15th anniversary of the Interfaith Seminary

The Interfaith Seminary opened in the UK in 1996 under the teaching and spiritual leadership of Rev Miranda Macpherson (then Holden).  Here, three ministers from the early classes describe some of their experiences and memories and Miranda contributes her own reflections from the start of the Seminary.

A January evening in 1995.  The "A Course in Miracles" study group has assembled at the home of Robert and Miranda Holden in Handsworth Wood, Birmingham. I was part of this group from its inception in July 1994.

There had been a gap in the weekly meetings. Robert had been to America to give talks and Miranda was invited to go with him. Over the Bring and Share supper and the rest of the evening we heard how they had gone first to Boston and then reached New York where Robert was to speak at the Interfaith Church on the Sunday before Christmas, and how they had attended the morning service. For them it was a turning point.  Both had found in the service something for which they had been looking all their lives, and it moved them to tears. And there both encountered Interfaith in the ambience of worship based on A Course in Miracles.

At that time the Rev Jon Mundy and the Rev Diane Berke were running the services, and Jon Mundy had been with Rabbi Joseph Gelberman a few years before at the inception of The New Seminary USA for the Training of Interfaith Ministers. This followed the dream and inspiration of Rabbi Joseph from his vision of the Leaders of the Faiths (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna) saying:"Do something to bring us together".

(Miranda Holden, Rabbi Gelberman, Diane Berke)

By February 1995 Miranda followed the call to the interfaith ministry and began her studies with The New Seminary USA by post. In February 1996 she was ordained at the Church of St John the Divine in New York City while Robert's mother and I sat together in Winchester holding her in our prayers. We did not know then that Rabbi Joseph was to ask Miranda to "start Interfaith in Britain". She had much to consider if she did this but after six weeks she felt guided to accept the challenge.By September 1996 the first class for Interfaith training was held in the crypt of St, James Piccadilly. And in August 1998 the first Ordination was held in the church itself in the presence of Rabbi Joseph and Diane Berke, supported by the first year students who had begun their training in the autumn of 1997.

And the rest?  You have the beginning as I remember it, and I was there when it all happened.  Now we need to record the experiences of those who followed the pioneers.

Are you living or are you alive?, by Rita Mitra (1998)

Before the UK Seminary came to be, I was at a ‘Course in Miracles’ gathering. Rev Diane Berke had just given an inspirational Interfaith talk that really moved me. I went up to her at the end of her talk and shared with her how inspired I was and asked  her how I could do what she had just done! She smiled and looked over at a woman and said, ‘See that woman, her name is Miranda Holden and she will be starting the New Interfaith Seminary Training here in the UK. Go and speak to her’.

I went over to introduce myself to Miranda and asked her how I could join the Interfaith Seminary and do the Interfaith Ministers Training. Miranda was a bit taken aback and asked why I had come to her. I told her what Rev Diane Berke had told me. She was shocked! Miranda told me that she had just completed her long distance training  with the New Seminary in New York and was about to go for her Ordination in New York.

She told me that both Rabbi Gelberman and Rev Diane Berke had been encouraging her to open a branch of the New Seminary here in the UK, but she was only ‘thinking’ about it and couldn’t believe that Rev Berke had told me that she was starting the Seminary here.  I told her how interested I was and encouraged her to start. She took down my details and said if she ever did decide to do that, she would contact me. Which of course she eventually did and I am most grateful to Miranda!

The Class of 1998

The other experience I would like to share with you was during our residential retreat at the end of our first year of training. Rabbi Joseph Gelberman facilitated our retreat along with Rev Diane Berke and Rev Miranda Holden. Rabbi Gelberman, with a big smile on his face, and waving an arm in the air, would do a little jig between us and throughout the first day of the retreat  he would ask us, ‘Are you Living or are you Alive?’.  He was not expecting a reply in that moment, but just left us with that question.

On the second day, I remember him posing the question again and asking the people who thought they were ‘Alive’ to stand up. I think most of us did. This has always stayed with me. When he had first asked the question, it took me into a  very deep internal place.  It became clear to me that most of society is just living a mundane existence, living day to day, like the ‘walking dead’, like sheep following the strongest voices, within society.  I realised that I was not just living but  I was awake and  I was Alive! I also realised that I had been called to this path to help others to wake up …to be Alive!

