Weekly Noon Thursday Prayers – 3rd December 2020

Cornwall Faith Forum is sending love and courage to all of you. We will be able to meet in Penmount again.

There will be Thursday Noon Prayers on Thursday 3rd of December at 12:00 in our Peace Field by the Dome of Human Kindness.

Please contact Rita on [email protected] if you would like to come.

On  7th November, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs very sadly died.   Cornwall Faith Forum would like to thank him for his wisdom, compassion and courage.

We are very grateful to Paul who send us the quote that he received from Rabbi Sachs before his walk for Peace in 2015:

“God found only one blessing large enough to contain all other blessings – its name is peace”. (Talmud)
May your walk and your work bring us a little closer to this blessing!

Here are some more quotes (from rabbisachs.org):

“The best way of breaking down barriers between people or communities is through simple, unforced acts of kindness. One act can undo years of estrangement.”

“Acts of kindness never die. They linger in the memory, giving life to other acts in return.”

“We are as great as the challenges we have the courage to undertake”

“Freedom is won by making space for the people not like us.”

Interfaith Week 8th – 15th November 2020

Interfaith Week Buddies

Inter Faith Week this year is from November 8th to 15th. Cornwall Faith Forum is inviting you to take part in an Inter Faith Buddies scheme https://www.interfaithweek.org/resources/inter-faith-week-buddies to celebrate this important time.

The scheme involves two people of different faiths holding a conversation to share their thoughts on topics such as:  

  • How does your faith shape your daily life – including at this time of COVID-19?
  • What, in your faith encourages service to others in society?
  • Or on anything else that you might want to share experiences

This is an opportunity for sharing and learning, on a one-to-one basis across a limited period of time, about what is important to us, in the context of our wider community. The process may, of course, lead to longer term conversations and new forms of practical co-operation.

If you are interested in taking part we will require your name, and your Faith tradition and we will pair you up with a member of a different faith community within Cornwall.  You may wish to state if there any particular faith or belief background or backgrounds from which you be would be interested to have an ‘Inter Faith Week buddy’ from.  We will try and match you up but we cannot guarantee this.

Please also provide details of the means by which you are willing to make and receive contact. i.e. Phone and/ or email. In doing this you are at the same time giving your permission to share your contact email address and/or phone number with someone who would also like to be a ‘buddy’. Safeguarding is very important. Buddies should be over the age of 18 years old and commit to engage in respectful listening and dialogue. You should also respect the privacy and security of other buddies and their families.  We will email you more information on safeguarding and safety once you let us know you wish to participate.

To be involved please register at [email protected]  before Thursday 29th October .

As a reminder we will require:

Your Name:  

Your Faith tradition: 

Your Phone or email address (the means by which you are willing to make and receive contact):

Whether you wish to ‘buddy up’ with someone from a particular faith or belief background:


Looking forward to hearing from you and some fruitful buddying!  For more information click HERE

Cornwall Faith Forum Annual General Meeting – Wednesday 4th November 2020

Our Annual General Meeting is going to be held on Wednesday, 4th November at 7.00 pm.  Unfortunately we will not be able to meet in person but shall spend time together via Zoom.  We will have look at our three areas of work throughout the year:  Learning, Sharing and Building for Peace, followed by the more formal part of the meeting. Do join us for this meeting by emailing [email protected] and the Zoom link will be emailed onto you.

Cornwall Faith Forum Income and Expenditure 01/04/2019 – 31/03/2020:

Independent Examiners Certificate:

Notes of Annual General Meeting 30.10.2019: Notes of CFF AGM held on 30th October 2019

Consitution Chart: Constitution chart

 

Weekly Noon Thursday Prayers – 15th October 2020

Cornwall Faith Forum sends warmth and love to everyone in Cornwall. We need it now the Autumn has really started !!
Next time we will be meeting at Penmount will be on Thursday 29th October at 12:00 noon. Please contact Rita [email protected] if you would like to come.

The prayer for today is from Gormola Kernewek – Celtic Praise – Prayers of Praise from Cornwall by Revd. Pat Robson.


You are my hiding place, O Lord. 
You know me by name. 
My thoughts and deeds are seen by you, 
and their memory brings pain. 

I come to you with a tear-worn soul, 
I come to you in grief. 

