My day of pilgrimage

IssueJuly - August 2007
Comment by Sacha Wilkes (10)

All morning my mind was flowing with thoughts about the Westminster Interfaith Pilgrimage my parents had told me about. Thoughts such as; `What will I learn out of it? What was going to happen? Why were people doing this?' I managed to answer these questions with not too much difficulty! I learnt about different religions. We walked four miles from church to church. People did it to find out about other religions. My favourite part of the pilgrimage was the train journey back home, not only because we had stopped walking but because I was left with memories of a great experience!

The first stop was the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu Temple. I liked it because inside there is three gorgeous golden statues protected with glass windows. We got refreshments and every one was just so kind and it really made you feel so homely and comfortable! Next was the Alyth Gardens Synagogue. As we entered there was a load of seats for the congregation. The lady Rabbi spoke about the average service which is more like one big prayer. She was really funny and made things sound very interesting! Then we went to St Philip's Catholic Church. I liked the decoration and the gold! The priest spoke about the way they do their Sunday service and what they do. After he had answered some questions he introduced us to our lunch which was wanted by most people, including myself! Our lunch was very kindly prepared by the Sikh members of Sachkhand Nunak Bham.

After, we left for the Finchley Methodist Church where we had a lady talk to us about spiritual subjects. She read out a cleansing prayer which sounded extremely hard to memorise!

We then left for the North Finchley Reform Synagogue were the Rabbi spoke about the Torah and showed it too us. At the end of his speech whoever wanted to, got to have a close up look at one of the four Torah scrolls! I liked the room because it had a very special Torah scroll displayed on the wall.

Last but by no means least, The Finchley Mosque. We took our shoes off and the men and women went into two separate rooms. We listened to a reading and then only the men were able to ask questions. At the end we were treated to snacks which I stored in a pot for the two hour train journey back to Chichester.

I definitely feel that the pilgrimage touched me and I would do it again if I get chance. I was amazed how many people there were but was rather disappointed that there weren't many children or teenagers. I think it is important for children my age to attend so that they grow up knowing not just about their own religion but others too.

Topics: Religion
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