Shem is an Aramaic word expressing the Divine radiance and splendor in all of creation.
SHEM Center for Interfaith Spirituality offers the sojourners of all spiritual paths and faith traditions, as well as those who claim none, a sacred space where all are respectfully welcomed to encounter the wisdom found in the sacred traditions of the peoples of the world.
Join the Shem Center Board of Trustees
The Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality is currently recruiting to increase the capability and diversity of the Board of Trustees. Would you consider joining the Board and devoting 3 to 4 hours a month?
Seeking:
- The Treasurer
- Trustee at Large
Reflections From Shem Center
What might you discover when words fall away?
A few years ago, I was asked to speak about meditation at a weekend camp for young Christians. Most of the activities were held in a large barn, a stone’s throw from the massed tents. I wasn’t surprised when I was allocated a late afternoon slot in a small medieval church a few hundred meters from the main site. I knew that the ancient way of silent prayer I’d be speaking about would be unknown to almost everyone there. I would have been pleased with ten people coming along.
On Our Relationship to Non-Christian Religions
The Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate called for interreligious dialogue. Similarly, the Avala Dominican General Chapter states, “We can no longer consider interreligious dialogue an optional extra. . .” Taking our place with the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam offers us an opportunity to be respectfully present to each other in dialogue. Having been mentored by Islamic Sufi teachers and with the accompaniment of skilled musicians I have had the opportunity to offer retreatants the sacred chant and dance movement done within a circle of prayer.
The Way of the Early Church
Father Richard Rohr turns to the apostle Paul’s advice to the first churches to envision church renewal today:
Prior to the imperial edicts in the fourth-century that pushed Christians to the top and the center of the Roman Empire, the church was still countercultural and non-imperial—a social movement for the reign of God. In a two-hundred-year period, Christians went from being complete outsiders to directing the inside! Christianity increasingly accepted, and even defended, the dominant social order, especially concerning war, money, and authority.
Illinois Governor, JB Pritzker – The Forces That Assault Us
This speech from our Illinois Governor, JB Pritzker came on my car radio recently while I was driving. Realizing that he was saying something of significance not only to Illinois citizens but to the rest of the country, I parked the car on a side street to listen with greater attention. I found his well crafted speech delivered with a sense of urgency and conviction and had a message for the whole country. I place it here inviting you to take time to hear it or to read some of it here. I hasten to add that it holds a message that is about right and wrong, good and evil, survival and not surviving. Please take the time to consider and act on his words however you may choose to do so.
May our country survive the forces that assault us.
— Joseph Kilikevice
Shem Center Director Emeritus
Fighting Despair with Understanding
People may stop caring for the world when they feel that their caring goes nowhere. The good news is that the mounting of international pressure on the Israeli government has obtained some results, such as the allowing of humanitarian aid into Gaza. But what happens when our actions are not met with success and remain — as some would say — “merely symbolic”?
Letter of Humanity to Welcome Brother Leo
Dear brother Leo, welcome! You are one of us, a man in flesh and blood so you are entitled to a warm welcome. Just as on the day your mother gave you to the world, and today again because of the task to you entrusted. It must be indeed like a second or third birth to you.
The Prophetic Jewish, Interfaith & Secular Voice to Heal and Transform the World
Tikkun uplifts Jewish, interfaith, and secular prophetic voices of hope that contribute to universal liberation. A catalyst for long-term social change Tikkun empowers people and communities to heal the world by embracing revolutionary love, compassion, and empathy. Tikkun promotes a caring society that protects the life support system of the planet and celebrates the Earth and the universe with awe and radical amazement.
A Moonlight Speech, October 11, 1962
Sixty years ago, the first night of the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII came out on a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square and gave his impromptu remarks now called "the moonlight speech.” I remember it well, making its way into the world via the news media.
A Challenge Grant to Shem Center
Once again The Wolcott/Ebbeler Foundation, our supportive friends of many years, is offering you a way to have your donations to Shem Center increase by way of their matching gift.
Shem Center Programs
Shem Center offers experiences of the prayer, meditation, rituals, and the wisdom of the peoples of the world. In doing so, each takes a place at the table with others whose spiritual tradition may be similar to or different from one’s own.
Martin Luther King Jr.
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (1929-1968)
An Interfaith Greeting of Peace
SHALOM - SHLAMA - SALAAM
These three words in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic are used in turn as greetings of peace by Jews, Christians and Muslims, the followers of the three Abrahamic religions.
Inter-Spirituality
Recognizing that the Divine Reality is not limited to any one expression of our journey with God, Shem Center takes its place with many others committed to the task of bringing peace into the world through understanding, respect and friendship.
News
Bob Sima Music — Healing Hearts through Healing Arts
Bob Sima (pronounced sEYE-ma) is to music what Wayne Dyer, Don Miguel Ruiz, and Eckhart Tolle are to books and Rumi, Hafiz, and David Whyte are to poetry. He is an award-winning singer-songwriter, spiritual teacher, and musical mystic who has been called Eckhart Tolle with a guitar. With no musical training, he has creatively channeled award winning albums and built a national following. The music that comes through him will vibrate with your spirit exactly where you are.
He is a troubadour, a way-shower, a guide, an awakener, and a musical mystic through the medium of melody. His music bridges daily life and soul consciousness, the eternal with the now through instantly accessible songs that take up residence and resonance in your soul.
Letter From Ukraine, November 13, 2023
When I wrote my previous letter from Ukraine at the beginning of August, no one expected that the world would soon be watching with surprise and pain the events of another war. This time, war in the territory of the state of Israel in the Gaza Strip. The media bore the information about thousands of dead and wounded civilians, including women and children, along with the drama of kidnapped hostages. The horror of the military conflict is repeating itself before our eyes in such a short amount of time. The war in Ukraine that’s been dragging on month after month is no longer an interesting subject for many around the world, and news from the Dnipro River rarely appears on the front pages of the world’s media. Even in Ukraine you can pick up on a certain level of exhaustion, sometimes accompanied by irritation and anger. But despite 627 long days of war drama, I still cannot detect any attitude of resignation, apathy, or surrender — maybe because we’re all aware that the stakes in this war are very high, and its conclusion will shape the future of the Ukrainian nation.
Fr. Brian John Zuelke, O.P. combines sacred texts and popular music in ÆTERNUM
ÆTERNUM is a nomadic experimental music project organized by Fr. Brian John Zuelke, O.P., a Dominican priest friar of the Province of St. Albert the Great. With a Minnesota-grown group of musicians, ÆTERNUM hopes to slowly build up a collection of excellent mash-ups between sacred texts and popular music forms.
ÆTERNUM began as a nagging dream of Fr. Brian’s while in formation to be a religious priest in Saint Louis, MO. Ideas would come to his mind overlaying sounds of his past love of loud, beautiful rock music with his later love of the sacred music traditions of medieval Christianity. But what to do about it?
Welcome to Shem Center. Contact Us!
Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality
708 North Harvey Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60302
(708) 427-9905
shemcenter1993@gmail.com
Photo Credits: Emory Mead, Stephen B. Starr, Joseph Kilikevice
The Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality website is awarded a 2022 American Digital Design Award for excellence in design and user experience.
