Welcome to Inviting Oneness, a podcast where we explore true stories from friends and members of EquaSion, stories where the illusion of separateness gave way to the deeper truth of our shared humanity. Oneness isn't an idea, it's an experience. And today we continue listening for it one story at a time.

Our guest today is Mike Eck. Mike is a brother, husband, father and grandpa. Mike fell off his horse on the road to St. Louis in 2009 and began to leave a high-tech sales career behind. Needing something to do in his retirement, he chose to re-fire into new life experiences. This fork in the road led him to VITALITY Cincinnati, Gorman Heritage Farm, Our Harvest, Edible Ohio Valley, food pantries, gleaning, farms, Green Umbrella and close encounters with hundreds of kindred spirits in the faith community. This path also led Mike to Faith Communities Go Green and leading the Education and Lifestyles team for FCGG.

Along with his wife Denise, Mike attends Christ Church Glendale and St. Simon of Cyrene in Lincoln Heights. Relationships there led Mike to know and be part of ACTS - a coalition of four Episcopal communities, that organizes the Peace Leaders Camp, where middle School aged youth learn conflict resolution and when intervention is appropriate, such as in the cases of bullying. The camp encourages cooperation while having fun in various activities.

At EquaSion, we recently launched a new small-group initiative called Faith & Friendship Groups. Throughout the summer, interfaith groups will gather around a range of themes and practices, including Having Difficult Conversations, Prayer, Belong Dinners, Faith Communities in Solidarity with Immigrants, and Sacred Connections, our Religious 101 group that visits different places of worship across the Greater Cincinnati region.

The poem you’ll hear today is called Peace Puzzle and it was written by Mike Eck. It will open all fifth Faith & Friendship Groups this week and next. After sharing the poem, Mike responds to this connecting question: Where is your religious or spiritual tradition inviting you to grow right now?

As you listen, we invite you to reflect on that question for yourself.

If today’s story moved you and you’d like to get involved visit us at equasion.org.

Until next time, may we keep inviting oneness—within ourselves, and with one another.