Faiths come together for annual Thanksgiving celebration
The stage was set at Buffalo Grove's St. Mary Parish Sunday when the community's Jewish and Christian leaders walked together toward their seats, some covered with yarmulkes, others clad in priestly robes.
It was the 21st Annual Community Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration of the Northwest Suburban Interfaith Council, an annual gathering of Christians and Jews from many congregations in the Buffalo Grove/Wheeling/Long Grove area.
The service celebrated the common faith that all the religions share, despite their obvious differences.
It was celebrated with sermons, songs and a little good humor.
The latter was demonstrated by Pastor Michael McPherson of Hope Lutheran Church, who told a joke about a priest, a minister and a rabbi, all of whom are asked in the afterlife what they would like to hear said over each one's casket.
The rabbi delivers the punch line: “I would like to hear them say, ‘Look, he's moving.” said McPherson, who added the joke was aimed at Temple Chai's Rabbi Stephen Hart, ”The point is we may not come at things with the same perspective. And certainly not with the same detailed beliefs, but it is exactly within that diversity and that difference that we find a richness that beckons us to humbly learn from one another and agree to disagree and yet be bonded together by God's love and enabled by that very same love to live and work and play and serve together, and, yes, worship together as well.”
Guests were greeted by the Rev. Marc Reszel of St. Mary Parish, who reminded visitors of President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation in 1863 that led to the establishment of the national Thanksgiving holiday.
Reszel noted, “The document includes no references to football, parades or shopping.” Nor, he said, was there mention of turkeys.
But, Reszel noted, the proclamation focuses on the source of blessings.
“These are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, has nevertheless remembered mercy.”
Rabbi Hart, with a nod to Psalm 133, said, “How pleasant it is to step away for at least one night from the latest update on the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Penn State scandal, who is leading in the polls for the Republican nomination” and “all the many challenges that lay upon us from day to day, to join together here in this sacred space, to affirm faith and blessing and that which truly sustains us in our moments of shared darkness as well as light.”
This year's event offered contemporary bands, bell choirs and choirs from Beth Am, Temple Chai, Beth Judea, St. Mary Parish and Kingswood United Methodist Church.
It featured performances from members of the Buffalo Grove Symphonic Band directed by Howard Green, a combined youth choir, combined children's choir and a puppet performance by the Glory Fingers Creative Ministry Team from Kingswood.