I’m writing from the road again, as I have done in the past.
This time I am writing from a place whose Biblical name literally
means peace: Salem, Ore.
I’m writing from the road again, as I have done in the past. This time I am writing from a place whose Biblical name literally means peace: Salem, Ore. The name of the capital (founded by Methodist missionary Jason Lee) fits well with the class I have journeyed here to attend, which takes a look at ways to build interfaith peace.
I am visiting Salem while completing a continuing education requirement in my role in communications for a non-profit organization of Methodist women. Women from all over the western jurisdiction of the United States traveled this week to Newberg, Ore., to attend classes in globalization, the history and culture of India and Pakistan, and a peace study called, “Shalom, Salaam, Peace.”
Women have joined together here from places such as India, Hawaii, southern California, Alaska, Montana, and the Pacific island of Tonga, just to name a few. One of my favorite colleagues at these pacific regional school events is a woman named Diane Martin.
She is a sheep farmer from Powell, Wyo., who manages to combine caring for sheep (and shipping them all over the U.S.) with working in a college library … and working as the communications coordinator for the Yellowstone branch of United Methodist Women.
We met on an airplane in 2004 on our way to St. Louis, Mo., for our first training session in communications, and we talked non-stop from the moment we first sat by each other on the plane until we reached the middle of the country and landed in St. Louis – without a single pause.
This time we shared meals in the cafeteria at George Fox University, established in 1885 by Quakers. Newberg was the first community in Oregon granted permission to hold formal Quaker services, and Herbert Hoover was in the university’s first graduating class. The main heart of the campus is nestled in surroundings of lush emerald green grass, trees and shrubbery. The climate is cool and comfortable.
A circular rose garden filled with 28 different varieties of blooms, including the golden yellow edged rose-pink blooms of the Peace rose, first developed to mark the end of W.W. II in 1945. After class, some of us met to sit on benches in the rose garden and sing, “Dona Nobis Pacem.”
In class, we talked about the beliefs of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity and the ways in which they have been misused and misinterpreted to bring great harm to so many throughout history.
One student in class described an exercise she learned from peace activist Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi. She told us to imagine that our fists are tightly closed to conceal precious gems. Those sitting next to us really want to see the gems we are hiding. After a lot of tugging and pulling as we to try to force each others’ hands open, Gandhi asked his audience, “How many of you asked the other person to simply open his fist?”
Almost no one in the audience raised their hands.
“So,” said Gandhi, “Do you see how violent we are?”
We learned about the origin of the peace sign, the Japanese origami crane, and other peace symbols. We brainstormed about ways to find convergence in our beliefs, and to share the things we have in common such as belief in one God as we search for common ground on which to build bridges to a more peaceful future.
As we ended class, we said an affirmation together that was written for us by Glory Dharmaraj, an instructor from India. “We commit ourselves to be healers of the broken and the crushed, restorers of full humanity to every one, makers of peace with the Earth, and stewards of the cosmos.”
