Reflecting

Going into this class, it was going to being the first time I ever focused on religious text. As odd as that is to say from a religion major, it is unfortunately true. Growing up, the closet church that was the Lutheran denomination that my family followed was 3 hours away. As a result, I grew up only saying I was "christian", and did not really know anything about the actual text of the Holy Bible. Needless to say, I was anxious to dive into this class and explore this untouched territory of my life.

First and foremost, what I enjoyed most about the class was the actual interpretation part of the course work. From the Mid-rash, to reading the Surah's, and finally creating our own sermons, I think they had the largest impact out of the course. I say this because it put us in the shoes of scholar practitioners within the respective religions, but it also has had an impact on the way I look at things in my everyday life.
For example, the four points that Samuel Proctor lay out for the sermon not only helped in writing the sermon, but I have begun to apply it to various parts of my life. Fun hobbies I have, or games I play with my friends I now see with the lens of his third point of genuine community. Not only that, but the four points inspired me to apply them to my other classes. Such as, I wrote about how a blog post called, Poetry is Not a Luxury, but Audre Lorde is is akin to its own religion, but also the recitation of the poetry is its own sermon. In other words, religion and scripture is everywhere, we just have to see it.

The Sermon

In the beginning, writing the sermon was a difficult task to say the least. I've never personally gone to church and been present for one. And looking through the Bible and writing my own in my eyes was going to be a mess. How was I going to start it? What would I be talking about? How would I make it convincing? These were the lingering thoughts I had as I attempted to write it. Thankfully, Samuel Proctor laid out four points that immensely helped in the process.

1. Is the universe friendly place?

2. Can this package of urges be reconciled to the will of God?
3. Is true community possible?
4. Is our space time frame of reference the only one, or is there more?

First and foremost, writing the sermon came right before finals week. My mind was almost entirely focused on what I had to do for that week. I knew I was going to stress, and I knew I would keep pushing this off because of procrastination. With that said, I began to think about the idea of procrastination and that of the second point of carnal urges being reconciled with. It was with this connection that I found my inspiration for my sermon, but I also found that focusing on that could branch out to all four as well. 

In my sermon, I quote Ephesians 3;14-19, in which it shares;

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The fullness of God, the power he gives us to overcome difficulty, and the ability to live a more diverse life nails the first point because in overcoming difficulty we know God is there. Then, my sermon was about overcoming procrastination, in which fulfills the second. Next, the ability to live a full and accomplished life is that of the fourth point, our space time frame of reference. Finally, because of finals week, the sermon was relatable and in doing so made it readily assessable for genuine community to occur.

At the end of the day, it was at first difficult to compose a sermon. However, after reading Proctor’s four points, it was much easier to set my own base line, but also become inspired by the ever looming evens that were about to unravel. It to me, set the foundation for my finals week and honestly helped my through it. In other words, I found my own religious inspiration this project.

What is Scripture

At the beginning of class, if we were to answer the question; what is scripture? The answer that most likely would be given is that scripture is the written text of a given religion. By all means, this is a good answer and for the most part is accurate. However, as the course of the class unraveled we quickly uncovered that scripture does not necessarily pertain that of religious text, but instead is what we actually scripturalize. This is to say,  we can actually give something in our own lives great meaning, and in doing so that something can begin to transcend its initial meaning. It possess great depth and meaning for you, or perhaps a given community that you are a part of, but to other is may be insignificant. Therefore, it becomes its own form of scripture. In so far as, this means anything can become scripture.

With that said, I have recently been playing a video game that has had a lot of value in my life for the last decade. Shun me if you will, but I am an avid Call of Duty player. However, something that has exploded within this series is what is known as Call of Duty Zombies. It is a survival wave based mode where you fend off the endless waves of the undead. It seems mindless and dull, but over time the developers of the game created its own universe and story associated with the game mode and as a result a massive community blossomed from it. Over the years, we have been given new maps, new easter eggs to complete, and comics to read that have slowly given us more lore to this universe, but there has always been this provocative mystery around it as well. The developers have purposefully sprinkled ambiguity into the story in a way that has caused the community to interpret and challenge everything we are given. It in some ways has become its own religious community in some ways.

I'm discussing this because over the last month we received 8 HD remasters of zombie maps. With these maps, the developers released a physical timeline to the story that we have never had before. Up until this point, we have been interpreting and piecing together pieces here and there, but it was never defined. Its truly amazing seeing this for the first time. With that said, to the naked eye the timeline looks like swirls of information that do not piece together a clear story. However, to me and the zombies community it makes perfect sense. It has simultaneously answered hundreds of questions we have had but also raises more, causing a further re-invigoration of our passion for this game. We have our own scripture, and its tangible now which to me is quite odd to say I'm a part of. However, this is incredible to because it really points ot the idea that scripture can be anything.

