Meeting with those of the Abrahamic Faiths

I had, possibly, my best weekend at Corrymeela yet. Saturday I spent listening to and collaborating with a group of Turkish/Turkmenistan Muslims who are seeking to raise awareness and create inter-faith dialogue within the Irish/Northern Irish communities. They hold a lot of passion for what they do. I was very much inspiring to hear them speaking the same language of peacemaking that we speak. I will be meeting with them again, and hopefully that will be helping me plan an inter-faith youth conference for next April.

Sunday we had two visitors from Jerusalem, a Rodef Shalom (a Jewish order of people who are anointed to be pursurers of peace in the Orthodox tradition), and a Muslim Sheikh from the Sufi tradition, who have chosen to work together in Jerusalem for peace. They formed a organization called Jerusalem Peacemakers, the website is www.jerusalempeacemakers.org I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the evening with the two of them and our Centre director. It was fascinating to hear their stories and recieve their wisdom in building peace. In the morning they joined us in worship and taught us to pray in Hebrew and Arabic, quite the experience. We were told that we would be welcome at any time in their homes, so maybe we'll just take them up on it.

I've found over the last little while that the idea of peacemaking between religions gives me a lot of energy and captures my imagination. I've had many chances lately to meet people from the Muslim faith and they've all captured my respect very quickly. I really admire their deep spirituality and their dedication to building peace, which is contrary to how the media has been potraying people of the Islamic faith lately.

Update

Just a quick update about our week. Since our trip to Dublin I worked with a youth group that was thinking about bullying in their own communities and coming up with ideas on how to support other youth. This I have noticed is a major issue in Northern Ireland because people are being pullied and over extended abuse many are committing suicide because of this. Even mean texting is a problem here. Niki worked with a church group looking at Celtic spirituality. This past week I have been on resource updating the Corrymeela website (check out the photo gallery and bookings section), making a comprehensive list of available dates at Corrymeela up to Jun 30th and doing an analysis of the cottages for three fiscal years to give an estimate of how much income Corrymeela will lose moving volunteers into the cottages next year while Coventry is being rebuilt. Niki was on housekeeping and during the evenings she spent some time painting an encouragement tree in Coventry similar to the tree at Camp Valaqua. This weekend we are both on resource and Niki is present for a couple of day groups. Next week we are off to Edinburgh for a few nights holiday to celebrate my birthday. Today is a significant day for Northern Ireland and if you would like to find out more about the current events start by checking the BBC news online. www.bbc.co.uk

Dublin

Jason and I spend a lovely (and rainy) few days in Dublin. We spent our time wednesday visiting some of the historical sights of Dublin such as the old jail, where many of the leaders of rebellions against Britian were kept and executed, and the Dublin Castle, really a parlimentary palace. Ireland gained independence in 1921 and they are very proud of their history. Our passports did get checked by an officer coming onto the bus on the way into Ireland, but not on the way out. So it's pretty difficult to tell that you've moved into a new country. However, in some ways Ireland was a breath of fresh air, because you no longer have to watch what you are refering to or what to call people etc... Most of the signs in Ireland are in both English and Irish, Irish is the official language and students have to take it in school.

We spent Thursday on a day long tour into the Wicklow Mountains right outside Dublin, beautiful territory. Our stay was spent at a downtown hostel, which was in the perfect location and not to much of an expense, but besides that Dublin is a very expensive city to travel in. We also enjoyed a really good celtic music band one evening. Unfortunetly the trip home was a little frustrating as Northern Irish public transportation is not great.

Last weekend I worked with a lovely church group exploring celtic Christianity and Jason worked with a youth group looking at ways to reduce bullying in their communities. This week I get the great pleasure of being on Housekeeping and Jason is on resource. After that we're going to head out to Scotland for Jason's birthday trip! We'd love to hear from everyone who's reading, so keep sending emails or comments our way!

Holiday Plans

Here are our tentative plans until Christmas:

Nov. 14-17 - Trip to Dublin (First time in Ireland)
Nov. 28-Dec. 3 - Trip to Edinburgh (First time in Scotland)
Dec. 20-25 - Stay with Volunteers in Northern Ireland
Dec. 26-Jan. 3 - Travel Irish Counties Cork, Clare, Kerry and Donegal

Training at Corrymeela

Corrymeela is very kind in giving us many training opportunities throughout the year. So far we have received: Child Protection Training, Assertiveness Training, and Diability Awareness Training. Before Christmas we will receive Food Safety Training.

Tea and Coffee at Corrymeela

If you are asked if you would like tea or coffee you may be asked if you want a "cuppa." And I find that if you are asked, just say yes because if you don't have a cup of tea or coffee in your hands you will be asked by three or four people before the break is done. If someone is going to make a cuppa for themselves it is practice to ask everyone else if they would like one as well.

Tea and Coffee at Corrymeela is all fair trade. The coffee here is usually made weak and may be compared to a cup of tea with a coffee flavour. The tea here is black with the options of milk and sugar. What we call "mugs" in Canada are called "cups" in the UK and what we would call "cups" are called "glasses."

Having tea or coffee, however, does not mean simply the drink. Usually having a cuppa involves eating something as well, like a "buscuit" (which we call cookies), scone, toast with butter, or a bun (which we would call doughnuts with whipping cream inside).

I usually take tea with two sugars and milk and it is becoming one of my favorite aspects of a day here at Corrymeela.

New Website up Yesterday

Hey,

The Corrymeela website has been under construction for a number of months now, but yesterday at noon it was up and running. There is still a lot of gaps, but have a look and be sure to take the virtual tour. The link on this blog will take you to the website.

Talking Peace in Birmingham

I had a fabulous weekend at a retreat centre just outside of Birmingham. The conference was put on by Fellowship of Reconciliation, the group was about 30 people mostly in their 20s and 30s. The topic was Religious Rights and Wrongs in Contemporary Conflicts. They brought in really interesting speakers, one of which was a female Muslim councilor from the city of Birmingham. It was interesting to hear her reflections on what the Muslim community has been going through since the London bombings. My favorite part of the weekend was really just the chance to connect with the peace community throughout England. I had some really inspiring conversations. I would say that most of the people there were more towards the activist end of the spectrum when it comes to the peace movement, Corrymeela tends more towards the community development end. I love my work here, but was missing the activist energy. We looked a fair bit at inter-faith dialogue and the difficulties that accompany it, which is an area I would be interested in entering. I arrived back at Corrymeela tired and inspired. Many of the people from the conference I hope to keep in contact with. If you have any questions about the conference feel free to email me, we really enjoy hearing from everyone.

We're both off this week and this weekend I'm working with a Habitat for Humanity group that's preparing to go to Sri Lanka, doing mostly team building activities. It's getting colder here, but no snow yet.