Calendar of Light 2023

Last updated on: December 2, 2023 at 11:05 am by Rev. Dr. Margaret Somerville

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Calendar of Light 2023 2023-12-02T11:05:07-05:00 Rev. Dr. Margaret Somerville

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Join people around the world who are centering their day in a practice of peace.
Alignment’s Calendar of Light opens with a month of daily spiritual practices for seeking peace. (image from Alignment: Interfaith Contemplative Practices)

As we engage in the ongoing work of seeking peace in a world ravaged by war, pain, and loss,
we look to the wisdom of our world’s traditions. The Calendar of Light is a collaboration in which all traditions are honored, all prayers uplifted, in the hope that this will pave the path to greater peace among all the peoples and nations of this world. And in finding this intersection, there may we find the road to justice.

A new door opens each day of the month of December. Each door holds a five-minute practice. Some days reveal a poem for reflection, a chant or a prayer, a dance or a song, a work of art or a text on which to meditate. Every day is an offering from someone, somewhere in the world, who is sitting as you are, longing for peace during these times of darkness and pain. These messages come from imams and rabbis, from poets and artists, from musicians and prayer leaders. You will find doors that represent Muslim, Jewish, Baha’i, Hindu, Indigenous, Buddhist, Pagan, Wiccan, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Taoist, and Christian traditions. Some represent a spiritual path without affiliation to a tradition. Some offer a purely interfaith message. Among the traditions you will find different denominations and nations. Reformed, Conservative, and Reconstructing. Sunni and Sufi. Cherokee, Pueblo, and Anishinaabe. Maronite, Quaker, and Presbyterian.

Calendar of Light: Day 1

The Calendar opens with a poem by Rev. Barbara Chaapel entitled, Illuminations. In a witness to the pain that is held across the world, Chaapel’s vivid imagery leads participants from a world “roiled with wars, clouded with accumulated sorrows that fall like salt rain as heaven’s tears” to the light found in the sacred ordinary that surrounds us. Her voice, gripped by the weight of sorrow, holds listeners in a gentle embrace as she moves from the bioluminescence of the night sky to a dawn in which

Nature lights the way,
each tiny flare a prayer prayed for the world,
piercing the heart.

A Message of Compassion

Day 2 of the calendar brings a message from Imam Jamal Rahman, well known for his work with the Interfaith Amigos. With Pastor Don Mackenzie and Rabbi Ted Falcon, their TED Talks and presentations in a post 9/11 world led the way for interfaith dialogue and engagement. Imam Rahman, originally from Bangladesh and now working in Seattle at the Interfaith Community Sanctuary, seeks opportunities to connect with people heart-to-heart, upholding the richness of the differences we all bring, while seeking to dissolve prejudices. He brings a beautiful awareness that the intention of interfaith engagement is not to diffuse any one tradition, but rather to strengthen our own faith by building connections to those of others faiths. His message for the Calendar of Light uses the metaphor of water to illustrate the life-affirming qualities of compassion.

Day by day, a new door will open to a new treasure, a new practice of peace. Perhaps some of the traditions represented will feel familiar to you, and perhaps some will feel different, unsettling even. If we can begin here, to learn to embrace the offerings of other traditions, to find connection, even to incorporate the practices of another path into our own, then surely, surely, we can begin the work of finding peace among all peoples of the world. We just need to begin day by day, door by door, until all doors are open, especially the one to our own heart.

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If you would like to host the Calendar of Light on your community’s website, contact Alignment for the details. This is a free resource.
Also explore the Week of Prayer for World Peace for more interfaith prayers for peace.

Religious Events

Interfaith Contemplative Practices

Spiritual Practices

Prayers for Peace

About Margaret Somerville

Rev. Margaret Somerville is a Quaker educator and a Presbyterian minister. The focus of her work in education is the way language shapes how we see ourselves in the world. The focus of her ministry is embracing the practices of a variety of traditions to deepen our connection to the divine. Director of Alignment: Interfaith Contemplative Practices, retreat leader, and associate member of the Iona Community. Find out more about Margaret's work at www.interfaithalignment.org. You can read more about the author here.

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