Brunch Fellowship is a regular event that is held every third Sunday
every month for cultural encounters among Danes, foreigners, immigrants and
refugees around a common meal to build up friendship, tolerance, understanding
and network of support regardless of differences in religion, race or
culture.  Often we have a speaker that
speaks about his/her own country of origin or about a  particular tradition or a current or
historical event in that country. But on January 20 we held Brunch Fellowship that
focused on UN’s World Interfaith Harmony Week as our first activity in our observance
of this global event.

On this brunch
fellowship on January 20, we invited 4 persons from four religions to share their
daily religious praxis.  The following
persons with corresponding religion they adhere to:

                 Amindeer Sigh: Sikhism 

                (Surinder Singh  from Sikhism

                  also  contributed to supplement Amindeer’s
presentation)

                 Rekha:               Hinduism

                 Mohammed Abdulahi: Islam

                 Karen Oxlund:  Christianity

The program started with the meal from the food brought to the common
table. Usually people come with food, wanting to let others taste their own
food. Others who do not come with food, for whatever reasons, are also welcome
to join. There was time for introductions by all and informal talks around
tables. There was also  time for  singing international songs of fellowship in
different languages.

After the meal, was the presentation of four persons from 4 religions
who shared from their heart. We had  had
in the past  dialogues between
Christianity and Buddhism or Christianity and Islam and it was only on this day
that we had for the first time the chance to hear a presentation from a  Sikh and a Hindu, sharing about their
religion and their own  religious daily
praxis.

There were questions from the audience and positive and lovely
atmosphere as 4 persons presented uniqueness of their faith and their
commitment to it.  We had Birgit Urd
Andersen who translated them from English to Danish or from Danish to English.

There was time for coffee and tea after the presentations.  One person among the group, Finn Pedersen, came
with Danish Layer Cakes to celebrate with the group his 60th round birthday. It
was received with much joy and thanksgiving.

The 4 speakers received each of them a packed present as an expression
of gratitude from the fellowship.

There were common points in the concluding round up of presentation and
questions:

·     
That all the four adherents in Sikhism, Islam,
Christianity and Hinduism believe in a higher being, in one God or in a God
revealing himself in different forms to bring about  meaning, protection, purpose for a  good and abundant life.

·     
That there is a common belief in the importance and
value of prayers.

·     
That they involve themselves in programs or services
that help to alleviate sufferings of others. That helping or loving others is a
human, moral and religious duty.  

There was singing and fellowship circle while singing song of love.

Note: Brunch Fellowship on January 20 is also followed by Brunch
Fellowship on February 17. Recalling that February 14 is celebrated worldwide
as Valentine’s Day, the next brunch will focus on  love in different relationships, looking also
at  certain traditions in courtship and
marriage. Two brunch fellowships take place in Simon Peters Church as
Islandsvej 12, 6000 Kolding in the months of January and February.  

Another  eating event in our
calendar  is the Cross- Cultural Meal or what we locally call as Middag på tværs with different churches
as a host on a  particular month. This is
part of our program for building a network of Contact families with Refugees;
also opening it to those who seek inspiration as they voluntarily help the
integration of foreigners or refugees they have come to encounter.

This Cross-cultural Meal or Middag på tværs  is on a Friday, February 22   at
17.30 to 21.00, participated in by different churches within the Lutheran
Church and those from other denominations. (see
the program as enclosed)  This first
Middag på tværs in 2019  will be held at
the Parish Fellowship House of Tyrstrup Church in Christiansfeld on February
22. Christiansfeld is considered one of UNESCO Heritage Cites in Denmark. On
this particular Cross-Cultural Meal, Elizabeth will give an introduction behind
FN World Inter-Faith Hamony Week. There will be fellowship meal from the food,
which participants bring to the International Buffet table. The priest of the
Tyrstrup Church, Anne Mie Skak  Johansen,
prepares quiz for all that will test participants’ knowledge  about  flags
of different countries and another quiz on their knowledge about symbols of
different religions.

Like in Brunch Fellowship, Middag
på tværs is  to eat together from the
food being contributed by participants who prepare food from their homes.  Brunch Fellowship and Middag på tværs or
Cross-Cultural Meal are very simple acts of building bridges of goodwill among
all peoples around tables of food, which do not need big budget to run. There
is common sharing and common responsibility about those who participate. And it
is something we continue to do…

 Supporting
documents:

• Program for
Brunch Fellowship (being distributed in town)

• Program for
FN InterFaith Harmony Week (made available to all participants in different
activities, also given out to newspapers and church website and on Facebook )

• The program
of Middag på tværs or Cross-Cultural Meal for 2019

• See photos
in power point presentation

 Report submitted: Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

                                Michael Markussen

                
               Kolding
International Congregation

                
Lilly Biswas, chairwoman of 
Cross- Cultural Committee of Kolding Deanery