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So we finally made it to the part of the city I had been itching to see-the Tenderloin.
For those who aren’t familiar, this would be the part of the city where car doors are locked and walking alone at any part of the day can be dangerous.
Thankfully we had my three really tall male friends to watch our backs. I really am going to miss them-they are quite hilarious.
Anyways, you are probably wondering what we were doing in this shady spot and why I wanted to even set foot there. We had the opportunity to help out at a non-profit called Project Open Hands. They serve and deliver food to victims of cancer and AIDS or anyone whose digressive state is causing them to starve.
What struck me most is not only did they serve this largely discriminated against group, but they were serious about their food-something I take seriously too. Instead of taking food donations, Project Open Hands finds the most nutritious brands who will sell in bulk, and if they can’t find what they are looking for make it themselves on site. Our group was part of the process of making and packaging peanut butter and trail mix.
Finding pure ingredients says a lot about how much these people care. Never casting off a life that seems destined to soon be gone, but instead doing everything they can to ensure nourishment shows humanity's great capacity for hope.
I guess the reason I wanted to see the Tenderloin was to see the whole scope of San Fran, a city is only as good as it’s weakest street. There I found all the beauty I had seen by the bay and in the woods.
Our next stop through the graffitied streets was to a Muslim mosque. All the ladies wore scarves on our heads in respect of the tradition.
As we entered into our gender specified spaces oddly enough I didn’t have any insubordinate feelings towards being seated in the back of the room. It occurred to me that my focus was not on those watching behind me, there was nobody watching or judging what I was wearing and how I was behaving. I was able to relax and shift my gaze upwards.
The front of the loft was slowly being filled with a variety of men aging from their early twenties to forties. The variety of people was almost like being in the middle of a subway station instead of a Muslim prayer service.
Many women were accompanied by some of the most adorable children I have ever seen. Big brown eyes and round cheeks wandered between parents before the prayers began.
The religious leader lead an arabic prayer that involved a lot of bowing, and then delivered a message in a very heavy accent. What I could understand from it were a lot of the same themes we had seen in the other religious services we have been attending. We are all one-violence and discrimination have no place in the life of following Allah. Also there is something more than our earthly existence that we are moving to collectively.
Afterwards, we met with an Interfaith leader from the community who was very eager to defend the Muslim faith. He asked us what our preconceived notions of the faith were and encouraged us to ask lots of questions.
It’s no secret that Muslims have been viewed as terrorists and patriarchal citizens. He explained how troubled this had made him and other faith leaders. He was very friendly and obviously wanted to present the Muslim faith in the best light possible, but I wanted to know what was really the case in issues such as gender roles.
When I asked, he said that women have total equality under the Koran, and the separation and head coverings were meant to ensure there were no distractions or tension between the community. My friend Paige informed me that women in the Middle East had more positions of leadership before a cultural shift was enforced by a new governing power. So although it is clear that women’s rights have been horribly ignored in this part of the world in recent times, the faith tradition may not be what is to blame, rather the cultural interpretation.
He was a big advocate for letting the individual decide how to practice their own religion.
With some reservations, I asked another question that was very applicable to our group- what about the homosexuals? Again his answer focused more on the interfaith tolerance approach instead of clearly stating what the Muslim faith teaches.
This scenario brings up one of the main struggles with interfaith, finding a way to be open and learn about different faiths without watering down or not truly expressing your own tradition.
What I found after visiting our last faith site at a Jewish temple, was that in this environment I found a renewed desire to share my love of Jesus.
We first meditated with our yamakas facing Jerusalem and I invited the presence of God to just take over. Although I was not immediately overcome with joy and love, I experienced a new dimension of my faith through the Shabbat service that followed-the history.
Like one of our group members reflected afterwards-it was easy to cast off the Jewish faith as a Christian and think we’ve moved passed that and know more, when the truth is there is a lot of foundation there. The songs we sang were in the Hebrew Jesus spoke and gave praise to the same God we all know and love.
The rabbi who led the service was very young and excited. He played the guitar and sang while chanting Hebrew in between verses-it was a very laid back service.
Explanations of some of the Jewish traditions were given in the song books. While reading through, I came across something I hadn’t thought about before-prayers of intercession for the deceased. It only made sense, because they did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, that eternal life was not seen as accessible to them after death.
This thought caused me to wrestle with my thoughts on interfaith more. Because as has been expressed many times at my church, religion is useless without a relationship with Jesus.
Of course I had been told this for many years, yet seeing those outside of Christianity being filled with peace and love has opened my eyes to try to see just how big Jesus is.
He is not captured by just one culture or mindset. I will never be able to fully understand the role He plays in other’s lives without being open to who they are and where they come from.
I find this much more important than trying to sell someone a ticket to heaven.
Although it is easy to stay in the Christian bubble and think if everyone just had Jesus the world would be great. It seems the problem isn’t non-Christians not knowing the gospel-it’s how that message has been presented and used to cause judgement and hate that rips through boundaries of different races, religions, and sexual orientation.
My heart is broken- not because I look into another’s face and know they don’t know Jesus-but because they have known the prejudice and belittlement thrown onto their face in the name of Jesus.
The music of a United Religions Initiative cooperation circle called Musaique was a great reminder of the importance of supporting peace and equality. The group consists of Jews, Christians, and Muslims from all over the Middle East who play together to promote fellowship between these groups that bear deeply severed bonds.
The woman who founded it, Lee Ziv, spoke with gratitude about the groups first appearance in the United States. Although the songs were mostly in Hebrew and Arabic, it was easy to sense their message of unity and shared cultural understanding.
I was blessed with the opportunity to experience some of the movements for peace in the beautiful city of San Francisco. I can only hope now that I can continue to grow in learning more about what I can do here in Texas to keep shining that light. San Francisco will keep calling my name until I return.
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