Weekly Online Interfaith Services and Prayers/Sermons/Spiritual Workshops
We’re working on plans to grow our congregation and expand our community work and are pleased to begin a weekly online interactive Sabbath Service. We aim to keep it short and sweet but give everyone a point of contact to come together in spiritual unity–and hope that everyone will participate.
The hours will be 6:30 to 7:00 every Friday. We will be lighting/blessing the Sabbath candles, challah, and wine and offering prayers for each other and those of our loved ones who are sick in our families and communities—and among our four-legged families as well. The service will be in English/Hebrew (or your language of choice) –and interfaith prayers will be offered in closing. More details on these services and links will be published here and in our newsletters.
The key to prayer/this week’s video commentary.
In the meantime, please subscribe to Rabbi David Gellman–YouTube Channel
Interfaith Bilingual Golden Rule Poster
Interfaith Prayers
Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity. Be fair in thy judgment and guarded in thy speech. Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness and a home to the stranger. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another. May those who find themselves in the trackless, fearful wilderness, “the children, the aged, the unprotected,” be guarded by beneficent celestials and swiftly attain Buddhahood.
Now under the loving kindness and care of the Buddha, each believer of religion in the world transcends the differences of religion, race, and nationality, discards small differences, and unites in oneness to discuss sincerely how to annihilate strife from the earth, how to reconstruct a world without arms, and how to build welfare and peace of mankind, so that never-ending light and happiness can be obtained for the world of the future. May the Lord Buddha give His loving kindness and blessing to us for the realization of our prayers.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God &, But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; from anyone who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you, and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, not so much to be understood as to understand, not so much to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.
Lead us from the unreal to the Real. Lead us from darkness to light. Lead us from death to immortality. Peace, Peace, Peace unto all. May there be peace in celestial regions. May there be peace on earth. May the waters be appeasing. May herbs be wholesome, and trees and plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent beings bring peace to us. May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world. May all things be a source of peace to us. And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all, and may that peace come to me also.
May the winds, the oceans, the herbs, the nights and days, the mother earth, the father heaven, all vegetation, the sun, be all sweet to us. Let us follow the path of goodness for all times, like the sun and the moon moving eternally in the sky. Let us be charitable to one another. Let us not kill or be violent with one another. Let us know and appreciate the points of view of others. And let us unite. May the God who is friendly, benevolent, all-encompassing, measurer of everything, the sovereign, the lord of speech, may He shower His blessings on us. . . Oh Lord, remove my indiscretion and arrogance; control my mind. Put an end to the snare of endless desires. Broaden the sphere of compassion and help me to cross the ocean of existence.
Lead me from Death to Life, from Falsehood to Truth. Lead me from Despair to Hope, From Fear to Trust. Lead me from Hate to Love, from War to Peace. Let Peace fill our Hearts, our World, and Our Universe.
Peace and Universal Love are the essences of the Gospel preached by all the Enlightened Ones. The Lord has preached that equanimity is the Dharma. Forgive do I, creatures, all, and let all creatures forgive me. Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity. Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world. Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage. “Do not injure any living being. “This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable way of spiritual life. A weapon, howsoever powerful it may be, can always be superseded by a superior one; but no weapon can, however, be superior to nonviolence and love.
Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High. And we shall beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.
In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful. Praise be to the Lord of the Universe, who has created us and made us into tribes and nations that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other. If the enemy incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace, and trust God, for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things. And the servants of God, most Gracious, are those who walk on the earth in Humility, and when we address them, we say “PEACE.”
Let us know peace. For as long as the moon shall rise, For as long as the rivers shall flow, For as long as the sun will shine, For as long as the grass shall grow, Let us know peace.
O Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you, your messengers, the four winds, and Mother Earth who provides for your children. Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, respect, and be kind to each other so they may grow with peace in mind. Let us learn to share all the good things you provide for us on this Earth.
O Most High, help to bring thy Light into the darkened conditions of the world! Be gracious to us, thy humble servants, and bless us with illumination as to that which is Divinely relevant to the fulfillment of thy will! O Most High, inspire thy servants throughout the world to further efforts towards leading back thy children who are led astray to the right way, and to live and act on the faith of what has been taught by the great founders of the religions! Bless all spiritual leaders with thy power and enable them to give help, joy, comfort, and reassurance to those suffering to whom they minister!
God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear: that Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living. Know that we attaineth God when we loveth, and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.
We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world: that understanding triumphs over ignorance, that generosity triumphs over indifference, that trust triumphs over contempt, and that truth triumphs over falsehood.
With bended knees, with hands outstretched, do I yearn for the effective expression of the holy spirit working within me: For this love and understanding, truth and justice; for wisdom to know the apparent from the reality that I might alleviate the sufferings of men on earth. . . . God is love, understanding, wisdom, and virtue. Let us love one another, let us practice mercy and forgiveness, let us have peace, born of fellow-feeling. . . . Let my joy be of altruistic living, of doing good to others. Happiness is unto him from who happiness proceeds to any other human being.
Interfaith Directories of Groups in the GTA
GTA Interfaith Directory & History
This two-part document, compiled by veteran interfaith activist Leslie Mezei profiles the more than 80 interfaith organizations in the GTA. Also chronicled here is Toronto’s interfaith history from 1893 to the present: http://www.scarboromissions.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Toronto-Interfaith-History-and-Directory.pdf
Youth Interfaith Directory – GTA
This directory features interfaith youth groups in Toronto and organizations and educational resources from around the world. Compiled by Hector Acero Ferrer – Scarboro Missions Interfaith Dept. https://www.scarboromissions.ca/interfaith-dialogue/youth-and-interfaith-dialogue-a-directory-of-organizations