Religion

Interfaith ‘Harmony Walk’ raises funds to fight hunger, homelessness

Richmonders of various faiths gathered in Nicholl Park early Saturday morning for the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program’s (GRIP) 33rd annual Harmony Walk. The 5K walk/run raises funds to fight homelessness and hunger in the greater Richmond area. GRIP, an organization that has been around for over 50 years, has dedicated itself to helping those in need. The center provides food and resources for individuals and families at risk for, or currently enduring, homelessness.  Faith groups including Temple Beth Hillel, St….

Tibetan ceremony honors the new Dalai Lama Avenue

A sunset Buddhist ceremony at Richmond’s Huntington Avenue and San Joaquin Street consecrated the renaming of a stretch of Huntington after the Dalai Lama on the 12th anniversary of the spiritual leader’s receipt of the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. About seventy Tibetan community members, three Buddhist monks and City Councilmember Eduardo Martinez gathered Thursday evening to present symbolic food offerings, and knotted white scarves representing compassion around the post marking the new Dalai Lama Avenue. The religious leader visited Richmond’s…

Richmond street renamed after international religious leader

Richmond is now home to “Dalai Lama Avenue,” a block-long stretch of Huntington Avenue the City Council renamed on Tuesday to honor Richmond’s Tibetan community and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists worldwide. The newly-renamed avenue will guide visitors searching for the Tibetan Association of Northern California (TANC), which is located on Huntington between Columbia Avenue and San Joaquin Street. “A lot of times when people come looking for the cultural center, they end up on the wrong side of…

Richmond’s Jewish community marks the New Year with traditional Rosh Hashanah celebrations

Richmond’s Jewish community joined Jews around the world this week to mark their faith’s High Holidays. Among them, members of Temple Beth Hillel gathered to celebrate Rosh Hashanah which marks the New Year in the Jewish Calendar. Greetings of “L’shana Tovah,” a Hebrew saying to wish someone a good year, filled the air as service began. Songs of praise, prayer readings, and the sounding of the shofar, a ram’s horn used during Jewish religious ceremonies, were the essence of the…

Eco-Church

Eco-churches are coming to Richmond. True Fellowship Baptist Church in Shields-Reid announced this week that it is planning to become the first congregation in Richmond to rely only on solar energy. “This is just the beginning,” said David Green, True Fellowship Deacon. Green said the church ultimately hopes to be certified as a green building through the national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The church launched an online crowdfunding campaign on Wednesday with the help of RE-volv, a…

Berkeley artists share religion-focused work at Richmond Field Station

Green and orange ceramic statues with a reptilian texture were displayed inside “Bodurinao’s shrine,” surrounded by candles. At first, the statues looked like the body parts of crocodiles, but on closer look, were actually mixed creatures composed entirely of sex organs. The shrine itself was actually the inside of an art studio at the Richmond Field Station. It was built for a new religion called “Leymusoom,” created as an art project by Heesoo Kwon. Visitors came into the shrine and…