There are a number of parishes which observe Passover seders, a practice which ought to be discouraged for the same reasons mentioned here.

This is a total overreaction by the bishop IMO. Praying certain ways from other traditions does not have anything to do with becoming a member of that faith group. Could it be because this country is all hyper about anything Islam?

My church had a two-week coffee hour segment on Islam and how we as Christians can find love and strong traditions between our two faiths.
My mother's Catholic church holds a yearly Seder meal at Passover, a Jewish tradition.
I myself prefer to pray in the Muslim fashion when alone, as I feel prostration is better suited to my personal relationship with God.

Ramadan and Lent both focus on sacrifice, repentance, and a growing close to God. Why NOT learn more about how Muslims spiritually cleanse themselves for God, and incorporate that which helps us (on an individual basis) in our own relationship with God?

That bishop needs to cool down, A LOT. There are sacred traditions in religions all over the world we can use to enrich our lives, our understanding, and our connection with God, without denying our salvation by Christ. Talk about an overreaction! Bishop Smith needs to loosen his robes a bit, they're restricting that loving open heart Christ tells us to have!

Probably still shvitzing about that priest in Washington (state)(I think) who declared she was both a Muslim and a Christian and the Bishop-elect who got into trouble for his Buddhist practices. Bishops, like general, are always preparing to fight the last war.

I think Bishop Smith has both missed the point and grossly over-reacted. Fr. Lawler's idea and plan has real merit.

Reading the whole article (linked to above), and the bishop's seems even more reactionary and perverse.

Fr. Lawler makes it clear he is NOT becoming a Muslim---but nor is he "pretending" (bishop's term) to be Muslim, either.

Lawler has thought about this carefully, and has eminent sources:

he hoped to test a concept that has been attributed to Mahatma Gandhi and is discussed in John Dunne's book, "The Way of All the Earth." According to the book, it involves passing over "into another religion, which is followed by an equal and opposite process of coming back with new insight to one's own culture or religion."

"I could have sat down and read scholarly literature on Islam, but that's still stepping back from it rather than encountering it," he said, over a cup of tea in the office of St. Stephen's Church. "You can think about doing something, but once you do it, you really reflect on it."

[Disclosure: in studying ecumenism, John Dunne's book (see above) and concept of "Passing Over/Coming Back" had a huge influence on me, too.]

Harry, I think you got it exactly. The bishop was REACTING to *other persons/incidents*, not giving his own priest the benefit of the doubt---or even a private conversation! :-0

Shameful. There may be grounds for a deposition here alright---but it's not of Fr Lawler!

JC Fisher

He issued a press release to announce what he was doing and why. To me, that's peculiar. Is a lesson here, do your praying in secret?

The bishop did overreact. I give the priest kudos for taking it well and seeing an upside.

Why is there any need to mimic Islam, when fasting and praying with prostrations are already part of Christianity, even if practice of them is neglected by some Christians? In fact, Lent is the season when this prayer credited to Saint Ephraim the Syrian, with prostrations, makes its way into the prayer life of Eastern Christians on weekdays:

Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of laziness, meddling, lust for power and idle chatter.

(Prostration)

Instead, give me, your servant, the spirit of prudence, humility, patience and love.

(Prostration)

Yes, Lord and King! Let me see my own faults and not judge others, for you are blessed for ages and ages. Amen.

(Prostration)

There's nothing specifically Muslim about fasting or prostrations. Christians were doing both before Islam appeared on the scene. Many still do.

I don't think the bishop is over-reacting at all. The Christian tradition is rich with a variety of practices of prayer, meditation, fasting, and other disciplines. I suggest that Steve look more deeply into these and encourage his parishioners to do likewise. We Christians have only skimmed the surface of our own tradition and writings and disciplines. To take on the disciplines of another faith is to ignore the richness of our own. For a spiritual leader, especially, I think this is probably not one of the better ideas I've heard for modeling a Christian life. I suspect there are other ways Steve could have more deeply engaged with the Muslims in his community to learn more about them. I have to wonder if the imam in the article who thought this was so wonderful would consider taking on Christian traditions and rituals during Ramadan. And what would his own community think? This reminds me of those Christians who have so much respect for Jews or Muslims or even Mormons because of their "way of life," and seem to forget that their own faith and faith traditions were originally called "The Way." Perhaps a little more insight and commitment to our own rituals and traditions before we even start to consider practicing someone else's? (BTW, I don't think Christians should be attempting seders either. There are other ways to honor and acknowledge Maundy Thursday without trying to imitate our Jewish brethren and sistren.)

Whether or not one thinks his Lenten practice is a "good idea," I would hope that we could agree that deposing the priest and/or threatening to do so is an overreaction.

