Sharing of Faiths prayer�

Wycombe Sharing of Faiths was born in 1981 when some Muslims and Christians held a joint prayer vigil for a family threatened with deportation. During the years since then, a key event has been the annual evening of prayers and readings usually focusing on a theme.

Leaders from each faith tradition are invited to read from their scriptures and pray in their personal way. Others present are invited to witness with respect the prayer and devotion as the expression of that person's belief and practice. If they feel they can give assent they may say Amen and that is fine. If they do not give assent and keep silent that too is fine. In this way we gain the experience of other people's practice.

A prayer that seemed to speak collectively to Sharing of Faiths members was adopted as our prayer. It was many years before we came to know its origin: in 1991, during the Gulf War, 160 people attended prayers for peace and justice hosted by Wycombe Sharing of Faiths.  The Jewish contributor on that evening read in full our prayer which was in fact incomplete. We thank him and the long tradition in which he stands, for introducing us to the full version printed below.

Sharing of Faiths prayer

                        God of all creation

                        we stand in awe before you,

                        impelled by visions of the harmony of all people.

                        We are children of many traditions,

                        inheritors of shared wisdom and tragic misunderstandings,

                        of proud hopes and humble successes.

                        Now it is time to meet

                        --in memory and truth

                        --in courage and trust

                        --in love and promise.

                        In that which we share

                        let us see the common prayer of humanity.

                        In that where we differ

                        let us wonder at the freedom of people.

                        In our unity and our differences

                        let us know the uniqueness that is God.

                        May our courage match our convictions,

                        and our integrity match our hope.

                        May our faith in you bring us closer to each other.

                        May our meeting with past and present

                        bring blessing for the future.

                        Amen.

Shared Faith Worship

A comment from Mr Om Parkash Sharma, MBE, Chair of the Week of Prayer for World Peace in 2002

For those who want to persevere with the idea of praying with people of other faiths, three thoughts may be helpful.

• First, the different prayers that we say are said by neighbours in the same town and the same street every week. In worshipping together we simply bring under one roof what happens anyway under the same sky.
• Secondly, we are convinced that there is only one humanity that prays, and only one Divinity that we pray to, whatever opinions we may have about that one Divinity.
• Thirdly, we recognise that interfaith partnership does not itself imply agreement. The things we agree on are many, and precious. The things we disagree on are precious too. When we stand with a follower of another faith who is praying, whenever we can agree with the prayer, we give it our interior assent. Where we cannot agree, we withhold our interior assent. It is still good to stand with that person as a friend and as a partner for peace.