Our friends Nimo and Daniel were in Toronto last week bringing their gift of presence, message of love and generosity to the Parliament of World Religions. The conference brought together 10,000 people from all faiths, 500 presentations from world luminaries and an inaugural Interfaith Family Festival where Nimo and Daniel brought kids of all ages to their feet to dance and many hugs for one another. They also performed in a huge auditorium (that was likely set up to seat 10,000) as the opening act for an incredibly moving Sacred Music concert (Tune in at 25 min). I smiled wide seeing the Grateful music video in the background full of familiar faces in Servicespace, starting with Mia’s mom on the big screen

It felt like a dream come true to be in the presence of so many compassionate warriors and change agents who arrived from all around the world to share their wisdom here in our hometown! Baffling to think of all the causes and conditions for all this to happen.

The generosity that Nimo and Daniel bring to every moment was beautiful to see, whether that’s Daniel deciding to have an impromptu circle when learning that a family were of the Baha’i faith, to sing his song, One Power, or Nimo enlisting the kids into helping him give away heart pins.

So glad they tried out some new songs too. One particular one really represented the spirit of the week at Parliament of World Religions, the practical prayer of St Francis and the spirit of our community.

Here's the lyrics that I remember:

Where there is hatred I will be love
Where this is conflict I will be peace
I will be hope when there is despair
I will be faith when it’s just not there
Whether there’s darkness all around
I’ll be the light for all to see
Knowing it won’t always be easy but...
Let me be an instrument of peace