The Bishop of Wakefield, Tony Robinson (pictured top) has been speaking about the meaning of Easter at a multi-faith gathering held at a famous Bradford curry restaurant.
Bishop Tony was speaking at the New Horizons Gala Evening last weekend held at the Aagrah Midpoint Restaurant in Bradford which was attended by community representatives and civic dignitaries.
Two hundred and fifty guests came to the Aagrah to celebrate the Christian Festival of Easter and hear why Christians celebrate it. The evening included a dramatic presentation as well as speakers and good food.
Hosting the evening with Bishop Tony was Anglican Lay Canon, Yaqub Masih MBE, who with Bishop Tony began New Horizons to seek to build better relations between Pakistani Muslims and Christians. Over several years New Horizons has worked to support community cohesion both in West Yorkshire and in Pakistan. It has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the victims of natural disaster and terrorist attacks in Pakistan and many of the guests who attended have been supporters and given donations to the work of New Horizons.
Bishop Tony said, “The evening was a great success. Many of our friends and supporters came to our Easter celebration. The young people put on a marvellous drama telling the events of Holy Week and Easter.
“It is important that we hold events like this which demonstrate that despite differences between world religions we are united in our commitment to work for peace in our world today.”
Pictured left are (lft to rt) are Bishop Cecil Williams, the former Bishop of Peshawar (Pakistan) and Canon Yaqub Masih
Canon Masih explaining the meaning of Easter said, “We live in multi-cultural and multi-faith society and we should be proud of our culture, faiths and values.
“Yet we are too often afraid to talk about our values in case we are accused of political correctness.”
He told the audience, “There are a lot of assumptions that Christmas and Easter are only commercial festivals with no meaning” going on to talk about the real meaning of Easter.
“It is our duty as Christians to declare Christ's love publically,” Canon Masih added.