​1.  None of us is perfect.  And we seek to understand each other better through our love and worship of the Divine.  We are not here to argue, but we are here to learn from one another.
2.  Be lighthearted, be joyful, be of great understanding- one to the other.
3.  Share your love of God with each other, by condemning none.
4.  Show people how to pray, with the Rosary Beads, with the Teflin, with those things that have been proved to be of great help for hundreds and thousands of years.
5.  Listen to each other, more than you speak
6.  Give thanks to God for such a wonderful day.
7.  Pray for understanding when conflicts arise.  No one should disturb the peace, nor try to convert anyone.
8.  Religious icons should be small, to fit on a tabletop.  None shall be free standing.
9.  No political signs or symbols please 
10.  Love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul; and love your neighbor as yourself.

Salem, Massachusetts- An unique gathering of diverse faiths and
musicians will take place on Sunday afternoon, June 4 from Noon to 6
PM at Tabernacle Congregational Church, 50 Washington Street.  A
committed group of volunteers has been working on producing the first
annual Multi-Faith Festival - where all faiths will come and gather to
celebrate religious freedom.  The goal is to stand up for everyone’s
right to worship God in the way they see fit- be it Muslim, Jewish,
Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or anyone else.

One of the organizers, Mike Boudo, said “More than a dozen houses of
worship will have booths to talk and explain how they worship.
Musicians will play an eclectic mix of folk, jazz, Middle Eastern,
chamber music, and Sacred Harp singing.  Even if you’re not too
faithful, you’ll want to enjoy the musical line-up, and make new
friends.”

Kids activities, a bouncy house, and food trucks will be part of it.
And at 3 PM, the most important element the whole event- everyone will
gather in their congregations and pray in their own way- giving thanks
and praise for religious freedom.

“We celebrate all things except our many faiths. It is time we start
to do so,” said Fawaz Abusharkh from the Islamic Society of the North
Shore in Lynn.   “The goal is to learn , understand and educate each
other.  People are curious by nature so this event will be a success."

The Salem Catholic Collaborative, the Alpha group, Temple B’Nai
Abraham, St. Peter’s Episcopal church, St. Nicholas American Orthodox
Church and many faiths are participating.

You don’t need a ticket to attend the Multi-Faith Festival, but the
organizers are asking for donations through Go Fund Me.  “Our
corporate Sponsors- Cabot Wealth Management and 104.9 FM North Shore
have been terrific.  A program like this could easily fetch $30-$50 a
ticket, but some festival-goers can’t pay that price.  So, we are
asking people who are able, to help us reach our budget goal through
the website www.gofundme.com/multifaith
All donations are tax deductible,” said Boudo.


The musical line-up is outstanding.  There will be an opportunity at 1
PM on June 4 for everyone to try their hand singing in the same style
of the American revolutionaries with a Sacred Harp singing demo.
These songs provided many women and men of the 1770’s the backbone
needed to found a new country, with religious freedom as its anchor.
And what better way to celebrate that in song!

Boston’s Either/Orchestra will give us an international taste of
blistering jazz, as they feature the Armenian stylings of Nerses
Nalbandian.  New England folk artist Tim Eriksen will be joined by
fiddler Zoe Barrow to enliven the crowd.  The Nour Ensemble will kick
things off with a blend of Middle Eastern cultural music.  The Paulist
Center Liturgical Dancers will pray with graceful choreography.  And
the entire event will be capped by the Kharis Chamber players
performing French Aubade.  A concert of French music for piano and
winds featuring musical selections by Debussy, Faure, Milhaud, and
Saint-Saens.

For more information go to:  www.multifaithfest.com

Or:  facebook.com/multifaithfest
​

In order to make this the best Multi-Faith Festival ever, we will need everyone's support.  Please go to our Go Fund Me page and if you have the means, please make a donation.  All funds will go 100% to putting the Festival on.  No church, or organizer will make any money- it's all for the wonderful musicians, the police and logistical support, sound/stage, to make sure this goes smoothly on Sunday, June 4 from Noon to 6 PM.
here's the Go Fund Me site:
https://www.gofundme.com/multifaith

Salem, Massachusetts:  What is it that you seek?  Where is it you hope to go?  We are all gathering on Sunday June 4 to be with others who are searching for the answers to such questions.  Maybe you are searching yourself?  Join us!  
God is calling us as one people to come together under his/her umbrella of love.  As Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and others- we shall be ONE people- on Sunday afternoon June 4; make the paths straight to 50 Washington Street in Salem for the Multi-Faith Festival.  What you seek to find is already in your heart, so talk to those whose path is clear, and find out how they found a little part of God inside themselves.  For once you re-connect with God, the connection will last and hold this time.

Skilled musicians of every stripe will provide songs, psalms and hymns from every era.  And at 3 PM, we will all pray in our own tradition, in the language of our ancestors, and call God to walk again among us.  And let the hearts open now to the Love that God wants you to have.  For we've turned and walked away too far, for far too long!  Let us be one in the mystery of God.  The mystery of God's love, the mystery of God's joy, and strength and steadfast power.  Come claim God for yourself, because God has already claimed you!

​Sponsored by Cabot Wealth Management, Crosby's Market, 104.9 FM North Shore, and hundreds of donors through Go Fund Me.

