Interfaith Thanksgiving Service

Last night there was an Community Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at an area mosque as part of The South Brunswick Area Clergy Association. The theme for this year was "Welcoming the Sojourner..Thanksgiving to be in the USA". Muslims, Jews, and Christians led the service in thanks to God for this country. Several Hindus came to the service as well. There were testimonies given by Rev. Billy Simbo from Evangel United Brethren, Rabbi David Eligberg from Congregation B'nai Tikvah, Imam Hamad Chebli from the Islamic Society Central Jersey, Riaz Siddiqui, and Atiya Aftab who was the only woman to speak in this service. The music was beautiful--cantoring the Torah and Islamic prayers in Hebrew and Arabic, songs by the South Brunswick Middle School Choir, and songs by people from Africa. The service closed with everyone singing "America the Beautiful".

The most interesting part of the service, for me, was hearing the testimonies of how the various people came to this country and how much they love this country for the freedom to worship. Atiya Aftab expressed this by saying that here, more than any other country, women in her relgion are able to educate themselves and express themselves. One preacher claimed his ancestory back to the Mayflower and stated that only half of those who went on the Mayflower survived. They survived because of the people who were already here and who helped them. So it seems we are all immigrants. I found that in going to this service I was reminded to thank God for the country I live in. Thank God for my freedom to worship God and to venture dialog with other faiths. As much as America is a mess, there is still much we can be thankful for.

Imam Hamad Chebli expressed that this interfaith gathering was, and is, not easy and I am glad he expressed this. My internal thoughts through out the service attests to this. As we began to worship God, I wondered if we were really worshipping the same God as we were claiming to worship. We are...but are we really? For me, God is connected to Jesus in such a way that when I worship God I can't think of separating Him from Jesus or the Holy Spirit. But, with faiths that don't believe the same about Jesus, are we worshiping the same God? And it's no wonder that Imam Hamad Chebli claimed that he gets asked frequently how he could let Christians and Jews into the mosque to worship God, to participate in interfaith dialoge. This is difficult to deal with and I don't know what to do with it.

I want to end with this thought though. In one of the testmonies it was said, we were welcomed into this country by the people who were here and we need to help the next person who gets off the plane.