New Frontiers: The Act of Hyphenation

~ Kyle Fischer works with not-for-profit organizations (www.reserveinc.blogspot.com) and in music (www.endup.org). He will attend Union Theological Seminary in New York City in the fall of 2008.

In yoga class at the YMCA the instructor says, “Now reach forward, place your palms face down on your mat, and pull the floor toward you.” Contemporary thinking about space and time tells me I do not have to understand her instruction as metaphor. Standing outside the door of Faith House, I am cheered by the idea that parts of our theology could take similar forms, contemplative strategies along the lines of asking your yoga students to pull the floor towards them.

My girlfriend is a Hindu, definitely a polytheist. She is Australian, raised without religious affiliation of any kind, matrilineally Jewish (but non-practicing), mostly of English extraction, also Malaysian and Indian. But to all appearances, she is a white girl whose skin tone might indicate a passion for carrots, with striking red hair. She talked with me on our first date about her internal struggles with adopting a Hindu religious practice. At first it looked so aesthetically other, so foreign, that is was hard for her to get her head wrapped around something her heart already understood. She found it got easier with practice.

She was surprised, and moved, when I responded by asking her if she wanted to pray together. I would have been happy to adapt my prayer to her idiom. And in fact we didn’t, not then. We got to talking instead.

In sharing our practices since then, and listening to Hindu teachers explain their views on their own terms, I am beginning to feel comfortable with a multifaith religious identity of my own. This requires an act of hyphenation that baffles some. Those of us raised in a particular faith can be very resistant to this kind of plurality. I know because I feel it in myself sometimes, despite the repeated assurances of my parents to their inquisitive little boy that Buddhists and Hindus were not going to hell.

Since considering seminary, I’ve been thinking about my family background in the Disciples of Christ denomination. My dad was a Disciples minister, as was my grandfather, and my great-grandmother.

Dad always explained the denomination in two words, “mainline, liberal.” The Disciples story was explained to me in shorthand – as a frontier church, originally, the Disciples’ formation came out of a need for people of diverse Christian backgrounds to meet together under one tent. Therefore they adopted only very limited doctrinal beliefs.

Is there a lesson in the Disciples model to be applied to our multifaith discussion about religious practice without doctrinal borders, as love draws us out onto new cultural frontiers?

Is there a way to write that sentence in about a third as many words? And what do we call such a practice?

From a universalist Hindu perspective, I am a Jesus devotee. Y’all don’t mind if I call myself a Christian though, do you?

Jesus taught us to look for him in other people. I’ve felt his presence in teachings from other faiths. You never know where the One Love is gonna pop up.

Comments

[Seth Kasten]

Hi, Kyle.
We have not met, but I want to give you an early "welcome to Union Seminary," where I work in the library and lead a Schola Cantorum which sings weeekly Gregorian Chant Vespers. Since you are a musician, I hope you will consider joining our group.
http://www.utsnyc.edu/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=396&srcid=388
Bowie Snodgrass sang in the Schola while she was a student here.
--Seth

[Chris Kirk]

Great questions, Kyle. I do think there is a lesson we can learn from the "limited" doctrinal stances of denominations like the DOC. I prefer to move beyond thinking in terms of what doctrines we must believe, and towards values which we hold. It is there that we can find the common ground we need to come together. In my estimation, this is what all our religions or spiritualities were about in the first place: providing a way to live, together in our context with a proven set of values. Blessings on your seminary journey. Blessings on Faith House. We'll be keeping an eye on you from Kansas.

[Rene]

Hi Kyle, quick question...

"Jesus taught us to look for him in other people."

Where did Jesus teach that?

Thanks!

[Rabia]

Dear Kyle,

Thank you for this thought-provoking and helpful commentary on what it means to have faith and to love in the world (and particularly NYC) today. I appreciate and share your views on this issue being in a mixed-race relationship myself.

btw: it was nice to see your smiling face on the food-line!

Peace of God,

Rabia (Allah devotee:-))

[Kyle Fischer]

Rene -

Jesus' admonition to look for him in others occurs for instance in Matthew 25:40.

Blessings,
Kyle

[Morwenna]

Good words.