Finding common ground

In a world at war with itself, when manufactured scandal and bad news dominate, it was refreshing to participate in the Interfaith Peace Service at Knox Cultural Centre on 21September to mark the International Day of Peace for 2022. It was a confluence of 200 people belonging to 16 different faith backgrounds who came from Mt Druitt to the Central Coast. One person came from Melbourne just for the service. The day has been celebrated worldwide since its inauguration by the United Nations in 1981

Rev. Dr Manas Ghosh has been organising the service for the last 19 years, initially at St David’s in Lindfield (Presently known as Lindfield Uniting Church) and then at Leigh Memorial Church in Parramatta. The last two years have been on Zoom but it is now anticipated that the day will be celebrated annually on 21 September at Knox Cultural Centre.

The event opened with a smoking ceremony followed by a traditional dance by Knox boys under the leadership of Uncle Tim Selwyn who had taught them the steps less than two hours before.

Ms Brooke Prentis, a Waaka Waaka woman delivered a powerful Acknowledgement to Country. She calls on us to come “together for the common good, finding common ground, and sharing in common grace”

Then prayers were offered by representatives of the following communities, some in their own language:

The First Peoples of Australia, Baha’is, Brahma Kumaris, Buddhists, Catholic Church, Coptic Orthodox Church, Hindus, Islam, Jains, Jews, Mandaeans, Sikhs, Sufis, Ukrainian Catholics, Uniting Church, and the Zoroastrian Community.

The prayers were followed by a congregational response and interspersed by musical items from students and staff from Knox Grammar School, Pymble Ladies College, and Amity College, Preston.

The Occasional Address from Dr Jan Fizzell, the Senior Medical Advisor to NSW Health, inspired the gathering with a message of hope based on her experience helping to manage the COVID pandemic in NSW. She emphasised that the co-operation and goodwill that occurred between people on a daily basis gives us hope that if future crises should come we have shown that we can work together and be kind to each other which is the best way forward to achieving peace.

As a final act symbolising our common desire to work for peace each of the one hundred attendees placed a lit candle on the front table.

The event finished with an outdoor lunch giving us an opportunity to mingle with other participants from a variety of communities.

Rev. Dr Manas Ghosh is Minister at St John’s Uniting Church, Wahroonga