While in Sedona, AZ, last month, on a Sunday morning, I attended the Sedona Interfaith Fellowship worship service at the Sedona Public Library. I had no idea what to expect. And, man, was I blown away by the beauty and intimacy of the service. Susan Perry, the pastor, did an amazing job of ushering me into experiencing God’s loving presence. She acted, in a sense, as a group spiritual director, and she led all 30 of us through a very contemplative service — a service mixed with song, meditation, chanting (like the monks) and silence. Perhaps I’ll post the service elements here on the blog so you get a detailed sense of what I’m talking about.

After the service, I went to lunch with Susan and about 15 members of the fellowship. Needless to say, I had some fascinating conversations about spiritual and emotional development. One sweet woman explained that Sedona seems to be a place where people are forced to face their internal “issues.” And, she said, they either face their issues (and the pain) or they leave Sedona. So I asked her if she’s been facing her issues and, if so, how she’s going about facing her issues. She smiled really big and said she thinks she’ll always be facing her issues (in other words, the transformational journey never ends). She then went on to explain that she went to a Shamanic counselor and did some past-life therapy; there was some deep unforgiveness in her soul that she wasn’t dealing with. She said she’s been healing and experiencing more freedom. “Great,” I said (as the words “past-life therapy” floated in my head). So that’s just a taste of the conversations I had with the group.

The next night I went to Susan’s house for dinner and conversation. (In the photo at left: Anna, Susan, John and I.) Susan’s fabulous; she feels like a kindred spirit; and she’s a really gifted spiritual leader. She told me her story and, eventually, about how she ended up starting and pastoring an interfaith fellowship. She’s a Christian, she has a huge heart for unity, and she loves helping those who have been wounded by religious experiences or communities to experience God’s healing, loving presence.  In fact, here’s the beautiful mission of Sedona Interfaith Fellowship:  To be an opening through which individuals may more deeply experience the presence of God.  To create this opening by drawing upon the wisdom and beauty of the world’s great spiritual traditions.

Susan actually graduated from an interfaith seminary, The New Seminary in New York. The seminary’s slogan is:  “Never instead of, always in addition to …”  She graduated in 1994 and started Sedona Interfaith Fellowship in 1996.

I’ll try to post more on this later.  Meanwhile, you may want to check out my photos of Sedona.

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