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PRAYERS FOR THE CITY 2012 |
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One of the most popular annual events that CTII arranges is the Prayers for the City at the V&A Amphitheatre in the Waterfront in front of the Mayor and other dignitaries.
This year was no different. Unfortunately Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille could not make it because her plane back to Cape Town had been delayed but prayers are never wasted and a large crowd of Capetonians and visitors from overseas enjoyed listening to youth from different faith communities, bringing to the city their prayers and blessings that the year ahead will be a peaceful and trouble-free year for Cape Town and its citizens.
The afternoon was put together by James Ellman who acted as an interesting and informative programme director. Cape Town TV, the local community television station, filmed the proceeding so the prayers and blessings and the example of interfaith harmony, diversity and co-operation displayed during the afternoon by Cape Town’s multiplicity of faith communities could be appreciated by many more than the hundreds of spectators who watched the event in the amphitheatre.
Chairman Rev Gordon Oliver, introducing the afternoon, remarked that we make many demands on our civic leaders. Being human, they often struggle and in their struggle they need the community’s prayerful support, so the CTII had arranged the afternoon’s gathering to enable the different faith communities making up the city to pray that our leaders have wisdom and spiritual strength to serve us as we all serve God.
There were many highlights. Dances by charming young children from Dancers for Christ with sun flowers in their hair. A song for peace accompanied by unusual instruments by elegant girls in white saris belonging to the Sri Sathya Sai Seva organisation. Interfaith songs in Hebrew, Arabic and Xhosa by Desert Rose - this is a professional group involved in interfaith outreach founded in 1999 by leading world music composer and director, Lynne Holmes-Ganief, producer of 7 highly successful world and meditation music albums together with co-lyricist and lead vocalist Yusuf Ganief. There were Jewish songs sung by Rachel Serraf on David's harp, a copy of the kinnor that David used as a shepherd boy to calm King Saul, developed in Israel based on information found in the Bible, Talmud, and archaeology. There was a meditation from Brahma Kumaris, songs from members of the Baha’i faith, chanting by Hare Krishna devotees, songs by the 4mm Christian singers, a prayer in Xhosa by Nomatshaka Taho of the African Religion, a prayer from the Sufi movement and from Shiite Moulana Aftab Haider. A wide-ranging interesting programme reflecting our diversity shared in an atmosphere of mutual harmony and acceptance.
Most moving were musical excerpts throughout the programme played by talented Jody Ann, a young blind girl with a gift for music who can play 21 instruments.
Rev John Oliver, giving his vote of thanks, thanked all the participants, the V & A Waterfront and encouraged everyone to participate in the critical conversation going on between our faith communities and to support the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative . ‘ By God’s grace – we are One!’
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Last Updated on Monday, 30 January 2012 16:36 |
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Many faiths share a belief in fate, divine intervention, that there is no such thing as chance.
Dr. David Gerbi, a Libyan-born, observant psychologist living in Italy, spent the summer in a Libyan rebel encampment, joining the revolutionary forces and providing them psychiatric care. But their gratitude didn’t last for long. He was nearly lynched and then booted out of the country when he tried to clean up a desecrated synagogue that hadn’t seen a Jew since Muammar Gaddafi took over the country 42 years ago.
Dr. Gerbi, international director of the World Organization of Libyan Jews, was the first Jew to cast his lot with the Libyan rebels when he joined the Benghazi Psychiatric Hospital staff to teach the techniques of healing post-traumatic stress disorder among the fighters. Throughout the summer, Dr. Gerbi, holed up with the revolutionaries, assisted rebel leaders in formulating strategies and restoring unity within their ranks when internal conflicts arose.
After Gaddafi was ousted, the interim government, the National Transitional Council, talked about giving him a position in the soon-to-be-formed parliament, as an official voice for religious tolerance in a country run by an extremist despot for four decades. >>
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INTERCULTURAL PROJECT UNITES SCHOOLS |
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For too long, the pages of history have been stained by blood, shed in the name of God. The question we should address is whether religion can contribute to conciliation and peace, rather than being or becoming a source of conflict. This will depend on how people from different faiths and cultures, make space for ‘the other’, the one who is not like us. Do we see ‘the other’ as a threat to our beliefs and way of life, or as an enrichment of the collective heritage of mankind?
Within our new South Africa we are beginning to live closer together than ever before. Our lives have become interwoven, both nationally and internationally, yet we still seem to be driven apart. Until recently, most of our communities lived in isolation, each sharing their own faith, tradition, way of life, and historical background. Under such circumstances it was possible for each of us to believe that ‘my truth’ was the only truth and ‘my way’, the only way. Within these isolated communities there were only a few individuals who were considered to be ‘outsiders’, but that situation is changing. We live in the conscious presence of difference, in the street, at school, at work, and on the television screen. We constantly encounter people whose religions, cultures, ideas and ideals are unlike ours. Religion, in particular, continues to have a powerful presence because of its impact on our identity, and this can be divisive and create an ‘us’ and a ‘them’.
Under such circumstances, can we learn to live together? Can we make space for one another? Can we overcome our long histories of estrangement? Can we learn to live in peace while acknowledging religious and cultural differences?
The road to achieve these ideals is long and may be rocky, but we all need to embark on this journey. The Cape Town Interfaith Initiative, in partnership with the Blackburn College in the United Kingdom, has initiated a two-year Interfaith Intercultural Exchange Programme for a group of high school pupils that we hope will encourage these young people to walk together along this difficult road. |
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