Multifaith Events and Festivals at Easter

symbols of religions
The date for Easter changes every year. In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April, within about seven days after the astronomical full moon. As well as major Christian observances, at the time of Easter, there are religious festivals in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, Jainism and the Baha’i faith. Jains observe the birthday of Mahavir. Buddhists observe Therevadan New Year. There is the Passover of the Jewish Faith and the Sikhs celebrate Vaisakhi, the foundation of the Khalsa. These are among the religious festivals celebrated at this time.

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Approaches to worship, life and death during stay at home lockdown

Stay Home BillboardAll over the world, places of gathering for the faithful for prayer, devotion, offering and morning puja – are silent and the faithful are urged to stay away during this time of coronavirus. Here, we bring a second collection of photographs from several “Photo of the Day” collections, showing different places of worship in many different nations. They are approaches to worship, life and death, during stay at home lockdown.
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Judaism: Parashat Tzav: Taking Care of Ourselves and Each Other Amid Crisis

House and HeartIn Parashat Tzav, we read, in minute detail, of the priests’ tasks to keep the flame on the altar burning day and night. That fire was central to the spiritual life of the community. Through their burnt offerings the Israelites drew near to God at times of transition or vulnerability. To do so, they depended on the priests to keep the altar clean and the fire burning.
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Live Streaming of Worship – Shepparton

Shepparton places of worship

Here, we bring you up to date with prayer and devotion in Shepparton’s places of worship for the current time of Covid 19 with Stage 3 restrictions. Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Sikh communities are referenced.

Due the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on 3 April 2020, worship that is streamed live is deemed an essential service, and the proper number of ministers, priests, deacons, imams, gurbani’s will be allowed to participate in the live streaming. The Place of Worship, however, remains closed to the Public.

Update: There are a number of new links added for Christian worship in languages other than English.

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How coronavirus challenges Muslims’ faith and changes their lives

hajj at mecca
This year’s hajj, which draws more than 2 million pilgrims to the Ka’ba mosque at Mecca, is likely to be cancelled.

Fortunately for Muslims, the closure of mosques does not mean they stop daily prayers altogether. In Islam, individual prayers and worship play a greater role than communal ones. Muslims can pray five times a day wherever they are, and often home is a place where most praying takes place.

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Buddhism: Chanting Tara mantra helpful in containing the spread of epidemics

His Holiness XIV Dalai LamaDharamshala: A group of Chinese Buddhists and devout followers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from mainland China sought His Holiness’ spiritual advice on ways to contain the spread of Coronavirus, a recently discovered airborne disease which has gripped national attention as well as globally after it spread rapidly across China and to other parts of the world.

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“In the Beginning was the Word”: Why Covid-19 Renders Words even more Powerful

writing wordsWords have an impact on human consciousness, something scientists have long studied, and many researchers and health services are committed to. Articulation and eloquence have long defined culture. And ‘having a way with words’ is a way of either praising special capacity – or bemoaning ‘spin’. Words, and how they are used, is a large part of what many bemoan as ‘fake news’. So, we know that words matter. Now that we move into virtual communication for everything from trade to learning, from industry to worship, words will matter more than ever, writes Prof. Azza Karam is Secretary General, Religions for Peace International.
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Coronavirus: Plagues, pandemics, and religious ramifications through history

religious worship in time of spiritual crisis

Easter is approaching, but Christians won’t be able to assemble in any traditional place of worship. In the Catholic tradition, all masses have been suspended by order of the archdiocese. Funerals are one of the few services that the governments are allowing, but they must have no more than 10 people.

Do the measures of social distancing being imposed by governments all over the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic mean the end of conventional religious practice? If mortality were to increase to the situation we see in Italy and Spain, it will not be possible to remember the dead by any but the most cursory means.

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Buddhism: Exhaling into a Brighter Future

Sunset

“I feel like the world has just gotten a little smaller and my heart has gotten a little larger.” As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe, I keep remembering that comment from Luciana, an educator and small business owner in Brazil, during the first online meeting of our small, mindfulness-teacher mentoring group.

One of the great gifts of my teaching life over the last few years has been my role as the director of mentoring for an online, international mindfulness teacher certification program led by Buddhist teachers Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. As a mentor, I meet face-to-face via Zoom in monthly, 6-person groups with students from Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and both coasts of the United States.

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