Giving from the Heart/Simon Keyes
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| Event at the London Guildhall, London, June 1, 2007. Richard Regan, Sheriff of the City of London; Mark Goldring — CEO, Voluntary Services Overseas; Simon Keyes — Director, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace; Prem Rawat — Keynote Speaker |
[edit] Simon Keyes — Director, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace
Your Excellencies, my Lords, Aldermen, Mr. Sheriff, ladies, gentlemen, friends, volunteers, everyone, it’s a great privilege to be here this evening and to be able to applaud the work of this remarkable Foundation. And it’s also really good of them, and it’s a great pleasure for me to be able to say a few words about the St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. Your local peace centre here in the city. And we do connect with the work of the Foundation in more ways than I first imagined.
St Ethelburga was the first woman to lead a religious order in Britain. And in the 7th Century, she distinguished herself with her heroic conduct in caring for the sick when the Plague swept across Essex. And of course, the Plague eventually killed her and all the members of her community.
So she always strikes me as a wonderful model of someone committed to self-sacrifice and to compassionate social action. And I would say that the radical spirit of this rather unusual woman has been rooted in our fine little building, St Ethelburga’s for 800 years and has inspired all kinds of interesting people.
One of the 17th Century rectors of St Ethelburga’s was one of the first translators of the Bible—the King James version of the Bible—into English, a service to Christians throughout the world.
Even more interesting, in the middle of the 19th Century, it was actually the rector of St Ethelburga’s—John Meadows Rodwell who made the first reliable English translation of the Koran into English in our little church in Bishopsgate.
However, on the 24th of April, 1993, our lovely medieval home which had survived the fire of London rather better than the Guild Hall, and it survived the Blitz rather better than the Guild Hall, nevertheless was completely devastated by a huge bomb planted by the IRA as an attack on the City of London. Sixty percent of the building was destroyed. It took 10 years and three million pounds’ worth of fundraising to rebuild it, thanks to the huge generosity of institutions and individuals in the city and beyond.
But it now has a new life. The building is an unusual combination of ancient and modern architecture—well worth a visit to come and see us. And it’s not only a fascinating and atmospheric meeting space, but it actually stands as a very powerful, tangible symbol of how, in the darkness of any violent conflict, a new creative order is waiting to be born.
And our new mission—it’s a unique one—it’s to promote understanding of the relationship between faith and conflict. And I always think that it was a remarkable vision of the Bishop of London to create the center long before 9/11. So we host talks by leading peacemakers from around the world. In the last few months, we’ve had people from Syria, from South Africa, from Northern Ireland, from Sri Lanka, coming to share their stories of how it is possible for people of good will and good faith to transform situations of conflict into peace.
We devise workshops, we have exhibitions, we have cultural events, we are well-known now, I think—probably almost as well known, not as. . . Well, as well as being the church that was bombed by the IRA, the only church in the center of London that actually has an attached Bedouin tent. We have a remarkable circular Bedouin tent to provide a private meeting space where people of different faiths who have such capacity to the enemies can actually meet as equals in established ways in which they can share the space on this crowded planet without violence.
On Friday evenings, we invite world musicians from many different cultures to come and perform here in the city. In the last few weeks, Wally—our wonderful volunteer—has brought people from Argentina, from India, from South Africa, from many countries around the world. Unique experience to listen to fine world music artists playing in a bombed medieval building. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s wonderful for me. I finished my week’s work and I simply wander downstairs and everything was provided, it’s marvelous.
And last year, 8,000 people participated in these events. It’s worth saying that when St Ethelburga’s was blown up, it was effectively redundant. But a whole new life has arisen in this place.
Why do these people come to us? Well, I don’t know is the answer because the secrets are in their hearts. But what I do know is that they come to us to explore what reconciliation, what non-violence, what the real building of peace might mean in their own lives and in their hearts, and in the communities of which they are a part.
And if St Ethelburga’s achieves nothing else, I hope that we will stand as a symbol and a practical resource to help people learn to share the same space without violence. Perhaps we can’t expect more than that, but at least to share the same space. And where perhaps within that space, we might be able to collaborate as citizens in building a better society.
On the 7th of July 2005, the bombers came back. 52 people were killed by 4 suicide bombers in London. In St Ethelburga’s, we hold a deeply moving book of tribute to the victims created by their bereaved families who meet in St Ethelburga’s from time to time. That was a dreadful day and I’m sure many people in this room remember it. It stands as a warning to the terrible power of corrupted religion.
And on that day, we wrote a prayer which I’d like to share with you:
God of life, every act of violence in our world, in our communities, between myself and others destroys a part of your creation. Stir in my heart a renewed sense of reverence for all life. Give me the vision to recognize your spirit in every human being, however they behave towards me. Make possible the impossible by cultivating in me the fertile seed of healing love. May I play my part in breaking the cycle of violence by realizing that peace begins with me.
And peace is not just an absence of war, it is a state of fulfilled, unselfish being to which all the great religious traditions call us.
It’s now my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker who brings his own unique message of peace. He’s traveled the world for more than 40 years, sharing this message of dignity and self-fulfillment. In his native India, he started inspiring audiences at a very early age in his father’s ashram. He first came to London at age 13, so welcome back.
His arrival created something of a sensation in the western world, which continued as he sought to establish his work in America. And perhaps this made it difficult for people to grasp the importance of what he was really saying. But over the years, he’s continued to offer his teachings about peace in more than 250 cities in 50 countries. Each year, more than one million people come to hear him in person, and many thousands of people around the world value him as their spiritual teacher.
In 2005, he was invited to address the 60th anniversary committee of the United Nations in New York. Last year, he spoke in the parliament houses in Australia and New Zealand. A few weeks ago, he addressed a special event called Peace Beyond Boundaries held in the Italian Center. I’m told that people from Lebanon and Israel who were present at that meeting spoke of how Prem Rawat’s teachings had inspired them and how they expressed for them that peace could be a reality—even, although perhaps particularly, in the midst of one of the most painful conflicts in the world.
Prem Rawat draws our attention to the universal character of our human thirst for peace. At heart, his message is simple and profound. Real peace, he says, is possible.
In today’s volatile and unstable world, we need to be reminded that creating peace is not only a responsibility that each and every one of us must share as individuals and as citizens, Prem Rawat tells us it is an achievable task.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Prem Rawat.
