Category Archives: Interfaith/Ecumenical

Happy Eid ul Fitr!

by Rev. Kelli

Happy Eid ul Fitr everyone! Yes, this is the day that Muslims around the world celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a month of fasting from sun up to sun down and making alms to the poor. The Interfaith Calendar says Eid ul Fitr is “a festival of thanksgiving to Allah for enjoying the month of Ramadan. It involves wearing finest clothing, saying prayers, and fostering understanding with other religions.” (accessed August 31, 2011).

Fostering understanding between the world’s religions is something we at WWSIC can really support.

And, yes, as a chaplain Eid ul Fitr is one of those holidays a chaplain serving people of all faiths and no faiths needs to know about… So…

Blessings this Holy Day and may the God of Many Names Bless your feast this day and all days!

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Chaplain for a New Century

by Ed

In my work for Jubilee Economics Ministries, I record audio podcasts with Rev. Lee Van Ham and a monthly guest. For our August episode, we recorded an interview with his daughter Lauren, and on this occasion I decided to capture a bit of video too. If you like what you see and hear, please go listen to the full length (about 30 mins) audio podcast. This video is only about one-third of the program.

Lauren is an interfaith chaplain with an interesting background that doesn’t suggest she was originally from Nebraska! She is the Dean of Chaplaincy at the Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley. She goes into quite some detail about her professional formation and how she understands the role of the chaplain in society today.

Lauren plans to contribute to Women Who Speak In Church, and the timing is such that this bit of video serves to provide a great introduction to Lauren, and if I might be so bold, it gives a taste of the JEM podcasts too. This video is posted to the JEM YouTube channel where a number of other clips feature Lee, who himself is a retired pastor of 32 years. No doubt he set a good standard for Lauren to follow 🙂