People of all different faiths and backgrounds recently explored the idea of America from sea to shining sea in the social hall of Temple Hesed in Scranton.
Groups of about 10 people from two dozen faith communities and beyond sat at round tables together for the first gathering of Faith250 — an exploration of American sacred texts.
"Everybody here knows something that I don't, and that's why we're here together,” Rabbi Daniel Swartz told the roughly 100 people at the temple where he is the spiritual leader.
The Scranton group first explored “America the Beautiful," a poem written by Katharine Lee Bates near the turn of the 20th century and later set to music.
"We're here to learn from each other. There's no right answers to what we're going to be discussing tonight,” Swartz said.
The rabbi read about the Faith250 program to celebrate the country’s semiquincentennial year. He recruited Jews, Mormons, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and people across the religious and nonreligious spectrum in the Scranton area to participate in four clergy-led meetings that analyze sacred texts.
"At all of the clusters all across the country, which one has the most different and diverse congregations coming together in the whole country?" Swartz asked the participants.
"We do, Scranton," he said.
Questions first
During the first meet up, the participants first got to know each other first through a series of prompts.
"Just go around and name something that's beautiful in your life, our area, our country, and/or our world," Melinda Krokus said to the table she was moderating.
Krokus is an Islamic scholar and Sufi practitioner.
A woman named Barbara answered first. She said something beautiful in her life is her extensive family.
The group also shared details about their lives.
Charlotte Ledbetter, who is Black, told her table that she was born in the South, where slavery was still very much on the minds of people.
IF YOU GO
The group will meet three more times ahead of the Scranton Area Ministerium's annual multifaith Thanksgiving celebration.
● The next meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 11, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu House of Worship, 311 Oak St., Scranton. The group will explore sections of the Declaration of Independence.
● The third meeting is Tuesday Sept. 15 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Scranton, 1509 West Pass Ave., Scranton. The group will explore "The New Colossus," the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty.
● The final meeting will be scheduled for October.
● For more details on the next event, visit https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/faith250-declaration-of-independence
“My grandmother … we were strangers to everybody. Nobody wanted to be friendly down there,” she said.
Ledbetter said she loves being in Scranton because everybody is nice and friendly. She said she always makes friends when she’s out in the community.
What 'feels most hopeful'
After introductions, the group focused on the poem, reading line by line.
Katharine Lee Bates wrote “America the Beautiful” in 1893 after a trip by prairie wagon to the top of Pike's Peak in Colorado, which is 14,115 feet above sea level.
The poem was published two years later in The Congregationalist on July 4, 1895. Her words were later set to S. A. Ward’s "Materna,” the tune it's still sung to today.
"It says ‘O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years,'” Rabbi Marjorie Berman said to her group. “What do people think that that might mean? ‘Patriot dream that sees beyond the years,’ what would your guess be that she's saying there?”
Berman later asked the group to reflect on what feels most hopeful about the song and the first Faith250 gathering.
“And what is your hope for … how we can shift the direction of our country towards something … that has more faith in the brotherhood and sisterhood of all of everyone who is here,” she asked.
At another table, Shivani Patel said the poem reminded her of a Sanskrit peace prayer for nature, that’s often said before groundbreakings.
Patel spoke first in Sanskrit then translated the poem.
"May there be peace in the sky and the vast space. May there be peace on the earth, in the waters, and in all plants and herbs. May there be peace in the trees, the universe, and the ultimate divine reality. And may everything in existence be filled with peace. May that complete peace enter and calm my mind,” she said.
Acknowledging the not-so-beautiful
Toward the end of the first session, Swartz asked how many people were leaving the temple more hopeful than when they came.
Mostly everyone raised their hands.
“That's pretty cool,” he said.
Before he joined in on singing “America the Beautiful” Swartz asked the table moderators about their discussions.
Susan Blum Connors said her table's discussion made them think about so much.
“The promise of that song is that we're supposed to be beautiful, but we can't make it beautiful until we recognize that there are fractures in our country,” she said. “There are people who are hurting. There's anti-Semitism. There's racism. There are people struggling to get proper housing, proper health care, and if we acknowledge that and work towards that, then we step into the fullness of the beauty of what this country could be.”
