Hearing the Call Across Tradition: Readings on Faith and Service Book

Preface: The Heavens Of Faith, The Harlem Of Life Eboo Patel ix

Editors' Introduction 1

Part I Why Do I Serve? 9

The Drum Major Instinct Martin Luther King Jr 13

Why the Buddha Had Good Digestion, from Avad&abar;naśataka 25

In Praise of Generosity, from the Rig Veda 30

Solidarity, Reciprocity, and Sanctity, three selections from Who Is Man? Abraham Joshua Heschel 32

A Handful of Dates, in The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories Tayeb Salih 37

The Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements, in Twenty Years at Hull-House Jane Addams 42

Action and Non-Action Chuang-Tzu 51

Isaiah 58:2-12 53

Three Poems Shih Te 55

Luke 10:25-37 57

Miserliness, from Purification of the Heart Hamza Yusuf 59

The River, in A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Flannery O'Connor 65

Compassion, from The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings Dalai Lama 83

The Joy of Giving Joy, from On the Genealogy of Morality Friedrich Nietzsche 92

Selfless Service, from the Bhagavad Gita 95

Surahs 93 and 107, from the Qur'an 100

Church, in The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 102

Section 50, from Gitanjali: Song Offerings Rabindranath Tagore 106

Between Harold M. Schulweis 107

The Base of All Metaphysics, in Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman 109

Part II Whom Do I Serve? 111

A Good Traveler Has No Fixed Plans, in the Tao Te Ching Lao-Tzu 115

The Faces of Poverty, in Loaves and Fishes Dorothy Day 117

The Difference Between Hafiz 121

The Man to Send Rain Clouds Leslie Marmon Silko 126

If Not Higher I.L. Peretz 131

The Same Inside, in Talking to My Body Anna Swir 135

The Problem of Old Harjo John Oskison 137

Meditation on Compassion and NotTwo, from Peace Is Every Step Thich Nhat Hanh 145

The Legend of the Lowly Devotee, in The Tiruva&ccidle;agam 149

Ruth 1-4:22 153

The Mexican-American and the Church Cesar Chavez 160

The Walk, from Leaving Yuba City Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni 165

The Shopping-Bag Lady, in Alma Linda Gregg 168

The Camel Driver and the Adder Bidpai 170

A Rich Young Man on the Road, from Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis Valerie Martin 173

Say Yes Quickly Rumi 183

His Grace Mikhail Naimy 185

Part III How Do I Serve? 193

God's Grandeur Gerard Manley Hopkins 196

The Secret of Work, in The Complete Works, I:3 Swami Vivekananda 197

Reb Yozifl and the Contractor, in Inside Kasrilevke Sholom Aleichem 206

First Days of Spring Ryokan 214

Sitting with the Dead, in A Bit on the Side William Trevor 216

Mercy: The Stamp of Creation Umar Faruq ABD-Allah 228

Yajna, Welfare, and Service, from a letter to Narandas Gandhi, October 28, 1930 Mahatma Gandhi 238

Reflections on Gandhi, from the Partisan Review George Orwell 241

Levels of Giving, in Mishneh Torah Maimonides 243

The Buddha's Last Instruction, in House of Light Mary Oliver 245

North Light-A Recollection in the Present Tense, in Ellis Island and Other Stories Mark Helprin 247

Come Out and Give Something Rumi 252

The Pure in Heart, in Revelation Peggy Payne 254

The House Gabriela Mistral 275

Proclamation of a National Fast-Day Abraham Lincoln 277

The Yogi Dyes His Garments Kabir 279

Why I Make Sam Go to Church, from Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith Anne Lamott 280

Appendix I Toward Action: The Interfaith Youth Core Model for Interfaith Reflection and Service 285

Appendix II Questions for Discussion 302

Appendix III Guide to Readings by Faith Tradition and Genre 328

About the Supporting Organizations 332

Permissions 334