Join us for the Third Wellington Peacenic, a picnic for peace! Where: Trentham Memorial Park, Upper Hutt When: Sunday 20 February 2022 2pm-5pm
We’ll get together with our Jewish, Christian, and Muslim friends, share some food, enjoy conversation, play some games, and make new friends.
Peacenic began in Auckland in 2016. It grew out of a desire to replace the polarising bad-news stories that dominate the media with real experiences of hospitality and friendship in our own backyard. The simplest gift of sharing time and food is rewarding in itself but goes beyond that to offer a glimpse of the world as it could be. In our increasingly multi-religious, multi-ethnic community, we want to help build bridges across the divisions that have historically separated Muslims, Jews and Christians.
Trentham Memorial Park is just half an hour’s drive from Wellington CBD (put ‘43 Brentwood Street’ into Maps). Bring food to share but be sensitive to other faiths’ dietary requirements; ask if you are not sure. Please take rubbish away with you. Invite friends of other faiths, consider car pooling…and enjoy yourself!
There will be a maximum of 100 people at this gathering, and vaccine passes will be required.
For further info, contact David Blocksidge on 021 054 8443.
You can also download our flyer if you’d like to invite others from your faith community or post it in your church, mosque, or synagogue.
The Wellington Abrahamic Council held a Workshop on the Climate Emergency on 20 June 2021 at Te Herenga Waka / Victoria Univesrity of Wellington. Facilitated by Dave Moskovitz and Jonathan Boston the event was attended by 50+ people representing Jews, Christians, and Muslims. We heard from inspirational speakers including Sarah Livschitz, Paul Blaschke, Geoff Troughton, Amy Ross, Waseema Ahmed, Taufil Omar, Paul Morris, and Estelle Henrys.
Focussing on this vital issue together provided an opportunity to meet others from our different communities and to learn a little more about our respective traditions within the Abrahamic family. From the initial presentations by representatives of each of the three faiths it was clear that the teaching of our Abrahamic traditions about sustainability and the natural world provides a rationale and motivation to address this defining issue of our time as a priority.
During the workshop, we identified themes which were of interest to the attendees, discussed them within our own faith communities, and then brainstormed ways of working together on those themes accross our religions in small groups.
At the end of the workshop, we each filled in “commitment cards” outlining actions we were each committed to take within our own families, within our faith communities, and and within wider society.
Our meeting came up with several eco principles for faith communities
Contributing to eco sustainability is part of our faith commitment today.
Not just individual effort but collective eco action as faith communities is necessary.
Eco stewardship is worship because the world is God’s creation and belongs to God.
We need to contribute as faith communities by collaborating with other eco groups.
Our meeting identified several necessary strategies:
We need to reinterpret our sacred texts, theologies, and faith practices in order to express eco activism as an imperative of our faith commitment.
Any planned actions in transition to a more eco-centric society need to be just, avoiding consequences or further disadvantaging already poorer groups in our society.
We need to be making an active contribution, as faith communities, towards the public debate on climate change issues.
We need to form alliances with other faith communities, beyond the Abrahamic, in order to be more effective in our public contribution to climate change debates.
Each faith community has a role of encouraging an eco-commitment among its member families at the household level.
We need to commit to this as a long-term aim.
Becoming an Eco faith community
Each congregation or group (Synagogue, Mosque, Church, Tangata Whenua) can review the environmental impact of its activities and plant, including transport by which these are accessed by its members, in order to progressively move towards having a minimal ecological footprint as a group.
Self-assessment programme available at ecochurch.org.nz – note that most of the content and principles on this site are applicable to mosques and synagogues as well as churches.
Articles on St Francis of Assisi as Patron Saint of Animals and Ecology, website for He Pou a Rangi / Climate Change Commission: https://www.climatecommission.govt.nz/
On the last weekend in May a small group from the Wellington Abrahamic Council visited the Abbey of Our Lady of the Southern Star, also known as the Kopua Monestary, near Takapau in Central Hawkes Bay.
Made up of a group of Jews, Christians and Muslims, the Abrahamic Council seeks to promote understanding and acceptance between members of the three faiths that trace their roots back to our common father Abraham, and also tolerance of all faith communities within the wider New Zealand society. Having heard about Kopua at one of our meetings, several Council members were interested to come to the monastery, as this particular form of spiritual life is not present in their traditions.
