Interfaith Thanksgiving service this Sunday at temple
Submitted by Al Benson
Bahai, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish faith groups will co-host a sixth annual InterFAITH Thanksgiving service at 4 p.m. Sunday Nov. 24, at Temple B'nai Israel, 400 N. Edgelawn Drive in Aurora. The public is invited.
A freewill offering will be taken to benefit the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry. Food donations will also be collected for the pantry.
Faith groups scheduled to participate include Bahai Community of Aurora, Fox Valley Muslim Community, Temple B'nai Israel and Aurora Jewish Renewal Congregation, and Christian congregations including Our Savior Lutheran Church, St. John United Church of Christ, Fourth Street and Wesley United Methodist churches and Aurora University's Wackerlin Center for Faith and Action.
After welcomes by Rabbi Shmuel Mann of Temple B'nai Israel and Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, worshippers will be invited to decorate a “gratitude tree.”
Visitors will be asked to write on a paper leaf the things they are thankful for. Leaves will then be posted on the tree.
Liturgists will include Karen Smoot of Bahai Community; Rev. Cyndi Gavin of St. John United; and Rev. Jonathan Dean, chaplain of Aurora University.
Participating in the offering will be Rabbi Mann, Ronald Ramer, Aurora Jewish Renewal Congregation; Rev. Jeff Mikyska, Our Savior Lutheran Church; and pastors Rev. Deborah Tinsley Taylor and Rev. John Bell, Fourth Street and Wesley UMC.
Music will be provided by interfaith adult and children's choirs.
After a harvest-thanks litany reading by congregants, a prayer will be offered for rural and urban workers.
The worship service will close with a sending forth peace chant by Meredith Lindgren of Aurora, a member of Wesley UMC in Aurora.
An intercultural meal sponsored by Temple B'nai Israel will close the event. Call (630) 448-2474 for more information.