St Ethelburga Centre
for Reconciliation and Peace (London)
Yearning for Reconcilation and Peace: A Day at St Ethelburga
"St Ethelburga Centre for Reconciliation and Peace is a small little place at the heart of London which offers a peaceful place where people of all faiths and none build healthy relationships across political, religious and cultural divisions. St Ethelburga is a place where different faith traditions work together to promote reconciliation and peace '
'by creating safe space for difficult encounters, advancing practical models for reconciliation and inter-religious cooperation, and celebrating those who put them into practice, we can demonstrate an alternative to violent conflict.'
A little prayer for an end to violence which is displayed at the Centre was one of the beautiful prayers which I ever prayed:
God of life,
Every act of violence in our world,
between myself and another,
destroys a part of your creation.
Stir in my heart a renewed sense of reverence for all life.
Give me the vision to recognise your spirit in every human being,
however they behave towards me.
Make possible the impossible
by cultivating in me the fertile seed of healing love.
May i play my part in breaking the cycle of violence
by realising that peace begins with me...
The medieval Church of St Ethelburga in Bishopsgate is one of the oldest buildings. It escaped the fire of London (17th century) and survived the Second World War unscathed. But a huge IRA bomb devastated the church. It was the creativity and ingenuity of those who were in charge of St Ethelburga that they planned to build up the place as a Centre of Reconciliation and Peace. ''10 years and 3 million pounds of fundraising later it reopened as a Centre for Reconciliation and Peace providing a unique place of meeting inside its restored mediaeval walls.'' I had an opportunity to attend a program to reflect on Christian Muslim Relations at this oasis of peace. Our meeting took place in Tent.
''Tent is a remarkable new space dedicated to the meeting of faiths. It is modelled on a traditional Bedouin design, and set in an Andalusian garden. Specialists from Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Israel collaborated with young people in the UK to create a circular space in which people of different faiths can meet as equals to explore the differences between faiths.'' We (Christians from different traditions and a couple of Muslims) reflected on Muhammad, the prophet of Muslims. It was felt that it was important to have a learned and dignified understanding of Muhammad in order to carry forward the dialogue between Christians and Muslims.
Muslims view Muhammad as a living embodiment of Qur'anic teachings. He is a perfect model, for them. Muslims believe that he was sent to establish a pathway. However in history Muhammad was attacked as a liar, mad person, epileptic, imposter, sexual maniac by different Christians in different times. Such an attitude closed doors for dialogue.The important question is: as a Christian what I can say about Muhammad.
Within Christian theology, is there a space for a positive understanding of Muhammad? One need to explore from within one's traditions.
As a Catholic Christian I have a beautiful starting point: the Catholic Church's Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Vatican Council II Documents). In this document the Council Fathers expressed their great esteem for Muslims as ''Upon the Muslims, too, the Church looks with esteem. They adore one God, living and enduring, merciful and all powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and Speaker to men.''
It is also important to speak of Muhammad with dignity drawing upon from the Muslim sources as well as our own faith traditions. Yes, the Spirit blows where she wills and God uses people who are not Hebrews (Queen of Sheeba, Cyrus the Persian)as His prophets. The instructor Dr Chris Hewer talked about an comment by a 8th Century CE Nestorian Pope Timothy Katholikos. When asked by a Muslim King what he thought of Muhammad, Timothy Katholikos said ''Muhammad walked in the way of the prophets.''
However, it is important to keep in mind that in the Muslim understanding the prophets were sinless. It is important that Christians should be able to speak of Muhammad in dignified way.
In the session I was happy to meet Sadat Malik a Pakistani who was born and brought up in the UK. During the tea break someone asked me about the relationship between India and Pakistan. I told the person both Indians and Pakistanis want to live in peace with one another. However, the political and ideological powers which control both India and Pakistan do not want peace. They do create situations that fuel animosity between people. Sadat Malik appeared there and told me that he was delighted to hear such remark. He asked me whether I was involved in any way in peace related activities between India and Pakistan. It gave me an opportunity to tell him my involvement in Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy and about the Joint convention I attended in Delhi. I told him the many delightful conversations I had with human rights activists, students, teachers, children, and trade unionists from Pakistan.
It was an eye opener for me to see how ordinary people long for peace and good neighbourly relations with India. He too affirmed that common man and woman want peace to get along with their life. We talked about his work with financial institutions, the present credit crunch and my research on Christian Muslim Relations. We do keep in touch with one another through email. After the program I had a long and interesting conversation with Dr Chris Hewer. First we talked about The Common Word, the document which I am working on for my MPhil dissertation. The Common Word is a Letter issued by 138 Muslim Religious scholars to pope and other Christian leaders inviting them for dialogue on what could be mutually recognised and accepted in both religious traditions. The Muslim leaders proposed Love of God and Love for neighbour as a common theological platform for such relations. We discussed many issues connected with the Letter.
Chris told me that this document has the potency to carry forward the process of Christian Muslim dialogue. However, it needs to be studied carefully and discussed in length especially the areas which are ambiguous. We dropped in for a meal at a polish restaurant near the Clapham Common. The meal was delicious and it was a great celebration of life and learning for me. "
By Victor Edwin SJ
10 Albert RoadHarborneBirmingham,
West Midlands B17 0ANUnited Kingdom
Tel: 0121 4272628
"Tell me and I will forget; show me and I will remember; involve me and I will understand."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please do visit again. Thank you!
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment