For publication:
Interfaith Peace Prayer "at the border"
Forbach. "Peacemakers" is the motto of this year's Interreligious Prayer for Peace on Sunday, May 10th, at 6 p.m. in the Holy Cross Chapel (10 Chem. de la Chapelle Sainte-Croix, F-Forbach). The bilingual prayer event is once again organized by a German-French preparatory group consisting of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and "people of good will."
This year's prayer theme calls on people not to be blinded by seemingly simple violent solutions to conflicts, but to seek solidarity-driven paths to peace together. "Solidarity breaks the logic of violence," the organizers are confident.
Speakers are Imam Djamel Lahmar (Mosque Forbach-Wiesberg), Deacon Jean-Paul Lebau (Catholic Parish Forbach), and Pastor Tim Kahlen (Protestant School Office Saarland). The prayer is musically accompanied by Naochika Sogabe (lute and oud). All texts can be followed in French and German.
Originally conceived as a prayer to celebrate the end of World War II, the Interreligious Peace Prayer "on the border" has over the years increasingly become a meeting for encounter, where people get to know and understand each other – beyond national and language borders as well as religious differences. In this spirit, the Armenian community of Forbach is inviting to an open house in their premises (Quartier Le Wiesberg, place des Tilleuls) from 3 p.m. ahead of the Peace Prayer this year.
Background: Peace prayers "on the border"
Jews, Christians, Muslims, and people of 'good will' from both sides of the German-French border met for the first time on May 8, 1995, for a peace prayer to celebrate 50 years since the end of World War II and the liberation from the Nazi regime. The square in front of the Chapelle Ste. Croix in Forbach was deliberately chosen as a familiar place where many people from the region, both Germans and French, come to find peace. At that time, a memorial stone was erected as a reminder, a warning, and a commitment. Inside it rest over 250 peace wishes, written down by the participants of this first peace prayer. The response was so overwhelming that the prayer has been repeated annually ever since, always around May 8, with one special occasion in the fall of 2001 as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11.
Best regards
Rieke Eulenstein
Public Relations
Evangelical Church District on the Saar
Goethestraße 29+31, 66538 Neunkirchen (Saar)
Tel. 0681/ 5 30 81
Mobile: 0152 530 577 26
Mail: rieke.eulenstein@evks.de
