I guest posted Christians, Compassion and Interfaith Meetings on Bill’s blog Friendly Christian today. It’s about the Seattle Seeds of Compassion Dalai Lama meetings which I’ve already posted about here.
I’ve been intrigued seeing some Christian bloggers criticize Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt for participating in the Interfaith panel discussions. The focus of this event was compassion. It seems to me that anyone who agrees to participate is saying “Yes, I agree that compassion is important” and anyone who declines is saying “No, I do not share the rest of the panel’s belief that compassion is important”. Read the rest of this entry »
04-24-2008 |
47 Comments »After the prayer breakfast we drove straight to the panel discussion. This was a much bigger event than the breakfast. I wished I had the binoculars we used years ago when I sat way high up in the cheap seats at the opera.
(edited to add: high-quality video of both panel discussions is now online) Read the rest of this entry »
04-17-2008 |
7 Comments »My trip to Seattle began with Jim asking me a couple of months ago “If I could get you a ticket to a private prayer breakfast with the Dalai Lama would you come?” That was an exciting question to be asked and it didn’t take me long to decide yes, I’d definitely travel to Seattle for that opportunity.
There were a few Off The Map people and friends invited. We got up early and headed downtown together. It was fun to be there with other people I knew and hear their thoughts on it afterwards. Check out Randy’s excellent summary. We were told to bring no bags or cameras. I took a small notebook and pen in my pocket so I could take notes (I would have thought taking a pen I could stab the Dalai Lama with is more threatening than a camera but whatever).
I’m so glad I was able to take notes – many powerful words were spoken that morning. Along with that, I was caught off guard by the power of the unspoken messages I saw. It was an amazing, surprising morning. Read the rest of this entry »
04-17-2008 |
16 Comments »Jim got me a ticket to hear the Dalai Lama in Seattle tomorrow. I’m flying there today and will come back first thing Wednesday.
One of my son’s friends asked him why I was going to hear the Dalai Lama since I’m not ‘religious’. I’m going because he’ll be speaking about compassion. I think that’s important whatever religious beliefs the speaker holds (or doesn’t hold).
I’m also going because it’s an opportunity to be with people I’ve met through Off The Map.
04-14-2008 |
11 Comments »