2025 New Year messages from local spiritual leaders

We’ve asked three local spiritual leaders to weigh in with messages for 2025 – no matter your faith, each answer is full of thoughtful wisdom.

Did you know that Tower Hamlets has buildings of worship for all six of the UK’s most common religious identities (Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jewish and Hindu)? 

As we transition into 2025, three of our local spiritual leaders have weighed in with messages for the New Year. We’ve also included an illustration of local places of worship, by cartoonist Seamus Jennings.  

Shaykh Imam Syed Anisul Haque, from East London Mosque

‘As we reach the end of another year, it’s a good moment to reflect on what’s behind us and think about the road ahead. This year has brought its share of challenges, but it’s also reminded us of the strength we find in coming together as a community. 

Around the world, so many people continue to face hardship. The people of Gaza are especially in our thoughts as they endure terrible hardships, death, and famine that we can’t even begin to comprehend. It’s a reminder to us all to stand up for justice and to support those who are suffering in any way we can. 

Closer to home, there’s a sense of hope and anticipation as many in our community look forward to Ramadan, which will begin towards the end of February 2025. It’s a time for reflection, renewal, and reconnecting with what matters most in life. 

At the East London Mosque, we’re grateful for another year of being able to support and bring people together, whether it’s through helping those in need, welcoming new faces, or simply being a place where people can find peace and connection. 

As we step into the new year, let’s hold on to that spirit of togetherness and hope. Let’s continue to look out for one another, stand by those who need our support, and embrace the opportunities that come our way. Here’s to a brighter future for everyone.’

Reverend Andy Rider from Bow Church

‘With the tinsel and turkey behind us, the Christmas message of ‘peace on earth’ continues to ring in our ears. How we long to see lasting peace in the Middle East, to see peace and security in the eyes of hungry children, to see peace across the UK and to know peace in our own hearts.

The New Year is an opportunity for each of us to recommit to work for peace, to support aid and reconciliation agencies and to speak peace into the hearts and minds of others. The prophet Micah says that this is what God wants of us all, ‘to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God’.

2025 will no doubt test our patience and frustrate us as the world continues to wrestle with fake news, AI and ethical issues too big for us to get our heads round. There will undoubtedly be new places of crisis and conflict around the world. Leaders will disappoint and celebrities will fall from grace.

East London has a rich history of people of difference living side by side, not always easily but there is far more to celebrate than to weep over. What if we each committed to be peacemakers as the one born at Christmastime called us to be? What if our neighbourhood became an even brighter beacon of light and hope and peace… that would be a happy new year.’

Suryagupta, Chair of the London Buddhist Centre

‘What has characterised this year for me has been holding the tension between two contrasts. The first: witnessing the growth and creativity of people around me and in the wider community. The second: the global backdrop with disharmony, conflict and violence erupting in the Middle East, Sudan and the Congo; along with polarising elections; and on-going environmental difficulties.

When I am asked what do I have to say as a spiritual leader, I first recognise the implicit challenge in the question. Can a spiritual path or any religion help the global conflicts? I also hear a need for reassurance that this is not how the world needs to be. Is there another way?

There is another way. In the pause before responding, I notice that I am feeling with the person asking the question. I am feeling the tremendous suffering; and I am also connecting with my own wish for greater peace and harmony. I see what can arise when we have positive, healthy conditions. I experience myself standing in a place of solidarity as this is what it means to be a Buddhist. It means having a deep aspiration for a world where we genuinely care for one another and support each other’s growth.

As Chair of London Buddhist Centre, my role is to create the conditions for as many people as possible to discover ways in which to live in solidarity with others, and in ways that remind us of the richness, beauty and joy of being alive. The more we live from this value, the more we transform ourselves, and transform the world.’

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