At the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles remembrance of MLK.
At the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles remembrance of MLK.
Love A Muslim Day
Love A Muslim Day
“Get to know a Muslim” is our Response to the “Hate a Muslim Day” Campaign
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has reported that a flier originated outside the U.S entitled Hate a Muslim Day – April 3rd, is being circulated across the U.S. and other countries. The flier incites hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims, or anyone suspected of being Arab or Muslim.
For every act of violence against Arabs and Muslim the perpetrator receives points. In other words, any act of violence is rewarded.
There can be no room for violence incited by hate groups against any group of people. It is antithetical to the mandate of every religion to love God and express that love through loving all of God’s creation including all people. All are made in the image of God. Further, our duty to our neighbors is to love them as ourselves.
Since its inception The Guibord Center has stood unflinchingly with and for our Muslim brothers and sisters and any community targeted by hatred. On this day and every day we decry violence of any kind against our Muslim friends and neighbors.
On this day specifically, when hatred is in the air, we ask everyone to do something to change it. Fill the air with a kind and loving act toward a Muslim. Speak up for a Muslim. Call, visit or write a note of support to your local mosque or Islamic Center. Call a Muslim friend. Pray for the perpetrators that they may be healed from the ignorance and hatred in their hearts.
And if you don’t know anything about Muslims, please watch: “Decoding Signs and Symbols of Islam” or “Islam 101” or one of the other programs on Islam.
How Episcopal Christians See Animals
“How Episcopal Christians See Animals”
The Very Rev. Canon Daniel Ade
“If we take The Scriptures seriously, we have to take these relationships (with animals and the earth) seriously because the relationship with God does not begin and end in ourselves. It begins with God and you and me and the whole created order.”
God bound the animals and human beings and God into an unbreakable and sacred relationship with one another, a covenant. A covenant is a profound relationship that one cannot take lightly. We are in a covenant with God and all the animals and creation.
The Scriptures tell us that God gave humans “dominion” over the animals and all the earth but that’s been warped and taken out of context. If we take a deeper look at what the word “dominion” means, it means nurture, care, love, be a steward of something,.. nursing it to fulfillment.”
Christians understand that “God’s dominion” is one of loving-kindness. The rule of the Lord is one of mercy and compassion and generosity. That has to reflect on how we treat the created order.”
“God’s heart breaks when God’s creation is abused.”
“Christianity’s idea of compassion flows from God’s compassion. God has loved us so completely, so profoundly that God has entered in the human condition so that God knows everything of what it means to be a human being personally. God knows sorrow. God knows grief. God knows pain. God knows suffering. And so God knows compassion.”
The Very Rev. Canon Mark Kowalewski
“Human beings are to be the regents of God, God’s representatives, to care for creatures and bring them to their highest potential. That’s what we’re supposed to do, not to “dominate” them but to be with them and to be their caretakers and lead them to be all that they were created to be, as we should be all that we were created to be as well.”
“God’s dream for the world was that we were in perfect relationship with God, with one another, and with the planet and with all living things.”
Ask A Pagan is first Faith At The Table event
Our first Faith At The Table event on February 19 was a great example of good food and good conversation. Rev. Angie Buchanan spoke about her upbringing as a second-generation pagan and her work as a minister for her community, Earth Traditions, which follows the practices of the ancient Northern European nature-based religions, celebrating solstices, equinoxes, and cycles of birth, coming of age and death of the Earth and Humankind.
For those who attended, it was a rare opportunity to talk at length, face-to-face with someone practices her particular version of Pagan spirituality daily, serves as a spiritual mentor for others in her community, and has answered almost every question that people are likely to ask. No, they don’t worship the Devil. They venerate their ancestors and see the Divine Masculine and Feminine in all living things. Yes, they do sacrifice animals–meaning that Pagan families go to the farm to meet the animals and say a blessing of thanks over the animals for the food that they will later provide. Marriage may be a forever commitment between two people, or it may be a contract for a year and a day, called hand-fasting, after which the parties may decide to stay together or go their separate ways. Those are just a few of the things we learned during our time together.
Faith At The Table events are being scheduled all over the greater LA area. Click here to see the schedule of upcoming events. And if your house of worship would like to host a Faith At The Table event for young adults in your area, contact Lisa Patriquin, Program Director for Youth and Young Adults at lisapatriquin@theguibordcenter.org
The Guibord Center Celebrates Seventh Anniversary turning religion inside out.
Seven years ago today The Guibord Center was born
On this anniversary I remember what a glorious day it was seven years ago when The Guibord Center was launched. Leaders representing the breadth of faith communities throughout Los Angeles poured into St. John’s Cathedral until it bulged to the seams with their excitement and hope, their dreams and prayers, their songs and chants and delight in the many colors of their sacred vestments.
Hope ran high on that crisp winter day as something exciting was being born.
Many wonderful and touching things have happened since then. Today that hope and goodwill has not only been kept alive, it’s flourished. Our friendships across faiths here in Los Angeles are strong. Our community of courage and caring now travels across the internet reaching well beyond the edges of the city. Our website sparkles and continues to become a vibrant testimony of the best of all of us.
After more than 80 programs, I continue to be humbled by the kindness and generosity of our Advisory Council members who offer us their sacred places of celebration complete with boundless hospitality for all who attend. My gratitude continues to include our many volunteers and our growing staff who work long hours, often on weekends, making miracles with a tiny budget, hard work and their many gifts; and the Board of Directors who offer their thoughtful guidance in helping the Center grow. And then there are all of you, our friends and followers, participants and attendees, colleagues and champions. What a gift you each are!
Together, we have created a forum that has brought people together, opened their hearts and become a model of spirituality manifested in inclusiveness and courage, generosity and hope, decency and respect in a time rife with conflict and challenge.
Thanks to you, I greet today brimming with gratitude and excitement about where we’ve come from and wonder about where the next seven years will find us. I can only imagine…
The Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord