Eid Al-Fitr 2013/1434

Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim friends! May you enjoy a day of rich blessings and the company of friends and family. For those of you who celebrate alone or under difficult circumstances, may you know the presence and blessing of God.

I have been involved with the Christian Muslim Forum for some years now and over the years my understanding and appreciation of Islam has grown - despite the continuing often negative portrayal in the news and media.
I have come to know and love many, many wonderful Muslims - and if you are one of them, consider yourself hugged warmly!

As last year, I am posting the wonderful Eid message from the Archbishop Justin, the new head of the Church of England:

Archbishop Justin Welby's greeting to Muslim friends and colleagues for Eid Al-Fitr 2013/1434

"Eid Mubarak! For the first time as Archbishop of Canterbury I wish you warm greetings on this joyful occasion. It has been a privilege over these first few months to get to know more Muslim colleagues, and to see and hear more of the strong network of friendships between our communities.

Reconciliation is a theme that I have returned to often in these months. Jesus Christ calls us to a restored relationship with God and with one another. There is much in our world and in our history that tries to divide us. Negative events, prejudices and fears build walls that are hard to break down.

But God is greater! We, Christians and Muslims, should commit ourselves to draw on God's strength for the hard, but also joyful work of building deep, long-term relationships with one another. I have personally experienced this joy over many years with Muslim friends in Nigeria, which is a challenging place for Muslims and Christians. I have also seen the efforts made here in the UK by the Christian Muslim Forum in encouraging these deep and long-term relationships.

May God bless you in your time of celebration with family and friends, and may God bless all of us in our work together for a reconciled world!"

Amen!

London

                     

So, I am sitting on the train to go to London when it occurs to me to text a friend who works in London, asking if he has time to meet up for a coffee. He texts me back, saying "I don't really have time, but I am at Lambeth Palace at lunch time for an Advent Eucharist and a reception with the Archbishop afterwards. Do you want me to try to get your name on the list?"

I take a brief glance at my city outfit - jeans and duffel coat, consider whether that's the right attire for the occasion and text back "Yes, please!". How can I say no to meeting Rowan Williams, who I have great respect for?

Sadly, I didn't make it in the end. No free place available (which isn't really surprising, I guess).
So, having narrowly missed the opportunity of meeting the Archbishop, what's a girl to do but take in the sights instead ...

A beautiful restaurant front in Drury Lane

Re-used pram

When we came to London some years ago, our son was about 10 years old. Nothing we saw could impress him! Everything was "like home, only bigger". But Covent Garden DID impress. I mean, what's not to like? ...

The decorations ...

... and the inevitable street artists

Then I walked on towards St Paul's Cathedral. A beautiful building - although I found £15 too much to pay. So I spend a little time in prayer in the small side chapel instead. (You don't get charged for praying, luckily!)

The I headed back through St James' Park ...

 ... and past Buckingham Palace. Seems that Her
... past Buckingham Palace.
Seems that Her Majesty lives right next to a busy road. Location, location, LOCATION, Ma'am!

This is what I really came for. Not the Archbishop or the Queen, the PM or Santa ... but the German Embassy. Surely the place where bureaucracy was invented!

After some serious security procedures (think airport) outside in the street, I got to spend an hour inside before having my passport documents seen to. Enough time to bond with some other German expats, who were equally bemused by the whole thing (10 years is just enough time to forget the previous ordeal!)
Much hilarity, some discussions about the rights or wrongs of crossing the pedestrian crossing at red when there is no traffic about and a few stories which remind us why we all came to the UK in the first place and never left.
(If we laugh too loud, will we be denied our 10-year German passport??)

Obviously, photography is NOT allowed inside the embassy, hence no pictures of my new-found German friends.

Having the passport business finally sorted, it is time to head back towards Leicester Square. On the way I pass Chinatown.

I had a great time in London.
It was fun to avoid the Underground as much as possible and to take to the streets instead. It doesn't seem to take much longer and there is much more to see!

A final message to combat any remaining disappointment about not having met the Archbishop:

Eid Mubarak from me and the Archbishop!

Rowan Williams is the Archbishop in the Church of England and a man I greatly admire.
Here is his Eid Message for this year.

May I join him in wishing all my Muslim friends Eid Mubarak!

To Muslim friends and fellow workers on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr 2012

It is a joy once again at Eid al-Fitr to send this message of warm good wishes to Muslim colleagues and communities, and especially to those friends and colleagues with whom Christians have enjoyed working together over the past year. During the long summer days this year the month of fasting has been particularly demanding. I trust that it has been a time of rich blessing, and that Eid will also be a time of joy and sharing.

As many of you will know, these are the last Eid greetings that I will be sending to you before I leave the position of Archbishop of Canterbury to take up a new role at the University of Cambridge. It was a moving experience recently to meet with members of the Christian Muslim Forum and to say a formal goodbye to this organisation which has done so much since its beginning in 2006 to foster deep relationships between our communities.

As I look back over the last ten years, it is clear that our relationship as Christians and Muslims has grown and deepened. It has not been an easy time, and there are huge challenges that we still face together. Nevertheless, we have learned how to quarry together the resources we have of a vision of human beings honoured before God. The word honour, I believe, is one we should learn to use more freely, and even extravagantly, when we talk about our human world. We honour human beings because God in his creation and in his dealings with human beings honours them.

In practical terms this honouring has meant that Muslims and Christians have been working as never before in international development to serve the world’s poorest people, and I want to recognise the huge amount of financial giving that the Muslim community pours out during Ramadan especially. It has also meant at a local level that Muslims have shared with Christians and others during Ramadan in service to their communities through the ‘A Year of Service’ initiative, in the ‘Near Neighbours’ programme and in many other ways.

I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had in these last nine or ten years of growing into a fuller knowledge of our relationship as Christians and Muslims. I have been privileged to be welcomed to a number of great Muslim contexts and institutions around the world and have found myself stretched and challenged. I have found it a great gift to be a small part in the mutual discovery and intensifying of relations here in the UK, and I am aware that we are modelling something here that is creative, fresh, honest and deeply hopeful. I pray and trust that the years ahead will see a deepening of these bonds and an even stronger witness to the whole world of real possibilities, of friendship and understanding and simple delight in our neighbours.

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