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The news, television, and movie industry sometimes focus on the chaos in the world, and they often point toward religious differences as a primary reason for the world's troubles. At times, I too found myself wondering, "maybe a world without religion is the solution." But Thomas Merton once said, "God speaks, and God is to be heard, not only on Sinai, not only in my own heart but in the voice of the stranger." So what I've chosen to do instead, is to stop listening to the media and start listening to my neighbors. Encouraged by Merton and others, I began to seek opportunities to listen to the voices of those who thus far have been strangers to me. After all, the world is not as big as it once was, but my neighborhood is bigger now than it ever was. While seeking these opportunities, I was soon led to Interfaith Philadelphia and their "Gateways to Religious Communities" series. Since 2009, this program has given many an opportunity t

Quoting Albert Einstein, “I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.”  Although his talents were profoundly special, I at least can relate to his 'passionately curious' claim. I once heard something I try to remind myself of when I feel angry or sad about current events, or irritated with my spouse or two sons (ages 9 & 12): The most peaceful state of mind is the state of curiosity. When I think about the glaring reasons why our criminal justice system is a mess, such as racism and capitalism gone wrong… I tell myself, “Stay curious, Megan.” I try to ask myself, why? How did it get this way? What are the stems of human nature at play here? Where did history go wrong, and how might we course correct? Or even, how might the way I think things should be, differ from the way my neighbor thinks they should be? Or when I have to tell my son to pick up his dirty clothes for the third time, instead of getting frustrated… well… that’s a difficult one to find curi

The Interfaith Music Project of Philadelphia (IMPP) is an answer to a question posed nearly three years ago:  The question, asked by James Pollard Jr, ( bassist and musician extraordinaire at Zion Baptist Church in Ardmore) and myself, Harold Messinger, (Cantor at Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley) was simple: How can we best respond to the hate-filled rhetoric coming from the White House, but do so in a way that brings people together rather than further dividing them. It started with one song, "We Rise", written by Batya Levine, after she witnessed the protest at Standing Rock. Her song inspired James and me to record our own version of her song and create a video with our partner Sam Zolten, taking images from the historic Women's Marches and subsequent protests.  James and I have collaborated for many years and in 2010 had completed a project called, "These Songs of Freedom", songs of the Jewish Passover tradition alongside new and Traditional Gospel Mu

Many of you know me as the Community Partnerships Manager at Interfaith Philadelphia. In addition to this, I ’ m also a published poet, movie quote encyclopedia, and lover of all things creative. Today I get to talk a bit about the latter.  I believe art and creativity are part of what makes us human. I live with the understanding that while not everyone considers themselves an artist, everyone has the capacity to be creative. Creativity is not a one-size-fits-all type of thing, and instead, it takes many shapes and forms, permeating almost every aspect of our lives, from the music we hear in the supermarket, to the architecture that makes and remakes our cities, to the culinary masterpieces people post on Instagram. I have been fascinated with creativity's power to stir something within us for a long time and channeled this interest into my education. I studied Music Therapy in college and then moved to New Orleans to intern at a psychiatric hospital. My internship was a diff

While the question may sound absurd to many, people devoted to the arts debate it with great seriousness. I believe the answer is an emphatic “ Yes! ”  ·       Yes, because beauty nurtures the human spirit, helping it flourish in the inhospitable climate of our times and culture.  ·        Yes, because artists also are prophets. They create beauty which expresses the ugly realities that must be faced, implicitly calling viewers to endure or overcome what is revealed in their art.  ·        Yes, because artists help us see the value, the dignity,  and that which is sacred  in the people and things around us, inclining us toward compassion.     ·        And, yes, beauty will save the world because, in each religious tradition, there have been artists who have used their skill to aid the devout in worship, prayer, and discerning divine truth -- as it has been revealed within that tradition. Religion, in spite of the evil done in its name, is a primary motivation for good in this

A mosaic celebrates both the uniqueness of an individual tile and the collective pattern of many tiles together. This is the driving vision behind  Interfaith Youth Neighborhood Mosaic ; it is a celebration of an individual’s identity and the richness that identity brings to a diverse community. This past June, 20 middle school students from South Philadelphia spent a week exploring their own identities and the diversity of their neighborhood. Here are some reflections from our staff who crafted this wonderful program.  Elizabeth Royer – Community Programs Associate & Mosaic  Co-Facilitator  One of my favorite moments of the week was our visit to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. Mosaic gives campers a way to learn about other faith communities that they might pass everyday, but may not know much about. Some campers had never been inside a Catholic church before this visit, while others were members of St. Thomas Aquinas and attended services there. Though St. Thomas Aquinas is one

On June 6 th , Interfaith Philadelphia’s wide circle of friends gathered at Tabernacle United Church in University City to celebrate the Rev. Nicole Diroff. Nicole, who served our organization over nearly the whole of its history in roles from student intern to Associate Director, stepped away from her work to move with her family to Scarborough, Maine, where her husband, Dr. Jeremy Diroff, is a new member of the staff of the Maine Veterinary Medical Center. It was an occasion that can only be described as bittersweet as those who came together from so many different parts of Nicole’s life came together in Nicole’s home congregation space to honor the amazing leader Nicole has been – celebrated her successes – and blessed her going forth to new endeavors not yet quite fully imagined. Several speakers offered their praise and thanksgiving – these words from Milan Kunz, a member of Interfaith Philadelphia's Religious Leaders Council, certainly resonated for many of us –  &

For the last eleven months, I have been privileged to serve at Interfaith Philadelphia as a Quaker Voluntary Service fellow. QVS is “a one-year experiment in intentional living” where young adults across the country choose to volunteer full-time at a nonprofit organization and join six or seven other fellows in intentional community. For me, what set QVS apart from other service programs was their promise that the experience would not be a “year off” from regular life, but instead a year of preparation for a whole lifetime of service.  I remember hearing once, back when I first started to become interested in Quakerism, that “there are no Quaker beliefs, only Quaker practices”.  The Religious Society of Friends is a non-creedal religion, meaning that it has no official statement of faith. This means that Quakers hold a wide diversity of beliefs about the Divine, the world around us, and how one should live in it--in fact, some Friends would almost certainly disagree with the belie

I am a Mennonite Pastor. Every time I say this I expect to receive lots of questions like: "Mennonites let women be pastors?", "What’s the difference between Mennonites and the Amish?", or "I never would have known you were a Mennonite, where’s your bonnet?" Sometimes I do get these questions. Sometimes I receive inquisitive looks. But these things only happen when I choose to identify myself. The rest of the time, I present as any other white, Christian woman and I receive all of the privileges that accompany that identity. Growing up, I learned that Mennonites were outsiders in society. In Mennonite school, we took church history classes where we learned how Mennonites and other Anabaptists were brutally tortured and executed for defying the state religion during the Reformation and that they were persecuted as a religious minority by both Protestants and Catholics. We were also taught about the struggles Mennonite men faced in the United States when