Rev. Kyndra Frazier, LMSW, M.Div (left)
Associate Pastor of Pastoral Care and Counseling/Executive Innovator
First Corinthian Baptist Church/HOPE Center
Humanity continues to grapple with how we make room for the gift of diversity, in light of so many in our society who perceive diversity to be a deficit. Historically, we see persecution of difference from the holy wars of the crusades, Muslim conquests, or Buddhist uprisings in South Vietnam. It is saddening that in contemporary times, we still find ways to persecute each other as a consequence of difference, whether in light of our faith, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status, and this list is not exhaustive.
There is a consciousness of supremacy that has since ancient times, violated humanity’s ability to thrive. This type of consciousness is constantly pushing individuals and communities to create “the other” and see their difference as an insufficiency, while blinding us to the power and healing balm of diversity. The Interfaith Center of New York has found an antidote for what ails the human race, through the Interfaith Civic Leadership Academy (ICLA). I just learned that the program is about to begin its second round, and I urge you to learn more here.
It can be difficult for faith leaders within various institutions to interact with one another given our own organizational responsibilities in service to our particular faith community. ICLA created an opportunity for faith leaders to come together throughout the year to break bread and enhance our own knowledge base and awareness of how we can be more civically engaged to support our communities in being whole. Through ICLA I encountered Sister Soma, Co-Founder of Buddhist Insights, a non-profit organization connecting people to monastics and monastic teaching. We were enlivened by each other’s work and decided to partner together to create Breaking Bread: An Interfaith Meditation Retreat.
I have the gift of serving as one of the Associate Pastors of First Corinthian Baptist Church (FCBC), and the Executive Director of our mental health facility, The HOPE Center (THC), offering free therapeutic services to residents of Harlem who experience barriers to mental health access. THC utilizes mindfulness as one of our therapeutic modalities to support our innovators (those who receive services). I believed a meditation retreat would prove to be fruitful by being engaged with a Buddhist community that they may not have otherwise had an opportunity to engage, as well as having access to meditation, another tool for healing and restoration.
We embarked on our first Breaking Bread retreat in September 2018 and had our second retreat September of this year. These retreats have benefited our communities in meaningful and transformative ways. Participants have an opportunity to speak with monastics they were raised to believe as “the other” and see their difference of belief as a deficit. Buddhist monastics and laity of the sangha are able to walk away with a new lens in which to see Baptists who are aligned with following the carpenter named Jesus, more so then the religious dogma of Christianity. We eat, meditate, pray, honor noble silence, and work together as an opportunity to learn and expand our consciousness. Breaking Bread has now become an annual retreat and we are beyond excited that we will have an opportunity to bring even more persons from our community as Buddhist Insights has found a larger home at the St. Cloud Monastery!
We Baptists and Buddhists will continue to resist what ails humanity and celebrate our differences, which enable us to learn from one another in beautiful and life-giving ways.
ICNY invites you to learn more about the ICLA program by clicking here. To make a general gift in support of our work to serve faith leaders like Rev. Frazier, click here.
