interfaith relations/sharing thread

[nearlythree]

Given the atmosphere on some sections of Mnet, and the lovely time we had on the Shana Tova thread, I was wondering if anyone was up for an interfaith sharing thread?

Thank you both!

hope your DCs had a comfortable sleep and are a little better today....x

Hi, lulumama, they are both well on the mend although yesterday was awful, dd1's temp was sky high. The abs have kicked in really quickly though. Thank you for thinking of them !

glad they are doing better......

also, glad this thread is getting some more input...really very interesting...and heart warming....

Hi, lulumama, dd1 well over her bug, ds's face up again but not infected - he's just been diagnosed with reflux and had his first comfortable feed for ages .

I wish that I could get more comfort from my faith. When I used to believe more definitely in what my church teaches I used to find my faith far more strengthening. Now I find it hard to keep a grip on things.

it must be very difficult when you have had a strong faith and it has gone or weakened to an extent......it must be like losing a security blanket.....

is there something that happened that made you doubt ..or just a slow erosion for no particular reason....

And glad the DCs doing better....my nephew had reflux, domperidone seemed to really help...and he was much more content after diagnosis and medication..!

Hi, lulumama. Whoo, where to start???

For me the change in my faith is more like losing a friend than any comforter. I always had a feeling of closeness to God/Spirit/Jesus (my way of seeing) but recently that has gone. It is just starting to come back and I think it is because I've spent so long looking at the intellectual side of my faith that I have neglected the spiritual - like any relationship you need to spend time together.

About 18 mo or so ago I started to doubt the honesty of what I believed in too. As a liberal I found myself believing in the 'nice' things and ignoring the unpleasant. It was intellectually dishonest. I also couldn't keep sticking my fingers in my ears and saying, I can't hear you' every time another piece of evidence came my way about the unreliability of the NT. There are huge holes both in the accounts of Jesus' life and the early history of the church. Eventually I found a branch of modern theology that answers my questions but it has meant a huge reappraisal for me as to what I can believe in. Jesus is far more interesting and compelling but God the Son? There is certainly little real evidence that he saw himself in that way. So I don't believe in the virgin birth, the nativity, even Easter has changed for me.

Thrown into that is disillusionment with my church as an institution (so I no longer recieve Communion - very important to me) and the fact that the dcs and dd2 in particular have been very ill this yr along with the loss of our friend's ds and it's been hard to hang onto anything.

Hope some of this makes sense, and thank you for asking. Do you get strength from your faith?

gosh... i really need to sit down and think about that.....thank you for being so open...i will have to get back to you on that...

still deciding if i have faith & what in......

to be continued....

Lulumama - skimming this thread I came across you post re lack of community in you area, only Reform. Like you I had a secular/religious upbringing (Mum's family Hassidic, Dad's assimilated, religious primary, secular secondary). I've married out, but our children are being brought up Jewish.

What I wanted to say is that, if you are looking for a sense of community, and the chance to involve your children in Yiddishkeit outside the home, then don't discount the Reform movement. We have joined a Reform synagogue, the children go to Cheder/Pre-school there, there are many comminity events and a good sense of being Jewish without isolating ourselves from the wider, non-Jewish communities in which we live.

My principal reason for joining the Reform synagogue (which is further away than the nearest US synagogue) is their complete acceptance and welcome of non-Jeiwsh partners. I admit it's weird praying in English, but it's a compromise I am willing to make in order to build my children a place within a Jeiwsh community.

Consider it.

thank you for that ......

i've been to the reform shul a few times..the english prayers didn;t bother me,as i could follow and understand so much better ...i always read the english in my siddur anyway!

the main problem is....my DH is an atheist and refuses to be involved with anything remotely religious.....

and the reform community is so small where we live,that i would have to travel to a community an hour away to find a big congreagation!

i do miss the sense of togetherness, esp, as DS at non jewish school .. so he doens;t have any jewish friends....and Xmas is so hard.....

but i will stay involved on the periphery i think...i also feel guilty that i am so diluting my jewishness, that my kids will have no chance of practiscing their religion,..but i feel it is wrong to be religious for the sake of it IFYSWIM.....

but thank you for your words...you know wehre i am coming from i think!

and mazel tov as well as congratulations on the new arrival....

Hello everyone!

Happy belated Samhain to those of you celebrating yesterday.

We had a lovely evening, dd1 and I. We went to a party at the local Baptist church as an alternative to the commercial Halowe'en which I don't like at all. dd1 made a new friend and I caught up with a few old ones, it was so nice to feel a part of something again.

Today is All Saints Day. We aren't Catholics but I am keen to build our own family traditions around these festivals, to give the dcs as rich an experience as possible. Dd2 and I did some All Saints-type crafts (making candles and crowns) but dd1 was soooooooo tired when she got home from school that I let her veg in front of Cbeebies, so she will do hers tomorrow, and have some special bedtime stories. Tomorrow is All Souls Day when Christians remember those that have died. I will probably keep that quietly tomorrow evening by thinking of my loved ones as dd1 is already pre-occupied with dying since the death of her friend. As the dcs get older though we will use it as a time to pass on stories about our grandparents and great-grandparents, and others we have lost.

hi guys...not forgotten about you all.....just still thinking about stuff...hope you and your families are all well.......

