Visit to synagogue

A few of us visited the reform synagogue at Jackson's row on occasion of Shabbat and Hanukkah. We were greeted by Rabbi Silverman, who explained the meaning and significance of Hanukkah as a tribute to multiculturalism. Someone lit the hanukkah candles before we began, to remember sacrifice of those who laid their lives in defence of their faith and way of life. The service was very lively, with lots of songs in Hebrew based on devotion to God and other themes, from macabees and deuteronomy, and main prayer of the shabbat. Then we went down where the rabbi prayed and broke bread and wine, after which we had a vegetarian meal over friendly discussions. Later we were invited to the liberal judaism service in the Unitarian chapel, where we had lots of bagels.

Visit to Sri Harkishan Sahibji

Today at the Interfaith society, we saw the movie "Millions" about the little boy who has visions of many saints and gets a load of money and knows not what to do with it, it was great with all the crisps-chocolates-lemonades, full screen projector, humungous speakers, and all. But real pity only James, myself, Yoji and Kevin turned up to witness it. Then we made spontaneous move to Gurudwara Harkishan sahib on Sherborne street, where we were shown around by members of Sikh Soc and also treated to delicious Langar vegetarian meal of curry and chapati and drinks. We finally had long chat with the granthi (who reads the guru granth sahib scripture) and a committed devotee member of the temple. All in all it was an excellent experience.

Sep 25: First meeting of new term

In the first meeting of the Autumn term, after freshers week, we met at 5:30 pm in St Peters chaplaincy library. There were John, James the new chaplaincy assistant, Claire, Oxana, Joy, Enrique, Rueyfen, Shimon, Mo, Kevin etc. We decided to have Hana Agil (a muslim) as chair, Enrique (a buddhist) as treasurer and Kevin (a catholic christian) as secretary.

We also decided to have a timetable for formal meetings only 1st and 3rd (and 5th) Tuesday of every month at 5:30 in St Peters, but we will meet informally other tuesdays. We will have following:
Films: organised by Yoji
Workshop on Peaceful Zen martial art (oxana) and Bahai tranquility Zone (Schimon)
Scripture study on a given topic (organised by Claire)
Invited speakers for talks (organised by John, he has already talked to Dada from Ananda Marga, a hinduism-related spiritual group)

Kevin's summary of the meeting:
Summary of Minutes from preliminary meeting:
* Events on 1st and 3rd tuesday each month
* Abraham's Table 4th December
* Film 1st October - Yogi has it sorted, I need to book room, projector
* Need to sort visit - Jewish synagogue
* Need to sort speakers
* Scripture - sorted (thanks Olga!)
* Baha'i workshop with Simon sometime

Oxana's proposals for topics for Scripture Studies in 2007-08:
1. Righteous Anger: can anger (or any negative emotions for that matter) be justified?
2. Food and eating
3. Balance between social practice and spiritual practice (Variation: Which figure is an ideal in your religion: a Hermit or an Activist?)
4. What is the balance between the individual and the collectivist in your reigion?
5. The level of Fundamentalism (Dogmatism) prescribed by your scriptures?
6. Balance between institutional religious authority and individual consciousness in your religion?

Then we went to Gita Bhavan hindu Temple on Wilbraham Road (catch 85 bus from RNCM), it was the first meeting of national hindu students forum, website http://www.umsu.manchester.ac.uk/nhsf and
http://www.nhsf.org.uk/

We heard the Panditji (Hindu priest) chant some mantras and prayers to various Gods including Ganesha (God of auspiciousness), Saraswati (Goddess of learning), in Sanskrit, followed by Arati (lighting of lamps and ceremonial worship). Many NHSF officers gave talks about their various activities, including Yoga in Owens Park, Diwali ball, Navratri, Raas Garba, Alton Towers trip etc, all of which are non alcoholic events. A speaker gave an interesting talk on Transnational Indian Identity, and publicised a forum for exchanging views and getting involved in the topic, http://www.t-identity.com/ . Then the people sang some hindu kirtans to Lord Shiva.

Finally we all had some icebreakers and delicious Indian vegetarian food kindly provided by the temple. The priest said that the temple is open daily in the morning and in evening between 7 and 8:30 and invited everyone to visit.

Mar 13: mass at Holy Name

We went to the Holy Name church and although all couldnt see properly the whole thing, it was certainly a very interesting experience for everyone. At least you can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_%28liturgy%29

After attending the mass we went to Falafel restaurant in Rusholme and had a meal and also had grace before the meal in different languages: Bengali (from John), German (Robert) and English, and witnessed Nicholas and others breaking the Bahai fast with a Bahai prayer.

Mar 4: Trip to Fo Guang Shan Temple

We had a trip to the Chinese Buddhist temple on 540 Stretford Road M16 9AF (with food).

There was a light offering service followed by free vegetarian lunch. Everyone is welcome, please bring your friends. We met at 10 amand took the bus 250 from Phoenix pub bus stop. The service started at 10:30.

Also, on the 17 of February, Saturday, this temple will host a celebration of Chinese New Year. There will be a service and some sweets served, starting from 9 pm and carrying on until after midnight. Everyone is invited to attend this, as well as New year celebration in China town on the next day, Sunday the 18 of February.

Oct 31 : Visit to Gurudwara Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji (Sikh temple) near Salford

We paid a visit to Gurudwara Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji (Sikh temple). All of us enjoyed the readings from the Guru Granth Sahib (the sikh holy scripture), the lovely kirtan or devotional music, the prasad (blessing) of delicious halwa sweets and most of all the great food and hospitality.

Special thanks to Mo for finding out about the Gurudwara, Tim for driving us all there (simply couldnt have walked to the place !!!) and also to our new friend Gurdeep Singh (at the gurudwara) for so kindly telling us so much about Sikhism and sharing with us the story of his life, not minding that his own food got cold for talking to us for hours! If any of you are interested in attending their Saturday service from around 7 pm (and the meal afterwards) for which we have been invited, its name is Gurudwara Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib ji and address is 12 Sherborne Street, Manchester, M3 1FE Website: http://www.gsghks.org.uk/

Oct 10: Visit to Bahai Centre, Fallowfield

We visited the Bahai centre in Fallowfield.

First Shimon gave an introduction to the Bahai faith, and Nicholas answered questions. Then we were shown pictures of various Bahai temples all over the world. After that we had tea and biscuits kindly provided by our hosts, and had a discussion that lasted until 12:45 am for some of us (poor Nicholas!). For those who want to know more about the Bahai faith, heres a website http://bahai.org.uk/

Oct 8: Visit to the Manchester Reform Synagogue

The visit to the Manchester Reform Synagogue was a huge success, I believe. the service was beautiful and moving, everyone was friendly, shaking the branches was exciting and the tent outside was beautiful. I hope we could come there again for some other holiday. We had a security check on entering the synagogue, and the men had to cover their heads. There was a traditional Torah reading (in Hebrew) by the Rabbi and a few other people during the service.

Sep 27: Visit to the Gita Bhavan Hindu temple

We went to Gita Bhavan Mandir in Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, for the Welcome Evening organised by Hindu Society. It consisted of a traditional Hindu Arati (offering) and singing devotional songs, followed by a delicious dinner.