Forgiveness
What a great conference we had on Sunday. i was a little worried that between the heat and the lack of public transport (half the underground trains weren't running that day) we would have to give up and go home. But 25 of us gathered for what was a thought-provoking afternoon.
The panel looked at forgiveness in the Sikh, Muslim, Christian and Jewish traditions. Obviously, we shared a lot. We all acknowledged the need for forgiveness in this world. We all stressed how we saw God as a compassionate Being who would shower us with forgiveness if we would but ask. But we also noted the creative tensions between forgiveness and justice, between forgiving before you are asked or waiting till the person who has wronged you admits their guilt and apologises.
Then Alexandra, our guest who is usually resident in Beirut, shared with us the pain she felt at the present situation. And the plan she had for a Garden of Forgiveness in the heart of the city. I found her talk particularly hard as i have a brother who lives in Nahariyah, in the north of Israel, with his family. They have had to leave the area and move in with family further south as Ketusha rockets have been falling round them and they are frightened at the long term decire of Hezbolla to destroy the Jewish State. But i also feel for the Lebanese civilians, their pain, their suffering and it's hard to deal with both of these sets of emotions at the same time.
Our final speaker, Anne, touched our hearts with the plight of the earth beneath us. Would the earth forgive us the wrongs we inflict upon her every day? She pointed out that in both Greek and Hebrew the word to 'repent' means to return or to turn. Will we turn from our habits of consumerism and repent for what we do on a daily basis to destroy the world? will we only speak or will we also act?
And the whole day was chaired so magnificently by Gwen, with many breaks for us to re-hydrate ourselves and make contact with friends, old and new. A truly fascinating and inspiring occasion and with a bit of luck, I may even get out of it a discussion on Yom Kippur and a sermon for this shabbat!
posted by Rabbi Jackie Tabick @ Tuesday, July 25, 2006
4 comments
4 Comments:
hello,i would like to say hearing of such encounters like this,ie we are all of our lord,god,allah,abba,yabbie ect,instead of we get to him by being like this or that,encounters such as this is true testimony to him.how we get to be close to him is by putting him first,truely putting him fist with gentle fear within ourselfs and asking how do we get to you.he will leave no doubt in our minds by the things he can make happen.
17.11.60
Greetings Friends of the World Congress of Faiths,
May Peace Be With You.
It is good to see your web log on the internet. As of yet, I only browse through much of the posts, however, there is a wealth of experience that you respectively maintain and that can be appropriately shared with additional individuals, particularly youth, beyond the island of Britannia; your talk about forgiveness is one example.
I recall reading through the description of the scheduled events for the World Congress of Faiths and observing an intended visit to the library in London to read archived Holy Scriptures. And I recall considering such an endeavour amongst such individuals to be substantially rewarding. An additional consideration is how to explain and encourage such inclination to additional individuals located in cities, suburbs, towns, townships, fields, and forests to participate within a similarly rewarding experience, and appropriately share this with your institution.
Another website that you might consider visiting is Taking IT Global, www.takingitglobal.org. It is an organisation based in Toronto, Canada, substantially managed by youths, supported by the United Nations and others, and providing an ‘online community’ specifically for youth (many online fora pertaining many different issues, including religion). I find a considerable amount of challenge and enthusiasm amongst the participants and managers of Taking IT Global, many of whom have the discipline to provide constructive contribution to this web log and the efforts of the World Congress of Faiths upon specific solicitation.
With humble and benevolent regards,
Peter Frank Womack (with this InterFaith Settlement)
Peace belongs throughout the Universe.
All Praise Belongs To God.
Andrew
great to hear from you. Our founder, Sir Francis Younghusband, talked about the need to establish a fellowship between all peoples and we open all our meetings with the words he wrote, praying for such an ideal to come about.
it is a fellowship that just doesn't mean enjoying eqch other's company, though hopefully we do, but that we acknowledge that there is a deeper spiritual unity behind our world and our esistence upon it.
Personally, as a Jew, I believe strongly, that there is only the one God, with many faces. God is far beyond our understanding. In Judaism the mystics name God Ayn Sof, 'Without End,' that is, God is far beyond our limited understanding of the Divine Essence. Indeed, our understanding is not even a scratch on eternity. I also firmly believe that many equally valid paths are required to suit the diversity of need and culture that grace this earth. and so in the QWorld conferrence we encourage people to explore their own individual faith while seeking to acknowledge the deeper fellowship that binds us.
jackie
Hello.
While I admire your attempts to have peace between all would it be better to try takeing out the religious parts and invite people together all over the country with placards that say "PEACE"
or "I DO NOT HATE" or "LOVE ALL"
Thanks for reading.
Bye for now
Mick Fenner.
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