Getting to know more about Islam is obviously good and trying to enter a bit into the Islamic life flow with that goal is not bad. But, at the same time, I remember my complaint from the old days about people haring off to Asiatics for spirituality and the adopting the most superficial aspects of the culture from which the spirituality arose (turmeric-dyed sheets, vegetarian lunches). Of course, I also complained about their ignoring their home-grown spiritualities of roughly the same content. I don't know how superficial Fr. Lawler was going to be (it sounds a bit deeper than the old days) and his goal is clearly not to get absorbed into the exotic at the cost of what he has to hand. But I do think he was ill-advised to undertake this path -- and especially to publicize it (Dio. MO has a history of not noticing what isn't announced: same-sex blessings since the early 80s, for example).

There's no reason for this to get to the point of deposition. Sounds like The Bishop and The Priest need to talk directly to one another rather than through the media...

I am with Liz on this one. While I would have preferred that Bishop Smith and the Reverend Lawler had kept their discussions private, Bishop Smith properly exercised the authority of his office. Last time I heard, presbyters exercise a delegated ministry from the bishop.

While it is admirable to want to better understand other faith traditions, I cannot imagine why a Christian, much less a member of the clergy, would feel the need to practice the discipline of another faith. Like many Christians I have attended Seders as a guest of Jewish friends but I would never think of presiding at one.

Terry Pannell+
St Mary of the Harbor

We're receiving a number of comments on this post at our FB page, too:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-episcopal-cafe/priest-told-not-to-use-islamic-prayer-ritual-for-lent/10150418287430290

Oh, Somebody Else's spirituality ALWAYS looks like "haring off to Asiatics" or "adopting the most superficial aspects of the culture" [in the same way that an unfamiliar person speaks an unfamiliar language in the general direction of an object, and Christians (esp. Protestants) shout "Idolatry!"]

The judging of Fr Lawler is what is most distressing here (by his bishop, and on this thread). Since there is NO question of him "leading his flock astray", all I can see are Christians judging another Christian saying "You're doing it Wrong."

I feel certain we Christians were told "Judge not" (and later not to "make windows into souls"), yet I see that happening willy-nilly.

Yes, there 100% simon pure Christian spiritual and devotional practices...and I feel pretty sure none of them involve looking down at another Christian (or human for that matter!) going "Tsk, tsk!"

JC Fisher

Sorry, JC, but we must have expectations of one another. Episcopalianism is not a tradition of "anything goes," even though some might think it is. I'm pretty open to a lot of practices in our own faith tradition, but I do think that someone who is charged with the care of souls, like a rector, is always a leader of his flock so the rector's behavior and preaching are always open for critique. ESPECIALLY by the bishop to whom one is accountable. We are not congregationalists.

"Judge not" is not an absolute. We are accountable to one another as followers of Jesus Christ. I suggest that characterizing the comments on this thread or anyplace on Episcopal Cafe as willy-nilly is a most unfortunate judgement and dismissal in itself and does little to further the discussion. IMNSHO This could actually be a very good discussion about XNs (especially parish priests) who find it necessary or desireable to take on the practices of other faith traditions -- for whatever reasons.

I really don't get the point of the Bishop's hysteria on this matter. I hardly see how adopting Islamic prayer forms could be seen as disrespectful. In music, we often say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.
I believe that we might honestly take a good look at Islamic religious practice as it may put us in touch with practices from Christianity that we have lost. The prostrations, fixed time of day prayer, the "orientation" of prostration are all practices that Islam adopted/modified from our Eastern Christian heritage. For a Western Christian to "touch" the practice of Islam could be one small way of saying that, in a time of extreme division, we should look for commonality.
The forbidding of his practice is just the "polite prayerbook" way of bible waving and pulpit thumping that we claim to deplore in so many Evangelical settings. It is just religious xenophobia. Perhaps we should be putting our priests on continuous cameras to make sure that the prayerbook offices are being said as the rubrics direct and be sure to depose anyone who is not doing prayerbook practice.
I fail to see how placing a high value on our "homegrown" practice entails setting up boundaries to the religious practices of other faith traditions. It's the same fallacious argument that lies at the base of such foolishness as those who criticize overseas relief efforts in the name of "there are so many people here who are in need."
As for fasting, I had honestly been thinking (spontaneously) how the Islamic implementation of religious fasting might really work better in our modern Western setting than our own "traditional" way of doing it. In fact, I made my Ash Wednesday fast on an Islamic model (making sure, however, in Arizona to be sure to have plenty of water--I am a physician and must "practice what I preach," of course) this year and found it one of the "best" fast experiences that I ever had. The ugliest aspects of the Northern Michigan mess seem to be making a reappearance here, I fear. Our own Cathedral in AZ has non-prayerbook religious practices going on RIGHT IN THE BUILDING! We have centering prayer (uh oh, scary Buddhist stuff), Yoga and even an occasional Taize liturgy, ALL not official prayerbook liturgies! Should we call the liturgical police and conduct a Joe Arpaio style raid and root out these horrible practices? Please....