Message withdrawn

Hi all...

just to say that school are being really good about me not wanting DS involved too much in XMas stuff..

didn;t want him excluded completely as he will be upset..he is in the Xmas play, at the back, not singing! and he is not going into assembly when it is hymn practice..his teacher keeps him out with a couple of other kids , so he doesn't feel segregated and he works on the computer. which he loves!

it has been really hard for me,, but he is making the distinction himself now...'mummy, i am jewish, so i can't sing the jesus songs, can i?" so i felt it was the right time to help him become a bit more aware of his own religion.

there are very few non christians in the school, so i don;t want to make him the 'odd one out', but he needs to be more aware of his own heritage....

his teacher has asked if i will come in and talk to his class and the others ( if i am feeling brave!) about chanuka,which is coming up quite soon....

BUT - he still asks what santa will bring !

(((hugs))) to you all...

Hi, lulumama!

Glad that the school are being helpful. I wonder, I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you explain to ds that Jesus was Jewish? (or is that too much for him atm?) I think our faiths are so close together. I've read a book called 'The Changing Face of Jesus' by Geza Vermes, it was recommended to me by a friend of my mum's who is a Jewish elder (is that the right term?) I don't know if you have read any of his books, he is a Jewish scholar who is also an expert on Jesus. Very interesting, a real challenge to me but also a book that I found very illuminating. It explains in detail the way in which Jesus was an observant Jew, but also blows apart much of what as a Christian I used to take for granted.

Re Santa, just a thought, but have you told ds the story of St. Nicholas? (who eventually becamse Santa?) I know it's not a part of your tradition, but it's still an example of how belief in God made someone do something good.

Last year I bought dd1 a book on Chanukah for us to share, it was really lovely in the run-up to Christmas to also have that to think about.

Nearlythree.......not seen that post ! sorry..will have a think on and reply....if i told DS Jesus was Jewish, i think he would find it too hard to accept that, and that we don;t do Xmas..so will leave well alone for now!

HAPPY CHANUKAH - well, almost, it starts tomorrow.. i have my candles and menorah ready and am going to make potato latkes for supper and have donuts too as foods cooked in oil are traditionally eaten on chanukah!

hope everyone is well and happy....xx

Happy Chanukah, Lulumama!

My dd1 did a lovely colouring-in picture of a menorah and underneath her teacher has written that she 'shows sensitivity to the beliefs of others'. [proud mummy emoticon!]

Dd1 was an angel in her school nativity play on Monday, I did manage not to sob my way through the entire production!

Yes, Jesus being Jewish is a massive thing for us to get our heads around, let alone our dcs! Do you recognise Jesus as a wise teacher or prophet?

Hello everyone [waves]

With so many posts i've only managed to skim through them but would love to be part of this thread. Can i join in?

I'm Muslim. DH & Mum converts. MIL Christian, FIL Catholic. Look fwd to meeting you all.

hi cha cha ...welcome....i'm jewish..hence the post about chanukah...this thread been a bit quiet lately., but with this being the festive season, i imagine it will get busier ! look forward to hearing more from you....

Nearlythree-- yiou should be a proud mummy !!

i believe jesus existed and was certainly a wise man / prophet, but that is where it ends fro me, i think....i still have so much to think about and need to actually devote some time to this

will be lighting the candles and singing some songs tomorrow though!

Hello, ChaCha! Nice to see you here!

Lulumama, I didn't expect that you would see jesus as more than a prophet or teacher, I just wondered how you did see him. You know my own difficulties with this!

Thank you for saying I should be a proud mummy - I am proud of my dcs, but not of me - I'm keeping an absolutely rubbish Advent, haven't done any of the candle lighting or daily reading I told myself I'd do and have spent far too much time getting caught up in the spending side of things. I never seem to be able to have the holy, simple Advent and Christmas that I really want deep down.

its an interesting question though....

don't be

the commercialism surrounding xmas is absolutely unavoidable and infectious..i think , with the best will in the world, you can;t avoid it !

off to bed..but glad this thread is getting going again ...

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

I had no idea what Chanukah was so i've done a little online research and am pleased to say I now know....so 'Happy Chanukah'!!

Hoping that being part of this thread will teach me a thing or two about other faiths/ways of life.

Tell me more about you all pls...

HAPPY CHANUKAH

Hope you and ds and babylulu have had a good day, lulumama!

ChaCha, you asked about us...well, I'm a Christian so as your pils are also you probably have a good idea of roughly where I am coming from. My influences are a mix of Roman Catholic, CofE and Baptist. I used to belong to the CofE and even started the process for selection to be a priest, but no longer worship with them. I've been going through a change in my faith recently and question a lot of what I have always taken for granted about my beliefs. I also don't believe that my faith is the only truth - it is right for me but other faiths are also true - it is just a different way of seeing the same thing.

I live in a rural village and Christianity plays a big part in life here, a lot of families go to one church or another and a lot of the social events are church-based, particularly for the older people. I currently worship at our village Baptist church, although my beliefs and theirs are quite different they are very welcoming to my family.

So, what about you?