Brookline Interfaith Clergy Association

Rev. Richard Burden of All Saints' Parish in Brookline MA delivered this beautiful message at the annual Brookline Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, November 24, 2024. "Come with me in the WABAC Machine…back to May of 1980. That’s when the volcano in Washington State, the one the native tribes called “the Smoker” (because it was often venting steam) finally exploded sending a column of smoke and ash 80,000 feet into the air. The heat was so intense that glaciers which had been on the mountain for centuries melted in an instant and became massive mudslides that flattened everything within 230 square miles. Thousands of large mammals, millions of fish and aquatic life were wiped out. Remarkably only 57 humans died, but homes, highways, railways…everything within hundreds of miles…was gone…reduced to an absolute wasteland.. If you remember the eruption of Mount Saint Helens, or if you’ve seen pictures of the devastation, you would be sure that the are...

Message from the Brookline Interfaith Clergy Association October 26, 2023 Click here to download a PDF of this document. We, members of the Brookline Interfaith Clergy Association, stand together in this time of sorrow and pain. We are a group of Jews, Muslims, Christians and Unitarian Universalists representing over 15 faith communities in Brookline, who have found strength in coming together for many years, building fellowship and friendship among ourselves and members of our different faiths, and providing religious leadership in Brookline, based on compassion and meaning. We and our communities have responded to the terrible events occurring in Israel and Gaza, and to Israelis and Palestinians, in different ways, with anguish, fear, frustration and anger. There are differences in the ways we and the members of our communities see and understand what is happening in the Middle East, and still, in all this difficulty, we stand together rejecting antisemit...

Video Worship for Thanksgiving 2020 from members of the Brookline Interfaith Clergy Association "Gratitude has to be at the center of our spiritual lives."

Standing Up for Racial Justice June 5, 2020 As people of faith, we are outraged, horrified, and deeply saddened by the murder of George Floyd, yet another African-American man, who was the victim of brutality at the hands of those who are called to “protect and serve.” We stand with the tens of thousands of peaceful American protesters expressing pain, anguish and anger in these last days, demanding that justice be served, that police brutality against people of color be ended, and that racial discrimination in our country be no more. We say: “Enough is enough.” For many of us, outrage and frustration is not only our response to the Minneapolis murder and other recent incidents; it is also a re-awakening of rage against the institutional racism that is the “original sin” of American society, and manifests itself in so many ways, including longstanding violence against black people; historical poverty and blight in the African-American community; a corrupt system of mass incarcerat...

A Statement from the Brookline Clergy Association on the State of Political Discourse . The separation of church and state is an important value in American society. For this reason, religious leaders and institutions generally avoid becoming embroiled in solely political matters. When, however, the political conversation moves beyond the confines of what is civil into open hostility, then it is becomes necessary and urgent for religious leaders to respond. There is a worrying trend this election year. Political speech has become increasingly intolerant and even in some cases marked by calls for violence. Racism, bigotry, misogyny, and religious prejudice should not become common currency in U.S. politics. Many Americans are expressing dissatisfaction with government. But a desire to see change must not become an excuse for intolerance, for blaming immigrants or religious minorities for the nation’s problems. Moving beyond political correctness should never mean leaving behind com...