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There were several good resources to share this week including:
Thanks everyone for sharing resources that we can all learn from. ***************************** Hello ladies, here is the article regarding genocide that I mentioned near the end of our meeting. These are scholars and some of them are calling what is happening in Gaza a genocide. Emotions aside, sometimes it is what it is. I personally believe that acknowledging this current situation as a genocide does NOT discount any of the horrors that the Jewish people faced during the holocaust. I personally walked alongside people of the Jewish faith who were holding up signs with the words genocide. https://time.com/6334409/is-whats-happening-gaza-genocide-experts/ Thanks, Shireen To the Interfaith Women Leaders:
Since we will still be in Ramadan on April 2, and in order to again allow our Muslim women to participate fully, we will start our session at 7:30 pm instead of 7 pm on Tuesday April 2. This way they can pray and eat and then join us with energy and full participation. Thank you again for our session this week on Zoom with the Interfaith Women’s Leadership Group! We are not always in agreement like Priscilla, Ranya and Suzanne in the ‘The Faith Club’ book. It takes courage to speak of one’s faith and question things we don’t understand. Thanks for sharing a belief that was challenged or changed during your spiritual journey. That was a powerful sharing. Most importantly, we all create a ‘safe space’ to allow for those deep sharings and questions. We have gotten to a point with this special group that seeks to acknowledge differences, seeking to understand them. If we see differences as problematic, we reduce things to common denominators rather than seeking to acknowledge differences, to understand them. This is what this opportunity is all about. I would like to suggest that everyone pay attention to when they are speaking on Zoom so that we can hear you. Test out your microphone and speak into it. As we continue to get to know each other with each call, we grow deeper in our personal spiritual journey. We can’t avoid the politics that has been part of the ongoing religious struggles and wars, but we listen for understanding, not judgement, and recognize that our stories are individual and reflect one’s personal experience. It is all in the spirit of learning. Appreciating your very respectful focus. Our next session will be on Tuesday, March 19 from 7:30 – 9:00 pm and we will continue to explore the questions raised in the book as well as our own questions and learnings from each other. Here is the link for the Zoom call. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88528937693?pwd=R0OtLpXIiS37GaXZ6VDZnA4JYSbF4T.1 The Reading Assignment for the next session is Chapters 13-15 pages 200 - 247 in ‘The Faith Club,’ and we will build on this week’s conversation and those raised in the Zoom chat. Here are a few questions that might consider perhaps if you are journaling, or just to think about after Tuesday night’s session:
Your responses are part of your own journey and will allow you to personally explore your own faith and take notes to your learning. At the next session, we will introduce ourselves again and answer the question: How do you pray? Why do you pray? What’s the importance of prayer ritual and communal prayer at houses of worship? We will share those thoughts with each other as we open the next session. We will then ask for any input regarding the last session, thoughts/learnings and get some basic understanding of the Shiite/Sunni distinctions in the Muslim faith (Thank You Tayyaba!) The link to all the assignments for the Interfaith Women’s Leadership Group has been updated and contains all the information sent out on a regular basis. If you need to review assignments or other information shared, you will find it on this link. The newest one will always be on top and the older ones will be below. https://www.churchholyspirit.org/interfaith-womenrsquos-leadership-group-iwl Comments/questions/suggestions always welcome. See you on April 2! Thank you again for your participation. Janet Janet B. Matts Office: (908) 203-9284 Cell: (908) 334-5504 [email protected] www.janetmatts.com  To the Interfaith Women Leaders on this International Women’s Day...
It was another good discussion on Tuesday on Zoom at the Interfaith Women’s Leadership Group! As we get to know each other with each call, we share our thoughts, experiences and questions providing a safe space for those conversations. Thank you all for sharing your ‘aha moments’ in your faith, as we continue to learn and explore our personal stories and faith journey. As we get to know each other more and more, we tell stories of our experiences, and not necessarily the truth of where a faith practice is currently. We can’t avoid the politics that has been part of the ongoing religious struggles and wars, but we listen for understanding, not judgement and recognize that our stories are individual and one’s personal experience. It is all in the spirit of learning. You all have been very respectful of that focus. Thank you Susan for sharing your thoughts even though you couldn’t be with us. Attached is the wonderful Crayon poem that Stephanie shared with us. Our next session will be on Tuesday, March 19 from 7 – 8:30 pm and we will continue to explore the questions raised in the book as well as our own questions and learnings. Here is the link for the Zoom call. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88528937693?pwd=R0OtLpXIiS37GaXZ6VDZnA4JYSbF4T.1 The Reading Assignment for the next session is Chapters 10-12 pages 145-200 in ‘The Faith Club,’ and we will build on the conversations we have been having as well as the questions raised in the Zoom Chat. Here are a few questions that might consider perhaps if you are journaling, or just to think about after last night’s session:
At the next session, we will introduce ourselves again, name, faith affiliation and a belief that was challenged or changed during your spiritual journey. Said another way, something you may have learned recently that allowed you to change your mind about a faith practice or another’s faith practice. It could be part at a significant time of your life, or perhaps during these sessions. We will share those thoughts with each other as we open the next session and continue to get to know each other. We will then ask for any input regarding the last session, thoughts/learnings and get additional thoughts on the afterlife from a Jewish perspective, (Thank you Flo!); as well as some basic understanding of the Shiite/Sunni distinctions in the Muslim faith (Thank You Tayyaba!) The link to all the assignments for the Interfaith Women’s Leadership Group has been updated and contains all the information sent out on a regular basis. If you need to review assignments or other information shared, you will find it on this link. The newest one will always be on top and the older ones will be below. https://www.churchholyspirit.org/interfaith-womenrsquos-leadership-group-iwl Comments/questions/suggestions always welcome. See you on March 19th! Celebrate YOU on this International Women’s Leadership Day! Janet Janet B. Matts Office: (908) 203-9284 Cell: (908) 334-5504 [email protected] www.janetmatts.com |
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