Bombed church marks 7/7 remembrance with peace meditation
-07/07/06
Exactly one year o
Bombed church marks 7/7 remembrance with peace meditation
-07/07/06
Exactly one year on after the 7 July 2005 London bombings that killed 52 and injured 700 people, a church peace centre which has risen from the ashes following an earlier IRA bombing campaign is holding prayers and reflections to remember the victims ñ and to encourage those working for reconciliation.
Says Simon Keyes of St Ethelburgaís Church in the heart of the city: ìWe will mark the event with half-an-hour of silent meditation for peace, followed by some simple reflections and prayers for the victims and their families.î
The simple event, from 8.40am – 9.30am today, is open to people of all religions and none (all those ìof good faithî) and will take place in a special Tent which exists as a space for dialogue and reflection among people of different communities and convictions.
After the meditation the St Ethelburgaís Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, built on a site which has experienced terror itself, will be closed to visitors until 7.30 pm, say organisers. When it re-opens there will be a free concert by Bosnian Muslim musicians Sultan Mehmet Fatih Ensemble.
People of all faiths and none met at the central London church a few days after the bombs on 7/7 (and again on 21/7) to express solidarity for the victims of the atrocity and to consider the wider impact for Muslims.
An artwork was created using debris from the destruction of St Ethelburga’s by an IRA bomb in 1993.
The 800-year-old church named after a seventh century abbess was reconstructed and opened as a centre for peace and reconciliation in 2002. Adjacent to it, a Saudi Arabian-built Bedouin-style tent now promotes interfaith dialogue.
It forms a striking counterpoint to the steel and glass towers of the London’s financial district which overlook it, say onlookers and participants. Contrasts are also being drawn with the London Dome, which the government hopes will become a ësuper-casinoí ñ ìa very different vision of what the country is aboutî, an observer told Ekklesia.
St Ethelburga’s has also produced a prayer for 7/7, which focuses attention on the need to end the cycles of violence involved in the perpetuation of war and terror across the globe.
[Also on Ekklesia: ëBeyond the politics of fearí – a 7/7 response; UK Mennonites call for reflection after 7/7; Questions raised over St Paul’s service for 7/7 victims; Support urged as Muslims confront extremism; Face the religious roots of terror, says Christian think tank; Muslim tells Christians ‘War on Terror’ seems like ‘War on Islam’]
Bombed church marks 7/7 remembrance with peace meditation
-07/07/06
Exactly one year on after the 7 July 2005 London bombings that killed 52 and injured 700 people, a church peace centre which has risen from the ashes following an earlier IRA bombing campaign is holding prayers and reflections to remember the victims ñ and to encourage those working for reconciliation.
Says Simon Keyes of St Ethelburgaís Church in the heart of the city: ìWe will mark the event with half-an-hour of silent meditation for peace, followed by some simple reflections and prayers for the victims and their families.î
The simple event, from 8.40am – 9.30am today, is open to people of all religions and none (all those ìof good faithî) and will take place in a special Tent which exists as a space for dialogue and reflection among people of different communities and convictions.
After the meditation the St Ethelburgaís Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, built on a site which has experienced terror itself, will be closed to visitors until 7.30 pm, say organisers. When it re-opens there will be a free concert by Bosnian Muslim musicians Sultan Mehmet Fatih Ensemble.
People of all faiths and none met at the central London church a few days after the bombs on 7/7 (and again on 21/7) to express solidarity for the victims of the atrocity and to consider the wider impact for Muslims.
An artwork was created using debris from the destruction of St Ethelburga’s by an IRA bomb in 1993.
The 800-year-old church named after a seventh century abbess was reconstructed and opened as a centre for peace and reconciliation in 2002. Adjacent to it, a Saudi Arabian-built Bedouin-style tent now promotes interfaith dialogue.
It forms a striking counterpoint to the steel and glass towers of the London’s financial district which overlook it, say onlookers and participants. Contrasts are also being drawn with the London Dome, which the government hopes will become a ësuper-casinoí ñ ìa very different vision of what the country is aboutî, an observer told Ekklesia.
St Ethelburga’s has also produced a prayer for 7/7, which focuses attention on the need to end the cycles of violence involved in the perpetuation of war and terror across the globe.
[Also on Ekklesia: ëBeyond the politics of fearí – a 7/7 response; UK Mennonites call for reflection after 7/7; Questions raised over St Paul’s service for 7/7 victims; Support urged as Muslims confront extremism; Face the religious roots of terror, says Christian think tank; Muslim tells Christians ‘War on Terror’ seems like ‘War on Islam’]