So are you Living or are you Alive?!!

Some kind of torture, by Rev Elaine Walker (2000)

My first day at the interfaith seminary was in the autumn of 1998.  There were 26 of us gathered together in chilly St Mark’s church in Marylebone and by lunch time I had decided that I would not return to this particular training which felt like some form of torture. There were too many people, Miranda was...well...too much. Diane Berke was there that weekend and she was.... well ... too wonderful. Catching the train home that evening I felt overwhelmed. After crying for an hour and eating a whole bar of chocolate, it seemed like the whole thing could be written off to experience.  However, a sure and subtle voice reminded me that this was part of my soul’s calling. Fortunately I kept going with this amazing organisation that continues to grow and evolve in ways beyond my imagining. It’s the journey of a life-time. 

The birth of the Seminary, by Miranda

I was only 26 years of age when I had the calling to bring the seminary into being. It arose as I was integrating the experience of my own ordination, which had really deepened my devotion to God and the awakening process. I could sense there was much work to do spiritually and that I could not do it alone. That there was such a spiritual hunger in the UK at that time - people really yearning for a place to be held and guided in the process of authentic spiritual unfoldment, in a way that helped them grapple with the meaning of life in a contemporary context. I could see that something very new was happening historically and that although the world's great religions contained profound wisdom, much of the way they were taught and practiced was no longer nourishing people in the way that was needed. That collectively we were outgrowing a model of being told what to believe, and were wanting support in discovering a more direct spiritual life - one that could guide us in how to live and meet the challenges of our times. I myself am of that generation of souls - interested in direct realization. It became obvious that I was called to craft a program that would help awaken people to direct connection with the God and our true nature, so that they could serve to facilitate this far and wide in a non-denominational context. It was exciting, vulnerable and bold as hell.   

I have always felt that the Interfaith Seminary is an entity that wanted to be born to give those who could not sign up totally to any one 'ism'. 

Personally, I have always been a synthesist; interested in the depths but unable to contain my own spiritual view to just one approach or ism. I saw that studying the world primary religions was a helpful vehicle to deepen spiritual practice and plough through some of the key ego defenses, and use the inevitable challenges that arise inter-personally as a way to loosen our ego habits and evolve. For me it was never really about the curriculum or what people might do at the end of their training. My focus was always primarily on fanning the flame of spiritual development within each person, and loosening the ego obscurations shrouding it, so that the stream of grace and spiritual nourishment could be shared as far and wide as possible. 

It was a great privilege and often a great challenge to rise to this task. In the beginning there was just so much to do and only two hands to do it. I spent much of the first few years in overwhelm, but somehow it all happened. The first few years of students going through the program were very generous to me in tolerating my mistakes. (If you are reading this now - thank you dear hearts. Forgive me my mistakes!) 

We used to meet for class in the church hall of St James', Picadilly. The pastor there was immensely supportive, and so gave us this space for a very low cost. The down side was that many homeless people hung out there overnight, and so I would have to arrive there very early (driving from Oxford) because the place was filthy and I would have to clean it, before greeting everyone and teaching the day's program. One morning I discovered human excrement on the door-step. As I cleaned it up, scrubbed the floor down in preparation for everyone's arrival, arranged tea, cleaned the bathrooms, set up the space etc, I would be literally sweating from the physical work of it all, and then I would begin to teach the day. Good thing I was physically young at the time! Everthing was flowing from guidance that seemed to come through - like a silver thread unwinding of itself. My job was to keep taking one step and then the next as the guidance unfolded, not really knowing where this would go. I was very much shaped by everyone who came into the program - whether we had an easy or a difficult time, it was all grist for the mill and helped show me where I needed to evolve and how the seminary needed to evolve. Throughout it all, I always knew that something was being birthed into form and that there would come a time when my work was done, and that vehicle would continue......so beautiful that it has.....and we are all part of that. 

Love.......Miranda (PS: please know it would be wonderful to see you at some of the public offerings I am doing in the UK in May - the stream has been continuing and I have so much more to share with you these days). 

www.awakeningwithmiranda.com