This October trip to Israel and Palestine in a group  will be led by Cyprian, Lori Rivera, Paula Marcus and Dave Grishaw-Jones, the senior minister at Santa Cruz's First Congregational Church. Lori Rivera is a practicing Sufi. The Rev. Cyprian Consiglio is a monk and Catholic priest. Paula Marcus is a rabbi at Temple Beth El in Aptos.

This article is from the Santa Cruz Sentinel about a recent concert given to promote the new CD: The Ground We Share and also to raise money to support this bridge building trip:

"Although they each come from a different spiritual background, they are all performers. Tonight, the three explore their other commonalities in a concert titled "The Ground We Share."

The concert is a celebration of a new CD release by Consiglio and Rivera, also called "The Ground We Share," a collection of originals and covers designed to illustrate how different religious viewpoints can come together for common convictions.

It is also a benefit for an October trip to Israel and Palestine in a group led by all three performers and Dave Grishaw-Jones, the senior minister at Santa Cruz's First Congregational Church, the site of tonight's concert.

"This is something everybody can enjoy," said Rivera, a Santa Cruz singer and actor most recently known for her cabaret-style performances in Joseph Ortiz's "Smoke." "Even for people who consider themselves of a spiritual bent, but not necessarily religious, this is really about seeing where we all meet in the middle."

The show also kicks off a "Week of Ecstasy" for many religious/spiritual practitioners, a week that will culminate July 30 with a New Moon Summer Concert by the Ecstatic Rumi Ensemble, also at the First Congregational Church.

"The Ground We Share" recording is another collaboration between Consiglio and Rivera, each exploring spiritual themes, often through kirtan, an ancient form of musical call-and-response rooted in Hindu and Sikh traditions. But, said Rivera, the album is not all meditative.

"We do several covers that speak to the concern for social justice issues and the need to bring our spirituality into everyday life," she said, pointing to such spiritualized versions of popular hits such as "Message in a Bottle" and "Takin' It to the Streets."

Rivera said that the concert and the journey to the Holy Land in the fall are both efforts to establish a multifaith front of commonality on issues of larger importance to the human community.

"We trying to build bridges rather than breaking them down," she said."