The "Aha" moment

Overall, the Academic Banquet was an invigorating and fun experience for the class. Baking the bread and the carrot cake was a lot of fun, however the discussion of the "Aha" moments continued to linger with me for some time after the the banquet itself. How do you instill the feeling of the "Aha" moment, and what makes an "Aha" moment so visceral?
To be honest, this question has been quite difficult to answer because the "Aha" moment to me is something that you generate on your own. An "Aha" moment to me, is a moment where you solve that puzzle you have been stuck on for days. The moment when you finally figure out why its bad to use a fork in a toaster. Its the moment when you finally beat the final boss in that video game you have been playing for the last three weeks. In other words, the "Aha" moment is a learning process which is why it fit so well for the Academic Banquet. However, it also invokes personal change, growth which is why its such a visceral experience.
With that said, getting that feeling of an "Aha" moment out others is something I am not entirely certain you can do. I say this because it is inherently a personal and physical experience and individual has to encounter. The "Aha" moment has to come from themselves. Basically, my initial thoughts are that simply speaking to others an drawing it out of them might be something that is not possible.
However, as we read Samuel Proctor's "How Shall They Hear?", I think the four points of the sermon changes that idea. The third point in particular, that genuine community is possible flips this idea on its head because instead of bringing the "Aha" moment out others, it makes it relatable. In other words, by utilizing the third point in Proctor's list, we begin to reminisce in our nostalgia. By remembering those moments it in turn brings the audience closer together. It now becomes a communal thing, and I think how JBK handled it at the banquet itself was the perfect way to do it.

The Qur'an

In my opinion, the Qur’an is one of the most fascinating things within Islam. At its core, the Qur’an is the Holy book of Islam, as is the Bible for Christianity and the Torah is for Judaism. However, the Qur’an possesses a unique aspect in that it is the spoken words of Allah, not just the written words. This is to say, as much as the various Abrahamic religions all have the word of God within them, the Qur’an takes it a step further in that it is spoken from God.

I find this notion fascinating because it not only legitimizes Arabic as Holy Scripture, but it gives the Qur’an a breath of life. For example, when you open the Bible and read it, within its pages it tells the tales of the Gospel, Deuteronomy, Ephesians, etc that all involve god and how he is intertwined in our lives. However, due to the fact that the Qur’an is spoken by Allah, a new kind of dialogue emerges between the Muslim and Allah. It’s a call and response dialogue between the devotee and Allah that makes Islam more personal. So much so, that when you open and read the first Surah of the Qur’an, Bismi Allahi alrrahmani alrraheemi, you are quite literally initiating a conversation between you and Allah through submission. It is as if the Qur’an is alive. That is an absolutely fascinating part of Islam.

Reflecting

After taking this course, I see a broader range of religion. My mind has always been so focused on my Catholic roots I never stopped to look at the beauty of other religions. After examining the Torah, Qur’an and Bible, I am now more aware of different religions and see beauty in all three. What surprised me the most were the similarities I saw in the three religions.

            I noticed that in each of the sacred texts there is some sort of story to follow. One of my favorite things about the Holy Bible is the stories. And what I quickly noticed was that there were songlike stories sewn into the pages of the Qur’an. In that I saw a similarity.

            Another interesting text I found was the Jewish Midrash. Creating my own Midrash helped me see allegories found in the bible. Writing a Midrash was like writing a story linking together facts from the Holy texts. In doing this, I was able to understand this ancient art of rabbinical literature.

            After learning about the sacred texts in all three of these religions, I am pleased to say my eyes have been opened to a whole new beauty within religion.

Changing old ways

After watching a movie and delving deeper into gender in the bible, the idea of women in religion came up. What the whole class noticed was the lack of women in religious rituals and practices. Growing up Catholic, I have only seen male priests, bishops and reverends. And I have only seen women in the choir and as Sunday school teachers. I have never really thought about this growing up or even now as a young adult.

            During class time we discussed the lack of women it religion and how some women are actively pushing for change in the religion. The majority of the class agrees that there needs to be more of presence of women in religion, however I beg to differ.

            I think it is wrong to change the principals of a religion that has been thought the very same way for years and years. By changing the religion to include more women changes the way our ancestors practiced and believed. We have not been on the planet very long, and we are trying to change an ancient art.

            Instead of looking at the negatives of the religion we should all take a step back and be thankful for what God had blessed us with.