Originally published in Homer Horizon
“People come from different paths, yet we have the same destination.”
Ahmed Ali, an Egyptian-born Islamic motivational speaker, shared those words of unity and more at the first annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration on Sunday, Nov. 18, at First Congregational Church in Lockport. The event was hosted by the Lockport-Homer Glen Ministerial Association in an effort to help local charities, but also to show how our differences shouldn’t divide us.
The Lockport-Homer Glen Ministerial Association has hosted the Thanksgiving celebration at different area churches to help benefit the FISH Food Pantry, but this year, Rev. Eric Quinney-Burnard of the First Congregational Church decided he wanted to change things up. Rather than dividing the offering, all money raised would benefit the Resource Center in Lockport, and food would be also be collected for the Fairmont Pantry - but the biggest change would that this would be the group’s first true Interfaith service.
The hourlong service featured nine local speakers of different faiths to discuss their meaning of Thanksgiving, followed by a reception of holiday treats among good company. While each religion may have different traditions or ways to celebrate, one message was made clear: being faithful means being thankful.
“Literally giving thanks and giving gratitude to God, in whatever way that is, is something we need to share with one another,” said Rev. Eric Quinney-Burnard. “We all want to raise our children to be good people of faith who get along with everyone, and this is how we start.”
“The key is to get to know each other,” said Rev. Dana O’Brien of Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Homer Glen. “Our similarities and commonalities are so much more important than our differences, and we all have the common goal to love our neighbor.”
Throughout the service, every speaker’s message was one of unifying rather than further dividing, and trying to find the common ground among us.
The booming voice of Rev. Phil Sheets of Lockport’s First United Methodist Church filled the First Congregational Church as he shared his interpretation of Thanksgiving. His allotted time of five minutes was filled with spreading love rather than hate. He quoted Pope Francis in saying that we don’t build walls, we build bridges. “How especially true that is here in Lockport, when our life is dictated by the Route 7 bridge,” he joked.
“I really believe in that, that we should be building bridges instead of walls,” said Jeanne Roberts of Lockport. “Doing God’s work and being one of God’s children, whoever that God is, it supersedes everything else.
For Ali, he believes that Thanksgiving is a value among all religions that adds to our human value, and to share perspectives of gratuity is a necessity to help further acceptance. “I think it’s not just an opportunity to talk about this, but it’s also a duty for both sides to hear each other out. We need to communicate, we need to learn not to fear, we need to see each other clearly.”
“It’s not often that you can get a diverse group of people like this together. We’re proud of the turnout, we’re proud of the reception, just everything,” Rev. Quinney-Burnard said. “We achieved our goal.”
“I was humbled by the discussions of Thanksgiving that we had, and I’m more cognizant now of how I can give more thanks,” said Rev. O’Brien.