Who Is Ameera Bandy? At Grosse Pointe Unitarian, We All Know the Answer to that Question

Each week, our order of service reads like a spiritual detective story. Where do these inspirations come from? How do sacred words find their way into the pulpit, and through whose hands? I spent a few moments up in the pulpit with Carol Guither, worship associate and our gentle yoga guru. Guither had carefully scripted every word for last Sunday’s service. I wanted to make sure I was locked in on Guither’s reading for the chalice lighting. Jon Noble, head of adult religious education and worship leader, lit the chalice to Rumi’s words.
A good version of Rumi’s meditation comes from Coleman Barks “The Essential Rumi”. Often, scholars refer to Rumi’s poem as “A Great Wagon” or “Don’t Go Back to Sleep”. The version read by Guither closely matched the text translated by Barks:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language—even the phrase each other--
doesn’t make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

These words echo throughout our city, a city that rapidly grows closer and closer to the Middle East, heart of the Arabic world. Adnan Charara, gallerist of Gallerie Camille in Midtown, has painted the following words by the doorway to the gallery:
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When we light the chalice, we illuminate near and far.
​
In a perfect world, we could save those worship associate scripts the way fans save set lists from cherished concerts.
To paint the wall with Rumi’s words stands as a brave and compassionate act. Charara came to America as a refugee, establishing a lively studio and gallery in the building that houses La Feria Detroit and Cata Vino Detroit. Sadly, my friend has looked pensive the last few times that I visited the gallery. Friends know that Charara’s family in Lebanon has suffered
​deeply as the conflicts proceed in the region.

Let us turn to the mystery of next week’s service. I was put on the chase by a Facebook post from Ameera Bandy. Bandy has taken to the air waves as a host on newly established Passenger Recovery Radio. Twice a month, Bandy produces “Who’s Listening Anyways” for the online radio channel.
Who’s listening? Ameera, you have our full attention.
Who is Ameera? It’s more than a question. It’s the title of Bandy’s web page.
How well do we know our church administrative lead? Bandy is totally redefining the role of “church secretary”. Bandy leads the effort to produce the Corktown Music Festival. Who knew?
It gets better.
Sunday afternoon, reflecting upon the service at Starbucks in The Village, Downtown Grosse Pointe, I looked at the credentials for next Sunday’s guest in our pulpit. Bryan Wolf comes to our pulpit as a first order musician. Yet, Wolf’s role as director of programming at Passenger Recovery in Hamtramck piqued my attention more. Passenger Recovery occupies the former convent of Saint Ladislaus in Hamtramck. The church is up for sale. The parochial school now functions as a charter school.
Performers at The Majestic all the way up to Little Caesars Arena often need a green room where talent can wait for their curtain call in a drug and alcohol free environment. Passenger Recovery provides that haven. The recovery centered program is open to all, even people outside the industry. The Passenger part comes from the Iggy Pop anthem “The Passenger”.
Harry Houdini would have been safer while awaiting the curtain at the Majestic if Passenger Recovery had existed October 1926.
I immediately put out a message to Jimmy Doom, sober punk rocker teaching Keyboard Catharsis right then at Passenger Recovery that afternoon. Keyboard Catharsis is Doom’s writing method that has empowered the writer to publish far, far more than one thousand stories on Substack on a daily cadence. I took a session earlier this year, a total unlock for my muse.
“Oh hello yes I know Bryan. He's about 40 feet from me right now. Stellar individual.”
When we light the chalice, we illuminate near and far.
Coming to service next Sunday? Bring a passenger.
Two Passengers ... Bryan Wolf & Ameera Bandy
-- at Passenger Radio WHCK.

---