President Stuart McMillan, Ahmet Polat (Affinity Foundation), Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed (Grand Mufti of Australia 2011-2018).
As the Muslim community in Australia marks the fasting period of Ramadan, Uniting Church President Stuart McMillan offers his good wishes to all Australian Muslims. The Uniting Church will host Iftar dinners in five states during Ramadan as an expression of our solidarity and friendship with the Muslim community.
There will be three Iftar dinners held in the VicTas synod – St Thomas in Craigieburn on 25 May, Scots Memorial in Hobart on 1 June and Church of All Nations in Carlton on 2 June.
We encourage Uniting Church congregations and members to reach out to Muslims in your local community at this time and share with them this message from the President.
President’s Ramadan Message
As-Salaamu Alaikum. God’s peace be with you.
On behalf of the Uniting Church in Australia, I wish all Muslims in Australia a peaceful and holy period of Ramadan.
The Uniting Church has a longstanding friendship with the Muslim community in Australia. It is a friendship founded on mutual respect and our shared desire for peace and justice in our world.
During this time of Ramadan, we pray for the Muslim community in Australia. May your fasting, prayer and good deeds bring you closer to God and enrich your lives and community.
This year the Uniting Church is hosting Iftar Dinners in five states and cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and for the first time, in Hobart and Perth.
The Iftar is the breaking of the fast at sunset each day during Ramadan.
Our hosting of these events is an expression of our solidarity and friendship with the Muslim community in Australia.
Importantly, they offer an opportunity for Christians and Muslims, and people of other faiths and no faith, to sit side by side, share a meal and get to know one another.
In this simple act of breaking bread together, we break down barriers of fear and unfamiliarity. We come to know one another as brothers and sisters with a common humanity.
So often, it is in exchanges like this that we discover there is much we have in common. The same dreams for our families, the same concerns for our world, the same desire to know and love God.
To members of the Uniting Church in Australia, I encourage you to reach out to your Muslim neighbours during Ramadan. Share your good wishes and learn from each other.
The Uniting Church is deeply committed to understanding, friendship and co-operation with people of other faiths.
As Christians, we believe Christ came to the world so that all people might know God’s love for them. Our God delights in diversity and longs for us to live in harmony.
May we all seek friendship with people of different faiths and cultures from our own. In a world that is easily divided by differences, it is so important that people of faith build bridges together.
These relationships are the cornerstone of a peaceful and just world.
Mägayamirri Rom
Stuart McMillan
President
Uniting Church in Australia
Mägayamirri Rom means “the way of peace and tranquility, harmony with the whole of creation, be with and within you.” in the Yolŋu languages of North East Arnhem Land.
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