Monthly Message (October 2008) - Bristol Diverse Doors Day

Dear Friends,

After a quick lunch on Sunday 14th September, seventeen people from Trinity-Henleaze URC set out to visit some of the ‘other faith’ places of worship that were open as part of the Bristol Diverse Doors Day.

Arranged by the Bristol Multi-Faith Forum, the day offers a glimpse of the places of worship, and people, of the living religious communities in the city. It opens up the possibility of stepping outside the well known sacred space and rhythm of our Christian heritage to discover others who, although along different paths, seek to know and serve God.

Our visit took us first to the Bristol Hindu temple, where from the balcony we could see a traditional dance class going on below, in preparation for a forthcoming festival. The priest spoke about the Hindu understanding of the one God having many faces and showed us the shrines and statues where the people bring offerings and prayers in worship. He told us that this was the Temple for all Hindus in the South West … a total of just 400 families.

Then on to the Mosque in Stapleton Road where we were met and welcomed by members of the Mosque and shown where to leave our shoes. They offered us food … fruit and dates … even though, being the month of Ramadan, they were not eating. And as we sat on the carpeted floor a gentle young Muslim man, a community worker from the Bangladeshi Centre, told us about Islam. The Imam chanted some prayers, in Arabic … and we heard that the patterned carpet was laid at such a strange angle in the room so that its print pointed towards Mecca for prayer. We were invited to ask questions and soon found ourselves in a conversation about some of the tensions around Islam in the present climate and how they touched the lives of local Muslims ... a conversation that was easy, honest, and reassured us that the press should not always be believed and that there are good people in the Islamic community working hard for peace and understanding with others.

At the Progressive Jewish Congregation’s Synagogue we met two members and were shown the sacred scrolls of scripture, all written in Hebrew. The building, once a ‘potato shop’, was a simple meeting space, where, they told us, a lively congregation of women and men and children gather to share their Jewish identity, heritage and worship. They described vibrant youth work … and showed us the beautiful stained glass window sun-catchers they children and young people had created on a weekend away together. And they told us of how they work with local Muslims cooperating to run the Bristol based radio station Salaam Shalom.

And lasting impressions …..?

In each place we received a warm and gracious welcome from people who wanted to meet us and wanted us to meet and understand them.

There was a willingness to tell us about the scared life of their communities … we talked about God, about values and purpose in religion. We were welcome to ask questions without awkwardness. We all learned something new and felt that while there are differences between different faiths … there are also many ways in which we shared common ground and hopes.

And there was a bigger picture being painted and viewed. Friendship and the building of trust between people of different faiths has a huge role to play in laying the foundations of a fairer and more peaceful society. In turbulent times for society, when the threats of division and suspicion on grounds of different faiths are often exploited, to have people who have met, talked, found warmth and welcome across the differences and will stand up to say so … is important, and good.

We live in turbulent times … but like all times of change, they offer us opportunity too. The Diverse Open Doors day gave us the chance to taste the richness of difference among people who seek to know and serve God and live well … on our doorstep.

Yours,

Tracey.