An Interfaith Day of Music, Art, Faith Reflections and Delicious Food!

Peace and happiness are available in every moment. Peace is every step. We shall walk hand in hand.   Native Indian saying

On Sunday January 10^th 2010, the four Toronto Faiths Act Fellows spent the day with over 100 people of diverse faiths and cultures at the 5^th Annual Interfaith Peace Service presented by Forum for Learning and Eternal Spring United Church.

This event began with reflections about the meaning of peace in various faith traditions. The four of us each spoke and reflected on how our respective faith traditions call us to interfaith cooperation, service action and in particular to our work in the Faiths Act Fellowship.

Here are a few lines from those reflections:

“Peace isn’t just the absence of war. Peace comes from creation, it comes from development, it comes from people being able to live in a safe and healthy world. This idea is grounded in the book of Isaiah, chapter 2, verse 4 which states: They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (NRSV)

“As a Faiths Act Fellow, I am creating peace by building bridges between people of different faiths. Faiths Act moves beyond dialogue, creating meaningful interfaith friendships through common action. Acting together to create a better world. There are 4 billion people of faith in the world, if we can recognize our differences and focus on our common values, we can change the world.”

“As the letter of James in the New Testament states; “Faith without works is dead”. So I have the imperative to take Jesus’ teaching to love and care for my neighbour and put it into action. The community in Mali may be geographically far away and culturally unfamiliar, but they are just as much my neighbours and reaching out to them is my faith in action.”

“Compassion is one of the primary teachings and what I believe to be the essence of Islam. If all of us committed to, not just in this room but all 6.3 billion of us in the world, an act of compassion, committed to making one person's life a bit better. I think that the world would be a better place and that peace would indeed prevail.”

Following the service, we shared a delicious potluck lunch while listening to a sacred music concert by artists from Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Native and Sufi traditions.  

A truly beautiful and inspiring day!