For Your Consideration - Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro

   The appearance of the movie, “The Passion,” has occasioned more conversation between me and various congregants about Christianity and faith than I can ever recall.

    At meetings and during informal encounters everyone over the last several weeks has wanted to talk about the film.  As many of you know, I have shared my responses to the movie in several settings.  But this month I would rather not address the movie once again.  I would rather share with you a prayer that I wrote a few months ago for an interfaith service at the Catholic cathedral in Springfield.  When “The Passion” makes us wonder about the differences between us and Christians, I think it’s worthwhile to remember how far we have come in terms of interfaith dialogue during the last forty years.  We have friends in the official Christian world our ancestors could never have imagined.  We have broken down barriers and begun to establish interfaith relationships that would amaze previous generations of Jews.

    Here, then, are the words I shared at the cathedral.  I was asked to create a closing prayer for the service based on the citation from Micah – “What does the Lord requires of you – only to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”

    I wrote as follows –

    Dear God –

    Please don’t give us strength.  We don’t need to be much bigger than we already are.  Please don’t make us smarter.  We’ve probably got as much information as we need.

    Just give us, or, at least, help us cultivate humility. 

    Help us stand in awe before Your universe - from the stars and galaxies all the way down to the human beings who populate this earth.  Help us marvel at the variety of humanity.  Help us marvel at all the different beliefs, different colors, different languages, different foods, and different ideas. 

    Make us humble so that we truly act as if our way is not the only way. 

    Make us humble so that we hear, see, and love the differences in our neighbors.

    Let us be humble enough to love of all your creations.  The rest will come easily after that.