While at Kopua we attended several of the Offices and the Sunday Eucharist. One even got up at 4 am for Vigils. They meditated with the monks after Vespers and in the morning before the Eucharist, a shared spiritual practice in silence that transcends the symbolic framework of each faith tradition. They spent some time with Fr Niko Verkley before breakfast on Sunday. Around a warm fire in the evening in the peaceful atmosphere of the Guest house common room we had time for a good conversation with each other. We all appreciated the vegetarian food the cooks had gone to the trouble of providing for us.
The visit highlighted certain similarities in the faith practice within the three traditions. All share, in their own style, the rhythm of prayer throughout the day. Each involves, in their own form, ascetic practices to help us become responsive to God as the source of our lives and being. All are based on devotion to God through response to the gracious divine Word that is heard, in its own way, within each of the Abrahamic traditions.
Appreciating what we share with each other as Abrahamic peoples not only helps us to understand others from different traditions, but also appreciate more deeply the divine gift we have been given.
Jews, Christians, and Muslims working together for sustainability
When: Sunday, 20 June 2021, 1:30-5:30pm Where: Victoria University, Rutherford House, Room RHMZ03 (next to the Railway Station) Admission: Koha, but tickets are essential as space is limited
Keynote
Hon James Shaw, Minister of Climate Change
Facilitators
Dr Jonathan Boston, Dave Moskovitz
Jewish Speakers
Sarah Livschitz, Dr Paul Blaschke
Christian Speakers
Dr Geoff Troughton, Amy Ross
Muslim Speakers
Waseema Ahmed, TBC
Summation
Prof Paul Morris, Estelle Henrys
At this workshop, we’ll listen to some inspirational speakers about our religious traditions and their approach to sustainability, both in the historical and current context. We’ll then break into groups within our own religious groups to discuss how we can integrate these learnings into our own lives, and identify themes of action. We’ll then meet in mixed groups aligned with specific actions to discuss how we can work together to achieve our goals. We’ll conclude with an action plan we can all commit to.
If you’re concerned about the future of our planet, do come along and contribute to our interfaith efforts to work together for a sustainable future.
Tickets are strictly limited by the size of our venue, do get a ticket if you’d like to come. You can help publicise this event by downloading the poster and posting it at your synagogue, church, or masjid.
These days, politicians globally are becoming more and more offensive about their opponents. Some even tell lies. And it’s not confined to politicians – all of us could improve our interactions with others.
Uncivil behaviour matters because it undermines democracy, incites people to violence, deepens divisions in society, and has other harmful effects.
You can help to resist this by coming along to hear insights from the three Abrahamic faiths – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – and perspectives from Tangata Whenua about how we conduct public discussions.
It promises to be a lively evening full of insights and good manners. Just what you’d expect of a civilised city like Wellington.
The following reflection on Patience was given by Abrahamic Council member David Blocksidge at our meeting on 15 October 2020.
Islam teaches us that we should, ideally, only ever be in one of two states of mind.
Most of the time we should be in a state of shukr – gratitude in English. It’s pretty clear to anyone of faith that we should show gratitude for God’s many blessings. So far so good.
The difficulty – for me at least – comes with the second state. When we are facing difficulties, we are told we ought to display sabr, or patience.
I mention it now, with Covid-19 still among us, work uncertainties, health issues and various other problems we may be facing.
Sabr is clearly a very important concept for Allah. The word occurs in the Qur’an about 90 times, most memorably in Surah Al-Asr, chapter 103, in which the final line says: “Wa tawaasaw bis sabr” – “and recommend one another to patience.”
It’s one of the shorter chapters in the Qur’an so I learned it early on to be able to recite when I lead prayers. However, it has often troubled me because I felt inadequate; I’m not the most patient of people, so I felt a little guilty reciting this particular line and not being able to live up to it.
But there is hope for me and I will explain why. I have learned that, as a translation, the word patience really does not do the word sabr justice. It’s yet another example of an English translation butchering and diluting the richness and depth of the Arabic.
Other meanings of the word include to stop, detain, refrain and withhold.
But the root of the word sabr is the most interesting aspect. It is derived from the Aloe plant known to Arabs as sabbar, 300 species of which grow natively in the desert.
What the aloe plant is known for, other than its healing qualities, is its ability to sustain drought and heat in the harsh climate of the desert. It withstands harsh conditions to force its way to grow tall and strong and needs very little maintenance and watering.
