Thanksgiving service in Elgin Sunday looks to build community across different faiths

Leaders and congregation members from different faith traditions and churches throughout Elgin will come together Sunday during the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.

Pastor Katie Shaw Thompson from Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren — the church hosting the event — said the service is an opportunity to bring together different faiths to bond over shared values.

“We can so often work in our silos and forget how much we have in common and how we are all doing similar good work,” Thompson said. “It’s really good just to be together in one place for an hour or so and remember that across all our different beliefs, we all hold in common the value of community.”

The event, which has been held for over 30 years, is sponsored by the Coalition of Elgin Religious Leaders.

Leaders and parishioners from several different Christian-based churches, as well as Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist congregations, will participate.

The service will feature music from multiple choirs, speakers and prayers from leaders of several churches and a keynote speech from Curtis Spivey, host of the “Good Morning Aurora” podcast and Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator at The Neighbor Project.

“I’m excited to hear from leadership for a neighboring city that’s trying to do some of the same work we’re doing over here and learn what his perspective is and how we can apply that,” Thompson said.

The theme of this year’s service is “The Healing Table.” Thompson said that planning started about a year ago and took into account divisions people may feel regardless of how the presidential election concluded.

“Either way, we still need to hear about how we come together now and keep building community, no matter how things turned out,” she said.

The service starts at 4 p.m. at the church, located at 783 Highland Ave. Donations will be invited to Food For Greater Elgin, and a representative from that organization will speak about their mission to address food insecurity in our area.

Thompson said in a city with “hundreds” of churches, understanding and cooperation helps everyone.

“The goal is to continue to build community across different faith traditions in the Elgin area,” Thompson said. “There’s no reason that we can’t get to know each other better and work together as well as we can.”