I need the love from your loving heart, 
that I may be at Peace. 

Reach out, my Lord, and touch my soul
Reach out and draw me from the dark
and let your love-light in. 

Your love that fills my soul with joy, 
that makes the wild wind sing, 
in cleanness, brightness claim my soul, 
my loving heavenly King. 

Weekly Noon Thursday Prayers – 8th October 2020

Cornwall Faith Forum is sending warmth and courage to everyone in Cornwall.

Sister Iqbal very kindly send us a prayer.

This prayer is in the light of the death of Sgt. Matt Ratana.

Sister Iqbal writes: “Here is a prayer from the heart”.

Bismillah Inrahmaa Niraheem

In the name of Allah, the most merciful &the most beneficent

Please Allah protect us from all who seek to harm those who protect us.

Bless all those who lose their lives in this service as the recent death of Sgt. Matt Ratana, lovingly known as the gentle giant.

Please Allah , Protect our families, our homes, our loved ones, the down trodden and the down and out from harm and pain and bad diseases as Corona.

Please give us strength to do good work in your name.

Please Allah forgive our mistakes and make us better in protecting each other and the beautiful world you gave us.

Forgive us and teach us to care for each other of all backgrounds and faiths and collectively protect this fragile earth.

Please let us not forget those suffering in poorer countries and in war torn countries and those affected by natural disasters as fire, flood and famines.

Allow our hands to do good deeds.

Ameen (Amen, let it be)

Poppy

(Sister Iqbal Warsi (M.Phil)

Weekly Thursday Noon Prayers – 24th September 2020

Cornwall Faith Forum is sending love and courage to everyone in Cornwall. There will be a meeting at our Peace Field in Penmount today at 12:00 noon.

On Monday it was World Peace day so our prayers and reflections will focus on Peace.

Eve very kindly send us this prayer. It is the Druid Call to Peace. This is said right at the beginning of every Druid ritual in most Druid traditions, for as it says “without Peace can no work be”.

 

The Call to Peace

Let us begin by giving peace to the quarters,
for without peace no work can be.

Re bo kres yn kledh
May there be Peace in the North

Re bo kres yn deghow
May there be Peace in the South

Re bo kres yn howlsedhes
May there be Peace in the West

Re bo kres yn howldrevel
May there be Peace in the East

Re bo kres dres oll an norvys
May there be Peace throughout the whole world.

Kathy very kindly send us as a prayer written by Peter Millar from the Iona Community:

God of the universe,
whose light shines in every culture and tradition,
hold close to you today the many women, men and children
who give themselves in order to bring
justice and peace on this earth.

The bridge-builders, the artists, the hidden saints,
the risk-takers, the intercessors, the campaigners
and all those who will not lie down to injustice
even at the cost of their lives.

And may we ourselves be in their midst –
alive to the possibilities of your justice-filled Spirit
at the heart of creation
Amen.

Peace be with you
Kathy

Weekly Thursday Noon Prayers – 17th September 2020

Cornwall Faith Forum is sending love and peace to everyone in Cornwall. There will be a meeting at our Peace Field in Penmount on Thursday 24th of September at 12:00 noon. Our group can only have 6 people so please contact Rita on [email protected] if you would like to join in.

Next Monday, 21st September is World Peace Day.

On this day, over the past four years in Truro and Cornwall, choirs, groups, organizations and speakers, have come together to raise awareness about World Peace Day and also to support One Day One Choir, a global choral project for peace. www.onedayonechoir.org Over 40 choirs have taken part, with many groups involved, and over 30 people have spoken about peace and also for some, the work they are involved with to make this world a better place. Due to ‘Covid’ restrictions, here are some suggestions of how everyone can take part, on the day, or near to it, either on your own, or with a small group. Anything, anyone can do, however large or small, can help to bring about a more peaceful world.

We have a Buddhist prayer, kindly send to us by Sophie and a Reflection on Peace by Marshall Rozenberg.

Prayer from The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, 8th C.

As long as space endures,

as long as sentient being remain,

until then, may I too remain

and dispel the miseries of the world.

