Remembering, Praying, Standing Together

For the last four years All Souls Episcopal Parish has been in relationship with two other faith communities in Berkeley, St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Congregation Beth El. Like most relationships, our friendship has been built by time spent together, learning about each other’s beliefs and practices, and sharing about our hopes for our common life in Berkeley.

Our first events were called Breaking Bread, Building Bridges, and we’ve continued with those words as guideposts for our time together. Over the years of Breaking Bread, Building Bridges, we’ve shared meals, worshipped in each other’s spaces, built tiny homes alongside one another, studied scripture together, shared our stories with one another, and advocated for each another. Now that we are emerging more and more from pandemic, the clergy of our congregations (Pastors Tony and Dorisalene of St. Paul, Rabbi Bekah of Beth El, and me from All Souls) have begun looking for more opportunities for our congregations to build on these relationships.

Recently members of all three congregations met at St. Paul AME to form a council made up of members of each congregation. (the All Soulsians on that council are Paul Mathew, Bonnie Bishop, Priscilla Camp, and Kim Wong) The hope is that this council, along with the clergy of the congregations, will guide the work and study and fellowship we share in the time to come. We also talked about our next opportunity to be in relationship with one another, through prayer and remembrance. 

Continuing our collective practice of praying together, Congregation Beth El has invited All Souls and St. Paul AME to join them for the observation of Tisha B’Av at Congregation Beth El, on Wednesday July 26th from 7-8:30p, in person and on Zoom. On that day, the 9th (tisha) day of the month of Av, Jews around the world make space to remember, to mourn, and to pray.

For centuries Tisha B’Av has been a day of remembrance and mourning, specifically of the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which were destroyed on that day, roughly six centuries apart. It also marks other disasters that have befallen the Jewish people, including the expulsion of Jews from Spain by the Christian rulers in the 15th century. In the words of Rabbi Bekah,

“Our focus will be the experience of being discriminated against, persecuted and oppressed because of some aspect of our identities – either as individuals or as members of a group – as we continue to build relationships across these identities and stand together against these forms of discrimination, persecution, and oppression. The Book of Lamentations will be our shared text, some of which we will read and discuss, and other parts we will hear chanted in Hebrew. Whether you’ve participated in Building Bridges programming from the beginning or this will be your first, we hope you’ll join us to add your voice and your story and to witness the stories of others.”

Please join us online or at Congregation Beth El (1301 Oxford Street) on Wednesday, July 26th to continue building bridges with Congregation Beth El and St. Paul AME. Together we will listen, remember, sing, share, and pray.

Peace,

Phil+ 

Tisha B’Av Zoom Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84585613144?pwd=cnoxTVBXMlMvMXl3VEVrS0dPZkNWQT09 

Meeting ID: 845 8561 3144

Passcode: 731913