January 2019 – Interreligious Dialogue in Scotland

St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art

Harry Dunlop reflects on the work of St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art.

Over the past year we have been quietly marking the 25th anniversary of the opening of the museum in April 1993. A lot has changed since that here in Glasgow and beyond. However when it comes to interfaith dialogue and co-operation the cultural and religious landscape has indeed changed considerably. When the museum first opened our only interfaith stakeholder and partner was the Glasgow Sharing of Faiths group – perhaps the most important multi-faith organisation in Scotland for a generation.

In April as part of our monthly Faith to Faith dialogue workshops we marked this milestone anniversary with a conversation between four key people who were deeply involved in the creation and subsequent development of the museum story: the Project Director Mark O’Neill, Dianna Wolfson of the Jewish Community, Brij Gandhi of the Hindu Community and Sister Isobel Smyth from the Christian Community. Dianna, Brij and Isobel are all original members of Glasgow Sharing of Faiths Group and it was a real insight for those present as they shared not only what drives their personal commitment to interfaith but also what the St Mungo Museum means to them as a unique interfaith resource.

Glasgow Sharing of Faiths no longer exists and has been superseded by Interfaith Glasgow. Our partnership working and co-operation with Interfaith Glasgow continues to grow from strength to strength – indeed our joint monthly Faith to Faith programme is an example of that mutual flourishing. On Sunday our November event took place at Garnethill Synagogue where we listened to stories of Jewish and Sikh soldiering and how these faith communities contributed and in many cases gave their lives in both world wars and in other conflicts. It was encouraging and moving to learn about these important but often overlooked historical narratives. Another example is the recent successful ‘Religious Dress in the Flesh’ event created with the support of another partner – the University of Glasgow. At this event people from different faith communities shared stories about the meaning and significance of their religious and cultural dress from personal as well as historical perspectives. Following the event an excellent film was made which is now being shared on Social Media. This is a good example of how to disseminate positive dialogue to a wider audience in a society that for many feels increasingly hostile to religious expression.

Like others, staff at the museum mark Interfaith Week. I’d like to share with you some aspects one of these projects – a joint Schools Projects organised in partnership with the Interreligious Dialogue Committee of the Bishops Conference of Scotland and pupils from Holyrood, St Roch’s and Lourdes Catholic Secondary schools in Glasgow. Since September the group have been exploring this year’s theme ‘Connecting Generations’ by meeting people of different faiths, exploring the values faith communities cherish in common and visiting places of worship including Glasgow Central Mosque and Garnethill Synagogue. It has been a great project and this week and next they are holding events within their own schools to celebrate and share what they learned and experienced.

Young people never cease to amaze me with their inquisitiveness and ability to articulate in a straight forward way ideas and concepts that we adults sometimes over complicate and over theorize. As part of the project the pupils were asked why they should bother marking Scottish Interfaith Week in the first place and indeed why Interfaith is important in a modern Scotland. For one pupil Interfaith is all about understanding the different faiths and their places of worship. For another Interfaith is quite simply about building friendships. The pupils’ openness and eagerness to engage with people of different faiths is inspiring in contrast perhaps to other generations of religious people who are still a bit uneasy about Interfaith fearing it is about compromising what they cherish to be true and unique.

So – Interfaith is all about making new friends.

Yes – I believe it’s really is that simple. Interfaith is all about making new friends.

So – let’s hope all across Glasgow and all across Scotland that we continue to make new friendships and renew old ones.

Jan 9 2019

A Hannukah and Advent Party

Christianity, Festivals, Judaism

Adapted from the blog of Sister Isabel Smyth.

www.interfaithjourneys.net

Before Christmas the Council of Christians and Jews organised a Hannukah and Advent party. These are festivals of light and have a focus on candles which links the two festivals.

The hanukkiah, the candelabra used at Hanukkah, has 9 candles. On each of the eight evenings of the festival a candle is lit from the ninth one which is called a helper or shamash so that by the eighth day of the festival all nine are burning. The tradition is to display these candles at a window to illustrate that the Jewish community can now enjoy religious freedom. Today large hanukkiahs are lit in major cities and public places such as the Scottish Parliament and the White House as an expression of religious freedom and tolerance.

The lighting of the candles commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the forces of a Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes who, in the second century BCE, desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem and forbade Jews to practice their faith. Defeating Antiochus, the Maccabees purified the Temple but found they hadn’t enough oil to light the everlasting lamp. Miraculously the little oil they did have lasted for eight days until replenishments could come. This is the miracle celebrated at Hanukkah with prayers, gifts, family fun and games. It’s a family, happy time to cheer us up on dark winter days – at least in this part of the world.

Advent is also a time for the lighting of candles but it looks forward rather than back. It begins the Christian year and is a time of preparation for Christmas. Some people use the time to do some kind of penance in the sense of a discipline to free them from a habit or even an obsession like giving up social media for four weeks. And there are candles. In some homes but in many churches there will be an Advent wreath – a circle of everlasting greenery to symbolise the infinity of God, purple ribbons as a sign of anticipation and waiting and four candles for each of the four Sundays of Advent. Three of them are purple and one pink for Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday in which the opening prayer in worship is Rejoice. It’s now become common for a white candle to be put in the middle of the wreath to symbolise the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

What made our party this week so enjoyable was the presence of children. We held the event at the Synagogue just as the pupils from the local Jewish primary school were leaving, having visited the Synagogue to light the Hanukkah candles. Their school is rather a special one as it shares a campus with a local Catholic school. We think it’s the only shared Catholic – Jewish campus in the world and we’re very proud of it. Each school promotes the ethos of their particular faith but the pupils share the playground and are getting to know one another. The Jewish children, though, who told us the story of Hanukkah were not at the school but were two of the home-schooled children of the Rabbi. With great confidence they told us about the Maccabees, the lighting of candles, the gift giving, the eating of doughnuts but what got us all laughing and participating was a game that had us passing little parcels left and right as the words were mentioned in their story – parcels that contained a reward for all of us. And of course we lit four candles for the fourth day of Hanukkah accompanied by the Rabbi’s blessing.

It was the head girl and head boy from the Catholic primary who told us about Advent. Telling us that the Advent Wreath helped Christians take time to think about the real meaning of Christmas and reflect on how they could bring God’s light, joy, peace and love into the world today they explained the four candles – the first one representing hope. which is like a light shining in a dark place: the second candle representing peace and reminding us to try to be peacemakers in our schools and homes; the third representing the joy we feel celebrating the birth of Jesus and the fourth one representing the love we share in Jesus and how we try to show this love in the way we treat those around us, not just friends and families but also those less fortunate than ourselves.

As you can imagine the children were very well received. I found it very moving to see the children from both faiths participate in our celebration. What a contrast to the enmity that existed between our communities for centuries but has thankfully given way to a new reality. The shared campus offers such hope for the future. Already the children from both schools have collaborated on helping the homeless, enjoyed a ceilidh together and are now beginning to learn a little about one another’s faith. As one of the children said “we really do enjoy one another’s company and love finding about one another’s faith. In St Clare’s we are always saying we are making memories to last a lifetime but we also think we are making lifelong friends.” We cannot ask much more than that.

A Hannukah and Advent Party Read More »