Christians and Muslims: Praying together - Churches in Dialogue ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Millennium Prayer 20 Prayer of Dag Hammerskjöld...............................................................20 Prayer: Example from the Final Statement of the Bose (Italy) meeting in 1997..........................................21 Commemoration of Earthquake (The Cry of the Snowdrop)...............21 d) Christian and Muslim texts that could apply to common meetings.........................22 St. Francis’ Prayer............................................................................................22 Material of Sufi tradition..................................................................................22 Rabi´a al-Adawiyya ..............................................................................22 Yunus Emre..........................................................................................23 Süleyman Celebi...................................................................................23 Ibrahim Hakki Erzurumlu.....................................................................24 Psalms . ............................................................................................................25 Psalm 23...............................................................................................25 Psalm 90...............................................................................................25 Psalm 104: 24 - 35 ...............................................................................26 Surats etc..........................................................................................................27 Fatiha....................................................................................................27 Sura 2: 255:..........................................................................................27 Sura 49: 13 ...........................................................................................28 Litany of the 99 names of God .............................................................28 PUBLICATIONS on general topics of religious encounters ...................................................31 4
Christians and Muslims: Praying together Reflections and Texts Preface Christians living together with Muslims have long been exercised by the question of whether or not there is a place for common prayer. The Islam in Europe-Committee of CEC and CCEE has sought to address this issue. In preparing these reflections the Committee discovered very different attitudes and experiences across Europe. Since we cannot speak of a consensus on this issue, we have decided to present a provisional survey of the present situation to illustrate the diversity of responses and theological thinking and to encourage every church to take up a position. General Reflections Living together is more than physical proximity. It is not enough to know about our neighbours, where they have come from, to which religion or sect they belong. Living together includes sharing the highs and lows of human experience: Giving and receiving hospitality, laughing and crying together, a desire to praise God and to mourn together. For these reasons praying together is a reality, often spontaneously, performed by individual members of different churches as well as by informal gatherings of Christians and Muslims together. Nevertheless, this topic is controversial. Prayer across Christian traditions can be difficult enough, even more when Christians and Muslims come together. Therefore the materials we have collected may only apply to some parts of Europe, especially to Western Europe. The examples we cite come from France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Great Britain, Spain ... They show a series of snapshots as people respond tentatively and experimentally to an emerging new religious reality in Western Europe. Describing this situation includes critical observations: There can be a mismatch between informal words of church leaders (e.g. at opening ceremonies of conferences) and practical behaviour in the same churches. For example: Muslims can sometimes be addressed as brothers and sisters, or Muslims and Christians alike are seen as children of God. But what this means practically has not been thought through, still less its practical implications for a shared spirituality. In reality there are many examples of events where Muslims and Christians have been together in a self-consciously religious way, e.g. at funerals, in praying for peace, in joint studies of scriptures, but seldom do we find a theological justification for this by church authorities or Muslims. Challenging Occasions for Prayers of Muslims and Christians The situations that require prayer are usually not planned but rather responses to public and civic life. When a mining accident involves Christian and Muslim fatalities alike, any public commemoration must needs involve both faiths. When emotions are running high following a 5
Page 1: Conference of European Churches (CE
Page 6 and 7: national disaster or in the midst o
Page 8 and 9: eflecting the universal phenomenon
Page 10 and 11: common prayer of Muslims is possibl
Page 12 and 13: APPENDIX: Models/Examples/Useful Pi
Page 14 and 15: Children’s Prayers Prière du mat
Page 16 and 17: Pardon, Seigneur, pour mes manques
Page 18 and 19: Intercession(Interreligious Prayer
Page 20 and 21: entreprenons sur terre. Affranchis-
Page 22 and 23: The cries of despair From eighteen
Page 24 and 25: Komm, voll Liebe lass „Allah“ u
Page 26 and 27: Thou dost sweep men away; they are
Page 28 and 29: Except as He willeth. His Throne do
Page 30 and 31: You are the Restorer Response: Lord
Page 32: Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland; C

Christians and Muslims: Praying together - Churches in Dialogue ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?