How, in today’s pluralistic word, are we called to love our neighbour? The United Church, believing that God is creatively and redemptively at work in the religious life of all humanity, has long been involved in interfaith dialogue and action to build respectful mutual relationships.” In this endeavour, we now have good study guides, like 1997’s “Mending the World”, using the principles of “Whole world ecumenism” to set out to build relationships with different faiths, listen deeply to each other, work through issues and learn from our differences and open up to new possibilities for working together.” 

The first fruit is “Bearing Faithful Witness” (2003) which looks at the United Church in relation to the Jewish faith. 

In 2006, the United Church welcomed “That We May Know Each Other: United Church-Muslim Relations Today” to start our journey of understanding which “Must ultimately come from face-to-face contact, from conversation, from hospitality, and from friendship.” It encourages us to see Muslims as neighbours, as friends, and most of all as people whom God has called to faithfulness, and recognizes Islam as a religion of peace, justice and compassion. 

The most recent one, published in 2018, is Honouring the Divine in Each other: United Church-Hindu Relations Today. I would love to explore with you how we are invited to understand Reincarnation! 

My hope is that based on these resources and my own study of world religions, each Sunday, I can extract one essence from each religion, faith or spirituality with which to engage: Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Atheism, Buddhism, Indigenous faith and spirituality. Our learning journey is often a spiral journey. I pray that we find ourselves, who we are and who we are to be, in the root of this tree of interfaith. God makes the wooden manger to lay the holy child. 

May the learning of equality (no one person and no one’s spirituality and faith are superior to the others’), mutuality (we find each other and respond to each other with respect, faithfully) and solidarity (all of these must be acted out of love) shine like the first star in the East, the star of the encounter, the star, and the Epiphany, that is more splendid than gold.