By Peter Demuth of St John’s German Lutheran Church, Springvale
“Welcome to Greater Dandenong, one of the most diverse cities worldwide with more than two hundred different communities of language, faith, culture and heritage.”
This greeting still resonates with me after five years, when I first moved to this city to live and work in one of these communities.
My community is a German Lutheran Church in the heart of Springvale with a history of over 60 years and proudly engaging in environmental sustainability initiatives to ensure its future.
My time so far has been a period of great enrichment and learning for me, but none more so than recent weeks since the coronavirus impacted on our city.
For us all it has presented challenges on many levels, personally, our faith communities, our environment, and our society.
And yet it’s been an experience that strengthens our important bond and commitment to one another.
Because uppermost in this crisis is the realisation of how important it is to be in a good, supportive and peaceful community.
Six weeks in isolation remind us that as individuals, we are always in need of and part of a greater community.
It’s no different in the Interfaith Network of the City of Greater Dandenong.
Many faith communities were not able to gather at their places of worship.
And even with eased restrictions our gatherings and the way we celebrate our faith and traditions will be vastly different from now on.
This new crisis puts to the test the core common values of our varied communities living in a shared city.
More than ever the united statement of the Interfaith Network of Greater Dandenong is inspirational and comforting in its message: “We bring greetings from the faith communities to the Mayor, Councillors and people of Greater Dandenong.
“We offer to the City of Greater Dandenong our common commitment to seek to live together in peace and goodwill.
“We affirm our desire to promote respect and tolerance for the integrity of each other’s beliefs, cultures, and traditions.
“We recognise that as neighbours, we have responsibilities to the community, the world and ourselves.
“We therefore urge all citizens, both religious and non-religious, to put aside intolerance, prejudice and divisiveness, to attain peaceful and fruitful co-existence in our City.”
It is through solidarity, sensitivity and non-violence, through justice, compassion and honesty, through patience, endurance and help that we strengthen our community and our city.
