"...a place in which to grow spiritually,
a place of intellectual stimulation,
where faith is restored and the arts are valued..."
Open Letter Concerning
The Nation's Crisis
by Joan Brown Campbell, director, Department of Religion
It is Tuesday, September 18. One week has passed since terrorists invaded our land and rained down on the American people unspeakable acts of violence. We have heard cries of anguish, sorrow, pain and anger. We have been moved to tears by acts of courage, bravery and compassion that speak of our human potential for loving our neighbor. To all who have lost loved ones; to all whose hope dims as the final search for life comes to a close, we offer our prayers and reach out with compassion. You bear the greatest cost for this senseless act. To those who walked into the fire with uncommon courage, motivated only by their love of the life God created, we are grateful. You set before our children a way of living and dying that is worthy. As the Greek Orthodox would say in their worship of God, "Axios, Axios, Axios," which translated means you are worthy before God.
Now, we must live beyond our anger, even as we seek to bring to justice those who perpetrated this violence.
The scripture speaks to us through the words of Micah, the prophet. What does the Lord require of us? To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. Our task in the days ahead will be to hold justice and kindness in balance, and to do all that we do with humility. This is our prayer for ourselves and our nation.
Chautauqua has committed itself to the Abrahamic Initiative. There we seek to educate and facilitate communication between Christians, Muslims and Jews, in order to help affect a civil dialogue among people of faith. Never before has this Initiative been more important. In the light of all that has been, we encounter one another as persons, and will remind one another even as we remind you that we dare not judge each other's faith by our fanatics. To do this is to lay the groundwork for demonization, prejudice and violence. All of the Abrahamic faiths in equal measure urge that we turn to loving, not to hating. In honor of those who died, in reverence for those whose courage was beyond our imagining, we pray for the strength to love.