Paul kindly send us this Reflection on peace by Marshall B Rosenberg Ph.D who developed non-violent communication as an approach to nonviolent living developed in the beginning in the 1960s:

“Peace requires something far more difficult than revenge or merely turning the other cheek; it requires empathising with the fears and unmet needs that provide the impetus for people to attack each other. Being aware of those feelings and needs, people lose their desires to attack back because they see the human ignorance leading to those attacks. Instead, their goal becomes providing the empathetic connection and education that will enable them to transcend their violence and engage in cooperative relationships.”

Weekly Thursday Noon Prayers & Reflection – 27th August 2020

On Thursday 27th August, we will be meeting at Penmount again for Thursday Noon Prayers at 12:00 noon.

We will be able to be with the Dome of Human Kindness, very kindly donated to Cornwall Faith Forum by Tom Henderson. Please contact Rita on [email protected] 07775 9374865 if you would like to come.

Jeremy form Kehillat Kernow kindly sent us the following very important reflection:

There are currently more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs being detained in Xinjiang, in China. They are a Muslim minority who have had a difficult history in China, with independence being a contentious factor. They have been oppressed with bans on praying, fasting on Ramadan, wearing veils and growing beards, for years. Now,many are being held in brainwashing camps, where the main aim is to ensure adherence to Chinese Communist Party ideology. Families have been separated, mothers and fathers are left in despair with no contact with their children nor no knowledge of where they are.

It seems that a cultural genocide is taking place. A new generation will emerge, cut off from their roots, religious beliefs and language.

I think of my family who had to flee Holland, Hungary and Iraq in the last century, just because of their religion.

How is it that in the 21st century our rights are still defined by religion?
…China may seem far and distant, but this is not a reason to stand back and watch human dignity disintegrate. It’s time for the Jewish community to join forces, to do the right thing, to fight against the persecution of the Uyghurs.
I am a practising and proud Jew today thanks to a Christian couple who decided they were not going to look blindly at the horrors of the Holocaust. They bravely hid my grandmother, while risking their own lives. Last year, when I stood at Yad Vashem and proudly witnessed the couple being honoured as The Righteous of The Nations, I made a pledge to myself that when a religion was oppressed I would stand up and make a difference…
… As Edmund Burke famously said:“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Emmanuelle Benjamin (Student)

 

Weekly Thursday Noon Prayers – 6th August 2020

Cornwall Faith Forum is sending love to everyone in Cornwall.

There will be a Zoom meeting for Thursday Noon Prayers on Thursday 6th August at 12:00 noon.  Please contact Rita on [email protected]  if you would like to join in.

 

Eid ul Adha was celebrated on Friday 31st July  and finished on Monday 3rd August.  Qudsia very kindly sent us a prayer from the Holy Quran:

 

“My Lord, grant me that I may be grateful for Thy Favour which Thou hast bestowed on me and my parents, and I may do such righteous deeds as may please Thee.

Establish righteousness among my progeny for me. I do turn to Thee and truly I am one of those who are obedient to Thee”. Ch.46 v.16.

 

 

Also on Thursday 6th August: Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration: Peace Wave

The anniversary of the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is commemorated across the world. And this year, an international joint grassroots action will allow people – wherever they are – to join together in one action.

Starting from the moment the first bomb was dropped, 8:15am on August 6th, waves of many creative forms of actions will encircle the globe until 11:02 am on August 9th, when the second bomb was dropped over Nagasaki.

How can you join in?
In Japan, actions will start with silent prayer at 8:15am on August 6th and also end with silent prayer at 11:02am on August 9th. We are asked to mark the moments that the bombs fell (but in UK time), with a silent period of reflection.

Please see the following website for more information: https://cnduk.org/peacewave/

Weekly Thursday Noon Prayers – 23rd July 2020

On Thursday 23rd  July will be meeting at Penmount again for Thursday Noon Prayers. Please note that we will meet at 10:00 – 11.00 am  not at 12:00 noon.

This week’s message and prayer is as follows:

Cornwall Faith Forum is thinking of everyone in Cornwall.   This Thursday (23rd July) is Ras Tafari Earth Day and Katherine kindly sent us an extract of Haile Selassies speech to the League of Nations when he asked for help.

This extract was made famous by Bob Marley who turned this extract into the song “War”.

Extract of the speech of Haile Selassies to the League of Nations in 1963:

“Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned;

that until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation;

that until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes;

that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race;

that until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed;

until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will;

until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven”