“Our goal is just to tell everyone that we’re thankful to God for everything. And we are peaceful Muslims, that believe in the same God everyone else does.”
Source/Credit: WHTM News
By Mike Parker | November 26, 2015
More than a dozen religious groups were represented at an interfaith Thanksgiving service in Harrisburg on Wednesday evening.
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church, a parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, hosted the 25th annual event, which looks to unite the capital city’s wide array of religious sects around the secular Thanksgiving holiday.
“Although we worship in different ways, we worship one same creator,” said Behzad Zandieh, of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is. “And it’s so good to reflect on the things we have in common, and we agree on.”
The service, which featured music, prayer and readings from each religion’s holy books, including the Bible, Quran and Kitáb-i-Aqdas, drew a crowd of more than a hundred people.
Representing the Islamic faith, Ahmad Bhatti of Harrisburg’s Ahmadiyya Muslim Community described the service as a chance to share the true character of his religion, “Our goal is just to tell everyone that we’re thankful to God for everything. And we are peaceful Muslims, that believe in the same God everyone else does.” Bhatti says Muslims say short prayers multiple times each day to give thanks, but that many still celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday as “really a commemoration of something we do every day.”
The tension caused by recent terror attacks at the hands of Islamic extremists abroad isn’t lost on the religious leaders, and was addressed specifically several times during the service. Father Paul Fisher of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, says he hopes Americans who feel threatened by the possibility of similar attacks here at home, can find peace and be thankful. “We think about what happened in Paris recently, and all of the things,” says Fisher. “How blessed and how free we are here in this nation. And there’s one person, or as the Christians say, three persons to thank for that. And that’s the God of the universe.”
Leaders of the Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Baha’i, Muslim, Hindu, Unitarian, and various Christian faiths including Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Protestant, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Quaker, and Scientist performed symbolic gestures of unity, including the lighting of a unity candle in front of the altar. And while recognizing the many differences they represent, offered the common message of thankfulness.
“Especially nowadays,” added Bhatti. “All the chaos that’s happening in the world? We really need to unite.”
“I think when you look at what’s happening in the world today, there really isn’t anything more important happening at the local level, than this type of thing,” said Susan Jones-Sink, a Unitarian Universalist from the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg.
“This Thanksgiving is a tough Thanksgiving,” offered Bishop Michael Scalzi, of the Old Catholic Church, which he described as progressive order that shares the same sacraments as other Catholics, but is not under the jurisdiction of the Vatican or Pope. “But you know, we’ve had tougher Thanksgivings in the past. I think back to the Thanksgiving after 9-11. We got through that. We’ll get through this one. And we’ll get through many Thanksgivings to come.”
Read original post here: USA: Many faiths share common message of Thanksgiving
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