Line up:  Tim Eriksen, Either/Orchestra,  Kharis Chamber Players, The Nour Ensemble, Paulist Center Liturgical Dance, Sacred Harp singing for everyone to try! 

Fantastic concept from the book "Love is Tolerance" by Hubertus Hoffmann
 http://www.loveistolerance.com/tolerance/gods-dna-is-diversity/

God is calling all of his children back together- in the North Shore- to convene a great celebration for God- a festival like no other- get back to your old ways of worship- and put aside your differences.  Whether you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim or another- make the paths straight and become one in the brotherhood and sisterhood of God's Love- Sunday afternoon, June 4 from Noon to 6 PM at 50 Washington Street Salem- Live music will pronounce God's unending joy and mercy unto a people who have been hoping for this for years!  So, put aside your differences, and get to know how God lives and moves with his People.  Make new friendships that will last an eternity, for He is eternally with us!  So, now, make way for all the Goodness from heaven, yea, from the very throne of God- for you will be one in spirit on that day!  Sunday June 4 in Salem, Massachusetts

Through Divine Providence, the Multi-Faith Festival Committee has booked the multi-talented Either/Orchestra- famed eclectic jazz/orchestra 10 piece who are a world class outfit.  They recently unearthed turn of the century Armenian music which was performed for the king of Ethiopia. Whatever they play on June 4, you won't want to miss it!  They're lead by Russ Gershon who wrote me this introduction to the collective soul of the group:

I'm a spiritual person, but not overtly religious, though of Jewish heritage. I see the divine in other people, the things we do to and for one another. My deep love of music has put me in touch with mysteries that I had never imagined, with powers that can not originate in one person but which only flow through individuals from somewhere else.

Specific performances I've witnessed have put me in touch with powers that are bigger than any of us, yet which can only be focused by certain people in the world. In my work I aspire toward achieving that transcendental state, a state in which all of the history of the culture and humanity that I have been fortunate to be part of can come through me and reach other people.

The wonder of my explorations of a wide variety of range of musical cultures - within the US and Latin America and as far away as Ethiopia - lies in the way I have witnessed the universal humanity behind diverse, beautiful, particular musical languages. If one approaches these traditions with love and respect and an open heart, both the people who carry the traditions and the inner logic of the music reveal themselves, across all borders. In the music and life of Nerses Nalbandian (whom I was talking about on the radio) I found another person who seemed to act on similar beliefs. My sense of him has made it worth devoting so much time and energy to bringing his music back to life.

But my beliefs about music and the way that it connects people to each other and to the divine goes beyond the Nalbandian music. I wrote a CD length suite for the Either/Orchestra about this called "The Collected Unconscious," which will be coming out this summer. We have only played it in its entirety once in Boston, in 2012 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, as part of a short tour. A critic in NYC called it "one of the two or three best concerts of the season." It blends jazz, Latin music and Ethiopian music in an organic way that reveals our common humanity - or at least I hope!  
-- Russ Gershon-- 

Everything we crave in our material lives, can be found in our spiritual lives- without any of the nasty side effects. This story by CNN highlights this point. So take time to develop a daily spiritual life.  The rewards never end.  Give thanks daily, give of yourself in service or sacrifice daily, and pray daily. 

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN
Updated 4:39 PM ET, Tue November 29, 2016
Religious thoughts
act like love and drugs 
Story highlights

• Mormons' brains were scanned as they felt spiritual experiences
• The scans showed that these experiences activated reward systems in the brain
• Such experiences not only shape our brains, they can benefit our health, experts say

(CNN)Most Americans, about 89%, say they believe in God, and some have felt God's presence while listening to a sermon or sensed time stand still while they were in deep prayer or meditation.

Now, a new study shows through functional MRI scans that such religious and spiritual experiences can be rewarding to your brain.
They activate the same reward systems between your ears as do feelings of love, being moved by music and even doing drugs, according to the study, which was published in the journal Social Neuroscience on Tuesday."These are areas of the brain that seem like they should be involved in religious and spiritual experience. But yet, religious neuroscience is such a young field -- and there are very few studies -- and ours was the first study that showed activation of the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain that processes reward," said Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, a neuroradiologist at the University of Utah and lead author of the study.
"Billions of people make important decisions in life based on spiritual and religious feelings and experiences. It's one of the most powerful influences on our social behavior," he said. "Yet we know so little about what actually happens in the brain during these experiences. It's just a critical question that needs more study."Mulling over Mormon MRIs
For the study, 19 devout young adult Mormons had their brains scanned in fMRI machines while they completed various tasks.
The tasks included resting for six minutes, watching a six-minute church announcement about membership and financial reports, reading quotations from religious leaders for eight minutes, engaging in prayer for six minutes, reading scripture for eight minutes, and watching videos of religious speeches, renderings of biblical scenes and church member testimonials.

During the tasks, participants were asked to indicate when they were experiencing spiritual feelings.
As the researchers analyzed the fMRI scans taken of the participants, they took a close look at the degree of spiritual feelings each person reported and then which brain regions were simultaneously activated.
The researchers found that certain brain regions consistently lit up when the participants reported spiritual feelings.
The brain regions included the nucleus accumbens, which is associated with reward; frontal attentional, which is associated with focused attention; and ventromedial prefrontal cortical loci, associated with moral reasoning, Anderson said.

Things get really good around the 7:00 minute mark.  This was preached a couple weeks ago at Harvard.