It has an abundance of beneficial functions. It can cool burns, help with allergies, condition hair, protect skin and detoxify the body. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties and can heal wounds, stimulate cell regeneration and be used as toothpaste or mouthwash. It can even promote blood circulation and lower cholestorol when drunk as a juice.
With the aloe plant in mind, the word sabr translates more accurately as perseverance – a dogged will to survive and thrive and achieve its purpose no matter how bad the conditions around it are.
Patience, withholding, refraining etc are all passive, whereas perseverance is positive. Exactly how we Muslims – indeed, all human beings – should be. Always positive, always active, and always persevering no matter the situation, so we can achieve our purpose and give benefit to others around us.
As impatient as I can be, at times I am capable of great perseverance. Thank you for your patience.
David Blocksidge is a Muslim member of the Wellington Abrahamic Council.
In the wake of Black Lives Matter, we need to talk about racism. Each of the three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – has a chequered history of how we treat “the other”, and all three religions have also been on the receiving end of hatred.
But what do our prophets, our history, our traditions, and our lived experience in the contemporary world tell us about racism in the twenty-first century?
Come join our Zoom meeting, where we’ll discuss how our three Abrahamic religions approach racism.
Chair
Prof Paul Morris, Victoria University
Moderator
Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner
Jewish
Juliet Moses, NZ Jewish Council
Christian
Charles Waldegrave, Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit
Muslim
Anjum Rahman, Inclusive Aotearoa Collective
There will be time for questions and answers immediately following the panel discussion.
We hope to see you there.
For further information, contact the meeting host, Dave Moskovitz, dave@abrahamic.nz or phone 027 220 2202.
Jews, Christians, and Muslims will be falling silent for 51 seconds at 1:40pm on 15 April to remember the Christchurch mosque attacks of 2019. National and local commemorations for the attacks were cancelled last month due to COVID-19, and this is a chance for people to remember the attacks in their own way.
“With the whole country in lockdown, it’s more important now than ever to act together, and pause briefly in silence to think about how we can make our society more inclusive,” says Dave Moskovitz, the Jewish Co-Chair of the Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. “We’re asking people in each household to take less than a minute out of their day on 15 April to think: what can I do, what can our community do, and what can New Zealand do to stop hatred in our thoughts, words, and actions?”
Christian Co-chair Father Ron Bennett adds, “We’re a month late for the 15 March anniversary. It’s sad that commemorations were cancelled last month, but we couldn’t let this important event in New Zealand history go unmarked. We’re asking people to take 51 seconds – that’s one second for each life lost in the attacks – to build a more compassionate society. COVID-19 might slow us down, but it can’t stop us. Better late than never.”
Islamic Women’s Council of NZ Coordinator Anjum Rahman says that it is not Muslim practice to commemorate the deaths of specific people as death is a transition from one stage of life to another. “These attacks had a strong impact on our wider society. Many of us feel less safe now than we did before the attacks, and every person in our country has the basic human right to not fear for their lives, no matter what their religious beliefs are, nor how they might identify as a person. Celebrating difference and valuing others is the best way to counter hate.”
So on 15 April, take 51 seconds to remember the Christchurch mosque shootings, and join Jews, Christains, and Muslims around the country to think about how we’ve changed, and what we can do to make our society more inclusive. Please share this, and invite your friends to our Facebook Event.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: This meeting will now be held as an online meeting; see instructions below for how to join.
Public Meeting – Lessons from the Life of Abraham
Wednesday 25 March 2020, 7pm
All welcome
Due to the current COVID-19 situation, this meeting will be held electronically on Zoom. To join the meeting, point your browser at this link: https://zoom.us/j/127048527
If you’ve never used Zoom before, you might like to watch this tutorial which shows you how to join a Zoom meeting.
Please join us for this interactive meeting. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion at the end of the presentations by the speakers.
Speakers:
Jewish
Rabbi Ariel Tal
Christian
David Wardle
Muslim
Tahir Nawaz
Abraham is the common ancestor of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – we call them the three Abrahamic religions.
The story of Abraham’s life is recounted and
interpreted in different ways in each of these three religions, and each
religion carries interesting lessons for all of our religions. Although rooted
in antiquity, many of these lessons have great relevance to our lives in
contemporary times.
Come join us as we learn from different perspectives from each other about the person we regard as the founder of our three great religions.
You can help publicise this event by downloading and printing our attractive flyer.