2 February 2025
Written by Jay Moore
The congregation at Rockway Mennonite Church in Kitchener was able to hear from members of many different faith groups in a service on Sunday, February 2nd 2025. It was cold and cloudy that morning and despite the fact that Wiarton Willie did not see his shadow and, therefore, predicted six more weeks of winter, the atmosphere was warm and sunny in the church.
Brice Balmer is a member of this congregation and he suggested the idea to the church leaders. He planned, arranged and led the service that provided short opportunities for speakers from the Muslim, Jewish, Unitarian, Baha’i, Sik and Buddhist faiths to talk to the Christians in the congregation about “Love of God (or ‘the Good’) and love of neighbour.”
It became clear that the many faith groups have a great deal in common particularly in values such as love, compassion, kindness, justice and social action. Those of us with direct involvement with Interfaith Grand River were able to emphasize the ways in which we can join together with people of other faiths and create peace in this world. It was particularly noted that most of the speakers referred to doctrines within their own tradition that instructed their people to welcome the stranger, give aid to your neighbour, resolve conflicts with your neighbour fairly and so on. It was clear that religion can promote peace in this world through the actions of good people in all faith groups.
The time spent in the question and answer period after the service demonstrated how well-received and understood the guests were and how much the efforts of IGR are affirmed and appreciated. We will consider more events like this to spread the word, the word of Interfaith.