Interfaith Compassion: Closing Celebration

December 21, 2025 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM (detecting timezone...)

Virtual

Event has concluded

About This Event

For the last 21 days, people from dozens of countries have gathered to deep-dive into interfaith practices of compassion. Every day featured a unique faith tradition — with "hands" practices, "head" insights from scripture, and "heart" music and art. We've stretched into Sufi zikr and Buddhist metta, Sikh seva and Indigenous ceremony, Franciscan simplicity and Jewish tikkun olam. Thousands of reflections later, we discovered what we suspected all along: beneath our different names for the sacred runs a single river of compassion.

This Sunday, we gather one last time — not to close a chapter, but to ask: Now what?

We've downloaded 21 practices. But what does it mean to upload presence into our lives? When the challenge ends and Monday arrives, how do these seeds take root?

We'd love to have you join this closing call — broaden our circle, and help carry these ripples forward. Please RSVP below.

We're honored to be joined by some remarkable voices:

  • Fawzia Al-Rawi — Born in Baghdad, initiated into Sufi wisdom by her grandmother, Fawzia has spent 25 years building bridges between cultures from her House of Peace in Vienna. Through whirling, zikr, and the Divine Names, she opens a space where traditions don't collide but dance.
  • Cortland Dahl, PhD — From years of solitary retreat in Himalayan caves under revered Tibetan masters to earning the first-ever Ph.D. in Mind, Brain, and Contemplative Science, Cort bridges ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience. What happens in our minds when compassion practices from different traditions land in the same heart?
  • Grace Dammann, MD — A physician who signed over 1,200 death certificates in San Francisco's AIDS ward, Grace's life was transformed when a devastating car accident on the Golden Gate Bridge left her with 17 broken bones and 48 days in a coma. Her brain injury became an unexpected doorway to profound presence. Now directing a meditation-based pain clinic from her wheelchair, she embodies her own teaching: "You can't control what happens, but you can control how you behave in response."

Weaving through our time together: poetry from Chelan Harkin, who once sat in Baha'u'llah's cell and heard the words "Let us dance" — alongside some sacred invocations by Bijan Khazai. Holding it all: Rev. Charles Gibbs, founding director of the United Religions Initiative and a lifelong pilgrim at the intersection of traditions.

This is a public call — so feel free to share with friends who might be curious about what happens when faith becomes bridge instead of a fortress.

To join us, click RSVP below and you'll receive call details by email. If timezone conflicts make it hard to attend live, RSVP anyway to receive the recording.

Thank you for practicing with us — and for the courage to let 21 traditions stretch your heart.

Video Clips

Interfaith Compassion: Closing Celebration

Charles Gibbs: 21 Days

Charles Gibbs: 21 Days

00:03:03

Bijan Khazai: A Persian Poem

Bijan Khazai: A Persian Poem

00:07:04

Fawzia Al-Rawi: Faith As Bridge

Fawzia Al-Rawi: Faith As Bridge

00:22:42

Victoria: Reflections On The Pod

Victoria: Reflections On The Pod

00:02:56

Ray Kauffmann: Reflections On The Pod

Ray Kauffmann: Reflections On The Pod

00:04:29

Chelan Harkin: Two Poems

Chelan Harkin: Two Poems

00:07:30

Cortland Dahl: Neuroscience Of Love

Cortland Dahl: Neuroscience Of Love

00:13:48

Grace Damman: An Intro

Grace Damman: An Intro

04:14

A physician who served AIDS patients for decades faces a tragic head-on collision and 48 days in coma.

Grace Dammann: Thriving

Grace Dammann: Thriving

00:08:02

Charles Gibbs: Let Us Dance

Charles Gibbs: Let Us Dance

00:03:01

Sing Gently As One

Sing Gently As One

3:20

By Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir